Mercy ▼ Inanna Gilbert

Thinking

Inanna POv

On the phone leaving a message for Bonnie

Hey, Bonnie, it's me just checking in, seeing how you're doing. We miss you here. Don't let your aunt drive you too crazy.

Jenna walked up onto the porch and stopped to look at me while sipping her coffee.

Come home soon. Love you. I said hanging up

What are you doing out here? It's cold.

Thinking
The, uh, funeral for Bonnie's grandma, it brought back a lot about mom and dad. I was wondering...you said that you would do some digging about them, the adoption.

Right.

So did you? Dig?

Come on inside.

Jenna and I walked inside.

Jenna pulled out her laptop and sat down at the dining table and I stood next to her

Your dad kept everything from his medical practice—records, logs, old appointment books.

She pulled out a journal and opened it, showing me a page

I found an entry from the night you and Elena were born. Patient and a birth date. Isobel Peterson.

Do you think that's her real name?

Pregnant teenage runaway? Probably not. First name, maybe. But where'd she get Peterson? Classmate? Best friend? So I binged it.

She pulled up the Internet and typed in a name in the search engine

I searched for all the Petersons in this area born the same year as Isobel, found 3--2 men and a woman, Trudie, who lived in Grove Hill, Virginia.

That's not far from here.

Well, watch this.

Jenna typed something else into the search engine and pulls up an image of Isobel from high school.

Isobel.

I looked at the picture with a smile

She was a cheerleader.

Trudie still lives there.

She handed me a post-it note

This is her address.

What about Isobel?

I couldn't find anything about her.

I had a disheartened face as  I sat down at the table.

Jenna briefly pauses before divulging new information

Listen. There's something else. Mr. Saltzman, Ric, his wife was from around here, and her name was also Isobel.

Wait. "Was," as in...She died.

X

Later, Elena was putting away clothes in her drawer. Stefan stood behind her as they discuss this new turn of events.

Alaric's wife might have been your mother?

I sighed

It can't be true, right? I mean, the coincidence alone is just crazy.

Elena turned around to look at Stefan and held up the post-it note

I have the address for her friend Trudie.

You wanna talk to her.

I don't know. I...I--I don't know. If it's true and they are the same person, that means that my birth mother is dead, and I don't know if I could handle that.

Elena, did Jenna tell you anything about Alaric's wife? How she died?

Just that she was killed and the case was never solved.

Stefan glanced towards me

I just gave him a blank stare

Stefan nodded at this prior knowledge. Elena looked at him, surprised.

You knew that already?

The night at the school when he attacked me, he told me some things about her death. I said speaking up

Well—No, no. It's not possible. The coincidence is—it's too much.

I just don't know what I'm gonna do yet.

I say we go

Elena ignored me and wrapped her arms around Stefan's neck and they embrace each other lovingly.

I should get going. I gotta go deal with Damon.

How's he doing? I asked

He's dealing in his own way.

X

Elena held up the Post-It note with Trudie's address and then looks up at the house which matches the address. Elena and I walked up to the front door and prepared to knock, but hesitates for a moment. Finally, Elena worked up the courage, and knocked on the door. Elena shakes her head and turns away when Trudie answers the door. Elena looks at her.

Trudie? Tru-trudie Peterson?

Yes?

Uh, my name is Elena Gilbert and this is my sister Inanna.

We wanted to talk to you about Isobel Flemming.

Well, I haven't heard that name in years. How do you know her?

I think that, um, well...do you know if she had twins that she gave up for adoption?

My god. You're her daughters.

She laughed

I was just gonna make some tea. Would you like some?

Sure.

Uh, the kitchen's this way.

Trudie backs away from the door, anticipating Elena's entrance. Elena steps over the threshold and for some reason it was harder for me to enter her house but I did

Trudie releases her breath, shutting the front door with a quick nervous glance outside.

I wasn't gonna come. I didn't think I was, but I was driving, and I hit this stoplight, and it made me think about when I was learning how to drive and then my mom would always warn me about this blind turn on the left-hand side, and then I was thinking about my mom, and—I had your address. I'm sorry for barging in.

It's no problem. Um, just a surprise, though.

Elena Trudie and I sat down at the table.

I haven't thought about Isobel in years.

When was the last time you saw her?

About 17 years ago, when she left to go have you. We kept in touch for a while, but, well, you know, people drift apart.

And you don't know where she ended up?

She was in Florida for a while. She was on her own. I know it wasn't easy.

Do you have any idea who my father is?

I could never get her to fess up. Anyway, she finally pulled it together, got into college on a scholarship.

Where did she go?

Somewhere in North Carolina. Duke, I think.Smart girl, smart school.

The kettle starts whistling from the kitchen.

Let me just grab that.

Trudie gets up and goes into the kitchen.