Wednesday: July 6, 2011 9:33 A. M.

I smile at Randy as I sit on the bed. "Let me know if you need anything while you're out."

"I will." Randy replies.

"How long will you be gone?"

"No idea."

"Are you nervous?"

"Very."

I walk up behind him as he is grabbing his things. "At the end of all this, everything's gonna be alright. Okay, Randy?"

Randy nods. "Yeah."

I roll my eyes as he obviously isn't taking me seriously. "Good luck."

He smiles as he finishes getting his things. "Thanks." He kisses my forehead. "Love you."

"Love you too."

"Bye."

"Bye."

Randy leaves the bedroom and heads to leave the house.

I sit back down on the bed. "Ugh."

Eve suddenly appears in my doorway. "Everything alright?"

"I guess."

"Did you and Randy have a fight?"

"No. Why?"

"He just rushed out of here. I don't think he even grabbed food."

"He's got important stuff going on today. Nothing bad happened between us."

Eve sits down with me. "Well I think whatever he has going on is stressing you out too."

"You might be right."

Ryse walks in. "Hey, you guys good?"

"Yeah. Just stressed."

"You and Randy fight?"

"No. Why does everyone assume that?"

"He basically ran out of here."

"Like I told Eve, we didn't fight or anything. He's got important stuff going on today."

Ryse sits on the bed as well. "Well stop stressing, Rissa. It's obvious you are."

"You make it sound easy."

"Give her a while, Ryse." Eve says. "Rissa will be okay."

Chelle walks in and sits on the bed. "Rissa, you okay? I saw Randy stress rush out of here."

"Yeah." I reply. "He's got stuff going on today."

"Oh okay. Anyone wanna help me cook breakfast?"

I get up. "Sure."

The other three follow, so we can all cook breakfast. As we walk out, I sneak a glance at the boxes that I still have yet to open.

As we finish up cooking, Ted, Cody, and John walk into the dining room. They all greet their respective significant others as I make plates and bring them to the table.

We all eat. I don't speak at all and tune out their conversation. I receive a text on my phone. I read the text.

Randy: There is one thing that I need you to do for me today. Worry about yourself instead of stressing over what I have going on today.

Ted looks at me. "I thought Randy had a strict rule about texting at the table."

I roll my eyes. "I don't think he'll mind since the text is from him."

"Oh okay."

I go to reply to Randy.

Me: I'll try, but I make no promises. I tend to stress too much anyway. How's it going?

I finish my food, and Chelle stops me from taking my plate. She takes it and starts washing dishes.

Randy: At least you'll try. We're sitting in the hospital waiting room right now. I think the kid is freaked over his mom not being around. Tyler gave him a reason why but didn't tell him the truth.

Me: What did Tyler tell him?

John looks at me. "What's Randy doing today?"

I look at John. "He's running some personal errands and taking Vance out to do stuff."

John looks at me like he's not buying what I said. "Okay."

Randy: Tyler told him that his mom was going on a trip for a while that he couldn't go on.

Me: Vance isn't going to believe that forever. Plus, that makes it seem like Cami chose to leave Vance.

Randy: I agree. He should have talked to us and probably Cami's sister before telling Vance that.

Me: Yeah. Also, I told John that you were running personal errands and taking Vance out to do stuff like you said. I don't think John believes me.

Randy: Well I'll tell them all about this later. I just didn't want them asking a bunch of questions.

Me: Okay.

I decided to text Tyler as well.

Me: So Cami's going on a trip for a while that she couldn't take her son on?

Ted nudges me. "You wanna start watching those matches?"

I look at Ted and put my phone away. "Sure."

I watch a bunch of old Kharma matches with the others. After a while, the house phone starts ringing.

I pause the match we're currently watching. "That's weird. That phone rarely rings."

Chelle looks at me. "You want me to answer it?"

I get up. "No I got it."

I answer the phone.

Me: "Hello?"

Caller: "Hello, is this the Orton household? I need to talk to Randy."

I make a confused face as a woman, whose voice I don't recognize, is calling for my husband.

Me: "You have the right number, but Randy isn't here right now. I can take a message. May I ask who's calling?"

Caller: "Oh. Sorry for not giving a name. I'm Roselle Diaz, Cami's sister. You must be Randy's wife, Marissa."

