"Jack, honey, there's nothing to be nervous about", Andy assured as they sat outside of a room at the city hall. Jack nervously cracked his knuckles in his hands as Andy put her hand over his to calm him. He had no clue how she had become so good at slowing his racing thoughts the way she did. "My mom is staying with Lia for a few hours until we get back. And the boys are at some museum today with Lexie. She came back from Tacoma last night and picked them up at Maya's this morning. She texted me to tell me that she'll bring them by later today to see us and Lia", Andy reminded him
"Our little girl just had surgery and you didn't even go home to rest after your flight. How are you still this organized?" he asked as he leaned over and kissed her.
Andy smirked, "I like to think it's a gift". She thought long and hard about the reason why they were there today, her husband was finally going to find answers about his family, about where he came from after so many years of not knowing. She thought back to the phone call from the social worker they spoke to a few weeks ago, named Joyce. Joyce was the one that had handled Jack's case when he was a kid. She still, for some reason, kept the paperwork in her office and was more than willing to hand over the weathered file to its rightful owner. Jack and Andy felt extremely lucky as most files had been destroyed after the kids had grown up and aged out of the system. Andy remembered getting the call at work, and nearly jumped out of her chair when Joyce's secretary called her to tell her about the file and plan an appointment. She ran her thumb over the V-shaped vein in his hand, something that always calmed him down when he was nervous. "So, are you ready to learn about your family?" she asked as the he opened his mouth to answer her. Before he could, the door to the office opened and a brown-haired woman walked out.
"Gibson?" the woman called from the doorway as Andy and Jack stood up. Andy rubbed his arm and squeezed his hand.
"Ready as I'll ever be" Jack assured her as they walked into the office, hand in hand, and took a seat in front of a large oak desk. The brown-haired woman asked if they were comfortable and let them know that Joyce would be joining them in a few minutes. She asked if she could get them anything, coffee or tea, before leaving the office. "We're good", he answered, pointing at their Starbucks that they had stopped for on the way there. The woman left the room without a word as Jack and Andy looked around the spacious office. There were hundreds of pictures of kids tacked to the wall. Jack spied a picture of the desk of two little boys and a baby girl. He could tell by the crooked smile on the youngest boy's face that the picture was of their three. "Look at this Andy, it's our kids. The boys were so small. Look at Lia, she's probably only a few months old here. She's so tiny", he marveled as he reached out to touch the frame, only to be stopped by Andy.
Andy arched an eyebrow at him, "Stop. That's not yours. We can ask her for a copy but I'm sure she doesn't want your fingerprints all over her frame".
"What she doesn't know won't kill her. If I remember correctly, Joyce was the coolest one that I had. She tried her best to get me placed with good families, even if they were all crap, except for that one. For our meetings, we used to go out to dinner, it was a blast", he recalled as he stood up and walked around the office, admiring the pictures. He stopped in front of the wall across from the door, when he recognized a picture of a sandy blonde kid, standing against Joyce's old blue car. The blue car that still haunted his dreams, always showing up to take him to someplace new, never stopping. The sandy blonde kid had his goofy smile and his pearl white teeth; it was him from what seemed like another life. He studied the picture until he heard the door behind him shut and a voice call, "Jack Gibson, is that you?". He nearly jumped a mile in the air, startled by the woman. He turned around to see a woman with white hair, glasses, and a pantsuit standing right in front of him. He hadn't seen her in fourteen years and was immediately flooded with memories of their conversations, of the blue car, of the homes he was in, everything. He exhaled deeply as he went back to his seat beside Andy. Andy reached down and squeezed his hand for support while Joyce introduced herself.
"You look so grown up. Is this your wife?", Joyce asked as she extended her hand to both of them.
Andy shook her hand smiling, "Yes I am. We got married about a year ago now. And you must be Joyce. I believe I talked to your secretary, Evelyn, last week"
"Ahh, so you're Andy Herrera Gibson. I thought that last name was familiar. Then I saw who you were calling about. I must say, you picked a good one. Your husband was in so many awful homes but didn't go down the bad path, drugs, alcohol, what have you, like some of my kids did. He stayed strong, and turned into a wonderful man, a hero even", Joyce answered, her thick Australian accent showing. Jack forgot that she came here from Australia when she was in her twenties and vehemently refused to drop the accent.
