****
Jake looked at Frankie across the table. "You're kidding me?!"
Frankie sighed and put her head down on the table, resting her forehead on her crossed arms. "No."
"Burkholtz is your mother?"
"Yes." came the muffled reply.
"She gave you up to her sister and husband? To adopt as their own?"
"Yes... and yes." Frankie picked her head up, her eyes red and puffy from the crying jag she'd launched into once they'd gotten home. "She said she was scared and alone. My real father bolted when he found out she was pregnant and left her with me by herself. Unable to support me, she gave me up to Caroline and Daddy to raise as their own. According to her, she remembered every birthday and was aware of everything that happened in my life."
"I often wondered why she was so insistent on getting you out of Morhoff's grip. And why she called Frank in the middle of that internal affairs investigation to ask how you were. Once she found out what had happened to you, being taken hostage by Quito, she got on the first plane. Baby, she was there in the control center the whole time Frank was trying to reason with Quito."
Frankie sighed and rubbed her eyes. It was 2 am and both of them had been talking since 11 that night. After about an hour's worth of prying, Jake finally got the truth about her conversation with Burkholtz out of her. "You don't seriously expect me just to run to her with open arms and say 'Hello Mom!', do you?"
"No. But, I do expect you to be an adult and try to understand her reasons for doing it. Frankie, she's suffered enough for the last 30 plus years. Don't make her suffer anymore."
"SHE'S SUFFERED?!" Frankie burst out in tears again. The suffering she'd been through herself, wondering if she was ever truly worth loving.
Jake bolted up out of his chair and came around the table to wrap his arms around his wife's shoulders and hold her tight. "Baby, I know you had it hard with your mother... with Caroline. But the least you can do is go and talk to Deidre. Take Jessica with you and go see her."
Frankie sniffled and sat up from Jake's embrace. "I.. I don't know.. she..."
"Baby, go see her in the morning before she flies back to Washington. If you don't, you'll regret it for the rest of your life."
--
Deidre put down the phone and moved over to the door. Whoever it was knocked again right as she opened it up. "Francesca!"
Frankie stood in the hallway, her hair braided down her back, a tank top tucked into a pair of khaki shorts and her sunglasses pushed up on top of her head. In her arms was a softly gurgling Jessica, her favorite plushie in her tight grip.
"What brings you here... I... after the way you left yesterday I didn't expect to see you again."
Frankie smiled nervously. "Jake helped me see reason. And he was right, I would have regretted it for the rest of my life if I hadn't come to see you."
Deidre smiled brightly and moved aside for Frankie to come in. Her face lit up as Frankie handed the baby over to her. "I always knew I liked that boy."
***
Epilogue to follow...