Thanks to Softballover who seems to be the only one who actually gave me a review for this story. i think this is it for now considering noone wants me to cininue it! Enjoy!
Jess!
"Mrs Lowman?" Susie asked when he lady answered the door. "I'm Constable Raynor. We spoke on the phone."
"Come on in Constable." The woman replied. Susie followed the woman into a large living room.
"Mrs Lowman…" Susie started.
"Please call me Geri." Mrs Lowman interrupted.
"I'm here to talk about Jes. You were her foster mother right?"
"Yes. Poor little thing. She was dumped on the doorstep of the hospital just after she was born. I remember that day clearly. I was walking past on my way to start my shift and there she was sitting in a washing basket crying her little eyes out."
"So the mother just…dumped her there?"
"Yeah. Lucky I came along. Who knows what would have happened to her if I didn't."
"And you just took her in as if she were your own daughter?"
"Yes. She was the first. I adopted her and then I adopted Marcus. After that I started just couldn't stop. I had to help the other kids out as well. Jesika is the eldest of eight. Course they were cute when we first got them…now most of them are little terrors." Geri laughed.
"Is that what made JJ want to leave?"
"Oh no dear. Jesika loved the kids. I reckon that was the only thing that made her stay put in the first place. When she was 5 we adopted Marcus, course then she was too young to understand where babies came from so she thought it was a natural thing. Then as she started getting older we adopted more children and Jesika began to realise that she too was one of the adopted kids. Course when she first found out she was pretty mad. But Henry sat down and he explained to her why we did it. Henry convinced her to stay." Geri paused. "God bless him.' She smiled.
"Is Henry still around?"
"Unfortunately no Constable. He died a couple of years back. Still he's at peace now. It was best not to let him suffer. When Jesika found out I was the one who ordered the life support to be turned off she flipped out. She threatened to move out and she almost did at one point."
"So you didn't kick her out?"
"No. I would never." Geri shook her head. "When Jessie found out she just decided I wasn't good enough for her. She wanted to leave a year ago but I wouldn't let her. I knew what she was capable of and I didn't want her to get into trouble."
"So what happened next? When did she leave?"
"Well Jessie was furious with me for not letting her go so she started getting into trouble at school, her grades started dropping and she just refused to eat anything. She became very ill but she wouldn't let me take her to the hospital. I told her that if she didn't start eating again and clean up her act she would be sent to a psych ward. That helped her a bit. Of course I would never do that to her. I love her too much."
Susie smiled. She was happy to be sitting there talking to Geri but at the same time she was angry with Jes for not telling her the truth.
"When she turned 18 last week she just up and left. Couldn't do anything to stop her either. She was a wreck when she left. She had no money, clean clothes or food. She's ok now though isn't she?"
"She's fine." Susie replied. "I also wanted to know if you ever found out who Jes's mother is."
"Oh yes. The hospital did a lot of research for me. I found out that this young girl about 15 years old had been checked into a hospital nearby with infections caused by giving birth."
"Did she have a name?"
"Oh it was so long ago I don't really remember. It was a Peters or Parker or Parson or something…"
"Parrish?" Susie asked hoping she wasn't correct.
"Yes that's it. Parrish. I went up to see her as soon as I found out. Poor girl was all by herself. Her parents had no idea she was even pregnant. They had sent her off to boarding school and she had run off. The school hadn't notified the parents or anything. It's a wonder she managed to survive through the whole pregnancy."
"What happened to her after that?"
"Well I'm not too sure. I asked her whether she wanted to keep the child. She of course said no. She thought it best for Henry and I to adopt the baby. She just had one condition. That we call her Jesika. And that's what we did. She was a very bright young girl Jo was." Geri explained. "After the adoption was final she said her goodbyes and I haven't heard from her since." There was a silent pause and Susie looked at the clock.
"Well I'd better get going. I've got to get back to work."
"You will let Jes know we are missing her wont you?"
"Of course I will."
"Thankyou." Geri replied.
"No thank you. You've been a great help."
"It was no problem really."
"Bye." Susie left the house. She got into her car and drove for a while. Thinking of how she was going to confront JJ.