Me: "I am Marissa. So, Roselle, I assume this is about what happened."

Roselle: "Kind of. I think I got the general gist of why my sister is in police custody. But what I'm worried about is Vance. Can I talk to my nephew?"

Me: "Actually, he is with Randy right now. But I can have him call you when they return. I definitely won't keep him from speaking to his family."

Roselle: "Oh okay. That works. You're Tyler's sister too. Right?"

Me: "Correct. My brother was dating your sister."

Roselle: "Have you, Tyler, and Randy talked about what to do with Vance at all yet?"

Me: "A little but we're all pretty uncertain about that. Randy had mentioned the idea of getting ahold of you, but we were trying to get part of the situation figured out before getting to that."

Roselle: "Vance's paternity? At least that's what I am assuming."

Me: "Yeah. That. You don't happen to know anything. Do you?"

Roselle: "All I know is that it's either Randy or the French guy. I don't even remember his name. I just want Vance to be with family. You know what I mean? His mother tends to make horrible life decisions, but he doesn't deserve to suffer for it. Vance needs to have supportive people who care about him in his life. And he definitely needs to stay out of the system."

Me: "I agree with you one hundred percent."

Roselle: "What did you tell Vance about what happened to Camille?"

Me: "Well, Tyler, without consulting either me or Randy, told Vance that Cami was going on a trip for awhile that she couldn't bring Vance on. I don't agree with that excuse."

Roselle: "Me either. It sounds like she intentionally left Vance. Anyway, would you be interested in having you and Randy, maybe even Tyler, go out to eat with me and my fiancé sometime soon so we can figure this out? I know we'll have to work around everyone's work schedules, but I think it would be best for everyone to sit down and talk about Vance."

Me: "I agree with you completely. I'm on board with this. Let me talk to Randy when he gets home, and I'll let you know."

Roselle: "Okay. Thank you. I think I'm going to go now, but would you please let Vance call and tell him Aunt Rose wants to talk to him?"

Me: "Certainly. I'll make sure that happens. I'll talk to you again once I speak with Randy about this."

Roselle: "Okay. Thank you. Bye."

Me: "Bye."

I hang up. "Well, that was interesting."

"Who was that?" Cody asks.

"Roselle Diaz, Cami's sister, Vance's aunt."

"What'd she want?" Ryse asks.

"She wanted to know what we're doing with Vance since Cami is…you know."

"Oh. What are you doing with Vance?"

"We don't know yet. Roselle wants me, Randy, and maybe even Tyler to join her and her fiancé for a meal sometime to talk about it."

"That's probably a good idea." Eve says.

"I agree, but I'm talking to Randy first before agreeing to anything."

"That's good." Chelle says. "You wanna continue watching these matches?"

I sit down. "Yep. Let's watch."

After watching a few more matches, I finally received a text back from Tyler.

Tyler: He asked, and I couldn't think of anything better.

Me: Well that was horrible. Even Roselle thought that was bad.

Tyler: You talked to Roselle?

Me: Yeah. She called the house phone today.

As we start to watch another match, the house phone starts to ring again.

"Damn." John says. "The house phone is getting all the action today."

I roll my eyes. "Ted, pause the match. I'm gonna answer that."

Ted nods as he pauses it. "Yes, ma'am."

I answer the phone once more.

Me: "Hello?"

Caller: "Hello. Is this Marissa Orton?"

Me: "It is. Why?"

Caller: "It's Officer Nickel. We have enough evidence to incriminate Camille Diaz of stealing your money."

Me: "Seriously? That's great news."

Officer Nickel: "It is. We're trying to see if we can get this to go through without having to go to court. Unfortunately, it does not seem that we can, but I'll let you know when things are certain."

Me: "Okay. Thank you, Officer Nickel."

Officer Nickel: "Also, we have retrieved all of the stolen money."

Me: "All of it?"

Officer Nickel: "All twenty-seven thousand dollars."

Me: "Oh my god. That's amazing news. Thank you so much."

Officer Nickel: "It is. The money should be returned to you and your husband as soon as possible."

Me: "Thank you so much, Officer Nickel. That's nice to know."