"Don't forget father, we adopted all three of the Somersworth kids, the ones in the picture on your desk", Andy reminded her as she took a look at the picture and smiled.
How could Joyce forget those kids? Those were her last before she was offered the job as director of the youth services. "I think I read somewhere about the car accident and the fire. Poor kids been through enough in their life. Mom abandoned them and the father was never consistent. Then a lady that wanted to adopt them gave them back, like returning a jar of vegemite. I'm happy Jenna chose you. Erica, the lady that took over their case when I got this job, was a good for nothing at getting kids placed. Thank God Jenna wrote a will", Joyce recalled as she sat down and pulled a thick manila folder from her desk drawer. "I can get you a copy of the picture of them before you leave today if you'd like"
"We'd love that", Jack answered as he spied the folder on the desk, out of the corner of his eye. "Is that mine?"
Joyce nodded affirmatively. "It goes all the way from 1991-2007. The city wanted me to destroy it a long time ago, but I had the feeling someone like you would come back with questions, besides there's a letter and a picture for you in there. Both were left at the fire station with you when you were a baby. I should have told you about them years ago, but I didn't know how you'd react". Jack shook his head, figuring that she did what she thought was best at the time. Joyce passed the folder over to him and he took it, carefully.
Jack flipped through the folder, looking into different colored folders that were methodically tucked next to notebooks, filled with things about his life. He flipped back to the first folder where he noticed a green sheet of paper with a seal sticking out. He uncovered the sheet of paper and read the words "State of Pennsylvania" typed across the top in black lettering. His hands shook at he held the piece of paper. Andy looked over at him for a second, "What is it honey? What did you find?".
"My birth certificate. I find it weird that I wasn't born in Seattle or even Washington, but somehow I wound up thousands of miles away from home" Jack answered. "Okay, here's what I already know. I know, I was born in Kersey, Pennsylvania on January 3rd, 1990. I remember someone telling me that when I applied for the fire academy. However, I didn't know I was born to a Nora Michelle Gibson and a Liam Gibson. I never paid that much attention to this thing to even learn their names. I didn't even think a search like this was worth it until my oldest son couldn't finish his family tree project because he didn't know who my parents were".
"Wait, you're from Pennsylvania? As in the East Coast?" Andy asked as she read over the birth certificate herself. Sure enough, the paper affirmed that Jack Gibson was born in Kersey, Pennsylvania.
"Yeah, and I think it's a small town too, because I have no idea where the hell Kersey even is. I've never taken the time to search it", Jack explained as he flipped through the folder some more. "Rowan would probably have a better idea than me, that kid looks everything up to the point where he's like a walking encyclopedia"
"Both of them are", Andy chuckled "The other day, DJ asked me if I could get him a real human brain in a glass jar for his birthday, so he could study it like the MythBusters people"
Jack couldn't help but chuckle at the thought, "Gross. Yeah, last night he asked me if he could try to use piano wire to catch a shark. He watches way too much MythBusters for one kid". Andy laughed while Jack sifted through the folders, pulling out a letter, written on a weathered piece of paper from the Hilton Hotel down the street from the hospital. He could see the faded hotel name and logo, printed across the top, on continuous form paper. The two strips with the holes were even still attached, although torn in some places. Jack nearly stopped breathing when he saw his name written across the top in neat cursive. "It's the letter", he confirmed as Andy rubbed his arm. "It's from my Mom"
"Read it baby. I'm right here with you", Andy assured as Jack read every word. She read the letter too, tearing up at some parts, knowing all too well the thoughts behind why his mother did what she did. Jack teared up too and shook his head as he read through the first paragraph. He couldn't believe just how much the letter explained:
Dear Jack,
My baby boy, I'm so glad you started reading this without throwing the letter away. By the time you read this, I'm hoping you'll be old enough to understand me, to understand why I left. It's not because I didn't love you, and I never want you to think that. I do love you, very much, I love you so much that leaving you, doing this cowardly thing, pains me. But the thing is I can't take care of you and give you the life you deserve, not alone, not like I am right now. I can barely eat or sleep or do much of anything these days. I miss your father too much; he was my rock. He died two weeks ago. Friends back in Rutland are telling me to get over it. They're telling me that I have to be strong for you and put aside my own feelings, but I can't. The neighbors here, back in Kersey, are helpful and want to help me grieve, but I can't let them. You're probably wondering if I left your father, and the answer is no. Your father died, right in front of my eyes and there was nothing I could do to fix him. Help was simply too late.
