The Donor

Chapter 2

"My name is Lauren. I heard you've been looking for me?"

Dinah shot up from her place with the girls as the phone fell from my hand and onto the wooden floor. My palms too sweaty to keep hold of the phone and my heart palpitating too quickly to even think about catching it.

"Mila, are you ok?" I shake my head quickly, "what's wrong?" My eyes still wide from the caller's revelation. Without thinking I grab the phone from Dinah's hand and bring it to my ear.

"-ou still there?" I catch the end of her question.

"Yes. Yes. I'm still here. I don't really know what to say right now", I stutter out; waving to Dinah in silent instruction to take the girls away from the room. I hear her tell them to finish painting in their room which they're never allowed to, something Emelia so gently pointed out to her.

"Me either if I'm being honest", the caller laughs. A pregnant pause fills the air, a smile forming on my face nonetheless. Dinah walks back into the room, guiding me to the couch.

"How did you get this number?" I speak up.

"Oh God, did you not want me to call you? I am so sorry. I just thought-"

"No, no. Lauren," Dinah's eyes widen in recognition of the name, "I've been trying to find you for months. I just, I did not expect to receive a call from you at all so I'm very much in shock right now," I explained to her.

"I'm sorry for shocking you then... and making you drop your phone. I hope your floor's ok?"

"My floor? Don't you mean my phone?"

"No. Floors are harder to replace."

"Wow," I laugh at her, "I guess you're right. This is quite surreal for me right now. I can't believe I'm talking to you."

"You can't believe it?" She asked in disbelief, "I can't believe someone would even want my donation let alone want to find me."

"You have a beautiful daughter," I blurted out. Oh fuck, why did I say that? I couldn't have known whether she's called out of interest or she called to tell me to stop looking for her. Why did I assume that-

"I'm happy to hear that," she interrupted my thoughts. Her voice is filled with sadness, she sounds like she's crying. "I am so happy to hear that," she chokes up. She's definitely crying. Tears well up again in my eyes and before I could realise we are both crying to each other on the phone. We're not saying anything, just filling the line with sniffles and deep breaths. Dinah offers me a tissue and motions for me to put the phone on speaker which I reject.

"And she's so intelligent. And funny. And so God damn sassy that I should probably thank you for," the both of us turning the tears into small laughs. "She's been asking about you."

"Is that why you've been looking for me?" I nod. I hadn't acknowledged the fact that she can't see my answer until Dinah encourages me to speak up.

"Er, yes. I mean, I've always been curious but she is so desperate to meet you and that gave me the push to start the process. I really hope that wasn't a problem, I'd hate to burden you wi-"

"No, no, that's fine. Honestly. When I donated, I became friends with one of the nurses who worked there. It may sound a little awkward but I mean, I had to explain to her what a woman was doing there to donate and eventually she was very supportive... and very curious as you'd suspect," I let her explain. "Anyway, she contacted me last night, explaining that a friend of hers was asking around in search for me. She explained the situation to me, your situation to me. I'm sorry I've been so difficult to find. I allowed my donor number to be released for if this scenario was ever to arise and I didn't realise how, even with that, it'd actually be so difficult to find a donor's information."