Chapter 9 - I Wanted To Call Lily Immediately
The first thing I wanted was her phone number.
Mom said we did not have it.
Grandma said she did.
That nearly restarted the entire war.
The intermediary attorney had included a contact protocol with the package.
Lily wanted communication.
But she also wanted it handled through her adoptive parents first.
I was furious.
“I’ve waited fifteen years.”
Mom answered gently.
“She didn’t.”
That stopped me.
Lily had grown up with her own family.
Her own parents.
Her own life.
Finding me was not supposed to destroy that.
I had spent an afternoon thinking of her as my stolen sister.
That wasn’t fair either.
She had not spent fifteen years waiting in a room for the Parkers to reclaim her.
She loved Caroline and Peter Whitmore.
Called them Mom and Dad.
Had cousins, grandparents, friends, routines, a whole history that did not become fake just because our family’s story was false.
So we followed the process.
A family therapist experienced in adoption reunions joined the first call.
Mom sat beside me.
Grandma was not there.
When Lily’s face appeared on the laptop screen, I forgot every sentence I had practiced.
She stared at me.
I stared at her.
Then she smiled nervously.
“You really do have the eyebrow.”
I started laughing.
So did she.
Then both of us cried.
Not movie crying.
Awkward crying.
Laughing while wiping our faces.
Neither of us knew what to say.
Finally I held up my hands.
“I hate olives.”
Lily gasped.
“No way.”
May you like
That stupid fact did what fifteen years of legal history could not.
It gave us somewhere normal to begin.
