Lost & Found

by Raquel De Leon

  Mark and Piper were in the kitchen eating breakfast when there was a knock at the door.

  Piper glanced up with a grimace. Dottie had left for the diner a while ago, and Shelly was still asleep. That meant she'd have to be the adult and answer the door.

  She groaned and got up from the table, idly rubbing her stomach. She was still dressed in her sleepwear; a white tank top and green flannel pajama bottoms with a cozy pair of mismatched socks.

  “Who is it?” she called as she swung the door open. Bright flashes went off and she was temporarily blinded. “What the...?” She blinked repeatedly, waiting for some vision to be restored, but the flashes only continued. A crowd of voices was pushing questions at her, and none had time to register because the commotion was simply too much.

  An aging gentleman dressed in a dark suit finally pushed through the crowd. “Piper Tate?”

  Piper squinted and did her best to focus on him. “Uh, yeah?” She could hear the own bafflement in her voice.

  “Perhaps I could come in for a moment?” He asked with a smile too white to be natural.

  She let him in as far as the doorway, mostly because he'd already pushed his way there. He talked in a flurry of words that proved to be as disconcerting as all the flashing bulbs had been. She held up a hand as the meaning of some of his words finally penetrated.

  “What the hell do you mean I'm Piper Bering?” It was posed as a question but Piper was yelling. The sudden silence made her aware of soft footsteps as they drew closer from the living room.

  The strange man continued to speak and she was able to distinguish “letter” and “Mark Carson“.

  Suddenly, Piper jerked to turn to where she knew Mark was waiting.

  “Mark?” Her hard stare pinned him in place as he sent an anxious look back toward the stairs. “What do you know about this, Mark?”

  He gulped for air. “Um, well you know how I told you I thought you might be the lost Bering hair-ess? Well, I sent them a letter with some of your hair...”

  “You,” she pointed at the older man, “will leave and take all those people on the porch with you. You,” she pointed at Mark, “are going to go sit in the living room so we can have a little talk.”

  The man hesitated, only for Piper to almost physically shove him out of the doorway. Mark, looking pale and upset, bolted for the stairs.

  Piper remained standing at the door, unable to move or think beyond what she’d just been told. She should go talk to Mark, calm him down and…

  DNA testing has confirmed that you are the same Piper Bering that was kidnapped twenty years ago; do you have any comment? She could picture the fake smile of the older guy perfectly.

  Her vision seemed to go dark around the edges as she gasped for breath. It was impossible. Her parents had abandoned her at a gas station when she was a kid. Her name was Piper Tate. Not...

  Chapter 2

  Selma eyed her son in exasperation. Only half the eggs she'd cooked for him had actually ended up in his mouth. He was in a mischievous mood today and she wasn't sure what had brought it on.

  She gave him a playful scowl. “Now Benjamin, what did Mommy tell you about being polite at the table?”

  Ben's brown eyes were gleaming. He gave her an adorable smile, both dimples winking at her. “Manners make the gen-til-man.”

  Selma laughed in spite of herself and gently cleaned his face and hands. “Emily will be here soon, will you be a gentleman for her?”

  He nodded, causing a few of his curls to fall forward into his eyes. Selma delicately brushed them back and couldn’t resist pressing teasing kisses to his face.

  Ben giggled. “Mommy, no! Tickles.”

  Selma gasped. “You don't want to kiss Mommy?”

  Tiny hands reached out to grab her cheeks, and Ben pressed one messy kiss to her nose and then burst into another fit of giggles. “There you go, Mommy!”

  Her grin was huge as she carefully pulled him from his high chair. She'd learned her lesson not to take her apron off until after she'd fed and cleaned him, and abashedly remembered how many extra visits to the dry cleaner she'd had to make in the beginning.

  He settled against her hip, playing with her short hair. There was a knock at the door, followed by a key turning in the lock.

  Selma sent Emily a fond look as she entered the house. “Hello, Emily. How are you this morning?”

  Emily beamed in response, one hand smoothing over wisps of stray red hairs. “Pretty good. Traffic wasn't the best, but I get to see my favorite little man!” The last was said as Emily hung up her denim jacket and sent Ben a wink.

  His response was to bury his face against Selma's neck, his muffled laughter making both women smile.

  “Ben, now that Emily is here Mommy really needs to get to work, okay?”

  Ben pouted briefly but wiggled to be let go from his mother's arms. “Okay, Mommy.” He turned to point a finger at Selma with a faux-serious expression on his face. “Be good, Mommy.”

  “You too, honey,” Selma said as she leaned down to give him a kiss. With a last look at Emily and Ben, she straightened and made her way back to her office.

  Selma was lucky enough that she could do most of her work from home—and usually opted to spend as much time there as possible.

  When Selma had finished law school she’d been invited to several firms (her mother’s included) but had opted to open her own practice instead. Nepotism wasn’t something she’d been interested in, nor the politics that might have occurred if she’d agreed to work with an opposing firm.

