The Stolen Daughter

by ReShonda Tate Billingsley

  “I can’t take care of you anymore,” I said. I didn’t have the heart to tell her that the Logans wanted her in jail, but it looked like that was the only way she would understand why I was making this decision.

  She stopped packing and stared at me, her eyes filled with tears. “I am sick,” she said.

  “I know you are, Mama,” I replied, struggling to fight back tears of my own.

  She resumed packing. “But you don’t care. Every cold, every sniffle, every bruised knee, everything that’s ever ailed you. I’ve been there. I would have never tossed you away,” she said. She stomped over to her closet, snatched a few pair of shoes out, then flung them into the bag.

  “Mama . . .”

  “And you’re a liar, too,” she added, cutting me off. “You said that you’d never leave me.”

  If this didn’t hurt so much as it was, I would’ve addressed the audacity of her calling me a liar. “Mama, I don’t have a choice,” I blurted.

  She stopped packing and stared as tears trickled down her cheeks. “Yes, you do. You and Malcolm just don’t want to be bothered with me anymore,” she cried.

  “Yes, this is difficult for all of us,” I admitted. “But that’s not the only reason.”

  She folded her arms in defiance. “Then help me understand why you’re doing this. I have been there your entire life, and these people come along and just like that,” she snapped her fingers, “you toss me aside.”

  I was determined not to fall into her sympathy web. My mother had to answer for her transgressions. I stood erect as I said. “I belong to Major and Elaine Logan. You stole me from them.” I reached in my bag, pulled out her journal and shook it at her. “You told me I would find answers here, but I really just found more questions. How could you just kidnap me?”

  She snatched the book away and held it to her chest. “I don’t say anything about a kidnapping in here.”

  “You don’t. But you talk about losing your child. And though you never write his name, I know that the man you’re talking about is Major Logan. And the fury that you felt for him is evident.”

  My mother sobbed and started shaking her head as she plopped down on the bed. “No . . . wait, I can’t remember any of this.”

  Today, for once, I knew my mother was using her illness as a crutch. “No, Mama,” I told her. “Do not do that. You are lucid. Yes, you are sick, but today you’re in your right mind enough to give me some answers.”

  It seemed like an eternity as she sat there. Finally, in a soft voice, she held her head up and said, “You were supposed to be mine.”

  “But I wasn’t,” I cried. I knew it, but hearing her admit it almost crushed my insides. “You took everything from me. My life was a lie.”

  She had no words as she just sat there, staring at me, blinking back the truth of her deception.

  “Who is Virginia Payne?” I asked.

  She stood and turned her back to me.

  “Answer me!” I screamed.

  She turned back around and her shoulders slumped as she said, “Me. I’m Virginia Payne. I took on Aunt Marilyn’s name after you were born.”

  I felt like the wind was being knocked from me. “Are you kidding me? You stole me, crafted this elaborate lie, and denied me a life that could’ve changed my existence.”

  “So, that’s what this is about? You’re mad because you grew up with me and didn’t grow up rich?” She had the nerve to sound angry. “Be careful what you wish for, baby girl. Money is not the root of all happiness.” She wagged her finger at me.

  “You’re missing the point.” I exhaled an exasperated breath. “It’s not about the money!”

  She started zipping her duffel. “It’s always about the money. You think I don’t know that you guys are using my social security check? You think I don’t see the financial bind that you guys are in? You talk about me being a burden, but my check helps around here, too. It’s all about the money. And now, you’re tossing me away because you have a better offer.”

  It was useless to try to address that and her defiant attitude was only going to make things worse so I decided to tell her the truth. “Elaine wants you to pay for your crime.”

  “Oh, now you’re on a first name basis with her?” she balked.

  I couldn’t help but scoff at the audacity of my mother getting mad at the woman she stole me from.

  “That woman didn’t deserve you,” my mother said, her anger rising. “That woman neglected you every time I saw her. She was too busy primping around. You were something on her to-do list.”

