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

finger on the rim of my coffee cup. “We actually talked about it for the first time last night. Seventeen years after it happened and eight years after our divorce.”

“It sounds to me that you still love him a lot.”

“Of course, I love him, he’s the father of my child, and I’ve known him since high school. I don’t love some of the choices he made, but I do love him as a person.”

She scratched her head, then folded her hands on the table. “Maybe you should tell him that.”

“That I love him?” I let out a nervous laugh.

“Yes,” she replied matter-of-factly.

“I couldn’t do that.”

“Why not? You just said you do.”

“Yes, but we’re finally in a good place now.” At least I thought we were. After sleeping with him, I wasn’t exactly sure where we stood anymore. “I think he knows I’ll always care about him without me saying it.”

“If there is one bit of advice you’ll allow me to give you, let it be this. Please don’t have any regrets. Fight for what makes you happy and what you love at all costs. I often think if I had just defied my parents and told them I was keeping you. If I had refused to sign those adoption papers, things would’ve been so different.”

“You would’ve been a teenage mother, struggling to care for a baby all on your own. What you did was the most courageous and unselfish thing a person could ever do, and I admire you so much for it. Please don’t ever second-guess yourself.”

“That means so much coming from you,” she whispered. She gazed down at her watch and sighed. “I don’t want our time to end.” I didn’t either, such a stark contrast as to how I was feeling a few hours ago. There was so much more I wanted to know about her, so much more I wanted to tell her about my life, but I knew she had a flight to catch.

“Me neither.” I smiled. “I really would like to keep in touch, if that’s okay with you.”

“Is that okay with me? Are you crazy? It’s my dream come true!” She beamed.

“I would love for you to meet Kara and my father.”

“Oh, honey, you just tell me when, and I’ll be on the next flight out here.”

We exchanged phone numbers, paid the bill, and embraced in a hug that made up for all the ones we had missed out on over the years. It was weird how we had each entered that coffee shop alone as strangers, tense and frightened, not knowing how the other would respond. But as we exited together, we were two missing pieces that had finally been connected and totally in sync with the other.

Chapter 26

I WAS THANKFUL for the text I had gotten from Kara, letting me know she was running to the store for a bit. I was mentally exhausted and needed some time alone to process everything from the last few hours. There was so much recapping of the story I needed to divulge to everyone—Kara, Jack, and my father, but for those few silent moments, it was something that was just between Francesca and me.

I was amazed at how easily I was able to talk to her, especially about the baby. That was a subject that was always off-limits with anyone, but the words spewed out so easily with her. Maybe it was because I knew she could relate over how it felt to have your child ripped from your body and your heart. I had planned to call my father and ask him over for dinner, so I could tell him and Kara all the details at the same time.

Then there was the letter I had placed on the counter just begging to be read. As I stared at my name written on the envelope, it was hard to fathom how a name I had written thousands upon thousands of times could look so foreign to me. My whole life I had gone by that name, but to Francesca, I had always been Annie. What would my life have been like if I was Annie instead of Stephanie? Would my Kara be a different version of the perfect girl I loved so much? I would’ve never known the love my mother and father had given me my entire life, and I would’ve never met Jack.

I put the envelope back in my purse, not ready to open it just yet. The one thing I couldn’t avoid any longer was letting Jack know what I had discovered, so he could halt whatever time and effort he was putting into this investigation of my father. I remembered him mentioning a meeting this afternoon, so I sent him a text instead of calling.

Me: Call me when you get a chance. I found out a lot of information that you need to know about.

Within a minute my phone rang, and Jack’s name flashed across the screen.

“How’d it go?” he asked after I answered.

“Actually, really good. She’s a very nice person. Do you have a few minutes to talk?” I was in such a haze when I’d gotten home, I’d forgotten I had let Max outside, only being reminded when he began scratching on the back slider.

“Yeah. What’s up?” he asked as I got up to open the door and let Max inside. I paced around the entire lower level of my house with Max on my heels while I filled Jack in on the details of my meeting with Francesca. He eagerly listened, asking questions every now and then, seeming just as shocked as I was by the entire story. “Wow,” he whispered into the phone. I finally took a seat back in the kitchen where I started out.

“Yeah, that’s what I thought when she told me. It was so sad and tragic, and the way he ended it all.” I left out the part about the letter he had left me. I knew the investigator side of Jack