  Thanks to a trust from her grandparents, she didn't need to work, but she found a certain fulfillment in her chosen expertise. She often took on pro bono family law cases, something that her mother might roll her eyes at but Selma hoped she’d be secretly proud of.

  In the beginning it had been difficult, but she'd learned a lot from her mother while growing up. Three years into practicing law, Selma felt fully confident in her own ability.

  She hummed as she got to a pile of paperwork in urgent need of her attention. Though many complained about it, Selma found the meticulous work almost meditative.

  Only an hour into a three-inch stack of papers, her cell phone rang. She frowned at the device.

  She wasn't scheduled for any calls, and so she picked up the phone warily. Her confusion only worsened when she discovered Karen’s familiar face and number flashing on the small screen.

  “Yes, Karen?” she asked immediately.

  “Selma, have you turned on the TV yet today?” Karen's voice was shaky and uneven.

  “No.” There was a sinking feeling in her stomach. She wasted no time in finding her way to the living room to flick the TV on and quickly changed the channel over to a local network.

  After several long moments, she pursed her lips and mentally counted to ten. She was furious. “That little rat,” she all but hissed.

  Karen's breathing was erratic on the other end of the line. “I thought we were waiting to contact her before making any public statements?”

  “Yes, well. It seems the studio saw an opportunity and decided to bank on it.” Her nostrils flared as she eyed the smarmy assistant producer giving an interview. “I have to try and figure out how to clean up the mess he made.”

  “Selma, you need to go talk to her. You know I want to see her so, so much… But I don't want to force our way into her life.” There was a vulnerability in Karen’s voice that made Selma’s jaw tighten.

  Initially, Derek and Karen had been ecstatic to finally find their daughter. They discovered that she was living barely a state away in a small town. After, bouncing around in the foster care system she'd finally found a home with the last foster family that had taken her in at thirteen.

  Unfortunately, Selma’s report had been very thorough. She ached when she thought of the look on Karen's face as she read about Piper. She wasn’t sure if Derek’s stony expression had been better or worse.

  They'd only fully confirmed Piper's ident
ity the previous day and had been ironing out details and strategy of approach. The Berings had been planning on contacting Piper in several days, but now were probably terrified about how their long-lost daughter might react.

  The media had only found out this morning and, by the looks of it, they weren't leaving the poor girl alone.

  Selma was disgusted with them all over again. In her opinion, the media had degenerated from an efficient way to share knowledge into a swarm of blood-sucking ticks only chasing after the sensationalist ideas meant to garner ratings. Gone were the days the news had helped and informed the public.

  She made a quick decision. “Karen, would you mind taking Ben for a day or two? I'll go see her immediately and see what I can do to help.”

  “Of course we don't mind. Thank you so much, Selma.” The sudden relief in the older woman's voice was palpable.

  Selma bit her lip. She hated to be separated from her son, but she knew that he'd be fine with Karen and Derek. More than that, he'd be of comfort to them while they waited for Selma to figure things out with Piper.

  “Think nothing of it.” She clenched her teeth, determined to fix everything.

  *****

  Piper felt that she was going to go crazy. Or was crazy. Perhaps she was already crazy and was getting crazier by the minute. This couldn't be her life.

  Her life made sense. It was simple and it made her happy. Her life did not have overzealous reporters bombarding her front stoop, leaving her unable to leave the house. She'd already called Dottie to freak out. Dot had comforted her and told her not to worry about coming in to work. They would talk later.

  Piper hadn't had the heart to chastise Mark for what he’d done. In her mind, she knew he thought he had been doing something good. The sight of him sitting there on the couch trying not to cry had instantly melted her anger. She'd sought him out and to tell him that everything would be okay, and not to worry.

  She glanced at him still sitting on the overstuffed sofa. His lower lip was trembling, and she knew he was still upset. Piper had been too overwhelmed to really be of comfort. Now, having talked to Dottie, she figured she might try again.

  Piper moved over to sit next to Mark and slung her arm around his shoulders. “Mark.” She spoke softly.

  He promptly turned to bury his face against her collarbone, both of his arms wrapping tightly around her.

  “I really am so sorry Piper! Please don't hate me.” He was softly crying, his tears hot and damp against her skin and tank top.

  “Hey, no. You don't have to ever worry about me hating you.” Piper started to rub his back with one hand, the other running over his hair. “You're my little brother.”

  Mark's arms squeezed her a little tighter. Though Piper preferred to acknowledge that they’d all chosen each other by using the word “foster“, she knew Mark was still fascinated by the concept of what he referred to as “real” family. She hoped one day he’d understand they were both the same.

  “I love you, Piper. I only wanted to help,” he said with a sniffle.

