Preparing

In that week, I must have reread the letter 10 times, once on waking and once before going to bed. She said I was taken. My parents said her parents gave them to me. Did they lie to her and say they kidnapped me? I couldn't believe Eric and Annie could have willfully kidnapped me. They just didn't have that in them.

Shannon finally busted me, and pulled the letter from my hands. "She may be your birthmother, but these people have shown you more love than she ever has. Think of it this way. Unless she thought you were dead – and clearly, she knew you weren't, it would not be that hard to find you. She knew your parents' name and where they lived. Think about that." She held the letter away from me. "Put this away until you do meet her. Don't let it spoil your time with us, or taint the way you see your parents. I would be honored to be raised in this family for the rest of my childhood." And off she marched.

She was right. I tucked the letter in one of my to-read books and left the room to be social. Maybe help out in the kitchen…or see my brother Simon's twins and spoil them a little. Ever since Lily Anne and Eric Charles had come home, they'd had nothing but spoiling. Rose, their tired mama, said she was being spoiled, too, what with all the diaper, cleaning and comforting help she was getting. Only Mother was exempted from the diaper changing, as she had Angie to care for, and enough experience with the rest of us, and she even snuck in some changes when no one was looking. Seeing her roguish grin when she got away with it made us all laugh. "You can try and keep the grandma away, but she ain't staying away," she quipped.

"Ain't is not a word, Mama!" we children piped out, to make her laugh.

Mary went with Xavier and me when we went to get plane tickets to New York, sleepy baby Annie-Julie on a Snuggli against her chest, and had a great time flirting with the travel agent between wanders around the store to check out the brochures. "Maybe I should go on vacation," Mary mused idly, "save up some money and just go someplace I've never been."

"Is there someplace you've never been, restless one?" I teased.

She made a face at me. "Sure, I've traveled the world in 6 years. It just looked like I haven't been anyplace much but the US." Leaving out Carlos' homeland, I noted. So that was still something she wasn't admitting to, her past marriage. I wondered why. "Maybe Europe," she said, in that slow, thoughtful voice of hers that I used to envy growing up. "Yeah. The Riviera, baby. Win big time, treat my family to the things they deserve…"

While she was dreaming about that, a brochure in hand, I turned to Xavier. "Of course, now that I have the tickets, I'll have to call her and tell her I'm coming."

"We," he said quickly.

I tucked my hand into his and smiled. "We. Suppose she's not okay with us together? Suppose she expects me to date only Jewish guys? She made a deal about my not learning the Jewish religion or going to synagogue. Will she make us get different hotel rooms because we're not married? Or will she insist we stay at her house or wherever she is?" Looking at his amused look, I let out a sigh. "Suppose I say how nice you are to not tease me now?"

He grinned, and gave me a kiss. "Suppose I don't blame you for being nervous, and that's why I'm going to be your support? Think the ticket-getting is making it realer….imagine how much more boarding the plane, and especially exiting the plane in New York will be?"

"Oh," I said weakly.

The travel agent gave us our tickets, and we paid and left, towing a reluctant Mary and her dozen brochures behind us. All the way back, I distracted myself by helping her come up with travel plans for the future. It was much more fun than worrying.

The day before we took off, my parents took Xavier and me out to dinner and conversation. Lucy quipped that she still thought we were talking marriage, so Father made sure to go and get a Bible from their office. Lucy grinned, nodded, and left with a wink. "Have fun," Mary said, passing by to the kitchen, also winking. Simon and Kevin looked up from their game, waved, and got back to work decimating each other's characters while a baby slept nearby and Shannon cheered them on.

At the restaurant, we shared a couple of pizzas and talked about anything that came to mind, from class schedules to fostering challenges to quizzes and baking. It was kind of fun. I was getting to know my parents as, well, people, not just as Mom and Dad. And they were getting to know the witty poet behind Xavier's tough façade, and about my growing passion for arts and psychology, as well as literature. I told them that seeing the changes in my family, as well as in the world, was what had driven me to a degree in journalism.

"I want to be the one delivering the news," I said. "And not just the tragedies, but the triumphs as well. You look at the news nowadays, and it seems like nothing good ever happens. Hurricanes blow, people die in tragic accidents, war breaks out. True, we need to know about these things, but the human mind can't deal with just the sadness. We lose hope, we lose the ability to dream, I think, without knowing there are good things happening out there. Why can't we report on people being fed by the charity and good will of others? Why can't we read about rescues of hostages in distant lands? Why can't we read how many houses Habitat for Humanity builds a day for people who have no homes before then?"

Mother and Father beamed proudly at me.

But I wasn't done. "I want you to know that, no matter what happens with Naomi, I will always be thankful for the way you raised me. You helped me see the light in the dark times, the beauty that the world will always have, the fact that, yes, humanity can be kind as well as cruel. You let me grow up with my dreams and hopes intact, let me think I could be whatever I wanted to be. You also taught me to be responsible for my actions, that, when I messed up, goofed off, or tried to quit, I was the one who would face the consequences. I learned to chase my dreams, to never give up. And I hope that, because of your raising of me, I will be able to make at least one person's life as wonderful as you made mine."

Mother smiled behind watery eyes, and Father beamed. We all hugged, the four of us, and I knew then, that, no matter what happened, I'd always have at least two parents who loved me dearly.

As well as one man who would be at least my best friend, I added, noting Xavier's wide grin. I took another look at him, and began wondering…was marriage a possibility between us, after all? And sooner than later?