A Love that Endures 3

by Forrest, Bella

  But the house was enormously colorful. There were flowers everywhere. Window boxes full of tulips. Woolly edelweiss lining the stone walkway up to the door. Wild lilies, daffodils, and daisies dotting the land around the home. It was a rainbow of colors and sweet smells.

  “I, uh, don’t remember the green thumb,” Marcos joked anxiously behind David.

  David inhaled deeply as worst-case scenarios ran through his mind. What if Jeanine didn’t want to be found? What if she hadn’t just run for her own safety? What if she had run because it was all too much? Maybe the idea of baby David had been more than she could handle or bear. Maybe the Moreno baby growing in her belly had made her resentful and bitter about her predicament.

  Maybe she lived a fine life here, with a new husband and grown children, and she didn’t want David and her ex showing up to ruin everything now. Maybe this was just a dirty little secret that had never been meant to see the light of day.

  Only one way to find out.

  David exhaled and took a step forward.

  But before he could reach the quaint porch, the screen door opened with a creak and a woman stepped out.

  She was a petite thing, around the same stature as Katy. She had sharp, distinguished features. She wore a pressed blouse and jeans, her long silver-streaked brunette hair tied back loosely and simply at the base of her neck. She was carrying a water canister and looking down, so she didn’t immediately see the people in front of her home.

  Until David took another step forward on the gravel path.

  The woman looked up, her canister in her hand, and squinted at the trio of people approaching her.

  Then her startlingly blue eyes went wide.

  “Marcos?”

  Her tone was surprised, but it didn’t sound fearful or upset. She set her canister down on her rocking chair and stepped down from her porch.

  “Marcos, is that you?”

  Marcos looked over at David and Katy, as if for confirmation, and then he stepped in front of them and toward the woman he had loved in his youth.

  “Jeanie.”

  Jeanine smiled, and it was a sight that instantly filled David with warmth and joy.

  “Marcos, I . . .” And then Jeanine looked around her ex-husband and to the people behind him, and her sentence trailed off.

  A million words flashed between David and Jeanine the moment they made eye contact for the first time. In his mother’s eyes, David saw an immediate recognition. He saw an aching love. He felt her old pain and desperation rise to the surface of her blue eyes—eyes that were so similar to his own that it felt like he’d been looking at them all his life—and then he watched as that suffering was overcome with sudden disbelief and joy.

  Jeanine took a couple of wobbly steps toward David and held her hands out to him, tears streaming down her face.

  David stood dumbly, feeling the tears well in his own eyes, and said the only thing that he could think of at the moment. “Hi, Mom. I’m David.”

  He tried to get out more than that, but he found himself unable to speak, his throat choked with too much emotion. His mother’s hands reached his face and pulled him down close to her as she stared tearfully into his eyes.

  “My boy.”

  It took everything in David not to utterly blubber as his mother wrapped her arms around him and pulled him into the tightest hug he had ever experienced in his life. At first David wiped at the falling tears on his cheeks, but he soon gave up, throwing his arms around his mother and losing himself in this reunion.

  Beside them, Katy was crying too, while, closer to the house, Marcos wiped tears away with both palms.

  When Jeanine finally pulled away, she did so only partly, unable to remove her hands from her long-lost child. She gripped David’s forearms and stared up at him with a deep, abiding love.

  “I’ve been looking for you for decades,” she said through tears.

  * * *

  Jeanine’s home was small, and her furniture was scant. David noticed with amusement that she didn’t even own a television. Instead, her walls were lined with paintings of flowers and shelf upon shelf of history and nonfiction books.

  David smiled at the sight, remembering the first time that he’d discovered his mother’s love of learning while perusing the bookshelf at Joseph’s New York home.

  “Your sister is still keeping some of your books safe for you,” he said to his mother as she brought him a hot cup of coffee. He took it with a thankful nod.

  Jeanine looked surprised, then put her hand on her face as though in regret. “You met Mary?”

  “And her children,” David replied. “They miss you.”

  Jeanine looked down, pained.

  “I’m sorry,” David quickly followed up. “I didn’t mean to—”

  “No, David,” Jeanine replied. “It’s okay. Please don’t feel like there’s anything that you can’t or shouldn’t say to me. I know what I did hurt a lot of people.”

  “But you were just trying to protect yourself—and your child,” Katy said from beside them. “You can’t blame yourself for that.”

  “She’s right, Jeanie,” Marcos added. “And I’m so sorry for that. I had no idea. I never would’ve let that happen.”

  They’d gotten out the important details of their individual stories so far, sitting together in Jeanine’s cozy home, but David knew that there would be missed details they’d still be sharing for years to come. After all, they’d all lived half a lifetime without one another in completely different parts of the world. And now that they were so close together, they had the rest of their lives to find out what they’d missed.

  “Of course not,” Jeanine replied firmly. “I know that, Marcos. I’ve always known that. But it didn’t make it any easier . . . having to leave our son behind when I went into labor in Boston, before I could escape the country.”

  She turned back to David. “I hope the people who adopted you were lovely.”

  David smiled softly. “They were wonderful. I was lucky to have them. I’ll tell you all about them sometime soon.”