"Hey you're home." JJ smiled when Susie walked into the house. "What's up?" she asked when she noticed the look on Susie's face.
"I met Geri today." Susie explained. She watched JJ's face go white.
"Geri who?" She asked trying to stay calm.
"Geri Lowman. Your foster Mother."
"Oh."
"Why didn't you tell me you were adopted?"
"Because I knew if you knew the truth you wouldn't want anything to do with me. Nobody ever does."
"That's not true. I care about you Jes ok. And you may not realise it but Geri and Henry do as well. They miss you."
"Yeah right. I bet they're glad to see the back of me. Why not my mother was. I bet pretty soon you will too. I don't even know why you took me in."
"I let you stay because I knew you needed help. And because I care about you. I wasn't lying when I said I wanted you to stay and be my 'sister.'" Susie explained.
"Really?" JJ had tears in her eyes.
"Of course. You're not a bad person Jes. And you know you can stay as long as you want to. Just please don't lie to me again."
"I wont I promise." Susie smiled and held out her arms. JJ made her way over and fell into Susie's arms in tears.
"I'm sorry. I should have told you the truth from the start. But I knew nobody would help me if they knew how much trouble I was."
"You're not trouble. You just need to learn how to control yourself." Susie told her.
"I'll try my best." She replied. They sat together in silence for a moment.
"I wish I had met her." JJ suddenly said.
"Who?"
"My mother. Then maybe I could have found out the real reason she didn't love me."
"Just because she wasn't able to take care of you didn't mean she didn't love you." Susie explained. "Have you talked to Geri about her at all?"
"Geri wont tell me anything. She doesn't think it's a good idea for me to find out anything about my mother."
"Why's that?"
"Because she's dead."
"Oh I'm so sorry." Susie started. "Did you get to know her before she died?"
"No. By the time I found her it was too late."
"Do you know how she died?"
"No. They wouldn't tell me."
Susie thought for a minute. "I can tell you if you want."
"What?" JJ sat up.
"I know who your real mother was."
"You do?" JJ looked at her.
"She was actually a good friend of mine."
"Really?"
"Her name was Joanna Parrish. She was a Senior Constable at the old police station."
"Mum was a cop?" JJ asked.
"Yes. And a very good one too. She always knew exactly what to do when it came to solving crimes."
"She sounds fun."
"She was. She was a great woman. She would have loved to get to know you.'
"Then why did she leave me at the hospital?"
"I don't know."
"Do you know how she died?"
"Well there was and explosion at the station and Jo was inside…"
"You mean…"
"She died instantly." Susie replied.
"What was she like?"
"Well…Jo was…I don't think there's really any words to describe her. She was different than anyone I ever knew. She always had an opinion for everything. She always trusted her gut."
"Sounds like you really knew her."
"I had only known her for a few months but she was still a really good friend. We all loved her so much."
"Was she pretty?"
"She was." Susie replied. "She was a very beautiful person. In more ways than one. She was always willing to put others lives before hers." Susie could picture Jo in her mind. "I really miss her. Everyone does.'
"Do you have any photos?"
"I don't think so. But I do know someone who does."
"Really who?"
"PJ. He was Jo's fiancée.'
"She was going to get married?"
"Yeah. She was really happy. I was happy for her."
"Who's PJ?"
"Patrick Hasham. A detective at the police station."
"Did he love her?"
"He still does." Susie smiled.
"Can I meet him? Can I meet all of Mum's friends? I would love to get to know everyone from my mum's life. If I can't have her with me at least I have people to teach me everything there is to know about her."
"Well I know just the people who can tell you everything there is to know about her. Just let me make some phone calls and by this time next week you'll know Jo."
"You'll do that for me?"
"Of course. It'll give me a chance to get to know who my step dad was going to be. All I ever wanted was to know who my real mother was and now you've made that happen. I don't have to search anymore. Thankyou Susie."
"It was nothing really." Susie held JJ close to her.
Well that's it for now. If you want more let me know. please be nice I was in a hurry when I wrote it!
Jess
