Taboo

Chapter 14

In 2015 when Samantha was three years old, Em met a man named Lucas who was the same age as her at the time, thirty-one. He was tall with short black hair and light green eyes, he worked as an EMT. He was from America as well. He'd moved to France because it the home country of his then wife, who left him after finding out he could never have children. In 2017 Em and Lucas had gotten engaged and married in the same year. Eventually she told him everything about Sam. They had no secrets from each other. After they got married they'd purchased a home together. It was now the year 2020. She and Lucas had recently celebrated their three year wedding anniversary. She was now thirty-six. Samantha was eight. She reminded Em of Sam in so many ways. Em loved Samantha so much. Not a day went by that she knew deciding to keep Samantha.

Em and Samantha were down in the basement. Em was cleaning it out because they were going to be converting it into a second living room. Lucas was upstairs asleep because he'd worked the night shift the night before.

"What are these things mom?" Samantha said pointing. "They look like big picture frames."

"Those are pictures I used to have hung up."

"Why did you take them down?"

"You needed somewhere to sleep when you were born."

"Can we look at them?"

"Yeah." They were looking through them and got to the sixth one. It was the one where Sam's back was to Em doing the skating trick.

"Cool picture." "Who is that?"

"Your father."

"Really?"

"Yeah."

"Can I have this one?" "I don't have any pictures of dad."

"Yeah." "We'll hang it up in your room."

"Thank you."

"You're welcome."

Em had made sure from a young age that Samantha knew, Sam didn't abandon her. Samantha knew that when Em finally decided to tell Sam about her, it was to late and she couldn't get in touch with him. Em had tried to find Sam over the years on social media but couldn't.

The next night Em and Samantha were making chocolate chip cookies from scratch. Samantha was mixing ingredients in a bowl. Lucas came in the kitchen.

"You two look hard at work." Lucas said.

"We are." Samantha said.

"What are we watching for movie night Sammy?"

"Finding Dory."

"Cool."

"Have you finished your homework?" Em asked.

"Yes god, get off my back." Lucas said.

"I wasn't talking to you goofball."

Samantha laughed. "Yes mom."

Later that night Samantha had went to bed. Em and Lucas were sitting on the couch.

"Em, I want to adopt Samantha."

"Let me try and find Sam first." "I'll go to The States and hire a private investigator." "If I can't find him then we'll talk to her."

"Ok."