Reunited

Chapter 3

We stayed in contact through email for the next week. I dug deeper and deeper into her life, and her into mine.
I found out she was going to school for Kinesiology, and that she was set to graduate a semester and a half early thanks to taking college classes in high school, summer school, and a general tendency to work her ass off. I thought about it for about a second, but then I typed it and sent it before I could change my mind. I told her that on the set in Vancouver, we were starting to have people in her career field around for physical therapy, first aid, and general basic medical needs. She would be someone like a school nurse and physical therapist all rolled up in one. That catch was that she would have to move her life to Vancouver, quite the change from California. But the pay would be good. She would still work similar hours and we provided on site child care. I couldn't deny that I was doing this partly for myself as well. Now that I was getting to know my daughter, I couldn't find it in my heart to not be sad about the idea of moving to Canada when filming started again. She said she would need time to think on it.
One day, Ginny was visiting me with Oliver. We both had a free day so we relaxed in my home. Oliver played happily with my little dog, Ava. Meanwhile Ginny looked over my shoulder without me knowing. She read an email I had just received from Adaline.
"Who is that?" She asked, startling me. Adaline had written to me about her classes this time.
I pressed my hand to my chest in a futile attempt to calm my racing heart.
"You can't tell anyone." I said between breaths. She had seen the email, there was no use in lying.
She crosses her arms and nodded.
"I found my daughter." I simply said.
"You what?!" Ginny almost yelled.
"I hired a private investigator." I said.
"Jen! You can't just barge into her life. She doesn't know you! And it would be such a shock! I'm surprised at you!" She huffed away at me.
"She doesn't know I'm her mother." I stopped her. "The investigator told me she visited a coffee shop regularly so I started going, pretending to run into her."
"Wait. She's here? In LA?" Ginny asked.
"She was adopted by a family in Texas that sent her back. She never was adopted again and stayed in the foster system until she turned 18. She moved in with her boyfriend, they had a baby, but he left her not long after. She moved out here almost two years ago. She lives about half an hour from here."
"Wow. So you're a grandmother too?"
"Yeah, apparently." I said with a laugh. "We've been emailing and occasionally talking in the coffee shop, but I haven't told her I'm her mother yet. I want her to get to know me first, maybe she won't be so angry when I tell her and she'll let me explain."
"That's a good plan. Except she might still be angry. How long have you two been in contact?"
"A few weeks. I'm almost ready. I just don't know how to go about it. I want to do it before we have to go to Vancouver to film."
"Why? It's not like she'll go with you."
I stared at the floor.
"Jen, you can't possibly think she'll pack up her life and follow you, even if you are her mother. She hasn't had you around for twenty years, she's probably not going to need you now."
Ouch. That stung a little. "She might if there's a good job waiting for her."
"You didn't!"
"I did..."
"Jen! You can't bribe her with a job!"
"I can if she's about to graduate college and we have a job that fits her degree and pays well."
"She still might not be willing to pack up her life! What if she finds a great job here?"
She had a point. I couldn't make her go with me. I could damn well try, but in the end it would be her choice.
"I know, you're right. But it's worth a try. I just want to be close to her. I hated giving her up. It killed me, it's still killing me."
"I know." Ginny said, embracing me. "It's not your fault. You wanted to give her a chance at a good life."
"That she still didn't get." I said, crying into my friend's shoulder.
"That's not your fault either. You were sixteen, you weren't going to be able to care for her. It's okay to admit that."
"I just want to try to start now. Better late than never. She doesn't have anybody. She never has."
"Then tell her all of that, tell her you want to have a chance to be her mother."
"How?"
"The same way you just told me. It's going to be messy. There's going to be tears, maybe even some screaming. I would do it in a public place." She said with a laugh.
"Alright." I sniffed and wiped the tears from my face.
I went back to my computer. I forced myself to face my fears and invited her to an event in a local park tomorrow. There would be fun things for Cadence and plenty of things to interest myself and Adaline. I included the flyer for it. Within ten minutes she had responded with a yes, telling me she was happy I would get to meet Cadence. I cried tears of both joy and fear. I was terrified of this. But it could only go one of two ways.
That night, I was up very late. I decided to search her name on Facebook and Twitter. I followed her with my public account on Twitter and friended her with my personal account on Facebook. I had my public fan page for interacting purposes and then my personal page for friends and family. No one could search for me, I had to find them and add them. I was sure to send Adaline a message to assure her it was indeed me.
Finally, exhaustion overtook me and I fell into an uneasy sleep.