Just the same, I really wanted her to be alive. I really wanted to see her and have that conversation. The one where I find out what the hell she’s been doing for the last 18 years. I tried very hard not to get my hopes up. I knew that even with the lead that Sam got, it was probably unlikely that she was alive, or at least unlikely that he could find her. If she was still out there, she had probably been living off the grid for so long, probably uses a different name, that it would be impossible to find her.
A few days later Sam stopped by to say hi and see the girls. Sam didn’t have any kids of his own and said I was like a daughter to him. The girls loved him. They started climbing all over him the second he walked in the door.
“Jackie, Rosie, stop hanging on Sam.” I had to pull them off.
“Oh it’s okay. These girls are what brightens up my day. And your beautiful face too,” he said, as he gave me a kiss on the cheek.
He reached down and picked up Jackie while I picked up Rosie and we walked into the family room to talk.
“I would have had lunch ready if had known you were coming by,” I said as we sat down with the girls.
“Oh, not necessary,” he said with a wave of his hand. “I’m only going to be a minute. Where’s the rest of the family?” he asked as he looked around, but no one was in sight. He was referring to Ethan and my parents. He knew all about what happened with Jackson.
There was one thing he didn’t know though. I hadn’t had the nerve to tell him. But, he had been on my side through everything. I felt he had a right to know.
“Sam, I should tell you something,” I started.
“Sounds serious. What is it sweetheart?” He started bouncing Jackie on his knee and she squealed with delight. We both laughed.
“Let’s put the girls on the floor to play so we can talk,” I suggested.
“I found out a little while ago that Jackson is the biological father of the twins,” I told him.
“Yeah, that’s pretty much what I figured,” he answered back, without hesitation.
“What? What do you mean by that? How could you possibly know?” I was surprised by his reaction.
“Well, I am a detective, or did you forget that part?” He smiled at me.
“No, I didn’t forget, but why didn’t you say anything? And, how could you know when I didn’t even know?” I really was confused.
“Well, they look like Jackson. How could you not see that?”
We both looked at the girls and for the first time I could see what he meant. They did look a bit like Jackson. How come I never noticed before?
“Oh my god. I’m so blind. It was right there in front of me all along. How come no one else ever noticed it? You are the only one that saw it?”
“Well probably because everyone thought they belonged to Ethan. So, no one was looking for signs of Jackson in their beautiful faces.”
“Well next time you should let me know. It would have saved a lot of pain and heartache in this house!” I wasn’t mad at him. I was mad at myself for not seeing it.
“Sweetheart, it wasn’t my story to tell.”
“Well, maybe not. But, don’t keep things from me. I trust you to be brutally honest with me at all times.” I think I meant that. Not really sure if I did or not.
“Where is Jackson, by the way?” he asked me.
“He’s still here, living on the ranch, in one of the cabins. He wanted to stay close by for the girls. He’s actually really great with them,” I explained.
“Okay, well that brings us to why I’m here today.”
“I thought you just came to visit.”
“I did. But, I wanted to give you an update on Abbey.”
“Oh, okay. Did you find something?” I was hopeful.
“Remember the guy that I said knew her?”
“Yes.”
“Well, now we think he lied. He can’t give us any concrete time or place where he knew her. He doesn’t even know her last name or anything we can use to find her. We think he was just trying to get the reward money. When there is money involved, it often brings out the nut cases.”
“Wait, what reward money?” I had never heard about any reward money.
“The money that Adam put up to find her. You didn’t know?”
“No, I had no idea. He told me he would help find her, but I didn’t think he had actually done anything. He never said a word to me about it.”
“Well he put up a lot of money. We’ve gotten a lot of calls because of it. But, so far nothing has panned out. I promise to keep you posted if anything happens.” He got up to leave.
“Where are you going?” I wanted him to stay.
“That’s all the news I have for now. I will call you when I have more.” He kissed each of the girls on the forehead and left.
They were never going to find her. I felt like it was all just going to be a fat waste of time.
Chapter 31
About a month after Sam’s visit to me about Abbey, I had had enough. I had called him several times to get updates, of which there never were any. I think he was getting a little annoyed at me. I couldn’t blame him. I could be persistent and pushy when I wanted to.
Anyway, I needed to get away from the ranch and think about something else. Ethan and Adam were off doing ranch business and I was just sitting around with nothing to do. So, I took the twins into town to spend a couple of hours strolling around, shopping, and having lunch. I just wanted to have a nice day with my girls and not think about anything at all really.
We stopped at a nice little restaurant with outdoor seating. It was a beautiful day, so we sat outside in the sunshine. The waitress brought over a couple of highchairs for the girls and spent about five minutes cooing over them. I didn’t mind. I couldn’t blame her, they were very adorable. They ate it up, especially Rosie. She loved being the center of attention.
At about the time our food arrived, a woman walked up and without saying a word, sat down at our table.
“Um, excuse me,” I said, a little perplexed at why in the world someone would do that. “Do I know you?”
