The House on Prytania (Royal Street #2)(14)
Author: Karen White
“So,” I said, directing my attention to Sunny, “how are you settling in?”
She looked at Mimi. “Really great. I had no idea when I started my search that I’d find an entire long-lost family who’d been looking for me all these years!”
I listened to her speak and tried to place her accent. I remembered it from the first time we’d met, when she’d shown up at my apartment looking for Beau. She was blond and petite, and when she smiled it was clear why her family had nicknamed her Sunny. “Your accent . . .” I began.
“Is from all over,” Sunny said. “My dad—I mean, my adoptive dad—was in the Air Force, so I moved around a lot. He retired about ten years ago and moved back to his hometown in Minnesota. I went to high school there, so I probably sound more Midwestern than anything else.”
I nodded, although I didn’t completely agree. During my time in California I’d met lots of people from all over the country sucked in by the lure of fame and fortune on the West Coast like lint to a dryer vent—my mom included. They erased their accents faster than their savings, so that they sounded like they were from everywhere and nowhere at the same time. My gaze slid down her arm, where I’d seen a small fleur-de-lis tattoo the first time I’d met her.
She saw me looking and turned over her wrist so we could all see the pale, blue-veined skin where the small iconic symbol of New Orleans sat like a brand. “I got this as soon as I found out about my real family.” Sunny smiled at Mimi. “It’s funny, really. I’ve always felt a tugging feeling whenever I would see a fleur-de-lis. My mom said that I would be obsessed with any news story that showed Mardi Gras footage of the floats and the crowds and all the crazy costumes and beads. For my first Halloween after I was adopted, I wanted to be a Mardi Gras queen.” A small smile graced her pixie-like face. “Mom had no idea what a Mardi Gras queen costume was. She ended up getting a Disney princess dress and putting lots of feathers and sequins on it and making a matching mask. It was wonderful, even if nobody knew what I was supposed to be.”
I looked from Beau to Mimi, waiting for one of them to take the lead in the conversation, to put all the missing pieces into some sort of explanation of how Sunny had come to be back in New Orleans, but they both seemed too busy staring adoringly at her. Which, I suppose, made sense. It wasn’t exactly how I’d been greeted after being separated from my father for the first thirteen years of my life, but I guess not everybody could be so lucky as to have a family actively searching for them.
Not willing to sit in silence, especially when there were so many questions that needed answering, I said, “So . . .” I stopped, not sure where to start, and chose the most general question I could think of. “What’s your story?”
Sunny shrugged. “I’ve told this story so many times in the last few weeks that it’s hard to remember where to begin.” She looked at Mimi for support.
“She didn’t even know she was adopted until she was in high school,” Mimi said, patting Sunny’s leg. “Her adoptive parents thought it best. They never wanted her to feel as if she didn’t belong.”
Her words were like a small sting around the vicinity of my heart for reasons I wasn’t yet prepared to fully examine. “How did you find out?” I asked.
Her bright blue eyes were clear as they met mine. “The student council at my school was doing a blood drive, and my friends were all donating blood, so I donated, too. They were giving out coupons to a local restaurant if we brought more people, so I got my parents to donate. That’s when I found out that they’re both O positives. I’m an AB negative. We’d studied blood types in biology, so I knew that wasn’t possible.”
“That would do it,” I said. “Of course, anyone who watches CSI would know that, too, but whatever works.”
Beau looked at me and frowned, as if he could see the tiny chip on my shoulder. I was happy that Sunny had found her way back home. It was nothing short of a miracle, which certainly didn’t explain my mixed emotions every time I looked at her and saw her bright, sunny smile. Maybe I was comparing her situation with mine, which wasn’t fair. She’d been taken and was absent from their lives for all but the first two years of her life.
“Nobody’s mentioned your adoptive parents having been arrested, so I’m guessing they weren’t involved in your kidnapping.”
Sunny looked down at her lap while Beau and Mimi shared a glance, leaving me to shift in my seat and wonder what they weren’t telling me. “It was a private adoption,” Beau said. “But the paperwork has vanished and the adoption lawyer they used either never existed or did a great job of covering his tracks.”
I looked up to find Beau’s gaze on me, his thoughts reflecting mine. I thought about my conversation with Sam, and how she wanted me to involve myself with the people who had the power, reach, and lack of conscience to steal a child from her family and leave no trace of their involvement. Or at least knew the right people to bribe. An involuntary shiver blew across the back of my neck as I considered again what that family might be capable of if they discovered anyone digging into a past they preferred to leave buried.
“Yeah, Mom and Dad figured that out, too,” Sunny said, her voice just barely audible. “It took me about six months to talk myself into asking to find my birth parents, and that’s when we discovered what happened.”
I took a slow sip of my water, letting it slide down my suddenly dry throat. “So how in the world did you end up here?”
“Reddit.” She lifted her hands, palms up. “I know, right? Who knew social media could actually do something productive?”
“Actually,” Jolene said, accepting another Sazerac from Christopher while studiously avoiding my gaze, “I find Instagram a wonderful way to discover new makeup tips, with great tutorials. They’re almost as good as a big Barbie head.”
“Right,” Sunny said slowly. “Anyway, I ended up in a forum that shares information about missing children.” Her voice broke, and she dipped her head to regain her composure. “I didn’t know that I was missing at that point, but I’d have to be pretty oblivious for the thought not to have occurred to me.” She gave me a wobbly smile. “It’s actually pretty amazing. I shared that I was looking for information on my birth parents, but all I had was my approximate birth year and a picture of what I looked like right after I was adopted. And then . . .”
Sunny was interrupted by the appearance of a fat black cat, its measuring green eyes taking in the room and its occupants as it stalked onto the Aubusson rug. It paused in front of the sofa, twisting its glossy head before choosing Sunny’s legs to rub against, then settling down at her feet.