Then there she was, sitting on the park bench. I hadn't seen her face but somehow I just knew it was her. My heart seized up. I didn't know any sign language except the alphabet that I had memorised out of my old school agendas. "It's her," I whispered to Biko. He looked at me and asked if I wanted him to take Dillan. I shook my head, took his hand and went over to her. "Alexandra?" I asked cautiously. Her guide dog leapt onto her, as if to signal someone was calling her name. Her auburn hair whipped her face in the wind as she whirled around to face us. She had the exact same eyes as my mother and I had and her rosy cheeks were sprinkled with freckles.
My heart stopped as our eyes met. "Alex?" I asked in surprise. It was the same scrawny girl from the doctor's office in Africa!
"Kelsey?" she said.
"Hey!" I said grinning. She hugged me. "Well, I guess I'm your sister." She smiled awkwardly. Suddenly I was glad I had something to say. "Oh, this is my fiancé Biko and this," I said giving Dillan a big fat kiss, "is Dillan. He's the one I was pregnant with when we met in the clinic."
"You've met before?" Biko asked casually.
"Yeah. We met at the pregnancy clinic, in Africa. How's the baby?" I inquired, too late to notice the look on her face.
"Uh, there is no more baby..."
"Oh..." I replied adding to the awkwardness of the situation. I should have figured it out.
"Where would you like to go for lunch, Alex?" I was again thankful Biko had come.
We went into the local fast food joint and even though the conversation turned to more serious discussion, it was no longer awkward. Biko left after a few minutes to let us talk more. Pretty soon a few minutes turned into an hour and an hour turned into a few hours and it was time for her to go. We promised to meet the next week and I would meet her new parents.
It was weird to know that us, being sisters, now had different parents and very different lives but I felt a sense of accomplishment knowing that she would never know dad. I knew that she had known many other dads like the one I had known but I had saved her from another. Her parents were named Marie and John; nice, plain, and kind names. My luck didn't go as far as they were Christians but I would leave that up to God and an invitation to church.