“Yes you do, Madison. Well, sort of, I guess.” She didn’t elaborate.
“How do you know my name?” I was a little intrigued by then.
“I’m your mother, Madison.”
She then took off her sunglasses and I instantly knew she was telling the truth. I had seen many photographs of her over the years. Of course, none since she was a teenager, but I could tell it was her nevertheless. I was speechless. Absolutely speechless. I just sat there with my mouth hanging open. She patiently waited for me to respond.
Before I said anything, I realized that our food was sitting on the table and the twins were reaching for it. I guess the waitress had come back, put down our plates and left, without me even noticing. Apparently my mind was on other things.
“Hold on, I have to give the girls their lunch.” She just waited while I gave the food to the girls. I was a little shaky from what just happened, so I was a little fumbly with the food. But, it was all finger type stuff, so they were fine eating on their own. Then I turned my attention back to my mother.
“Abbey? You’re Abbey?” was all I could muster, even though I knew it was her.
“Yes, do you recognize me?” She smiled.
“Yeah..I mean y..yes,” I stuttered. “I thought you were dead,” I blurted out.
“I know. My friends said you had a cop looking for me.”
“Oh that. Yes, but I didn’t think he would actually find you.”
“He didn’t. I just came here on my own. I saw you leave the estate and I followed you here. It took a while for me to get up the nerve to actually come over here and talk to you.”
“So you’ve just been following me around, watching me? Like some weird stalker?” I was a little unnerved at that. I hadn’t even noticed her.
“Well yeah, I guess.” That’s all she said. No explanation of any kind.
I was starting to recover from the sho
ck of seeing her and was starting to get angry. I was happy to see her, but angry at her all at the same time.
“I see. Are you going to explain to me why you left me at your parents’ house as a kid, never to be heard from again?” I handed the girls their sippy cups without taking my eyes off of Abbey.
She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Madison, you are right, I owe you an explanation. Look, I was a mess back then. I was into drugs when I ran away as a teenager. But, I cleaned myself up and got the job at the estate. You obviously know that I am your real mother, not Sarah.” It wasn’t really a question.
“Yeah, I know.”
“Good. At least they didn’t lie to you about that.” She seemed happy.
“They did lie. I found out and confronted them. They had no choice but to tell me the truth.”
“Oh, well I’m happy that you know now. Do you know what really happened?” she asked me.
“I’m not sure actually. I just know what Adam and Sarah told me. They said that Sarah was embarrassed that Adam got the housekeeper pregnant and that they offered you money to pretend the baby was hers. You took it and after I was born, you quit. Then you showed up two years later and took me. That’s pretty much all I know.”
“Interesting.” She sat there just looking at me and the twins for a moment. “That’s a really interesting story, but most of it is untrue. The fact is that Adam and I fell in love. We had a fling for several months and he told me that he loved me. When I got pregnant, he knew he couldn’t keep it from Sarah for long. He told her the truth. It was her idea to pretend she was pregnant. He said she always wanted kids. I was completely against it, but felt I didn’t have much of a choice. I was really young and broke. How was I going to raise a baby alone? So, I agreed. It was the stupidest thing I have ever done. And that’s saying a lot. I have done countless stupid things in my life.”
I knew the feeling.
“Sarah faked her pregnancy while I was pregnant. She even had a baby shower and everything. Then right after you were born, they threatened to have me arrested for stealing some stupid expensive painting that they had. Apparently it went missing and was worth millions. At least that’s what they told me. I had no idea what happened to it. I may be a lot of things, but I’m not a thief.”
I just sat and listened to her story without saying a word. I believed her. She really had no reason to lie to me at that point.
“Well, I did take you. Does that make me a thief?” She wasn’t expecting an answer. “And, by the way, I wasn’t the housekeeper, I was the cook. And pretty good at it.”
That made me smile. I knew I didn’t get my love of cooking from Adam.
“Anyway, I would have gone to jail. I thought about it and thought that you would probably be better off with them. So, I left. It was stupid, I know. But I was young and terrified of going to jail. I left and started hanging out with the same old people from before and was back into drugs before I knew it.” She hung her head a little when she said that. It was obvious she was ashamed.
“About two years later, I went into rehab, and got cleaned up. Then I went to the estate and talked to Adam. I told him I wanted my daughter back. He refused and threatened me again. He told me to leave and that if he ever saw me again he would kill me. I knew he meant it. I was really afraid of him, so I left. But, that night I sneaked into the house, they never locked it, and took you.” She broke down in tears. “I didn’t really have any idea what I was going to do next. I just wanted you back so bad.”
During the story, I hadn’t said a word. I was just in shock from everything she was telling me. It was all so different than the story Adam and Sarah had concocted. My lunch was getting cold, sitting there untouched. But, I didn’t care. I had lost my appetite.
“So if you wanted me so bad, why did you leave me at Grandma and Grandpa’s house and take off?” I really needed to know.
