Consequences
Part Seven
By Céindreadh
ceindreadh@eircom.net
Kerry was very subdued that night after she had read the file prepared by Dave’s friend Dee.
“It’s all so weird,” she said to Dave. “All this time I assumed that my mother was a teenager or student who got pregnant and either couldn’t or wouldn’t have an abortion. I never gave much thought to who my father was. I just figured that he wasn’t in the picture. Now I find that he was a part of my life for six months and then gave me away. I just don’t know how to handle it. I mean why would he do it?”
“You know there’s only one way to find out.”
Kerry sighed and said, “I know. But I’m not sure I want to know. What would you do?”
“I don’t know. But I do know that I’ll support you no matter what you decide to do.”
Kerry’s dreams that night were haunted by a shadowy figure that resisted all her efforts to catch up to. She pushed her way through faceless crowds crying and calling “don’t leave me.”
She awoke with a start to find tears streaming down her cheeks. “Don’t leave me,” she whispered as she sat upright.
“I’m right here Kerry,” said Dave as he sat up sleepily. “What’s the matter?”
“I’m alright, it was only a bad dream.”
“You’re not alright. You’ve been crying and you’re shaking. Tell me what it was.”
He hugged her protectively.
Safe in his enveloping arms, Kerry started to relax.
“It was my father. I couldn’t see him clearly but I knew that’s who it was. But every time I tried to catch him he just moved further away, leaving me behind, abandoning me.”
Dave stroked her hair gently as she continued, “I’m going to see him.”
“I think you should probably phone him first.”
“You think that’s best?”
“I think that if you show up on his doorstep, looking so much like that picture of your mother, it might be a bit of a shock to him. At least if you get in touch by phone, he won’t have the double shock of finding his daughter and seeing the ghost of his dead girlfriend.”
“Will you come with me?”
“You know I will.”
Kerry managed to juggle the rosters to give them both the afternoon off a few days later.
They had decided to drive to the area where her father lived and phone him from the car.
The closer they got the more nervous Kerry became. Dee’s research had turned up a lot of information but there were still gaps to be filled. Kerry knew that his name was Michael Nordquist that he had retired from Chicago P.D. a few years earlier and that he was currently unmarried. There was so much more that she wanted to find out.
Finally she pulled into a car park about two blocks from the address that Dee had given her.
“Are you ready?” asked Dave.
“As ready as I’ll ever be.” She steeled herself and finally dialled the number on her mobile.
The phone was picked up on the third ring.
“Hello?” said a voice on the other end.
“Is this Michael Nordquist?” asked Kerry.
“Yes, who is this?”
“Mr Nordquist, you don’t know me but my name is Kerry Weaver.” She hesitated for a moment before continuing, “this may sound strange, but I think I may be your daughter."
There was silence on the other end of the phone.
“Mr. Carr? Are you still there?”
“Yes I’m still here.” His voice sounded a lot unsteadier than it had been.
“I’d like to come and see you if that’s possible. I’m only a few minutes away.”
“Yes, I think that would be a good idea.”
“I’ll be there in ten minutes.”
As Kerry replaced the phone in her bag her hands were shaking.
Dave reached for her hand and squeezed it.
“It’s going to be fine,” he said.
“I hope so.”
A few minutes later they pulled up in front of the house.
As they walked up the path the front door opened. A man in his sixties stepped out.
“Oh my god,” he said. “You look so like your mother.”
Kerry sat nursing a cup of coffee wondering how to raise the question she most wanted an answer to. Michael had filled her in on how he and Sarah had met and got involved.
“The day you were born was the happiest day of our lives,” he said. “And for six months we were the perfect family, and then came the accident.”
“You don’t have to talk about that now,” said Kerry who could see the sadness in his eyes.
“No I want to tell you. I can see that you want to know why you were adopted.”
He sighed heavily. “Having you adopted was the biggest mistake of my life. But at the time I thought I was doing the right thing. I was banged up pretty bad in the accident. At the time the doctors thought I wouldn’t survive. You were placed with foster parents when you got out of the hospital. The doctors said it would be several months before I could leave the hospital and maybe a year or more before I could work again. They persuaded me that it would be best if you were left with foster parents until then. When I got out of hospital I tried to get you back, but the social workers said that you had settled with the Weavers and you had been through enough upheaval. I am so sorry that I didn’t fight harder for you.”
He took Kerry’s hand and said, “Can you ever forgive me?”
“I do forgive you. You did what you thought was best at the time.”
Kerry hesitated before asking her next question, “One thing I would like to know, is why you and my mother never married?”
Michael sighed heavily. Because we thought we had all the time in the world to get married, instead we only had a little over two years. But they were some of the best years of my life.”
Several hours later Kerry and Dave finally left Michaels house. Michael had given Kerry some photos of himself and Sarah and one of the three of them together. They promised to meet again soon.
“How do you feel?” asked Dave as they drove home.
“I don’t know,” replied Kerry. “I mean I have the answers I was looking for but I still feel sort of empty inside. I’m probably just tired. It’s been a draining few days.”
“We’ll be home soon and then you can rest.”
That night Kerry was unusually quiet after they had finished their lovemaking.
“Penny for your thoughts,” said Dave as he wrapped his arms around her.
“I was thinking,” said Kerry slowly. “About how I’d like to marry you.”
To be continued.....