  Piper reached over to the coffee table to grab a napkin, handing it to him so he could wipe his face. “I love you too, Mark. I understand that you wanted to help. And hey, I mean honestly… best case scenario here, you found my biological parents. You're only nine! How in the heck did you manage that?” She didn’t try to hide the wonder in her voice.

  Mark ducked his head, a slight smile on his face as he wiped away his snot and tears. He glanced over at Piper, his eyes widening. He flipped the napkin to dab at Piper's shoulder.

  Piper hid her grimace with a smile.

  “What's with the love-fest on the couch?” a groggy voice asked from the stairs.

  Mark hopped up from the couch and ran to Shelly, who was also still only in red flannel pajama bottoms and a white tank top.

  He threw his arms around Shelly in excitement. “Shelly! Piper is the Bering hair-ess!”

  “Heiress,” she corrected automatically. Sleepy hazel eyes blinked. “Wait. WAIT.” She turned to look at Piper. “He found your parents?” she asked in a voice several octaves higher than normal.

  Piper winced. “Something like that. I haven't really thought about it. In fact, I'm pretty actively trying to not think about it.” She glanced toward the kitchen. “Speaking of me changing the subject, breakfast is in the oven like always. Oh, and… you might want to leave by the back door when you go to work later.”

  Shelly looked stunned and still a bit confused. Mark grabbed her hand and tugged her over to a window, pulling the curtain and blinds a little so she could see outside.

  The front lawn was covered with people, and a slew of vehicles was parked out in the street in front of the cottage.

  “Holy crap,” was all Shelly said. She shook her head and just stood, staring out the window.

  “I'm gonna go grab a shower, okay Mark?” Piper looked over at him to make sure he was alright.

  Mark’s head was ducked down. “I'm gonna go read. Miss Houston gave us an optional reading list for extra credit and the book I picked out is actually pretty cool.” Unable to face her at all, he turned and hurried toward the stairs.

  Piper sighed and let him go first.

  “You okay?”

  The question startled Piper, who’d assumed Shelly had left to find breakfast. They hadn’t been seeing each other much the last week; one of their usual waitresses was on maternity leave and they’d been rotating to pick up the extra shifts.

  She tugged a hand through her hair and shrugged. “I’m fine.”

  Shelly rolled her eyes and crossed her arms over her chest. “Really, Pipes?”

  Piper opened her mouth. Closed it. “I… don’t know.”

  A half smile curved Shelly’s lips. She dropped her arms and walked so she was standing alongside Piper. They both stared up at the second floor. “It’s the kind of thing we used to dream about at the group home,” Shelly reminded her.

  Piper snorted. “Yeah, when we were dumb kids.”

  “I dunno,” Shelly said with a sigh as she slumped her head over to rest on Piper’s shoulder. “I always thought you were the smartest kid I ever knew.”

  “Nah, that woulda been you, smartass. You always knew how to score us extra pudding and stuff.” She wrapped her arm around Shelly’s back, reveling in their bond. She needed to indulge it while she could. So far they hadn’t been able to find someone willing to work full-time on a temporary basis. She sucked in a breath. “You should go eat your breakfast before it completely dries out.”

  Shelly hummed and then audibly sniffed. “Yeah, and you really need that shower.”

  Piper chortled as Shelly pulled away and offered her a wink. “You’re such a jerk, Shel.”

  “You love me!” Shelly called back over her shoulder as she pushed through to the kitchen.

  *****

  Fifteen minutes later Piper was out of the shower and dressed comfortably in a green cotton shirt with long sleeves and her usual skinny jeans. She felt a little better and was determined to ignore anything outside the cottage for the day.

  That in mind, she wandered down to the office to power up the laptop. There were some browser games she could play for a bit to distract herself.

  Immersed in one such game an hour and a half later, the sound of a firm knock at the door made her jolt in surprise.

  She scowled but grudgingly rose to see who was disturbing her bubble of peace.

  A peek through the window left her stunned. The people on her lawn were gone, and she saw Chief Hughes and Officer Barnes ushering more away and pointing at the 'Private Property' sign the crowd had previously ignored.

  All that remained was a lone woman, who seemed to be overseeing the removal of the other strangers. Piper didn’t know much about fashion, but the black Burberry coat was something she’d only seen in movies.

  She wondered if the clothes underneath were just as expensive. The high-heeled leather boots certainly seemed so, as did the silky black hair cut int
o an asymmetrical bob.

  Piper had no clue who the woman was. She wasn't carrying a camera, notepad, or voice recorder that Piper could see. Curiosity won out over wariness, and so she made her way over to the door to carefully open it.

  “Hello. Are you Piper Tate?” The question was launched without hesitation, though not unkindly.

  It was the smile, soft and welcoming and from such an attractive face, that left Piper a little befuddled. “Yes.” As if suddenly remembering herself, Piper shook her head. “Excuse me, I have no clue who you are and I've had people here all day asking to talk to me.”