“When I saw all the media attention that your kidnapping was getting, I got really scared. I had been using a fake last name, so I didn’t think they could find me, but I didn’t want to take any chances. I decided you would be safest with my parents. And, you were. I think it was the right decision.”
I thought about her story for a minute, and thought about what it would have been like for her. I couldn’t really blame her. Adam had threatened to kill her and to have her arrested. That would be scary for anyone. I got up and walked to the other side of the table, and I hugged my mother for the first time ever. She sobbed in my arms.
“When the girls get done eating, we are going back to the ranch. All of us. It’s time things were settled once and for all.”
My mother just nodded silently.
On the way back to the ranch, I called my grandmother and put Abbey on the phone. She needed to know that her daughter was still alive. My mother was crying by the time she got off of the phone. My grandmother promised to come soon for a visit.
When we arrived at the ranch, no one was home. Well, there were several people there, the employees, but Adam and Sarah were nowhere to be found. Even Ethan was still out. So Mom, the twins, and I went upstairs to the nursery. We put them down for their afternoon nap. They were so exhausted from our outing that they were both asleep almost immediately. We just smiled at them.
I looked up at my mom and she had tears in her eyes.
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
“It’s just that I missed you growing up. I missed stuff like this, and homework and boys, and your wedding. I can never get that back. It’s all my fault, I know. I’m not blaming anyone. I’m just so sad that things happened the way that they did.”
“I know. It was tough on me too. But, that’s all behind us now. No point in dwelling on it. You’re here now and that’s all that matters.”
I couldn’t believe the words that were coming out of my mouth. Me, of all people, being so forgiving. But, I didn’t want to be unhappy anymore. I didn’t want to be filled with all the emotions I had been feeling my whole life regarding my mother. I just wanted it to be over. I wanted us to be a family now.
Then she hugged me and everything came flooding out. I broke down and cried, really cried for my mom, for the first time ever. It felt so good having my mom there and hugging me and I really needed that. She just stayed silent and held me while I sobbed. When I finally calmed down, she asked me where my room was and walked me to it.
The second we walked in, she gasped. I looked at her in surprise and then followed her gaze to see what she was looking at. It was my painting. The one Ethan and I had taken out of the storage room behind my closet.
“Madison, where did you get that?” she asked me, pointing to the painting.
“Out of the storage closet, why?” I was confused by her reaction.
“Because, that is the painting that Adam threatened me with. He said it was stolen and he would call the cops and blame me for taking it. It was here the whole time?”
“I guess. It was in that storage room behind my closet. I found it not long after I moved here. That is the painting you were talking about? Are you sure?”
“Positive. They told me it was worth millions,” she said. Her eyes never left the painting.
“No way. They told me it was some worthless crappy painting and to just leave it alone. I don’t think they even know I hung it up in here,” I told her.
Just then, one of the housekeepers knocked on my door and said Adam was looking for me. It seemed like a good time to have a talk with them. I made a phone call on our way down the stairs.
You should have seen the look on Sarah and Adam’s faces when we both walked into the study. I can’t even describe it. It was like a combination of shock and hate all at the same time. They obviously recognized her the second they saw her.
“What the hell?” was the first thing that came out of Adam’s mouth. Sarah didn’t say a word.
“You both know my mother, right?”
“What is she doing here?” Adam demanded.
; “We thought you were dead,” he directed toward Abbey.
“Well, obviously I’m not. Sorry to disappoint you,” she retorted.
“You are not welcome here and need to leave my house immediately, before I call the cops,” Adam almost shouted.
“You can’t call the cops. I invited her here,” I told him.
“Madison..” Sarah started.
“Don’t you even start.” Abbey glared at Sarah. Sarah immediately shut up.
“Abbey, I can have you arrested for kidnapping,” Adam said to her.
“She’s my daughter. How can I kidnap my own daughter?” Abbey asked.
“Yes, she’s your daughter, but you still didn’t have the right to take her from me. You still have to answer for that. I will make sure you go to jail for kidnapping.” He was so angry.
That’s when I saw something I thought I would never, ever see. Abbey walked right up to Adam and got in his face. Her words were chilling as she slowly spoke.
“If you threaten me with kidnapping ever again, I will tell the police, the press, anyone that wants to listen, that you threatened to press charges against me for stealing that Picasso you have upstairs. I know you collected the insurance money for it.”
His face lit up in surprise.
“Picasso? Did you say Picasso?” I asked in shock.
“Yep, it’s a Picasso,” my mother replied, without taking her eyes off of my father. “Adam’s grandfather lived in Spain for awhile and became friends with Picasso, who gave him the painting.”
Then back to Adam, “Yeah, I saw it. It’s still here in the house. And, I will absolutely tell everyone how I worked for you and was only 15 years old when you got me pregnant. You were in your twenties at the time. Statutory rape carries a heavy penalty in this state. How would you like the police to hear all about that?”
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