Donor

"How long will it take you to find the results?" Jess asked Devin.

"I'll do it myself. I will call you when I know."

"What's the use? I already know. That baby looked so much like Toby."

"A lot of blond haired babies look alike, Jess. Don't get all bent out of shape until we know for sure. You should go home."

"I'm not going home. I want to know how the hell this ever happened. I'm going to go talk to Maggie Patterson."

xxxxx

Maggie was surprised to see Jess at her hotel. "Come in."

Jess walked in and Maggie closed the door. They stared at each other amongst uncomfortable silence.

"Would you like to sit down?"

"No. But I think I need to."

When they were both comfortable (or as comfortable as they could be in that situation) Maggie starting talking, assuming she knew exactly why Jess was there—to hear the story.

"It started in the fall of 1981. I worked at his restaurant in Rensselaer. We were good friends at first, but it progressed quickly that October. I never wanted him to leave your mother and I told him that. He wouldn't have anyway even if I'd asked him to. He loved you, your brother, and Toni."

"When he was away from us all the time…was he with you?"

"Not always. A lot of it was business. He was away from us too."

"Go on."

"Well we decided at first it would be a no strings attached relationship, and I think he really started feeling guilty a few years into it. We were on the verge of ending it. But then I had Kenneth in 1985 and things got more serious, they had to for Kenny. He needed his father. Joe started spending more time with us and even more when I had Kate in 1987."

"Why would you have children with a married man?"

"We never planned it. Joe did not want more children. That's one of the reasons we got together…" she had never meant to reveal that to Jess.

"It's okay. I figured it out when you said you starting sleeping together the month I was born."

"He loved you. He loved you so much, but he was scared. Your father had nothing growing up and he wanted to give his kids everything. He was afraid he couldn't afford more than one child. When you were born he knew he was going to have to work twice as hard to give you both the life you wanted."

"I was an inconvenience, so he ran out and made two other inconveniences?"

"The condom broke with Kenny and I was on birth control with Kate. They were even more unplanned than you."

"That helps a lot," Jess said sarcastically. "You said before that I had met you. What was that about?"

"It broke your father's heart to have four children who didn't even know each other. As you know in his culture family is very important. His family was split-"

"That was all his doing."

"You're right." Maggie leaned over to a drawer and pulled out an old picture and gave it to Jess. There were four kids: a boy about ten holding a baby that could only be a few months old, a toddler boy, and a five-year-old girl. "He really wanted at least one picture of all his children together, so we met to have this taken at the park. Do you remember it?"

"No." Jess handed her back the photo. "Who did he tell us you were?"

"A friend."

"And how did he keep me, Doug, and Kenneth from calling him daddy?"

"You and Doug did call him daddy. That's why we got together for that picture before Kenny could talk well...or be old enough to question why kids he didn't know were calling his father daddy."

"Was that the only time he brought us to see you?"

"…Yes."

"It wasn't. I can't believe it. My father took my brother and me to be around his mistress. What did he do, leave us there, so you could babysit? Did we spend the night at your home while my father was just down the hall in bed with you?"

"It was never more than a couple of hours weekend afternoons. And it wasn't about you guys being around me. He wanted you, Doug, Kenny, and Kate to love each other. He hoped he would tell you all the truth when you grew up. But Doug was a lot older than the rest of you and I think he suspected something. When he turned eleven he started asking a lot of questions, and Joe was afraid he would say something to your mom, so we thought it was just best that you and Doug stop coming to Rensselaer."

xxxxx

On the way home Jess got a call from Devin. He told her what she already knew: Kate was her sister.

As she walked up her walkway she heard Joe and Toby laughing. When she came through the door she saw Nathan playing with his kids. That roughhousing she always discouraged was a pleasure to watch.

"Where is Maddie?" Jess asked.

"Napping. How was your day?"

"I found a man abducted for ransom and I found my sister and father's mistress."

Nathan almost dropped the two-year-old he was hanging upside down. "Your what?"

"Yeah. It turns out my father had a whole other family."

"I'm going to take them down to the rec room. I will be right back." Nathan picked up his sons and took them out of the room.

The door bell rang.

"Hi. Come in," she told Nicole and Antonio.

"Okay, Jess, what the hell is all this?" Nathan came back in. The four of them sat down to talk.

"After you left," she said to Nicole. "I took Kate up to Devin and we had a D.N.A. test. When I was on the way back from Maggie's hotel he called me and said it was a match."

"You spoke to Maggie?" Nicole asked.

"Who's Maggie?" Nathan asked still trying to get a grasp on the whole thing.

"The other woman. Her grandson—my...sister's son—is sick and she needs me to be tested for a bone marrow transplant."

"And Kate is your sister?"

"Right."

"How did these people even find you?"

"There was a lot of media coverage in Indiana when Nicole and I found that kid last winter."

"Oh."

"Are you going to do it, the transplant?" Antonio asked.

"I don't really have a choice."

"Wait a minute," Nathan said. "You have to think about this. There are dangers to these procedures."

"Like?"

"Like bad reactions to the anesthesia. You could have damage to your bone or the nerves or muscle in your hip where the marrow comes from."

"Is that common?" Antonio asked.

"If it happens it doesn't really matter how common it is. It's one hundred percent for her. Even if there's a chance she shouldn't do it."

"That means it's not common," Jess interpreted her husband's remark.

"I don't think you should do it."

"When I told her about the kids she asked me if we could get them tested also."

"Absolutely not. That's not happening, Jess."

"We can worry about all this later," Nicole said. "You spoke to Maggie? What did she say?"

