Not My Mother by Miranda Smith (lightweight ebook reader .txt) 📕

That’s why she didn’t react the first time a young woman made a complaint about Bruce. This woman, a colleague, alleged he’d groped her—a completely ridiculous claim considering he wasn’t particularly lustful with his own wife. He ended up taking a job at Phillips Academy, which was the solution to that—all the teachers there were male. Only the students were female, far too young to grab his attention.

When the first complaint came in, she knew it was nonsense. Not only would her husband never be attracted to a teenager, but the allegation had come from the girl’s lawyer. The family offered to be discreet about the matter, as long as the Parkers could agree upon a certain sum. Complete money grab. Amelia had seen this before, had overheard her father handling scandals of his own. People hear Boone or Parker, they get all sorts of greedy ideas.

The second complaint came from a known friend of the first girl. What were the odds? Did they really think her husband would be so stupid? No, it was clearly another attempt to rob them blind. Amelia had wanted to fight them on that one, show people they weren’t to be fooled, but Bruce and the lawyers had assured her it would be in their best interest to avoid scandal. And really, the amount the accuser was asking for might have made a difference in her pitiful life, but barely dented the Boone-Parker trust.

Besides, Amelia had bigger things that required her focus. She was unable to get pregnant. Had never been, actually. They kept trying; after a few months of inaction, they would try a different doctor, a newer drug.

As the years passed, Bruce was becoming less engrossed with her. Less interested in babies. When she mentioned adoption, he would get antsy. Wasn’t his thing, he said. Don’t we do enough charity? He had no desire to prove himself to a bunch of strangers. Beg them to choose him. And if those sexual misconduct allegations kept being raised against him, it would be impossible for even a Boone or Parker to adopt.

Amelia realized Bruce wasn’t going to try anymore; if she wanted a family, she would have to make it happen herself. And if she couldn’t get pregnant, something would need to fall into their laps. That’s what she was thinking that day at the center as she stared out the window, watching the falling rain.

That’s when she saw her. Young. Modest. Pregnant? It was hard to tell.

“Yucky day today,” she’d said. “Sarah, right?”

The girl was all too eager to respond.

45 MarionNow

Carmen knocks on the door before opening it. Mom and I both turn in her direction.

“Sorry to interrupt,” she says. “Marion, do you have a minute?”

“Sure.” I give Mom another smile before exiting the room. I follow Carmen to the lobby, where I find Des waiting with Ava. She wanted to join us on the off-chance Mom would be allowed other visitors.

“Have you read the letters?” I ask Carmen.

“Yes. I’ll have to dig into them a bit more. Is that okay?”

“Do what you need.”

“She filled me in on the big parts,” Des says, balancing Ava on her knee. “One hell of a story.”

“Do you think these letters can help Mom’s case?”

“They could. I was hoping to talk with Eileen about them,” Carmen replies.

“That Amelia sure is something,” Des says, staring ahead at nothing. It’s like she’s working something out in her own head, not fully tuned in to our chatter.

“I know.” I’ve not fully acknowledged my anger toward Amelia. “Given what we know now, why do you think Amelia was pushing for a DNA test?”

“After all this time, I think they found Sarah Paxton and Baby Caroline and she couldn’t just act like none of it mattered,” Carmen says. “What exactly did she say to you about taking a test?”

“She told me all she needed was a cheek swab, and she’d be able to sort everything out.”

“Sort everything out. She wanted you to hand over a sample,” Des says. “She never asked you to join her at the facility?”

“No.”

“Amelia Boone Parker has enough money to fabricate results,” Carmen says. “She wanted to be the one to run the test so she could alter the findings.”

“What about the police test?” I ask. “At some point they’d find out I wasn’t her biological daughter. She must have thought of that.”

“I’m sure she did, and she has enough money to tinker with the system, too. That must be why there is no mention of an adoption anywhere. We have to remember the bulk of this crime took place in the eighties. It was a lot easier to fudge paperwork back then.”

“But hiding a birth? An entire pregnancy?”

“Eileen wrote in the letters she didn’t tell anyone else about the pregnancy. She quit working after Cliff died. She didn’t even go to a doctor until late on, and that was arranged by Amelia.”

Carmen is chasing theories; it’s what she’s paid to do. What she’s saying makes sense on the surface, but I still don’t fully understand Amelia’s motive now, all these years later.

“We’ll figure it out,” Des says, looking down at Ava. “All that matters is Eileen is awake and she’s safe. And we finally have a shot at proving her innocent. She’s not the monster people are making her out to be.”

The monster I thought she was, I think, a guilty knot writhing in my stomach.

“Do you think she’s up for a quick conversation?” Carmen asks me. “She didn’t have the best reaction the last time we tried to bring up the case.”

“Yeah. I think she can handle it now.”

My phone pings with a message.

It’s Amelia. Reading her name on the screen sends a shiver down my spine.

“What is it?” Des asks. She must notice the strange look on my face.

“Amelia texted me. She wants to meet up again. She called yesterday, too.”

“Tell her she can go to—”

“Wait,” Carmen interrupts Des before she can go into a rant. “You don’t want to