Jenny hung up the phone with a shaking hand as the full impact of what Lee's parents had just told her hit her with shocking reality. She had been about to call them to tell them about Alan's "birthday present" and that they were thinking of coming to visit them after Alan's graduation in a few days. But just as she was reaching for the phone to call them, it had rung and it was her mother-in-law with a message that was going to change all of their lives.
"Thank God for speed dial," she thought, as she pressed the button for Lee's office number. She was shaking so hard she could hardly hold the receiver, never mind dial the number.
"Lee, I just got off the phone with your Mom," she stammered when Lee came on the line. "Something's happened and I need you to come home right away."
"My God, Hon, what's wrong? Are you okay? It's not Alan is it?"
"No, Love," she replied, trying desperately to hold back the tears that threatened to overwhelm her. "It's nothing like that. We're both fine. I'm not sure whether it's good news or devastating, but we can't talk about it on the phone. That's why I need you with me."
"Alright, Jenny. If you're sure you're okay, I'll be there as soon as I can. I'm heading out the door right now. Whatever it is, we'll work it out, so don't cry, okay? I'm on my way."
Driving home as fast as he legally and safely could, Lee tried his damndest to imagine what had Jenny so shook up. She was normally a very composed and together woman and he had seldom heard her so upset. "I hope nothing's happened to Mom or Dad," he worried. "But no, Jenny said she didn't know whether it was 'good news' or bad. It couldn't possibly be good news if it involved something happening to my parents."
Hardly pausing to shut off the engine, Lee jumped out of the car and rushed into the house looking for his wife. He found Jenny still sitting by the phone with a dazed look on her face and tears running down her cheeks. With a wan smile on her lips, she handed him a stiff drink; a copy of the one she had in her other hand.
"Honey, you're going to need this," she said softly. "I'm sorry to be such a mess, but I had to have you with me."
"Don't worry about it, Hon. I'm here now, so tell me what the fuck's going on."
"Sit down, Honey," said Jenny as the tears began to flow freely now that Lee was home. "Oh, Lee! It's Angie! Bill and Sarah were killed in a car crash outside Sidney and Angie's all alone."
Lee felt as if he had been hit in the stomach with a sledge hammer. "Oh, Christ, Jenny! Oh, no! Oh, goddamn!" He realized that he, too, was on the verge of tears. "When did Mom say this happened? Has she spoken to Angie? Oh, God, that poor kid.
"No, Mom didn't have many of the details. She said a police officer in Sidney called her because Bill and Sarah had your folks listed as next of kin. She said that Angie is with some close family friends and will be okay until we can sort things out and come for her."
"We are going to get her, then, aren't we?"
"Of course, Darling! Could there be any doubt? And your folks are going to Australia with us to get her. Your mom said they were prepared to do that with or without us. I told them you would want to go as much as I do, so we're all going as soon as we can make the arrangements."
"What about Alan?" asked Lee. "You know, Hon, we should have told about him that he had a sister years ago. It just seemed that the time was never quite right, ya know?"
"I know we should have," replied Jenny. "But I think now is definitely the right time, wouldn't you agree?"
"Yes, I do," said Lee. "I'll call the school and have them tell him we need him to come home right away; that something important has come up and we need him here."
"Well, be sure they tell him that it's not an emergency or anything. We don't want them scaring the hell out of him."
"Right," replied Lee as he dialed the school's number.
When a very worried Alan arrived home a short while later, his parents had recovered some of their equilibrium and were able to greet him with some degree of calm.
"Sit down, Son," said his father. "Your mother and I have something very important to tell you. It's something we should have shared with you a long time ago but couldn't bring ourselves to do. The long and short of it is that you have a younger sister whom we've never told you about."
"A sister?" stammered the confused young man. "What do you mean a sister? Where's she been? I don't understand?"
