2: Away We Go

The evening after she arrived home from work after her shocking visit with Gregory, Abby cornered her mother in her home office (she made and sold baby clothes over the internet) and picked her brain for information on Bart Bass. Abby was good at reading Bethany's face, so she knew her mother wasn't lying to her when she promised she had never heard of Bart Bass. And the name Evelyn had originally given her during the adoption process was Elizabeth Fischer. It was only after meeting her birth mother in her teens that Abby discovered her real name was Evelyn.

Abby sighed and flopped onto the beanbag chair in the corner of her mother's office. "I don't believe all this, Ma." She groaned, rubbing at a migraine tightening at her temples. "It's crazy."

"I know, Abby," Bethany was just as stunned as her daughter; she had to set down the baby bonnet she was sewing because she couldn't concentrate. "I never thought this would happen... I mean, we've met Evelyn... she never said anything."

"Yeah, and now she's gone." Abby had tried the two phone numbers that Evelyn had given her the last time they had met for a tense lunch, both lines had been disconnected. And knowing she was fond of changing her name, Abby didn't see the point in searching for her maternal needle in a haystack. "And I have a twin brother." She clucked her tongue. "You swear you didn't know?"

"Abby!" Bethany gave her a withering look. "When we found out Evelyn chose us to adopt you, we couldn't have been more thrilled. All we ever wanted was a family. If we had known we could have had two?" She sighed and leant back in her chair. "We would have snatched you up with both hands."

"Why would she separate us?" Abby wondered, chewing her lip. "Me and my... brother." The word was sounded strange, even though she had a little brother of her own.

"I don't know, sweetheart," Bethany sighed. "I am so dreadfully sorry that all this has happened, but you don't have to go to New York if you don't want to."

Abby glanced to her mother; her kind blue eyes she wished she could have inherited, and smiled. "I know... I don't really have a lot of time to think about it, though, do I?"

Bethany gave her a supportive smile. "It's all you; Abby. You want to go, go. Meet him, this Charles. And if it doesn't work out; come home."

"I ever tell you that you rock, Ma?" Abby said, heaving herself out of the beanbag chair.

"Once or twice." Bethany grinned and went back to work. "Will you check on Robbie for me? He should be awake by now."

"Will do." Abby said as she left her mother's office, swinging right to take the stairs up two at a time. She loved this house; it was like a modernized cottage. All the bedrooms upstairs, living room, dining room, kitchen, Mum's office, Dad's office and the study downstairs, with a bathroom on each floor. The outside was painted a soft, yellow colour with baby blue shutters at each window.

Being the eldest, Abby had the biggest room. It had used to be some sort of studio, she thought, or perhaps two rooms that had been converted into one; because it was oddly shaped. One end was rectangular, like most rooms, but the other ended in a big bay window with a seat just under the sill. It was Abby's favourite place to sit and strum her guitar; the sunrise and sunset came through so beautifully giving her perfect fodder for some of her songs. Not that she'd ever sing her own stuff; she was much more comfortable singing covers at Earl's bar; and it was what the crowd preferred, too.

Abby crept into Robbie's room, knowing that the three-year-old was awake even though his back was to her; she could hear him making fighting noises with some of his toys. "Hey, Goober!" Abby said loudly, flopping onto his bed and making her brother jump.

"Abeeee!" Robbie whinged, tossing one of his plastic army men at her. "Don't scare me!"

"Sorry, Goober," She said, walking the army man up Robbie's little leg. "Good nap?"

"Ah-huh." Robbie said nodding.

"Where's my wake-up hug?" Abby said, holding out her arms expectantly. Robbie grinned and flung himself into her lap. "Phwoar!" She groaned as she got to her feet with her brother in her arms. "You're getting so heavy."

"Abby! Come quick!"

"Ezza? What is it?" Abby carried Robbie into her little sister's room. Emma-Zoe, or Ezza as Abby called her, was seven-years-old and a great big ball of fun, but she also happened to get scared of the smallest things.

"I can't find Alfie!" She said. She was standing on her bed, holding a pillow in each hand, looking worried.

"Well, he can't have gone far," Abby said calmly. Alfie was Ezza's favourite teddy bear. When Abby's parents had adopted her, Alfie was the only thing she had in her pudgy little two-year-old hands. "Where does he like to hide?"

Abby set Robbie on the floor and they set about looking for Alfie. Robbie was Bethany and Sam's only natural child. They had both thought they were infertile; and then Robbie came along, completing their family. Ezza had always known she was adopted, too, but people still thought she and Abby looked alike. They both had blonde hair; but that was the only similarity Abby saw; the hair and the fact that Ezza loved music, too.

"Oh, Ezza?" Abby called to her sister, seeing Alfie's battered head sticking out from behind her dresser. "You hadn't checked by your dresser, have you?"

