Her Name Was Annie by Beth Rinyu (the little red hen read aloud txt) 📕

Jack and I spent the next few hours looking through old photographs and going down memory lane. He was included in so many of them. I was amazed by all the old birthday cards my mother had saved. Handmade ones made by me when I was a child and ones I had sent to her just a few years ago. As I reached the bottom of the box there was an envelope addressed to my mother, with a postmark of December 1971 stamped on it. I took out the letter and unfolded it while Jack continued to rifle through the photos.

December 28, 1971

Dear Sandy,

Congratulations on your beautiful baby girl. You and Walter waited so long for this. Joe and I can’t wait to meet her. This must be the best Christmas present ever for you both! I know you must be busy getting her all settled in with just bringing her home a few days ago, so we’ll wait a few months before we make the trip down. In the meantime, enjoy her, love her, and spoil her! I know you will!

All our love ~

Joyce and Joe

I looked at the date over and over along with the words in the letter. December 1971. I was born in August of 1971. Why would my parents just be bringing me home in December?

“What’s wrong?” Jack asked, seemingly sensing my confusion.

“Read this and tell me if it makes sense.” He took the paper from my hand and concentrated.

“That was written in December and you were—”

“Exactly.” I cut him off. “It doesn’t make sense. Did I have something wrong with me that required me to be in the hospital for an extended amount of time after I was born? I would think my parents would’ve told me that…or at least I hope they would’ve.”

Jack picked up the letter once again and looked it over as I got up and stared out the kitchen window.

“All of those pictures in that box start from when I was around four or five months old. None of them as a newborn.”

Jack rifled through the photos in front of him. I knew what he was doing—trying to find one of me as a newborn to put my mind at ease, but I already knew, there was none.

“What do you think this means?” I asked, picking up the letter once again, this time like it was a bomb getting ready to detonate.

“I don’t know.” Jack shook his head and whispered, “But I think you know the one person who could answer that for you.”

I fought back the burn in my eyes. Was this letter in my hand the reason she kept that drawer locked? Was everything I believed my entire life a lie, and the two people I had trusted the most the liars? As hard as I tried, I couldn’t keep my tears at bay any longer. I wanted to know the truth, but at the same time, I was scared to death to find out. Jack got up and wrapped his arms around me. I wanted to push him away, but I couldn’t because in that moment, he was the only thing I knew to be true at one point in my life.

Chapter 14

I LAY AROUND for most of the morning after Jack had left. The answers to my questions were only a short drive or a phone call away, but instead I chose to plague myself with those endless questions. Questions I knew I’d never have the answers to on my own. Funny thing was I always prided myself as taking after my father because my mother and I were so different physically. She was a short redhead with bright blue eyes, and I was a tall brunette with eyes that were the deepest, darkest brown.

Now that I thought about it, I didn’t resemble my father at all either. Yes, he was tall, but the gray hair he was sporting now was always a shade of light auburn when he was younger, and his eyes were hazel. I remember how they’d laugh and go along with it whenever I’d say I resembled him. Were they laughing at me for being so foolish or were they laughing out of relief that I wasn’t onto their secret?

Then there was the other idea I had spinning around in my head: was I sick when I was born? Did I have to spend time in the hospital and maybe that’s why they brought me home months later? I was hoping more than anything that was the case. My mother would tell me every chance she got that I was the most perfect child in the world. Perhaps the perfectionist in her believed if I had known I didn’t have a good start in life, then I wouldn’t believe her words to be true. All the scenarios in my mind were driving me mad. I needed to know the truth and I was hoping my father was willing to give it to me.

_______________

“This is a nice surprise! I get to see my girl twice in one weekend.” My father’s smile was a mile wide when I entered the family room. I was certain that smile would soon fade and his glee would dissipate once he knew the purpose of my visit. “I know I said I wasn’t going to bother with a Christmas tree this year, but something made me get it down from the attic. Maybe it was your mother. You know how much she loved Christmas. Come on and help me decorate it. You used to love doing this when you were a little girl.” He waved me over toward the tree as he continued adorning the branches with ornaments.

“Dad, can we sit for a minute? I have something I need to ask you.”

“Sure.” He agreed, taking a step back and examining his work on the tree before sitting down on the couch beside me. “What’s going on, my love?”

“I went through some of Mom’s old papers