"A lot of things. Like my birth was what threw my dad into the arms of another woman."

"She actually said that to you?" Nathan asked disgusted.

"Basically."

xxxxx

Nathan climbed into bed with his wife that night.

"Are you feeling any better?" he asked.

"A little. I've had a lot of time to think."

"You spent the evening in the playroom with three babies. When did you have time to think?"

"When I was with them. My nephew…he looks like Toby. I keep thinking about what I would feel like if it was him that was sick."

"That's what makes you want to get tested?"

"I always knew I would get tested, but I think…we should really consider getting the boys-"

"No, Jess. It's bad enough you're doing it. You cannot put our kids through this. Never mind the dangers, it's a painful procedure."

"You said they use anesthesia."

"It wears off. They could be in pain for days or weeks."

"Kate's baby could be in pain for months and then die."

"Not Madison."

"Of course not. But Toby and Joe?"

"…All right."

xxxxx

Jess didn't waste any time. The next morning she and her sons were on the first plane to Indiana. Nathan stayed home with their daughter.

She stopped in Indianapolis first to meet the niece that she never met—Sylvia's five-month-old daughter.

Sylvia sat in her living room when Jess—who still had the keys of her mom's old house—let herself in with her boys.

"Surprise. I see you haven't changed the locks."

Sylvia hugged her. "They are getting so big."

"Say hi Aunt Sylvia," Jess told her two-year-old.

"Hi Syvia."

"That was close enough." Sylvia kissed her nephews.

"So where is my niece that I still can't believe I have only seen through pictures?"

Sylvia led Jess and the boys to the other room.

"This is Shania Sylvia Mastriani. I figured part of me and part of Doug, so she gets both our names. And I named her after my favorite country singer—Shania Twain. Where is Nathan?"

"He's at home with Madison. I'm on my way to Rensselaer. Don't ask. It's a long story. I'll tell you later."

xxxxx

That night Jess got to Luke's hospital holding two sleeping babies in either arm. There were a lot of people in one of the pediatric rooms and she recognized Maggie and Kate.

"Hi."

Everyone turned around to see Jess.

"Thank you for coming," Maggie said. "Everyone, this is Joe's daughter Jess. And these are her kids…"

"Joe and Nathan," Jess said. "They can be tested too."

xxxxx

The next morning while they waited for the results of the blood tests Jess got to know her brother and sister.

"So you're an F.B.I. agent," Kenny said. "What's that like?"

"Taxing. It has its good times and bad times."

"What made you want to be an agent?"

"Let's just say life can take some weird turns and put you in places you never thought you'd go. What about you two, what do you do?"

"I'm in law school," Kenny said.

"And I'm in college part time and I work as a secretary during the day. I've been on leave every since this happened though," Kate told her.

"What is your major?"

"When I started I was going for early childhood education, but now I want to be a pediatric nurse."

"Kaitlyn Mastriani?" the doctor said.

"Yes," she stood up enthusiastically to the doctor—and probably only one left—that she hadn't met. "Do you have the results?"

"Yes. Mrs. Massey is not a match and neither is Joseph Mastriani…"

The family sighed. The grandmothers' and Kate's eyes welded up with tears.

"…Nathan Massey, however, is a perfect match. We can do the transplant this afternoon."

The room erupted with joyful tears, laughter, cheering, and clapping. Jess was happy that Kate's baby's prognosis looked better, but she was worried about her baby more.

xxxxx

Jess had been watching Luke and Toby sleep for hours. The transplant went off without a hitch and both toddlers were doing well. Sylvia drove up to Rensselaer to pick up Joe and would watch him while Jess lived out of the hospital.

"Coffee?" Kate held out a paper cup.

"Thank you."

"It's too bad you live so far away. I think they would have been good friends growing up. But they can still talk on the phone when they get older."

"Kate, I'm really glad I was able to help Luke and your family, and I wish you the best. But I think after Nathan is released we should go our separate ways. I have always wanted a sister, but I don't think I will ever be able to make myself okay with why we're related."

"I can understand that. It bugs me too. But we are related, and so are our children. Do you think it's fair to keep them from knowing each other because of what our parents did?"

"I have to think about that." Jess knew exactly where she had to go to get the answers she needed…

xxxxx

Jess sat on a bench in the mausoleum.

"Hi, Dad… "

xxxxx

"So how is Toby doing?" Nicole asked when Jess called her.

"He's fine. He'll be sore for the next few days, but he is being released tomorrow."

"And how are you getting along with Kate?"

"She thinks we should stay in each others lives and allow the kids to know about each other, and I…I'm still not sure. I talked to my dad this afternoon and-"

"Wait. You talked to your dad? What do you mean by that?"

"Relax, Nicole. It's not like he talked back. I went to the mausoleum. I just talked to him, and I tried to understand why he did what he did. I guess anyone can make a mistake. And then once Kenny was born he had to stick around."

"So you've forgiven him."

"I think I have…so I guess I have no reason to not want my sister and brother in my life. I didn't realize that until just now. Thank you."

"That's why I called."

"How's Nathan doing with me away?"

"He picks up Maddie later and later every afternoon."

"Oh, I'll kill him. I am sorry."

"Don't be. Zachary loves having her here, and so do we."

xxxxx

Toby made a full recovery and was let out. Joe, Toby, and Jess said their goodbyes and went home to Maryland. Jess, Kate, and Kenny decided to stay in touch and talk on the phone regularly to get to know each other. Two months later Luke went into remission and was discharged.