  Jeanine smiled in return, but David knew that the feeling was bittersweet for her: she would’ve much rather raised him herself.

  “You said you tried to find David afterward?” Katy prompted.

  Jeanine nodded. “For years. Once I felt like I was safe and settled, and the,” she looked at Marcos, seemingly choosing her words carefully, “people weren’t coming after me anymore, I wanted to find you again. It had to be a closed adoption originally, but I hoped, with some of the details I still had, that I’d be able to find you as a child. But the law didn’t allow it. So I waited until you were a legal adult and tried to find you again. But I kept hitting dead ends, since I didn’t know that you had left the country.” Jeanine sighed. “I wasn’t even able to find out your name.”

  David’s heart clenched as he thought of his mother’s sorrowful, fruitless searches. She must’ve felt so much sadness and longing.

  “But I did read about you,” Jeanine said suddenly, looking up at David again. “I read about a man who dated the famous Lorrellian princess and went to jail and then, not too long ago, was completely exonerated and married her.” She looked happily between David and Katy. “I just . . . never would’ve guessed that he was my son. Guess I should’ve put my glasses on and stared a little harder at your pictures in the paper.”

  David laughed. Jeanine didn’t have a computer to search gossip blogs, thankfully, so she probably hadn’t heard the seediest of the details. And now she knew that he had been innocent all along.

  “But I know so little about your life otherwise. Do you live in Lorria?” Jeanine went on, sipping from her coffee mug.

  “Actually,” Marcos interrupted, “we live about an hour away.”

  Jeanine almost spat out her coffee.

  Many more tears and laughs and smiles were shared before the evening was up. Jeanine took the news of Mary’s health hard but was grateful to have the opportunity to get her num
ber from David.

  “I missed my sister and her family every day, but I was so afraid that if I contacted them, they’d be in danger,” Jeanine admitted.

  “No one is in danger anymore,” Marcos replied. And he placed his hand on Jeanine’s knee comfortingly.

  And David couldn’t help but notice that it lingered there.

  When David and Katy finally decided to call it a night, they assured Jeanine that they would be in contact often moving forward. His mother even promised to get her first cell phone, to make that easier.

  Walking down his mother’s steps back to the car, David felt light as air. He finally had it all. He had every person he had longed for and missed back in his life. He was complete. Fulfilled. Truly happy.

  He walked Katy to her door and opened it for her, turning to wave back at his mother. Jeanine waved enthusiastically back at him.

  “I’ll call you from my new phone tomorrow!” she promised.

  “Goodnight, Jeanie!” Marcos called out as he prepared to enter the back seat of the vehicle. But Jeanine stopped waving, a curious smile curling up her face.

  “Actually, Marcos . . . why don’t you stay here tonight?”

  David and Marcos exchanged a look over the car, and David wondered which one of them was more shocked by the question.

  41

  Katy

  Epilogue

  One year later

  “Cassie got sentenced today,” David said absentmindedly, sipping from his cup of morning tea while reading through the newspaper.

  “Oh?” Katy asked. She closed her laptop and stood from her seat beside David at the breakfast nook, stepping around to look over his shoulder.

  “Just two years and a whole bunch of fines,” David said as Katy read. “Rich people. They get away with everything.”

  Katy slapped David’s shoulder playfully, knowing that he really wasn’t anyone to talk about rich people at the moment, and looked back at the paper. Her cousin was there, in a blurry photo, wearing a remorseful expression that looked put on to Katy even from this distance. But she was glad to see that Cassie’s diplomat parents were beside her outside of the courthouse.

  That’s probably all she really wanted all of these years. Maybe she thought that if she just became queen, her parents would finally come to visit her.

  In spite of everything, Katy was happy for that little bit of joy in Cassie’s tale.

  David took a big drink of his tea. “I was supposed to go into the office today, but—”

  “But you told them that it’s a special Lorrellian holiday and we’re having guests, right?” Katy offered, a knowing smile on her face.

  David smiled in return. “Of course I did. But they fired me for it. So I’m afraid that’s on your conscience now.”

  Katy narrowed her eyes. “Who can fire the owner and CEO of the company?”

  “Hey, Giles is one of our biggest stockowners now. And you know the kind of work ethic that guy has.” David grinned.

  Katy rolled her eyes at the joke. David was very involved with the wealth management startup he’d founded with Marcos, but today was a day for family. And her husband respected that.

  “And they were okay with you not going into the theater today?” David asked, still skimming through his paper.

  Katy walked back to her laptop and opened it up again, hoping to finish her emails before the guests arrived. “I got another volunteer to come in and work with the kids today. And I’ll go back tomorrow to check in on everything.”

  With what was left of her inheritance, Katy had purchased a dilapidated building outside of Zurich and had positively reinvented it as a stunning, state-of-the-art theater. She taught theater classes to children from all over the country for free, relying on their natural talent and drive rather than their parents’ money. It was one of her favorite things in life.

  Second only, perhaps, to her darling husband of one year.

  Though, her theater project never drank all the milk or left the toilet seat up . . .

  “Oh, forgot to tell you,” David said with a mischievous smile. “Your parents sent an anniversary gift.”