  “That was not your call to make,” I said.

  “I deserved you!” she shouted. “You were mine. You were supposed to be mine and Major’s baby.”

  “But I wasn’t, Mama.”

  My mother started sobbing again. “He wanted my baby to die. He willed my baby to die and then he turned around and had a baby with her. You tell me how that’s fair,” she cried.

  I resisted the urge to go to her, to comfort her. “Life isn’t fair, Mama. And it didn’t give you the right to just take me.”

  “You read my journal. I felt like my life was out of my control,” she said. “I drove down from Marshall to Beaumont with my mind on autopilot. I had no intention of abducting their child.”

  “Then how did you end up taking me?” I asked.

  The defiance returned as she wiped away her tears. “I saw an opportunity and I took it. All I remember is, I was speed walking away from the park, thinking that at any minute someone could grab my arm and say, ‘What do you have in the bag?’ ”

  “You stuffed me in a bag?” I asked.

  “I did what I had to do.”

  “I don’t believe this,” I replied.

  “Did I not give you the best life?” she asked.

  “You did.” I sighed, exhausted by this revelation. “I’m not taking any of that away, but it wasn’t my life. I don’t know any of my family. My whole past was made up. I can’t help but think of all the lies you told me. Is my daddy even real?” I could tell by the look on her face that Al Harrison was a figment of her imagination.

  “Who was the man in the picture? The man I thought was my father my entire life?” I asked, the muscle that was my heart feeling like it was being twisted inside out. “You claimed I was named after his mother. Who is he?”

  I wanted to scream when she shrugged nonchalantly and said, “He came with the frame.”

  “Wow,” I said, trembling with a mixture of fury and sadness. The tears that had been trickling down my cheeks turned into a full-fledged stream. Everything was a lie. My chest heaved as I struggled to contain my emotions.

  “All I wanted was someone to love,” she said. “It wasn’t fair that I didn’t have anyone.”

  “Don’t you understand?” I said. “You can’t just steal someone else’s child because you wanted someone to love.”

  “I didn’t steal you. I saved you,” she said, matter-of-factly. “What is wrong with that?”

  “What’s wrong?” I screamed, causing her to jump. I inhaled, exhaled, then softened my tone. “Mama, the Logans want you in jail. What you did is a crime. You could be sent away for a very long time.”

  That seemed to resonate with her because she sat up, erect, her defiance now replaced with fear.

  “I can’t go to jail. I-I’m sick.”

  “The jails are full of sick people.” I sighed. “The Logans are naturally livid. But I’ve gotten them to agree that you could go into a medical facility. That’s where I’m taking you.”

  Of course I left off the part about ceasing all contact, because as angry as I was right now, I didn’t see how I would ever be able to do that and there was no need to get her all worked up.

  And then she said. “If you put me in a home, then you’re dead to me,” before she resumed packing.

  I just stared at her. “You’re the one wrong in all this and yet, you make ultimatums to me?”

  She glared at me; her lips pursed. I glar
ed right back. Malcolm stuck his head in the door, interrupting our staredown. “Are you ladies ready to go?” he asked.

  My mother gave me a so-what-are-you-going-to-do look. I wiped my tears, looked at my husband and said, “Yes, we are.”

  Chapter 29

  If I thought Major and Elaine’s home was massive, I hadn’t seen anything yet.

  “Wow. So, you own all of this?” I said after completing the tour of Logan Industries. My father apparently had taken a loan from Elaine’s father and flipped it into a multi-million-dollar industry. No wonder he chose her over my mother, I thought. I pushed aside those thoughts and turned my attention back to the enthusiastic tour that he was wrapping up.

  We were standing on a balcony overlooking the massive first floor.

  Major pointed to an area in the back. “And so, if you look down in that section, you’ll see that we have workers. They are putting the final touches on garments before they head out to the vendors. I am proud to say that Forbes ranked us as one of the top ten places to work in the country.”

