Paying the Piper

Twenty-Four, Part 2: Aurora

Bringing up the topic was the problem.

As Mom was standing at the stove, frying eggs for Dad who had a vet call today, it reminded me of the day she had been cooking and I brought up my lack of baby pictures. Maybe I could go that route.

"I know why I don't have any baby pictures," I said.

She paused, glancing at me, but she didn't seem to realize the depth of how much I knew. "Oh?" The noncommittal response almost made me wonder if she had heard me clearly.

"And I know about Aurora and my being found in the woods," I added.

That, at least, made her flip off the stove and turn her full attention to me. Still looking at me, she called, "Derek?"

Dad came in, buckling his belt. "You called?"

Mom mutely pointed at me, so I repeated myself. "I know about my origins and my birth mom. I know I was found in the woods."

Dad rubbed his eyes and sunk down at the table. "Why don't we have a chat?" His shirt was only half tucked in. "I always planned to tell you."

Mom eased into a chair across from me, eggs forgotten. "And even if I'm not your birth mom, I always have and will see you as my daughter. I hope you realize that nothing need change between any of us."

Faye from a few days ago would have freaked out and probably held this against them. But now that I had my full span of memories and the threat of Dorian looming over me, well, some things simply weren't as life-altering anymore.

I rubbed a finger along the grains of the table and nodded. "I get why you wouldn't have wanted to bring it up. It was so long ago and everything about it was...crazy." I glanced up at them. "And I do see you both as my parents."

As he ran a hand through his hair, ruining whatever kind of comb job he had done before, Dad breathed out slowly. "What questions do you have?"

If anything, I knew more than they did about all the events of my birth parents' love story, my birth, my "feral" upbringing and why it all happened. So maybe that was the other reason I was accepting it all so calmly. "I Googled some articles and saw them. It made me remember some things from a long time ago too." I did have one question, though. "Where is Aurora's grave?"

Dad looked concerned or perhaps apologetic of what he was about to say. "She didn't have any family that I knew of. So in the end, I had her cremated and scattered her ashes in the forest. I knew it was where she would have preferred to be." He crossed his arms. "I'm sorry you don't have anywhere to visit her or any family of hers to talk to."

"No, it's all right. I understand." It did seem fitting that her ashes were scattered in the forest where she belonged. Thinking of her body in a cemetery somewhere, unvisited and unknown seemed much worse.

 "Do you.." He paused and exhaled. "Maybe I shouldn't ask." Dad looked torn.

I shrugged. "Go ahead."

"Do you remember anything from before you were found in the woods? The foxes? How you survived? Your mother? Birth mother?" he amended, reaching over and taking Mom's hand in his. Then with his other hand, he reached out for my hand. We were joined together, the three of us, with Dad the link between us. Except by now, Lorie was fully a mother to me as well.

The bits I did remember—or had been told—wouldn't mean anything to my parents. So I shook my head. "No, just blurs of being in the forest."

"I guess you wouldn't remember Aurora. She passed away when you were much too young." Dad gazed off into the distance. Then his eyes spotted the clock and he jumped. "It's already five to 9:00? I'm late." But he forced himself to turn to me. "Not that being late is the most important thing. I can call and reschedule if you want to talk more."

"No, I'm good."

"You sure? Let's talk more this afternoon when we're all home."

"No, really, it's okay. We're a family and have been a family for as long as I remember. That's all that matters now." I smiled at them, grateful for Mom returning my smile. "I just wanted you to know what I had learned."

Dad nodded. "All right then, if you're sure." He stood and found his eggs still in the pan, scooping one entire into his mouth.

He finished getting ready for his vet visit, calling the owner to let them know he was running a bit late. Then Mom and I waved goodbye to him as he left out the back door.

It felt like a weight had been lifted from me. I took the stairs up to my room two at a time, smiling to myself. I felt like I could conquer anything, and I figured I ought to start with Hannah. I grabbed my phone and punched in a text message to her. Then I erased it. It was more mature to call her than hide behind a text message. So I clicked her contact and brought my phone to my ear.

It didn't even ring before rolling over to voicemail. I wasn't ready to leave a message, so I hung up. She must have left her phone off. After waiting a few minutes and rehearsing what I could say in a voicemail, I called again.

"Hi Hannah. It's Faye. I wanted to call and talk to you about what happened last night. I did not ask Ryland to the dance. Ellie was spreading lies. Please call so we can talk about it. Bye."

After that, I dug out some homework to begin working on it. But my attention kept drifting to everything non-school happening. So when my phone beeped with a text alert, I nearly leaped for the phone.

When I grabbed it, expecting to see a message from Hannah, I was disappointed to see Rhia's name instead. But as I read her message, my heart began to pound.

Have you seen Hannah? She's not at home.

Then her additional line that appeared made all my formal excitement and pride evaporate. This was bad.

I'm not sure she ever reached home last night.

*******

Author's Note: Aaaand now we're caught back up to where we left Quentin's chapter. 

Image credit: https://pixabay.com/photos/fried-egg-egg-egg-yolk-breakfast-703904/