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( FAST ENOUGH ) iii. an unexpected encounter
Among her siblings, June was the only one who sought out their biological mother. She loved the family she had, of course, but she often wondered what her life would've been like had not grown up as a Sparrow. She almost felt that a part of her was missing; a void in her heart that could only be filled by knowing who she truly was and where she came from. More specifically, who she came from.
June had been apprehensive at first. She was well aware that her mother hadn't wanted her. After all, why else would she have sold her off to Reginald? Although, she couldn't particularly blame her. Her birth, as the rest of her sibling's, was an unforeseen circumstance. Perhaps her mother had been too young, or maybe her financial situation hadn't allowed her to have a baby. There were a myriad of reasons as to why her mother could've given her up, and June wanted to know why.
No, she needed to know why. Perhaps it was the lack of a mother figure in her life that made her feel that way.
June had always wondered if her mother regretted giving her away to Reginald. Was it a difficult decision for her to make? Or was it easy to hand off the baby she herself created and birthed? June wasn't sure if she wanted to know the answers to those questions, but a bigger part of her yearned to know. She hoped that her mother regretted it—that she still wanted her even after all these years.
June knew the only way she would ever get closure was if she received those answers. And that's exactly what she sought out to do.
Tracking her mother down had been surprisingly easy. Fortunately for June, Reginald kept the check stubs from when he purchased her and her siblings. Her mother's name and address were printed onto the small slip of paper, along with the amount of money allotted to her in exchange for June.
After conducting her own research online, June had been able to dig up more information on her mother. She was a Chinese-American woman named Mei Lee. She worked as a professor at the University of Michigan, where she'd been living after the divorce from her husband. She had full custody over their one child, a twelve-year-old boy called Shan Lee—a fact that June was elated about. She was an older sister!
She vividly remembered the day she met them both.
The date was March 23rd, 2013. June had flown out from New York City to Ann Arbor, Michigan. She spent the entire two hour flight bracing herself for the reaction she expected to receive upon meeting her mother: disappointment, rejection, resentment. But nothing had prepared her for the warmth that spread through her chest when Mei bursted into tears, pulling her in for a bone crushing embrace.