Officer Nickel: "No problem, Mrs. Orton. I send well wishes to you and your husband. If you need anything else, feel free to call. I will get ahold of you when the money is returned or we find out about court. Goodbye."

Me: "Thank you. Goodbye."

I hang up and sit back down with a smile on my face.

"What was that about?" Cody asks.

"I just got some amazing news, but I should tell Randy first." I say. "As soon as he knows, I'll tell you guys."

"Oh okay."

"You guys want to take a lunch break?" John asks.

"Sure." We all answer.

After we finish watching matches, I sit in my bedroom alone. I was just wanting to chill for a little while, but I kept looking at the boxes. Colby and Tyler were able to open theirs. Why was it so hard for me to open mine?

I get off of the bed and look at the boxes. I open both to see both of them filled with numbered envelopes.

"Well, Marissa." I say to myself. "You've opened them. No turning back now."

I look for and find the envelope with the number one on it. I take it out of the box. I grab my reading glasses and sit back on the bed.

I open the envelope and pull out the letter. "Here goes nothing."

Date: January 15, 1986

Dear Marissa, I know by the time you see this, if you ever see this, that you will be much older than you are now. You're so young that you may not even remember me. I'm so sorry that I left you and your brother a few months ago. You didn't deserve that. You're only three and five years old. I probably hurt you two emotionally. And you don't deserve that. However, I'm too guilty to come back.

What you do deserve is answers. Answers as to why I left. The truth is that I'm pregnant with your younger brother. However, he is not your father's child. I did a horrible thing and cheated. Your father would have probably forgiven me, but I couldn't do that to your father again. So I ran away to Iowa with your younger brother's father. Your father knows I left with him, but he doesn't know it's because I'm pregnant. I feel too guilty about that.

I know I won't see you or Tyler anytime soon, but I hope one day when you two are older that you will be able to forgive me. Even if you are already adults. You may not though, and I deserve that. I have hope though. Hope that one I can have all three of my babies with me. I want you to know that I have never and will never stop loving you and Tyler. I hope one day that you two will return that if you see me.

Love, Mom

I set the letter down and started crying. Between my cries, I hear the bedroom door open. I feel Randy get on the bed and wrap his arms around me. I put my head on his chest and continued to cry.

Randy kisses my forehead. "You opened them."

"Yeah." I say between tears. "Only one letter so far. I don't think I have the emotional ability to handle anymore right now."

"That's okay. Something tells me this isn't the last time we're gonna be like this while you are reading these."

"You're probably right. I hope you don't mind."

"Of course not. That's what I'm here for. I am always here for you."

"Good. I wish that you hadn't come in right now. Today was actually pretty good until I read that letter."

"Was it? What all did you do?"

"I had breakfast and lunch with our friends, watched some of Kharma's old matches as Awesome Kong so I can figure something out, and answered a couple calls on our house phone today."

"Our house phone got more than one call in a day? That's weird. Who called?"

"Well, one call was from Officer Nickel. He told me that they found enough evidence to incriminate Cami."

"Anything else?"

"They found our money."

"How much?"

"All twenty-seven thousand dollars. They'll get back to us as soon as possible."

"That's amazing news."

"Yeah. How'd it go for you?"

"They have all the needed DNA. They should mail us the results in about a week or so."

"Okay. That's good."

"Who else called today?"

"Roselle Diaz."

"Who's that?"

"Cami's sister. She wants to know what the plan is for Vance. She wants him to be well taken care of."

"How'd the conversation go with her?"

"Good. We talked about things. She figured we were trying to get the paternity figured out. She wants us and maybe even Tyler to join her and her fiancé for a meal sometime to talk about what we're going to do with Vance. Actually, she also wanted to talk to Vance. I told her that I'd make sure he got to talk to her over the phone."

"Oh. Okay. Are we going to have this meal with Roselle and her fiancé?"

"I want to, but I told her I'd talk to you and let her know."

"I think we should. Get ahold of Tyler soon to see if he's gonna go."

"Okay. Let me go let her know."

"Actually, I'll do that. You calm down. I'll talk to Roselle and then put Vance on the phone with her."

"Okay." I hand Randy a piece of paper with Roselle's phone number on it. "Here's her number."

Randy takes it. "Thanks. Love you."

"Love you too."