Page 15 of Royal Fling
If they were so happy to have me, then why give me up?
“We both loved yousomuch before you were even born,” she said, her hand finding mine and squeezing it with so much ferocity.
Memories threatened to assault me. My mom holding me like that when she was in the hospital, dying of cancer, begging me to stay strong for my brothers. For my yaya. For my dad.
It was quite the burden to put on a ten-year-old, but I took it all in stride even though it broke me inside. Her passing broke us all. It happened too quickly.
“If you don’t believe any of this, at least believe that. We both adored you,” she repeated.
I nodded, not wanting to open my mouth. Not wanting to blink in case I spilled more tears. I didn’t want her thinking she was making me miserable. It was only the memories of my own past that had knocked the wind out of me.
“Femi went to work one day and… and he never came back. There was an accident at work. He…” She took a deep breath and batted her lashes, restraining her tears. “He died in an instant. I never… I ne-never got to say goodbye. And he never got to meet you.”
Someone sniffled behind me, and I turned my head to look at Beth doing her best to keep composed and quiet.
She mouthed a “sorry” at me, and I offered her a smile as a response. The man was looking at Fisayo’s back now with a marbled face that didn’t betray any emotions. I wondered who he was. Why he was here. Who he was to my birth mother.
“I was alone, with no family, no money, and a baby on the way. I didn’t know what to do. I was crumbling under debt and pressure, and then when I gave birth to you, things got worse.
“I tried to make things work. I tried to give you the life you deserved. I even went back to your father’s family begging them for help, but they sent me away.
“I didn’t know what to do. How to get out of the situation I was in. I couldn’t afford your medicine, your diapers, your food. I couldn’t even breastfeed you because of the stress of it all. I finally decided you deserved better. There was an adoption agency at the time with links to America.”
She paused and took a deep breath. When she exhaled, she burst into tears again.
“Saying goodbye to you… giving you up… was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do in my life. But… but I had to give you a chance at a life.”
I finally let my own tears run and embraced Fisayo. She wasn’t lying. It was pretty obvious unless she was that good an actress. And who could blame her for making that decision. I’d seen how desperate poverty could make someone, and how much debt could affect a person.
Andy, my oldest brother, had been so depressed up until he met Kyle and he helped him get out of his debt. I’d taught so many kids whose parents couldn’t afford to buy new books or sent them to school with a lunchbox consisting entirely of stale chips because it was the only thing they could buy.
Yes, my family had given me a beautiful life. A comfortable life for the most part. But I’d seen the ugly face of poverty all too well.
“It was only after I gave you up that I learned about this government scheme from Elysia. I immigrated there and eventually…” She turned to look at the man behind us. “I found my way to August. And his family. But there hasn’t been a day I didn’t miss you. There hasn’t been a day I didn’t wish I could turn back time. That’s why I did the Legacy DNA thing. I hoped I could find you. But I never got anything back.”
“It’s okay,” I said with a reassuring squeeze. “It’s okay, Fisayo. I’m not angry. I’m not here for retribution. I… I was just looking for answers.”
She cried even harder at that, and all I could do was rub her back and wait for her to stop again.
“Would you like a Scotch?” the man who Fisayo had called August asked Beth, and I cocked my head to look at him. “How about you?” His eyes, those bright grey orbs, burned holes into my soul. I couldn’t imagine saying no to him with the way he looked at me. Like I was the most intriguing person in the entire world.
“I’ll take one,” Fisayo said with surprising spirit, and she chuckled when I raised an eyebrow.
August nodded and walked to a bar. He came back with a glass, an unbranded bottle of amber liquid, and poured a tumbler for all of us. Beth joined us on the couch and sat next to August as we sipped the strong stuff quietly.
A few minutes later, Fisayo puffed her chest and turned to me with a smile. She’d finally stopped crying, and I was starting to feel at ease. Even though I never imagined getting angry at my birth parents, for a few moments before we’d arrived, I had started thinking that I was just an accident. Someone a rich person wanted to get rid of.
But she’d loved me. And she’d sacrificed so much to give me a decent life. How could I be mad at her?
“Tell me about you. About your family. Did you grow up in a good home?” she asked, her affection reaching a part of me that had missed the maternal concern and joy that she was exuding right now.
“Yes. They’re the best. I got adopted into a Greek American family. We’re abigfamily. I have a nephew and two nieces. I have an amazing yaya who’s been our rock for as long as I can remember.
“So you speak Greek?” August said, and I turned to look at him.
And suddenly his accent made sense. It was Elysian. It was Greek. Only so very slightly, but it was there. Like my yaya’s.
“Very little,” I said. “Yaya wanted her son to learn English, so she kinda banned Greek in the house. Even my dad doesn’t speak it much.”