Back to you, you are my baby, and you will always be my son. I will always hold a special place in my heart for you, and someday when I'm better, I will come back for you. I will be your mom again. You look just like me, the chestnut brown hair, your facial features, and your goofy little smile that I love so much. You have your father's eyes, his deep brown eyes that I'm sure all the girls are going crazy for. You were the cutest little baby and the best day of my life was the day I had you, here at our home, because Liam panicked and didn't make it home on time to drive me to the hospital. I'm going to miss you, more than you ever know, but I have to do this for you. I have to give you a better life with someone who isn't me. You needed a mom who isn't depressed all the time, who isn't cracking at the seams, just trying to stay afloat. You didn't deserve to watch me suffer. You deserved to play, to be happy, to be a kid and make friends. I know you did, you're a Gibson and you're 50% Cromwell. You have that "tough as nails" British blood in you, as your grandfather would say. Try, please, not to hate me too much for why I did. Try to understand and forgive me as much as you probably don't want to. If you chose to come home, after reading this, I will hug you and love you and welcome you back with tears in my eyes, and if you don't, that's okay too. I'll be back in Kersey if you decide to come home. I hope you have a beautiful life, and just know that no matter what happens, I've never stopped and will never stop loving you and praying for you. Well, I better go, because I want to spend my last few minutes in the car with you. I left my phone number for if you want to give me a call.
Love you to the moon and beyond,
Nora Michelle Gibson (Mom)
Jack silently stared at the letter in his hands for a good ten minutes. He struggled to comprehend the weight of that Nora was dealing with when she gave him up. He fully expected his mother to be an addict running from the law or a deadbeat who didn't give a shit. Nothing could have ever prepared him to find out that his mother was alive, but her severe depression had been the thing keeping him from being raised by her. She was honestly doing what she thought was best. He knew what that meant, his own wife had the same thing happen to her, choosing to pack up and leave one day to deal with unmeasurable grief. Andy looked at him, concerned, reaching over to touch his shoulder, "Jack, honey, say something. Anything. Please".
Jack was still to stunned to speak and remained silent for about five minutes longer before talking to Andy. "She loved me. Until I met Marsha, I thought it wasn't possible for me to have loving parents and it was. She loved me and my dad loved me. And it's not like she doesn't want me back, she does", he expressed, waving the letter at Andy. "It's all in here. Andy, honey, I have a family"
Andy's eyes glanced at the bottom of the page, where Nora's phone number was written. "Her number's there. Do you maybe want to give her a call?" she asked gently. "Before we go back to the hospital for Lia?"
"I think I'll give her a call when we get out to the car" he stated as he grabbed the folder and stood up, shaking hands with Joyce. "Thank you for finding this, it means a lot to me", Jack added as Joyce said goodbye to them. After they left Joyce's office, they sat in the car in the parking lot with his phone sitting in his lap in front of him. His fingers shook, nervously, as he dialed each number. He couldn't believe he was doing this after all these years. He was finally calling his mother, about to speak to the woman who gave birth to him. He looked down at his phone, the numbers were displayed across the screen in black and his heart pounded in his chest to the point where he thought he was going to have a heart attack right there in the car. "It's now or never", he told himself, as he pressed the green call button.
"I'm right here with you. I'm not going anywhere", Andy assured as she squeezed his hand. He leaned over and kissed her quickly. It was times like this where he was thrilled to have found someone as supportive as her. "She'll love you; I promise. What is there not to love about you anyways?"
Jack closed his eyes and brought the phone to his ear. He could feel the sweat from the side of his face, sticking onto the glass screen. The phone seemed to ring for what seemed like an eternity until a man picked up. The man sounded overly cheerful and showed not even a shred of hostility when he greeted Jack with a loud "Hello there! What can I do for you?"
I really hope you all loved this chapter. I wonder what will happen when Jack talks to his mom, or who the man on the other end of the phone is. You should find out tomorrow! Don't forget to check out station19lovers, "You're My Home". As always, please follow and favorite. Please, please review as well. I really want to see what all of you think of the story so far. Is there anything anyone would like to see at some point?
-D.H. Caldwell