  Katy cocked an eyebrow. She had a somewhat-healthy relationship with the king and queen at this point, though they hadn’t yet been invited out to visit, but she hadn’t been expecting a gift. Especially after she’d been less than pleased with the gift they’d sent for David’s birthday.

  “Please tell me it’s not more albino peacocks,” Katy lamented. “We’re constantly cleaning up after the two we have, and, frankly, they make us look like pompous asses.”

  David laughed. Then he slid a small bow-wrapped box across the table at his wife.

  Katy could hear the familiar jangling inside before she even opened it.

  “Another one?” she asked in obvious annoyance.

  “Hey! At least it’s not a living creature.” David winked. “And this one is a different color.”

  “It’s already here?”

  “Parked out front,” David replied in great amusement. “Delivered while you were in the shower.”

  Katy stood and walked out of the kitchen, heading to the front door. When she opened it, a glint of sunlight reflected back into her eyes off of the shiny new luxury car.

  David walked up behind her, rubbing her shoulders fondly. “Maybe you could tell them we’re getting a little sick of Bugattis? I could use an Aston Martin.”

  Katy sighed in an exaggerated fashion. “They know that we just raffle these things off for charity! Why do they keep sending them?”

  “The day your parents learn how to send a modest gift is the day I’ll promote Mick from receptionist to senior vice president.”

  Katy laughed. She turned around to face her husband, placing her hands on his shoulders and leaning closer.

  In response, David slid his hands down to Katy’s hips and raised his eyebrows suggestively. “Maybe we have enough time before guests arrive to . . .”

  But the sound of a car approaching from the main road quickly answered his question. He looked down in mock sadness, and Katy giggled.

  “Afterward,” she whispered, leaning forward to kiss him passionately.

  * * *

  “So what is the holiday again?” Nur asked politely, holding a flute of sparkling grape juice beside Katy as she garnished the main course.

  “It’s kind of like a Lorrellian Thanksgiving,” Katy replied. “It’s called Blooming Day, and we celebrate the spring bloom of fruit and flowers and give thanks to the people we love.”

  Nur smiled gently. “What a lovely holiday.”

  “Can I refill your glass?” Katy asked as she looked up, noticing that Nur’s drink was almost gone.

  “Oh, no. No. But can I help you with anything?” Nur asked. “Or maybe get you a glass of something? I see you’ve been slaving over this stove. What are you drinking?”

  “Um,” Katy replied uncomfortably. But luckily Zeke interrupted.

  “I’ve got to get some of those fancy birds,” he said with a chuckle. “They’ve been chasing the kids around for an hour. It’s even more entertaining than our dog.”

  “Zeke!” Nur chided him with a laugh.

  “Please, take the peacocks,” David added, stepping in from the living room. Cerise was with him.

  “Katy, did you get a haircut since the last time we saw you?” Cerise asked, squinting at Katy through her glasses.

  “Hmm? No, I don’t think so,” Katy replied.

  “You sure?” Cerise pressed. “There’s something different about you, but I can’t quite put my finger on it.”

  Katy blushed and kept her eyes down.

  “It’s almost like you’re glowing,” Cerise went on. “Whatever it is, you look great!”

  Katy changed the subject quickly. “Food’s ready! Who’s hungry?”

  Typical Cerise—always seems to know exactly what’s up with me.

  “It smells wonderful!” Jeanine said as she and Marcos entered the room, with Joseph c
lose on their heels.

  “I bet it tastes even better,” Marcos added.

  “David did most of the cooking,” Katy demurred. She looked over at David in his button-up and slacks.

  The whole package, that guy.

  Soon they were all seated around David and Katy’s small dining room table. It was a tight fit, but that was the way they liked it.

  Katy had celebrated Blooming Day twenty-six times with her family. It was always the same: they would say that they were thankful for each other and for their people and for their health, but it really seemed like they were much more thankful for money, fineries, and power. The holiday had never really meant anything to Katy.

  But now? Now Katy could see what it really meant. It was about so much more than she had ever known. It had taken finding her real family to discover that.

  “Okay,” Katy said after the dinner was done, “so part of the tradition is going around and stating one thing that you’re most thankful for this year.”

  “Oh, how fun!” Cerise said, clapping her hands. “Can I start?”

  Katy smiled and nodded. “Please!”

  “Well, obviously, I’m most grateful for getting back in touch with you and David this year. But also for getting my master’s and Mom being able to attend the ceremony.”

  Joseph was next. “I’m most grateful for Cerise getting her master’s too, so that she can finally pay her own bills.”

  “Hey, be serious!” Cerise laughed.

  “I’ll go,” Marcos said. His tone was joyful, but also full of gravitas. He turned to Jeanine, squashed into the seat next to him at the table, their shoulders perpetually touching. “I’m most grateful for righting the wrongs of the past.” He leaned over and kissed her, to the coos and awws of the table.

  “What about you?” Marcos asked the woman who, after all these years, was still his wife. They had never actually been divorced, to David’s great surprise—but then again, when he thought about it, it also kind of made sense. Both of his biological parents were hopeless romantics when it came down to it, after all.