Faultless

Chapter 8

Chapter 8

            There we were: Dearborn County Hospital. My real mother was somewhere inside and I couldn’t believe I was minutes away from meeting her. My heart felt like it was about to pound out of my chest as millions of questions, hopes, and worries rushed through my mind.

            “Listen,” Arnold said, interrupting my thoughts, “This is how this is going to work. We’re going to go straight to the front desk and ask for the pediatric oncology floor. When we’re there, I’ll ask for Dr. Burks. You two will sit from far away and watch. You won’t say anything. You won’t interrupt. I’m going to say I’m a student interviewing parents who have been through the adoption process.”

            My mouth dropped open in shock. He wasn’t even going to let me talk to my real mom.

            “It’s too dangerous, Remi,” Louis said, noticing my shock.

            “But she’s my mom,” I said, hurt.

            “No,” Arnold said, “Not unless I signal you over. You will not talk to her. We don’t want to scare her away or get ourselves caught. Who knows how she would react to seeing her long lost daughter she thought she gave away years ago.”

            I had nothing left in me to fight with Arnold. But he didn’t control me; I could do what I wanted. If I felt the need to talk to her, I would.

            As if he read my thoughts, Arnold said, “Don’t bother trying. Louis already promised to hold you back.”

            “For your protection,” Louis spat at quickly, as if it would soften the blow. And with that we entered the hospital. My only hope now was that this woman, Melinda Burks, my real mom, would know about all of this testing and that she could help us so I could meet her, but Arnold was convinced she had no idea about any of it.

            “We’re looking for the pediatric oncology floor,” Arnold said to the woman at the front desk.

            “Yes,” she answered, “That will be third floor. The elevators are right over there.” We carefully walked over to them and climbed in. It was a silent ride up to floor three as I waited with so much anticipation that it was almost agonizing.

            “Sit here,” Arnold whispered to Louis and I as we stepped off of the elevator. Louis and I sat down on the bench facing the main desk of the pediatric oncology floor. I sighed in anticipation as Arnold approached the desk.

            “Excuse me,” he asked nurse sitting at the desk, “Can I please speak to Melinda Burks.”

            “Does she know you’re here?” the nurse asked, annoyed.

            “No. I’m doing a project on adoption and someone told me she would be a good person to talk to.”

            The nurse rolled her eyes, “Dr. Burks,” she said over the radio, “You’re needed at the front desk when you have a moment.” Arnold stood there waiting, looking as natural as ever. As if, he really was here to interview her for a project. It felt like forever before she finally rounded the corner, although, it was probably not even two minutes.

            “What’s up?” my birth mom asked the nurse as she approached the desk.

            “He says he’s here to interview about adoption,” the nurse said in a monotone voice.