  “Wow,” I said for what felt like the hundredth time. The pride that he felt in his company was evident as his chest was puffed out with pride.

  Malcolm had gone on the first part of the tour with us but he was now off in human resources setting up all his paperwork to begin his job. I could not believe that my husband was about to be making six figures. He’d gone from barely five to six figures with the discovery of my bloodline.

  “So, Jill we haven’t really had a chance to talk about all of this,” Major said once we were sitting back in his office. “How do you feel about everything?”

  I hadn’t talked to Elaine but I did call Major and tell him that we’d checked my mother into the memory care facility. He’d been sympathetic, though he asked no further questions. But he’d wasted no time in getting Malcolm on board to work. So less than forty-eight hours after I’d put my mother in a home, my husband was poised to begin a new life.

  “I’m feeling overwhelmed,” I said, glancing around his massive office overlooking the city. My eyes stopped on a baby photo of me sitting on the side of his computer screen. I wondered if he’d just put that there or had it always been there. “As you can imagine, two weeks ago our lives were completely different,” I continued. “I can’t believe you want us to be a part of all of this.”

  Major smiled. “Well there’s no purpose building all of this if I have no one to leave it to.”

  “Well, you do have Phillip.”

  He laughed. I couldn’t make out the expression on his face. “Phillip is . . . Phillip. But I have more than enough to go around. And what I love most about Malcolm is that he doesn’t have his hand out. He wants to work for the things that he gets.”

  That made me smile. “Yes, that is a quality about him that I really love and he has been so enthusiastic about starting here. But his dream is to work in app development. He’s really good and I think his app could be huge, but it’s been a struggle to try and support that dream and survive day to day.”

  “Yes, he told me about that. And I’m going to see what I can do to help him out.”

  I stared at my father. “Why are you doing all of this?”

  “Because you’re my daughter,” he replied. “And these are things I would have done all your life, had you been in my life.”

  I nodded my understanding and pushed back “what could’ve been” thoughts. I didn’t need any more reasons to be getting angry with my mother. The ride to her facility had been heartbreaking enough. But then, when she refused to tell me goodbye, I didn’t even know how to react. “Well this definitely has changed things for us.”

  “Have you decided to cash the check?” he said. “I only ask since you did put your mother in the facility.”

  I knew that Malcolm was itching to cash it. But cashing it meant that I would have to cut off my mother and that wasn’t happening so I made him hold onto it. I’d considered lying, but I felt like even though my life was a lie, lying about cutting off my mother was a betrayal of the highest degree.

  “Look, I understand that you aren’t on board with the demands,” my father said when I didn’t say anything. “And trust me, if there was another way we’d explore it, but my wife is adamant about that. As you can imagine, she is furious with your mother. I am, too, but I long ago made peace with that, which is why I was focused more on finding you than finding who took you. But Elaine . . .”

  I didn’t reply as I just stared at him.

  “Anyway,” he managed a smile. “One thing that I want to make clear is that your struggle days are over.”

  “So, even if I don’t sign the contract, that offer still stands?”

  He looked like he didn’t know how to answer that. Finally, he said, “I recognize that it was difficult to put Virginia in a home, and I know letting her go won’t be easy, but you are about to embark on a whole new life.’

  I didn’t know if he just assumed I was cutting my mother off, or trying to convince himself. As far as I was concerned, putting my mother in a home was a compromise. But no way was I signing a contract banning all future contact with her.

  “Nothing would make me happier,” he continued, “than to be able to give you, Malcolm, and Destiny the life that you deserve.” Then, his eyes lit up like he had an idea. “As a matter of fact, why don’t you come stay in the guest house? Malcolm told me about the problems with your apartment. A drive-by shooting? You can’t stay there. Think about Destiny. You have money now. Your husband has a good job now. You can go find your own place. You can have something built. But for now, until that happens, you’re more than welcome to stay in the guest house. In fact, we insist. If Malcom is going to be working here, it makes sense rather than an hour and a half commute.”