Ezza immediately saw her teddy and went to rescue him. "Silly Alfie!" She said hugging him. "Don't wander off." She kissed his nose; or rather where his nose used to be; it had worn off over the years.

"Hey, you two, come here," Abby sat cross-legged on the floor and pulled Robbie into her lap. "I got something I wanna run past you."

"What?" Ezza asked, sitting in front of her big sister, trying to sit exactly the same way.

"Ezza, you know how we have different mummies and daddies." Abby said.

Ezza nodded. "We had to have different mummies and daddies so our real Mummy and Daddy could find us."

Abby smiled, Ezza's innocence was part of her adorable charm. "That's right. And I found out yesterday, that I have a brother in New York." There was no point sugar coating it for the kids; she'd never done it in the past, and she was never surprised at how mature both these kids were with news like this, they didn't have to be treated like they were totally fragile all the time.

"A brother like me?" Robbie said pointing to himself.

"Kinda." She said, kissing his crown of brown hair. "But he's my age, and he wants to meet me."

"Will he come live with us?" Ezza asked, making Alfie dance in Robbie's lap.

"No, he has his own family in New York." Abby said. She was pretty sure that was true; she didn't really know anything about him. "But I'm supposed to go to New York tonight."

"Tonight?" Ezza looked worried. "Are we all going, too?"

"No, Ez, not this time." Abby grinned at her, trying to assure her. "I won't be gone long, I promise. Just a few days to see what it's like; and then I'll come right back home to you guys."

"Promise?" Ezza said dramatically.

"Double promise." She held her middle and ring finger together and out to her sister, who did the same. It was their little version of a pinky promise; and it meant a hell of a lot more to Ezza. It was a binding contract to her, and one that Abby never broke.

Ezza linked her middle and ring fingers with her sister and squeezed them tight. "Double promise."

xxx

Abby got along great with her Dad, Sam. He was the one who introduced her to most the music she played at Earl's bar; and he came to as many of her gigs as he could, unless he was working late. He ran his own franchise of EZPZ Electronics. He was quite successful in the community; but his hours often ran later than he would have liked; he always liked to be home for dinner with the family.

"Thanks for driving me, Dad," Abby said as they pulled off the highway towards the airport.

"It's fine, Abs," Sam said as he merged into traffic. "I still can't believe all this. You gotta twin? Man." He let out a whistle.

"I know, it's crazy, right?" Abby said, staring out to the sunset; her favourite time of day. She wished she'd packed her guitar, but she would have had to check it and have them stow it under the plane with all the other luggage, and she was paranoid they'd lose it. She'd had that guitar for since her tenth birthday; it was her prized possession.

"I'll be back to pick you up in exactly a week, ok?" Sam said as he steered into the airport parking lot.

"Dad, it's cool." Abby assured him. "I'm almost seventeen. I work. I'm gonna graduate next semester. I think I stand the next week without you."

"I know, Abs, don't remind me of how old you're getting." Sam said, clicking off his truck engine and getting out of the car.

Sam was a gentleman, and it didn't matter how feminist Abby seemed to be, he never let her open her own door or carry her bag. He only relented since she had two bags, her suitcase and her shoulder bag, which she slung around her neck before her father could get his hands on it. "It's gonna be fine, Dad," Abby assured him as he walked her all the way to her gate, number 20. They were there a half hour early; Sam had a thing about being on time. "Really."

"Yeah, look, I'm just not so keen on you travelling so far on your own."

"It's like four hours, I have my music and my book," She patted her satchel. "I'll be fine."

"I'm waiting 'til you board, Abs, don't care what you say." Sam sent her suitcase through to be checked, and then took a seat by the check-in counter, ignoring the look Abby was giving him.

She didn't argue, she was glad he was staying. Truth was, she was slightly terrified. She'd never been anywhere more than a couple of hours drive away from Memphis. That was a big enough hill to climb, let alone the fact that she had a brother waiting for her. What would he be like? Would he look like her? They were twins... how long had he known about her? He'd wanted to see her; surely that was a good sign.

It seemed like only a few seconds had passed before they were calling Abby's plane. "Okay." She said, suddenly feeling nervous as she climbed to her feet.

Sam rose to his feet and pulled Abby into a warm bear hug. "Be good, be safe, be happy, Abs." He said as he enveloped her.

Abby breathed in the comforting smell of her father; suddenly feeling homesick before she'd actually even left. "I will, Daddy." She kissed his cheek, hugged him again, and then got in line for the check-in. There were only half a dozen people in front of her. She passed her ticket over to the overly-happy check-in chick and then turned back to see Sam still waiting there for her. She smiled, giving him the peace sign with her fingers before disappearing down the tunnel. This was it; she was on her own now. On her way to New York to meet her twin brother... she almost laughed, this time the night before all she'd been worried about was making sure her amplifier was working for her gig at Earl's.

xxx