"I know, Darling," soothed his mother. "It's rather a complicated story, but it's time you knew the truth. You see, when your father and I got married, we were very young and pretty damn poor. We were both going to college full time and working part time jobs to make ends meet. Your grandparents helped out as much as they could but they were not all that well off themselves at the time. And then I got pregnant with you almost right away. And we loved you so much, so we just worked a little harder and even though things were pretty tough at times, we did manage to squeak by."
"But then just before you turned a year old, I found out that I was several months pregnant again. And there was no way we could afford to have or support another baby. And abortion was out of the question for us at the time. Of course, we told your grandparents about the problem and they offered to help us. It turned out that they knew a young couple that was distantly related to us who had just lost a baby girl and she could never have children again. There names were Bill and Sarah and they, too, had just graduated from college and had accepted positions with a multi-national company headquartered in Sidney, Australia. So before my baby was born we made all the arrangements for them to adopt the baby and take her to Australia with them. The baby was named 'Angelina' after your grandmother and it was decided that she would be called 'Angie'. Angie is your sister."
"I still don't understand why you never told me this," said Allen. "Didn't you think I was capable of handling it or what?
"No, Son," said Lee. "That was never the problem. The problem was with your mother and I. You see, we loved that baby as much as we loved you. And to give her up that way and never knowing if we would ever see her again was, without a doubt, the hardest thing we have ever done in our lives."
"But, at the same time, we knew it was the best thing we could do for our baby girl. Bill and Sarah loved her from the moment they first laid eyes on her. And she was such a beautiful baby. But we have never been able to completely eliminate our guilt of giving her up and it has been terribly difficult for both of us to even think of our loss, never mind to talk about it."
"Yes, I can understand that," murmured Alan. "I probably would have felt the same way. But why are you telling me this now?"
"Well, Honey," said Jenny, "I got a call from Grandma Angelina this afternoon. She and Grandpa Paul are Angie's Godparents. Grandma told me that she had gotten a call from police officials in Sidney to tell her that Angie's adopted parents had been killed in a traffic accident and that she had no relatives in Australia."
"Oh, shit," responded Alan. "The poor kid! I can't imagine what I would do if I lost either of you – never mind both of you. Dad, we have to do something. We can't just leave her there. She's my sister for Christ's sake. It doesn't matter that I never knew about her, we have to help her."
"I'm glad you feel that way," said Lee. "And we are going to do something about it. Your grandparents are making arrangements for us all to go to Australia and bring Angie home with us. We'll fly up and meet them there and we'll all go to Sidney together."
"Great," said Alan with a determined look in his soft brown eyes. "When do we leave? I'll go start packing."
"What about your graduation?" asked his mother. "If we leave now you'll miss the ceremony"
"I don't care about that," replied the boy. "This is my sister we're talking about and she needs us. I've already earned my diploma and the ceremony doesn't mean near as much to me as she does."
"Some how I thought that's what you'd say," smiled his father. "I'm proud of you Son."
"So am I," added his mother. "Now go get packed. We'll rent a plane and your father will fly us up there in the morning. The earliest flight we can get to Sidney doesn't leave until day after tomorrow, so we'll spend the night with Grampa and Grandma and leave the next day."
"But what about Angie?" asked Alan with a worried look. "She won't know we're coming or what we look like or anything. What if she doesn't like us and doesn't want to come back with us? I can imagine how scared and upset she must be, just losing her parents and all. I know I would be."
"I'm sure you're right, Darling," replied his mother gently. "But Grandma has e-mailed all of our pictures to the police in Sidney and they are going to give Angie the news. She, of course knows your grandparents although she's never met them. But she has corresponded with them and they've always sent her gifts and things so they're not complete strangers to her. But, yes, I'm certain she'll be very frightened and it will be up to us to sooth those fears and make her welcome to her new family. And she's always known she was adopted; she just didn't know that we were her birth parents"
Early the next morning, Lee flew the three of them to a small airport near his parent's ranch outside of San Francisco.
