We soon arrived in Mrs. Richardson's hospital room. There, Mrs. Richardson lay in a hospital bed, an IV drip having been set up. She still seemed to be a bit of pain from yesterday, which was something to be expected after she'd bled so much. I soon realized that Namęšéme and I weren't the only ones with her. As it turned out, Ms. Aguirre and Mr. Richardson were also there. So, too, were Tiffany, Tammy, Tracy, and Ryan. All of the kids seemed to be crying in some way.

"M-Mommy..." Tiffany blubbered. "M-My baby sister, what's going to happen to her?"

"We don't know, honey," Mrs. Richardson replied weakly. "Doctors say her chances are slim."

Namęšéme cleared his throat to let his wife know we were here.

Mrs. Richardson slowly turned around to look at us and gave a worn smile. "Oh, Warren, thank goodness you're here. You remember the kids, Wesley, and Holly, right?"

Namęšéme smiled back. "Of course I do."

She reached out and touched him. "Well, they all decided to pay me a visit today. They thought I needed some company after what happened."

"I, uh, I heard they had to perform a hysterectomy on you because you were losing too much blood and the damage to your womb was so bad."

"Unfortunately, that's true."

"Damn. That's a shame."

Mr. Richardson decided to chime in with a laugh all of a sudden. "On the bright side, at least she won't have to deal with those monthly visits from Aunt Flo anymore."

Ms. Aguirre whacked Mr. Richardson upside the head. "Shut up!"

"Ow! Just saying!"

"Read the room, Wesley."

Mr. Richardson chuckled sheepishly. "Sorry, hun. Won't happen again."

While all this was going on, Tiffany suddenly noticed me.

"Hey, freak," Tiffany said to me while trying to hold back more tears.

"Hey, Tiffany," I replied, trying to show some compassion. "How have you been?"

Tiffany sniffled before speaking again. "N-Not good. I've got another baby sister, but I don't know if... if..." She started wailing again. "I don't wanna lose her!"

"Oh, come on, Tiffany. I'm sure it'll work out somehow. I mean, the baby's still here, isn't she?"

All of a sudden, Tiffany grabbed me by the shoulders. "You say that, but how do you know? How do you know she'll make it? Not even Mom knows!"

"You're right. I don't know, but that doesn't mean there isn't hope. You know, Namęšéme has this saying that he likes to bring out whenever I have trouble processing my emotions."

"What's the saying?"

"Our first teacher is our own heart."

Tiffany looked at me with a puzzled expression. "What the hell does that mean?"

I had to think about what I thought the expression meant. "Well, when you're making decisions, do you trust your head or your heart?"

"I don't know, my head, I guess?"

"Decisions from the heart feel warm and fuzzy and full of love. Decisions from the head usually feel steeped in logical thinking and can at times be devoid of compassion. Decisions from the heart seem risky and vulnerable, while decisions from our heads feel safe, cautious, and reasonable. I mean, think about it, how many times have we gotten advice or given it based on just logic and smarts alone? How many times have we done that without taking into account how we're feeling?"

"You're already losing me."

"I mean, I'm not saying we should all be reckless or whatever. I'm just saying that we should allow ourselves to be guided by our heart and to be guided by compassion, forgiveness, love, and grace... you know, instead of fear and hate?"

"Wow, I don't think I've ever thought of it like that before..." Pause. "...but now that I have, I still don't care."

I scoffed. "Why did I even bother trying to get to you? Whatever. I just hope things work out somehow."

On the ride home from the hospital, I stared out the window on the passenger side and I thought back to what I'd told Tiffany. I wasn't sure how I'd managed to convey all those words with conviction like I had. I guess, somewhere along the way, I had an epiphany on how I was supposed to approach life itself. I mean, obviously, my life so far hadn't been easy, but maybe I could find a way to reflect on what had happened to me while also anticipating what the future would bring. I was so focused on how I was trying to approach this that I didn't realize that Namęšéme had already pulled into the driveway.

"Alright, Jessica, we're home," Namęšéme announced. "Why don't you try to finish up on your homework while I fix us some dinner, okay?"

"Okay," I simply replied.

I headed off for my bedroom while Namęšéme headed into the kitchen to prepare dinner. While in my bedroom, I got to work on what was left of my homework, making sure to take my time on each remaining assignment I had. Fifteen minutes in, I took a break and called Frankie on my Garfield phone.

I soon heard Frankie's voice on the line. "Hello?"

"Hey, Frankie," I said. "How's everything? Did you confront your parents about what you found?"

"Y-Yeah. As it turns out, Aunt Leota and Uncle Kevin really were supposed to have been my parents."

"Get out! No way, really?"

"Yeah. You were right."

"So what exactly happened? I wanna know the whole story."

Frankie took a deep breath. "Okay, so I showed them the envelope we found in that box, right? At first, they tried to pretend they didn't know what I was talking about, but then I pressed on and..."

"And then what?"

"Eventually, they told me everything. Okay, so as we already know, Aunt Leota and Uncle Kevin approached Mom and Dad in 1972 with the offer that Mom would carry me for them. They found out about me on September 10th, they wrote a letter that day, and then they got a letter the next day that showed how happy Aunt Leota and Uncle Kevin were to find out. Things were actually going pretty well, but... but then one night, I think it must have been New Year's Day, they'd been drinking over at a bar called RJ's Bar and Grill and I guess they decided to walk home instead of calling a cab. While walking home, a group of three guys ambushed them and gunned them down. Someone nearby called 911 on a payphone. While the paramedics did arrive on the scene, they got there too late for Aunt Leota and Uncle Kevin, and... they died."

"So then what happened? Why did Newt and Jewell keep you? I mean, they didn't have to."

"Well, I think Aunt Leota and Uncle Kevin always intended for them to raise me in case something happened to them. Anyway, when Uncle Kevin's parents found out about what happened, they wanted custody of me. They didn't even want anything to do with me before Aunt Leota and Uncle Kevin died, but then once they found out that I'd already been orphaned, they started fighting for me because I was the only thing left of their son."

"So then what? How did your folks get your Uncle Kevin's folks to back off?"

There was a brief pause on Frankie's end. "Oh, uh, this is admittedly really messed up of them to do. So you know how I told you about my pediatrician Dr. Elston?"

"Yeah, what about her?"

"Well, she's been a friend of our family for years. She and my parents go way back. Well, anyway, Dr. Elston was working as an OB-GYN at the time, so Mom and Dad came to her for help on how they could get Uncle Kevin's parents off their backs. You wanna know what she suggested?"

"What?"

"She suggested faking my death and then giving Uncle Kevin's parents random ashes that they would claim were my ashes."

I could hardly believe what I was hearing. "Did your parents go along with it?"

"Yeah. They told Uncle Kevin's parents that Mom lost me, and they worked with Dr. Elston to give them a replica of my birth certificate that said I died. Three days later, they gave Uncle Kevin's parents some random pile of ashes that they claimed were my cremated remains."

"Holy shit."

"Yeah, that sounds about right." Frankie waited a few seconds before speaking again. "Anyway, Mom and Dad said they had planned to wait until I was eighteen to tell me all this, but then we found that envelope in the basement."

"That... must be a lot to take in."

"Tell me about it. Alright, I gotta go now. I hear Mom calling me to come to dinner."

"Okay, I'll see you soon. I love you."

"I love you too, Jasper. Bye bye."

And just like that, Frankie hung up. Afterwards, I went right back to finishing up on my homework.