David hesitated, then finally said, “You’re pregnant?”
“Yeah. And when my mom found out, she said ‘like mother, like daughter,’ so I know my birth mom was young, maybe even younger than me. I want to know if my baby will have any medical complications or if my birth mother had any with me. And…” She sighed, then repeated, “I just need to know why.”
“Listen, the most important thing to remember is your mom wanted you to have a good life with a family who could take care of you, maybe in ways she wasn’t able to at that time. Hold on to that.” He rubbed his eyes, tired, and his heart was breaking for this girl. “And if your adoptive mom knows your birth mom was young, there’s more she might know, too.”
“Okay,” she said. “I think you should call them.”
“Thanks, Lisa. Now, if I do verify the identity of your birth mother, I have to warn you that she might not want to see you. It’s not that she didn’t love you before she gave you away, but that she most likely hasn’t told the rest of the family. If she has one,” he quickly said, not wanting Lisa to get the impression he knew who her birth mother was for sure.
“I know,” she said, but he wondered if she really did. Too many times he’d seen hopeful children hurt in situations like these. “Sorry for not being upfront with you about all this.”
“No worries. We just want the best outcome for you—for you to feel some closure, whether you get together with your birth mother or not. And maybe have some peace of mind where your baby is concerned.”
“Okay, thanks.”
“I’ll keep you posted.” They hung up, and David took a deep breath. Jimmy had a happy ending; could he go two for two?
He told Elizabeth and Sheri what he’d learned about the case.
“I see what you mean when you say no telling how these cases are going to turn out,” Elizabeth said.
“Yeah, and also: everybody lies,” Sheri said.
David smiled, heading back to make the call to Lisa Lamont’s adoptive mother.
He’d barely introduced himself when she said, “You’re trying to find Lisa’s birth parents, aren’t you?”
David raised his brows. “Uh, yeah, she said it was okay to call you to ask some questions.”
“Listen. Reese Riley is Lisa’s birth mother. She was sixteen and wild. Reese and I were friends in high school. She would never tell me who got her pregnant. She might not have known who it was herself. My parents took in Lisa when she was just a baby, raising her as their own after Reese’s parents disowned her. But they began to both have health issues, so when I was nineteen and married, I formally adopted Lisa from them. She was three years old at the time.”
“You were young yourself,” David said.
“I was. But I’d been told I couldn’t have kids, which, newsflash, turns out I could, but I already loved Lisa, who’d always felt more like my daughter than my little sister. Besides, Reese’s parents shipped Reese off right after Lisa was born, even though I know it crushed Reese, and it was clear they wanted nothing to do with Lisa, so it just made sense for her to be with me.” She sighed. “I totally lost track of Reese after that. I don’t know what her married name is now, or if she’s even married. She could be dead for all I know.
“I feel terrible about what I said to Lisa when I found out she was pregnant. I said it in a moment of anger, and as soon as the words were out of my mouth, I realized how much I must have sounded like Reese’s parents. I never want her to feel unloved like Reese must have. I want to be there for her and the baby.”
“Well, Lisa wants to learn about her birth mother and wants to know if she’s going to have any medical difficulties with having the baby. I can tell her what you’ve told me, or you can. Which would you prefer?” David asked.
“I’m afraid things might not go well between us if it’s just the two of us. Can we meet in your office and discuss this? You could be the mediator.”
“Yeah, sure. Do you want to call Lisa and ask her when she would like to come in? I’m free all afternoon,” David said.
“I’ll call her and talk to her about meeting with her at your office. I’ll let you know what she says,” Ms. Lamont said.
David hung up, hoping Lisa and her mom—her adoptive mom—could work it out. There was clearly a lot of love there.
He told Sheri and Elizabeth what he had learned.
“Okay, so if she had just asked her adoptive mother in the first place, she wouldn’t have incurred any investigative charges,” Sheri said. “Do we still get paid?”
David smiled. “Yeah. She signed a contract. But beyond that, if the woman on Facebook is the mother, the two of you did locate her. We’ll have the discussion in my office to wrap up matters. After that, it’s up to Lisa to reach out to her birth mother or not. We don’t have to take any part in that.”
“So is Reese the same woman we found on Facebook?” Sheri asked.
“I would say so, but when Mrs. Lamont comes in, I’ll get a confirmation.” David’s phone rang.
“We’ll come at two, if that works fine for you,” Mrs. Lamont said.
“It does. Thanks. And I’ll send a picture of Reese Matthews to you to see if you can identify her as your friend,” David said. “Hold on.”
It was quiet for a minute while David sent a link to the Facebook profile, and Mrs. Lamont got it. “Yeah, that’s her… Oh wow, she even has a couple of pictures on there with me when we were kids at the beach and on a hike, about a year before she got pregnant.”
“Maybe your friendship isn’t really over.”
Mrs. Lamont agreed. “Okay, we’ll see you in a little while.”
“Okay, see you then.”
David gave a satisfied sigh, glancing at a wall calendar to check the day. Everything had been so crazy lately, he’d kind of lost track of things. It was a Friday. If he could wrap up the Lamont case, he would be free to do something special with Elizabeth. Maybe even all weekend long. In any event, he planned to do as much as he could with her, to show her the area, to spend some downtime with her, and just enjoy being with her.
The guys all covered for each other if they had something special they wanted to do with their significant others, or even if a couple of the guys wanted to do something, so he was certain they would take any cases that needed immediate attention over the weekend.
He glanced out the window of his office at her, watching as she and Sheri chatted while tackling yet more of their paperwork. He reminded himself he didn’t want to overwhelm her with doing too much. He didn’t need to cram it all into one three-day weekend.