****
Frankie stood at the freshly covered graveside, sunglasses in place over her eyes. It wasn't as if she needed them to shield red and teary eyes, she just needed something to protect her eyes from the setting sun. She had shed not one single tear over her mother's death. It had been five days since she'd gotten the call from her mother's nursing home. In that length of time, not one tear had been shed. All Frankie could feel was relief. Relief that it was over, relief that her mother wouldn't abuse Jessie the same way she'd been abused all of her life… relief that she wouldn't have to worry about talking to her ever again.
Back at the cars, Frank and Shay stood next to Jake as he held little Jessica. "How is she?" Frank finally asked.
"I think she's fine Frank. She's been remarkably calm and collected throughout it all."
"Good Afternoon gentlemen and ladies." Deidre Burkholtz smiled warmly as she walked up behind the group and shook Frank's hand. She nodded to Shay and smiled rather warmly at Jake. Her blue eyes drifted down to the bright-eyed bundle in his arms. "And young Miss Jessica Shaw, how are you this morning?"
Frank looked at Shay behind Burkholtz's back as she cooed and played with the baby in Jake's arms. This was Director Burkholtz? Did they miss something? Shay shrugged and returned Frank's blank look.
"Is Francesca all right, Agent Shaw?"
Jake blinked and stuttered, "Uh, yes... she's fine. She's over there..." he trailed off as Director Burkholtz moved past them all towards the graveside. He cast an utterly confused look at both Shay and Frank, who only returned the look.
Frankie heard footsteps coming up behind her. "I'm alright baby. Just so damned glad it's over finally."
"Glad what's over Francesca?"
"OH!" Frankie whirled around to face Deidre Burkholtz, Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigations. "Director Burkholtz, I'm sorry, I didn't know it was you!"
"It's OK Francesca. Call me Deidre, and you didn't answer my question. You're glad what is over?"
"My mother." Frankie hiccuped as she turned back to the grave. "She was a hateful woman. Deidre, am I a bad person to be glad she is dead? I often wondered if I was adopted with the way she treated me growing up."
Deidre's face pinched at Frankie's words. "How so?"
"As I said, she was hateful. Always looked at me as if I wasn't there, or beneath her." Frankie shifted and turned to Deidre. "When I was pregnant, I called her to let her know she was to be a grandmother. She had the nerve to accuse me of not knowing who the father was. Told me that she was not going to be a grandmother because she had no children. She said I had killed her only son through stupidity."
"Oh Francesca, you don't believe that, do you? I read the files on what happened and-"
"Yes, Deidre, I know that it isn't my fault. But it doesn't stop it from hurting all the same that she blamed me for Eric's death."
Deidre looked at Frankie for a moment. How she looked like her father... "Is there some place that you and I can talk, Francesca? Perhaps over a cup of coffee?"
Frankie blinked behind her sunglasses. "Well, I don't see any reason why not. Let me go tell Jake... Wait," she pulled the sunglasses off slowly and fixed the older woman with a keen gaze. "Why?"
"You said that you often times thought you were adopted. You were."
Frankie stopped, then giggled nervously. "This isn't funny Deidre."
"No, it's not. That's why I wanted to talk to you in private. Francesca... Caroline was my sister. Caroline Amada Burkholtz. And you are not her born child. You're mine."
****
Frankie slowly folded the sunglasses in her hand and stared at the woman. She searched for any sign that she was putting her on.
Back at the car, Jake did not mistake the look on Frankie's face. It spelled trouble. What did Burkholtz say to her? He pushed off, Jessie in his arms as he walked quickly over to the two women. Frank and Shay weren't far behind him.
"You want to tell me that again, Director Burkholtz?" Frankie said slowly and carefully.
"Baby?"
Deidre had been about to speak when Jake arrived with Frank and Shay behind him. "Can we talk over coffee somewhere, please Francesca? Let me explain everything."
Frankie looked at Deidre, then at Jake, Frank and Shay. "Meet me back at the car babe. I won't be long. I'm alright guys." She kissed her daughter's forehead and turned back to Deidre.
Jake nodded, cast a suspicious glance at Burkholtz, then nodded to Frank and Shay to go with him back to the car. "Don't lose your temper Frankie," he said quietly as he turned to leave.
After they'd left, Frankie pinned Burkholtz with a hard cold glare. "You have some balls Lady, coming down here and telling me that the woman I'd believed to be my mother for well over 30 years isn't truly my mother. Explain yourself and do it now."
Deidre sighed and looked down, shifting her arms behind her back. "I was in my early twenties, just had joined the FBI as a rookie field agent. And I was in love with a man who I thought would spend the rest of his life with me. When I found out I was pregnant, he split like nobody's business. Faced with raising a child alone and losing my job, I chose a better life for you. I couldn't support you on what I made. My sister had just married and they were trying to have children, but hadn't conceived yet. After talking it over with her and her husband, they agreed to adopt you. I was scared Francesca, you have to believe me!"
Frankie half laughed, half snorted. "So, just like that..." She laughed bitterly this time and looked down, her hands coming to her hips when she looked up. "I've spent my whole life thinking my mother didn't love me. Now you come along and confirm that suspicion. You are some piece of work Lady."
"Oh! No Frankie! It wasn't like that. I watched everything, anything you did. I knew about your first tooth, your first steps, and your first word. I've kept a picture of you in my wallet since the day you were born!"
"Did you also know the birthdays that came and went unremembered because that shrew of a woman decided I wasn't worth remembering? Did you also know about the time that she screamed at me in the middle of a shopping mall because I had been forbidden to go into a store where I'd been caught by the in-store security for shoplifting? She felt it was a personal embarrassment on her and she left me there. Daddy had to come pick me up five hours later after he got off of his shift with the precinct. Or, how about the time that I begged her forgiveness at Daddy's graveside for what had happened, only to have her reach out and slap me so hard it cracked open my cheek down to the bone?" She turned her face to the side and showed Deidre the thin white scar that ran two inches across the curve of her cheekbone.
Deidre bit back a soft sob at the sight. "No Francesca. I never knew about all of that. But I remembered your birthdays. There was not one year that went by that I didn't light a candle and pray that you were all right. Frankie, I wanted so badly to tell you but it was never the right time. After Morhoff got his control over you, I..." she stopped, a tear slipping down her cheek. "I had to fight myself to keep from doing what any other mother would do and ordering your removal immediately. I... I sent Frank and his team in to get you out while bringing Morhoff down. I knew about the evidence you had turned over and knew you were a strong woman... The more I read about you, the more I heard about you from Frank's reports and eventually from Frank himself after you two became friends, the more pride I felt at being your mother!"
"Some mother you are. Go home Burkholtz. And treasure the one look you've gotten at Jessica, you won't get any more. I'm done with this." Frankie slid her sunglasses back on and stalked off towards Jake and the others. Deidre watched her go, shedding silent tears. She had given up her only child, only to lose her 30 some years later.
Frankie ignored Jake's questioning looks as he buckled Jessie in the car seat and then slid behind the wheel. She kept her eyes focused on nothing outside of her window as the car started and pulled out. "I've seen too many funerals baby." she whispered softly as the car sped out of the cemetery.
****