  I nodded again. I wasn’t really sure how to reply. I didn’t really want to live with them. But it would solve an array of problems.

  “Okay. I’ll talk with Malcolm and see what he says,” I said.

  My father’s grin was instant.

  Chapter 30

  I heard the door slam so hard it rattled the pictures on the wall in the kitchen.

  “What’s going on, babe?” I said, drying my eyes as I walked out of the kitchen. My husband was fuming as he paced back and forth.

  “You know the guy across the hall? The one I call Ike Turner?”

  I nodded.

  “Yeah, he just ran into my car as he was backing out. With his big old Ford F150. Then, he had the nerve to get out and flex on me like I was the one in the wrong.” Malcolm paced back and forth across the room.

  “What?” I said. “How bad is the damage?”

  He ran his hands over his smooth head like he was trying to calm himself down. “It’s still drivable, but he knocked my bumper off, dented my door and get this . . .” He turned and looked me directly in the eye. “I asked for his insurance and this dude pulled a gun on me.”

  “What?” I screamed, then lowered my voice before I woke up Destiny. “Are you kidding me?”

  I couldn’t believe this. First a drive-by, then this?

  “I swear to God I can’t stand this place,” he mumbled.

  I bit my bottom lip.

  He turned to me. “Babe, you know I don’t want to pressure you, but you might need to hurry up and make a decision. We need to cash that check so that we can hurry up and get out of here.”

  I took a deep breath. I had been putting off talking to him about going to stay at Major and Elaine’s guest house. He’d had such a good first day at work. I didn’t want to present an option that I hadn’t deemed completely feasible just yet. But this could’ve ended tragically today.

  “Yeah, about that,” I began, deciding enough was enough. “Major actually suggested that we move in with them.”

  “Are you serious?”

  “Not in their home, per se. But he said we could live in the guest house. It’s bigger than this apartment, so . . .”

  “So . . . when are we
leaving?” he exclaimed.

  I should’ve known that would be his reaction. “Are you sure that’s wise, though?”

  “Babe,” he stepped toward me, “our daughter could’ve been killed in a drive-by shooting. I could’ve been killed just trying to come home. So either we need to cash that check and let the chips fall where they may, or we need to take your father up on his offer.”

  “You’ll get a paycheck soon.”

  “They get paid at the beginning of the month. That’s three weeks from now. Do you know all that could happen in those three weeks? And I don’t want to ask anyone for an advance.”

  I knew he was right. I took a deep breath. “Fine. We can move.”

  My husband pumped his fist in delight. “You don’t understand the peace of mind that’s going to give us, and we don’t even have to stress about the rent this month.”

  I simply nodded. “I’m fixing dinner because your sister is coming by.” I hadn’t seen Kendra in a few weeks, so I welcomed her visit.

  Malcolm kissed me on the cheek, and judging from his excitement, he raced upstairs to pack.

  Twenty minutes later, I heard a knock on the door. I raced over to open it. My mother-in-law stood next to Kendra.

  “Hello, Jill. I decided to tag along,” she said, before pushing her way inside. “My son!” She extended her arms to Malcolm, who was coming down the stairs. “How are you, baby?”

  I looked at Kendra and she mouthed “Sorry,” then held up a bag. “But I brought wine, though. Stella Rosa Black.”

  “Thanks, we’re going to need it,” I whispered.

  I could tell my sister-in-law had baby fever the way she was bouncing Destiny on her lap. She noticed me staring at her and said, “Yes, my ovaries are in overdrive.”

  Mrs. Reed laughed. “I told her that she needs to go ahead and give me some more grandbabies.” She glanced over my shoulder, noticing the small holes in the living room wall. “Jesus, are those from the drive-by shooting?”