Part 20 (1/2)
”Working on it.”
She saw his lack of success as a validation of her own. ”It's not easy, is it.”
”No, but we'll get there. We'll find the man and learn whether there's anything else we ought to know.”
”Like what?”
”Medical conditions. That's what all this is about. Once we're fully informed, we can put this behind us and move on.”
Dana wasn't appeased. ”It isn't about information. It's about us!” Discouraged, she said, ”For what it's worth, I have a lead. I found someone who might have known my father.”
He raised a brow. ”Someone here?”
”No. A friend of my mother's in Wisconsin. I found a letter she sent after I was born. It suggested that my mother was with the man for longer than a week.”
”Really? Interesting. But if he was a student, 'Jack Jones' wasn't his name. Lakey did check that out.”
”Then 'Jack Jones' wasn't his name,” Dana concluded.
”Can you reach this woman?” Hugh asked.
”I don't know.”
”Should I have Lakey try?”
”No. I'll do it.” She saw the doubt in his eyes. ”I'm capable, Hugh. I could have found my father years ago, could have hired my own detective, but I didn't want to find him badly enough. But you do. So I'll do it. Because I respect that you need to know.”
He stared at her. ”I'm the bad guy then?”
”d.a.m.n it, yes!” she cried. ”I keep thinking back to the first few hours after Lizzie was born, and realizing that the experience would have been totally different if you hadn't wanted to explain away her color so that no one thought it was your problem. Well, it is, Hugh. Only it doesn't have to be a problem. Why can't we be proud of our daughter? Why can't we send out the birth announcement? Do you love Lizzie, or don't you? Do you love me, or don't you? That's what it's about, Hugh.” She touched her heart. ”It's about what's here.”
Chapter 16.
On Thursday, after two days of hesitation, Dana approached Gillian Kline at the shop. She had been close all of Dana's life. Dana trusted her judgment.
”I found a letter from an Eileen O'Donnell to my mother,” she said, and waited for a sign of recognition.
But Gillian frowned. ”The name isn't familiar. Who is she?”
”She was a dormmate of my mom's. Her married name is McCain. Eileen O'Donnell McCain.”
”I don't recognize it.”
Dana showed her the letter and waited while she read it. Then she said, ”Maybe I should ignore it. How could she have been anyone important in my mother's life if you don't know her name?”
”Because,” Gillian said reasonably, ”your mother was in Madison for three years, and I wasn't with her. I couldn't have known all her friends. There may have been friends she chose not to mention.”
”But why would she do that?”
”Maybe because they knew him. Liz led us all to believe that the guy was a one-night stand, but according to this letter, that wasn't so.”
Dana persisted. ”But who is Eileen O'Donnell, and why should I believe her?”
Gillian put an arm around her shoulders. ”Because you have no one else. Besides, it's not like she wrote you that letter. She wrote it to your mother, a.s.suming no one else would see it, which gives it validity.”
”Then you think I should call?”
Gillian smiled sadly. ”I think yes. You've come this far. You'll always wonder. That is, if you can find her phone number.”
Dana let out a resigned breath. ”I already have.”
”Via Hugh's detective?”
”No. The Alumni Directory. It's online.”
Gillian smiled in a wise way. ”So, sweetie, isn't there a message in that?”
Dana made the call, but not for herself. She was still torn about wanting to know who her father was, all the more so now with the suggestion that her mother had wanted to avoid him. She didn't make the call for Hugh, either. She did it for Lizzie. The child had been born with genetic traits that were going to impact her life. In time, she would ask questions. She deserved answers.
Eileen O'Donnell McCain lived in Middleton, a Madison suburb. Dana punched in the number as she stood in the family room. The ba.s.sinet was nearby, the baby kicking her little arms and legs.
A teenaged girl answered.
”I'd like to talk with Eileen McCain, please,” Dana said.
There was a half-hidden groan-the girl was clearly hoping for someone else-but a nonetheless civil ”Who's calling?”
Dana took a breath. Time to commit. ”It's Dana Joseph.” No need to offer her married name. This was the one her mother's friend would know, and she did use it professionally. ”My mother was a college friend of Mrs. McCain.”
”Hold on.” The receiver fell with a clatter.
After a minute, there was a wary ”h.e.l.lo?” This voice was more mature.
”Mrs. McCain?”
”Yes?”
”I'm Dana Joseph. I believe you knew my mother in college-Elizabeth Joseph?”
The woman's voice quickly warmed. ”Liz. Of course. And you're the daughter. I'm so pleased you called. I heard well after the fact that your mother had died. I'm sorry. She was a wonderful person.”
Dana would have loved to ask, In what way? She remembered so little that even in spite of all that Ellie Jo and Gillian had told her, she hungered for more. But that wasn't her first priority. ”Thank you,” she said simply. ”I was actually going through an old knitting stash of hers and found the directions you sent for your grandmother's Faroese shawl. I'm an avid knitter like my mom, so I opened up the directions, and there was the letter you sent along with them. You implied that you knew the man who fathered me. The thing is, I've just had a baby and there's a medical situation-well, not actually medical, but a physical situation-that I want to check out, so I'd like to contact him, only I don't have a clue where to begin.”
”What did your mother say about him?”
”Not much,” Dana replied, feeling a touch of disloyalty at the criticism implicit in her tone, but her mother had been wrong. Certain responsibilities came with being a parent, which was precisely why Dana was making this call now. As mixed as her own feelings were, as Lizzie's parent she owed the child this. ”We all had the impression that he was someone just pa.s.sing through town. She told me his name was Jack Jones.”