15.06 (#2)

Chapter 14

To be honest, I had no idea where to begin. I knew she was an orphan and that her parents died almost 10 years ago in Oregon. Pulling up the search engine on my laptop, I began searching for her name.

Articles about her movements within the fostering system came up as well as her success with the law. I clicked on an interview she had given with a writer of the New York Times. The journalist asked her questions about her childhood and her drive, but Rori was tactful. She distracted the interview away from the past she has been trying so hard to avoid. All I found out was that she had an older brother who was killed in action in Afghanistan.

Hours had passed and I felt like I had been travelling in circles. The woman was clever, more secretive than I had previously given her credit for. She had closed those chapters of her life and secured it with a deadbolt. I dug out the missing persons poster that her foster parents had released, as well as the tiny article in the local papers about her 'kidnapping'.

"Hey Chris! What's up?"

"Dad I need a favour."

"Sure what do you need?"

"I need the file that you made about Rori." I told him. There was a slight pause before he spoke again.

"How do you know about the file?"

"It wasn't hard to figure out. For Rori's guardianship with Donny you needed to find out if she could be adopted."

"Son. Think about this for a minute. Do you really want to find out about Rori this way?"

"Yes. I've waited to hear what she wanted to tell me. She's still secretive with me and I can't seem to find a way to help her because I don't know how she was hurt."

"You'll be breaking her trust you know. If you want this relationship you have with her to last then you need that trust in your life."

"I know. I've considered it but I can't wait any longer. It's been eight years dad and I still feel like I don't know her. The only thing I do know is that I'm crazy in love with her and I can't do anything do for her pain."

"And that is all you should need to know for now. She'll tell you when she's ready. I don't think you will want to betray her like that."

"When will she be ready dad?"

"I don't know. But if you love her then it shouldn't matter." Despite my father's wise words I couldn't let it go. I couldn't bear to be in the dark any longer so I decided to take the matter into my own hands. I spent the week working but in the little free time I had I would scoured the Internet for any information about her.

She went to Belmont School in Maine and like she had said she was the dance captain in middle school. There were a few competition videos that came up. I smiled as I saw a fresh faced young girl, dancing her heart out with such passion and innocence. She looked like a completely different person when she was 14. I almost didn't recognise her if it weren't for those distinct coloured eyes that I loved so much. Her hair was blonder back when the most stress she had to endure were dance competitions.

There wasn't much after her parents death apart from the obituary in the papers. Her brother was awarded the Purple Heart posthumously. He saved a fellow soldier after an IED attack whilst being severely injured himself. The whole Greensmith family were brave, loving people- it was only natural that Rori carried the traits too.

It was well past midnight when I decided to call it an night. My eyes were burning from staring at the screen too long and my head was hurting. I didn't speak to Rori for a few weeks, though I did try to call her she always told me she was busy and that she'd call back.