Heck, she might even drag Max to the soup kitchen with her. She smiled at the thought. That would be nice, to have him serving right by her side, but she was almost certain he’d spend the day with his family. He’d talked about flying to the Cayman Islands to spend time with his parents. More than likely he’d choose that time of year to be with them. She would miss him but she’d be happy knowing that while she was busy at the kitchen he was having a good time with family.
And then one day, out of the blue, something happened that turned Silken’s life upside down. Suave was thrown upside down with her.
It was a Monday evening and, like always, Suave collected the letters from the mailbox on the ground floor and took them up to the apartment where she piled them neatly on the table. They never usually went through the mail until after dinner but this evening there was one particular envelope that caught Silken’s eye.
She picked it up, staring at the address label and frowned. “Wisconsin? Who do we know in Wisconsin?”
Suave pulled her head out of the refrigerator and looked at Silken, her brow furrowed. “Who’s it from? The only person I can think of would be the doctor we went to see.” Then her brows lifted. “Is it from him?”
Silken shook her head. “Nope. Some guy named Mr.…” She squinted her eyes. “What the heck is this? Mr. Deeleef?”
Suave’s eyes grew round. “Detlef. Do you mean Detlef? That’s the name of the doctor’s housekeeper.” She flashed her hands. “Maybe the doctor’s changed his mind. What are you waiting for? Open it.”
Silken ripped open the envelope and spread the single sheet of paper on the kitchen table. Suave was there right by her side, anxiously reading the words aloud. “I regret to advise you of the passing of Dr. Pintero. However, he requested that upon his death the attached information be passed on to you. Please see the details on your birth mother.”
Suave’s words ended in a scream and she quickly flipped to the other sheet. And there they saw it – Meredith Hannah Shockley, forty-nine Oakwood Lane, Barksdale, Wisconsin. There was no phone number, no e-mail address but there was a full name, a city and a street, and that was enough. Silken screamed and hopped off the chair and Suave screamed and hugged her and then the two of them were hugging each other and jumping up and down, screaming their heads off.
When they finally stopped screaming they dropped down onto the kitchen chairs, panting.
“Can you believe it?” Suave said, her eyes still wide with disbelief. “We’re going to find our mother.” She looked up at the ceiling. “Thank you, God.”
“I…I still can’t believe it.” Silken pushed her arm closer to her sister. “Pinch me. Tell me I’m not dreaming.”
“You’re not dreaming,” Suave said with a laugh, “or else we’d be having the same exact dream. This is like the best day ever.” There were tears in her eyes as she looked back down at the letter. “And Dr. Pintero helped us in the end, and we won’t ever get the chance to thank him.”
“It’s okay,” Silken whispered, patting her hands. “I’m sure he knows how grateful we are for this chance of a lifetime.” She drew in her breath and let it out with a sigh. “Now our journey begins,” she said, as she gazed out the window. “It’s time to find our mother.”
***
When Silken told Max the good news he immediately got involved. “I have the perfect P.I. who can help you locate her,” he said. “With all this information, she’ll be easy to find.”
And he was right. Within four days of passing on their mother’s name and address to the private investigator he was contacting them with concrete information on her current whereabouts.
“She hasn’t moved around much,” he told them, “which made it a whole lot easier for me. She’s been pretty much in and around the Madison area all her life.”
They learned that she was now Mrs. Meredith Albright, the wife of a pastor who ran a church in Baraboo, mother of a twenty-two year old son and an eighteen-year-old daughter. That surprised Silken. Their mother had started a family soon after giving them up. Still, she didn’t dwell on it. Right now all she wanted to do was find their mother.
“How can we reach her?” she asked as she and Suave sat huddled close to the speaker on the phone, intent on catching every word that the P.I. said. “Is it okay if we call?”
“No. Let me handle it for the moment. This is a very sensitive matter.” Russell Banner's voice was firm. “I know you’re anxious but we have to take this slow. Remember, your mother specifically requested that her identity never be revealed.” There was a slight pause then he said, “The only reason the doctor even gave you this information is because he’s gone. She can’t sue him in the grave.”
Silken and Suave looked at each other, both obviously thinking the same thing. It was a sobering thought, the idea of their mother even wanting to sue. Why would she? Wouldn’t she be thrilled to finally see her daughters again?
In the end they agreed to make Mr. Banner make first contact with Meredith. It would dampen the shock, he said, allow her time to adjust to the idea that her girls wanted to see her and be a part of her life.
Then finally, in the first week of November, they got the news. Meredith had agreed to see them. If they could fly out to Wisconsin the following week she would meet them in Madison at Michelangelo’s Coffee House on State Street and they could talk.
For all that week both twins were on edge, anxiously awaiting the arrival of that long anticipated day when they would see their mother’s face for the first time. She would open her arms to them, tears in her eyes, and hug them to her, begging them to forgive her for letting them go.
They would forgive her, of course, because she would have a good reason for giving them up. Maybe she had been too young or too poor to care for them and she’d only wanted what was best.
Silken and Suave flew into Madison, Wisconsin, the day before the appointed date and rented a car through the hotel’s concierge. They planned to arrive at their meeting place half an hour early. There was nothing that would make them late for the most important meeting of their lives.