The Lavender Butterfly

Chapter 39

I was looking out the window at the passenger planes taking off while Molly and I were waiting at a stoplight near the airport when Molly started to ask me a barrage of questions. “What does this Mike guy want to do with you?” Molly asked. “I honestly don’t know,” I replied. “Olivia, if you don’t mind me asking, what was that interview even about?” She asked. “Mike asked me a lot of questions. He asked me who I was, where I was from, why I was there with Meredith, and so on and so forth. He began to get very frustrated with me when they couldn’t find out who I was. He started to call me a liar, and he yelled at me. He was a really mean guy. Susan had to calm him down.” I explained. “I see…” Molly replied, deep in thought. “None of this makes any sense. I don’t know why he would want to talk with you in person. I feel that if anything needed to be discussed, it would go through Susan. You didn’t do anything bad, like commit any crimes or anything, right?” I couldn’t tell if she was joking or not. “No, I don’t think so,” I replied, a bit nervously. To be honest, I was worried that I did do something wrong. Either that or I was about to be framed for something. I don’t think I could have gotten in too much trouble as a 13-year-old girl, but I wasn’t sure what they could pin on me. As we pulled up to the drop off zone at the airport, the same place that Molly picked me up at a week before, my heart began to race. We were met by two security guards that approached Molly’s car. Molly rolled down her window. “Is this Olivia Foster?” one security guard asked Molly. “Yes,” Molly replied. “Good,” the guard said. “Mike Patton is expecting you,” he said as he opened the passenger side door and directed me out of the car. “Ma’am, if you could please park over there in the waiting area, we will give you a call once we are finished,” he said. “Oh…..okay….” Molly replied, as she began to drive away. The two security guards walked beside me, flanking me on both sides, as if they were either protecting me, or preventing me from escaping. Either way, I was extremely nervous. My heart was racing. My palms were sweating. The guards led me down a long hall to an office with a name placard that read, “Mike Patton.” One of the guards knocked on the closed door. “Come in,” a voice replied. The guard opened the door and both guards brought me into the office. Mike was sitting behind his desk when we walked in. “Thank you, gentlemen. Please leave us. And please close the door behind you on your way out,” he said to the guards. As the door closed, Mike was fumbling with some papers on his desk. “Hello again, Olivia,” he said as he got up from his desk. He walked over to me and looked closely at me and examined my face. He scanned me up and down. He touched me on my shoulders and ran two fingers up and down both shoulder blades. “Olivia, can you please lift your shirt up to just above your navel?” he said to me firmly. “Was this guy some kind of pervert?” I thought to myself. I complied as I raised my shirt to just above my belly button. “Good, you can put it down now,” he said. “I apologize for that. I just wanted to make sure you weren’t wearing a wire or any cameras.” He paced back toward his desk and sat down in his chair. “It is very important that nothing that is said or discussed in this room leaves this room. Can you make that promise, Olivia?” he said to me. “Yes,” I said, nodding hesitantly. “Good,” he replied. He began to rummage through his desk drawers. He pulled out an envelope and casually pushed it across the desk to me with one finger. “Open it,” he said. I opened the envelope and pulled out a folded document. I unfolded the paper and read it. “State of Michigan Birth Certificate,” I read. The birth certificate read, “Foster, Olivia Marie. Born April 23, 13 years ago, Grand Rapids, MI. Parents Steven and Laura Foster.” I was in shock. “What….is this?” I spoke. “Simply put…. it’s your birth certificate,” he said. “How did you…” I stammered hesitantly. “Look, Olivia, we searched everywhere, in every database in the country. We even were in contact with the Canadian government, and we still found nothing. No proof that you exist anywhere. I…. have a contact in Michigan. He helped me fabricate this birth certificate. Same paper that was used thirteen years ago. Same format as well. Looks like an authentic certificate. Nobody could ever know that it is a counterfeit. Anyway, Steven and Laura Foster were real people. They both died in a car accident twelve years ago. As far as anyone knows, they left behind a one-year-old daughter. That was you. All instances of this traffic accident were scrubbed. There is no evidence of any child being left behind, nothing. Also, Steven and Laura were cremated, so their bodies cannot be exhumed to do a DNA test to prove whether you are their daughter. After this accident, there was no record of you going forward. I have no explanation for this, but you went off the radar for several years. Maybe you got involved in a human trafficking ring, maybe you were raised by criminals, I don’t know. Either way, you now have a birth certificate. Do you wish for me to introduce it into public record?” Mike asked me. “Well, yes, I guess,” I replied, in disbelief of what was unfolding. “One question Mike, why are you doing this? Isn’t this illegal? Can’t you go to jail for a long time for this?” I asked. Mike looked down at his desk. “I owe Meredith a favor. After interviewing both of you, I saw that both of you love each other very much. After scouring every resource that I had at my disposal, I knew that I would never find a birth certificate for you. I wanted to do anything I could do to make sure that Meredith could adopt you. You two belong together,” he said. “Believe it or not, I do have a sense of compassion,” he said with a subtle smile. “I don’t know how to thank you, Mike,” I said with tempered excitement. “You…. said you owed Meredith a favor? What favor did you owe her?” I continued. Mike sat silently, not replying to my question. Mike collected the birth certificate and put it back in the envelope. “I will relay this information back to Susan. She should be reaching out to Molly sometime tomorrow, and they will discuss your future placement,” he said. “Future placement? Does that mean that Meredith will be able to adopt me?” I asked. Mike looked at me reassuringly and said, “Meredith has been filling out paperwork to adopt a Jane Doe. She had everything filled out, the only thing stopping her from adopting you was a birth certificate. Now we will have that birth certificate.” “I…. don’t know how to thank you,” I said, tears starting to form in my eyes. “I believe I have said everything that has needed to be said,” Mike spoke. He proceeded to dial security. “Yes, can you please escort Olivia Foster back to Molly Engstrom in the loading zone?” he said into the phone. I started to walk toward the door. “Hey Olivia, remember, nothing that was said in this room leaves this room. Remember that,” he said to me. “Don’t say anything about this birth certificate until Susan discusses this with Molly tomorrow. Also, I just want to say, have a safe trip home to Chicago,” he continued. “Thank you so much, Mike,” I replied with a smile.