Chapter 5:

Maureen felt the car rumble below her. she and Joanne were on their way to the Johnson's house to demand some answers. Joanne reached over and squeezed Maureen's hand.

"Don't worry, everything will be alright," she said. Maureen entwined her fingers with Joanne's. She wanted to feel the lawyer close to her. "I love you, Maureen."

"I love you too, Joanne." Joanne turned her attention back to the road and kept driving.

Too soon for Maureen, Joanne pulled up in front of the Johnson household in Long Island. Maureen carefully tucked the photo in her purse and climbed out of the car. She fixed her denim jacket and went up to the front door.

Mr. Johnson was surprised to find Maureen and Joanne standing on the front porch. He invited them in right away.

"What can I do for you?" asked Mr. Johnson. Maureen shoved her hands deep into the pockets of her skintight burgundy pants.

"I was wondering if I could talk to you and Mom about something."

"Of course. You girls make yourselves at home. I'll go get her." Maureen and Joanne sat down next to each other on the couch and waited for Mrs. Johnson to come downstairs.

Mrs. Johnson came brightly into the room with Mr. Johnson. She sat down in the recliner across from Maureen and Joanne.

"Mom, I need to talk to you about something." Maureen handed Mrs. Johnson the photo from her purse. Mrs. Johnson looked at it carefully.

"it's you when you were a little girl, there's not much else to talk about," she said simply with a shrug. Maureen shook her head.

"Look at the back." Mrs. Johnson flipped the photo over. "That is a photo of my friend, Roger and his sister Renee."

"So you happen to look a lot like Renee."

"Mom! That's me! We've already done a DNA test, so don't lie to me." Mrs. Johnson opened and closed her mouth several times. Mr. Johnson looked from his wife to Maureen and back again; clearly shocked.

"I don't know what to tell you, Maureen," Mrs. Johnson said calmly. Maureen jumped to her feet.

"How about the truth!?" she yelled. Mrs. Johnson stood up too. Maureen towered several inches over her. "Or is that too much for you!?" Joanne got up and put her hand on Maureen's shoulder.

"Calm down, Mo," she said.

"You stay out of this," Mrs. Johnson snapped. Maureen's eyes narrowed.

She grabbed the photo off the coffee table and exclaimed, "That's it, you've gone far enough! I don't need an explanation from you!" Without another word, Maureen left, and Joanne rushed after her.

Maureen was almost in the car when she heard someone call her name. She turned around and found Mr. Johnson rushing across the yard after her.

"Maureen, wait. I need to talk to you," he said. Maureen crossed her arms over her chest. "Please hear me out. I had not clue about the details."

"So you knew!?" Mr. Johnson sighed.

"To an extent. Your Mother went to the mall one day and came home with you. She said that she had run into an old friend of hers and offered to watch her daughter, you, for a few weeks while she got some things sorted out. Well, a few weeks turned into a few moths and soon twenty one years."

"And you never found this weird?"

"From what your Mom told me, it was better than being with your real Mom who was a junkie. Looking back now, I feel stupid for listening to her. I can't change the past, but I can help you with whatever you want to do about this." Maureen looked skeptical.

"Help how?" she asked cautiously.

"Just let me know. I want to know what I can do."

"We'll let you know," Joanne said.

"Bye Maureen. I should get back inside."

"You're going back to her!? How can you even look at her!?" Mr. Johnson sighed.

"I'm going back because it's my house. Maureen, our marriage has been unstable for a while. With this whole ordeal, I'll be filing for divorce at the end of the week." Maureen's eyes doubled in size.

"Really?"
"I can't be married to a woman like that." Maureen gave Mr. Johnson a hug and got in the front seat of the car next to Joanne.

As soon as Maureen got home, she began to dig through the cabinet for something to eat. She produced a bag of potato chips and flopped down on the couch.

"You okay Honeybear?" asked Joanne. Maureen nodded. "You sure?"

"I said that I'm fine! God, what do I need to do, write it in lights!?" Joanne sighed. Maureen flipped on the TV.

"Maureen…" Maureen turned up the volume. "Maureen! I want to talk to you! Could you stop being a drama queen for two seconds and talk to me?"

"There's nothing to talk about, so leave me the hell alone!" Joanne rolled her eyes and retreated to the guest bedroom/office to work.

Maureen plowed through the entire family size bag of chips and nearly two liters of Coke. She was sure that she'd gained twenty pounds, but it was comfort food, and she needed a lot of comfort. Joanne came into the room.

"You can't possibly still be eating," she sighed. Maureen stuck out her tongue. Joanne sat down next to Maureen and brushed a strand of hair out of the diva's face. "Why can't you even consider growing up for a second?" Maureen rested her head in Joanne's lap and buried her face in her lover's thigh. "What's wrong?" Maureen began to cry softly.

"Everything just sank in at once," she replied. Joanne rubbed her back. "My Mom kidnapped me, both my parents lied to me, and I'm not who I thought I was. I can't take this."

"Shh, shh, you're not in this alone. You have me and Roger and everyone else. We'll pull through this." Maureen grabbed at Joanne's thigh. The lawyer rubbed her back. Maureen continued to cry softly. She suddenly felt the pressure of everything going on around her.

"Why is this happening to me? It's not fair."

"I know, I know babe. Life's not fair though, and we just have to deal with it the best we can." Maureen relaxed under Joanne's soothing touch. Soon, her sobs subsided and her breathing evened out. Joanne knew that Maureen's mood swings were part of her period, but that didn't make them any less stressful.