LITTLE GIRL LOST by SARAH BETH LEE (bill gates books to read TXT) 📖

down the hall on Christmas morning, grandchildren to dote on and a life filled with more love than he deserved. The sound of the car slowing and the gravel crunching under the tires brought him out of his melancholy and he prayed tonight would be the first day of the rest of his life.
The Truth

CHAPTER ELEVEN
THE TRUTH

As Maddie sat on the sofa she watched the emotions flitting across her mother’s face. She had always been able to gauge her mother’s mood by her face she was an open book with everything she felt reflected in her eyes. Maddie knew that this was not going to be easy for either of them but she had to know the truth.

“Mom you know that I love you and that no matter what the truth reveals I will love you still.”

Kathleen took Maddie’s hand and wished that it was that simple but she knew that Maddie might very well hate her when she learned the truth. She took in a deep breath and prayed for the strength she needed to tell her daughter the truth about her father, her brother and the sister she had always known as her best friend.

“Maddie you remember when you were little and things weren’t always easy for us. We lived in a one bedroom apartment and I worked two jobs as well as night classes at the community college two nights a week. I loved you and wanted to be able to provide a good life for you.”

Maddie squeezed her mother’s hand and smiled at her. “Mom I know that and I know you did the best you could but honestly I am more concerned about the parts I don’t know.”

Kathleen could see the questions popping in her sparkling hazel eyes. She had always been able to tell what kind of mood her girls were in by the color of their eyes. Brown meant they were thoughtful and reflective but when the green sparks flew they were up to something. She could see the deep brown eyes watching her face and waiting for more.

“What you don’t know is that when I was eighteen I ran away from home. My parents were horrible people who could have cared less about me and I knew that as soon as I turned eighteen I was out of there. I ended up in Idylwood it was a nice town and I knew that I could make it work. I had no idea what was going to happen to me but I had a feeling that everything would work out. When I was nineteen I needed money so I decided to become a surrogate and help some deserving couple become a family. I first met Justin Jacobs when I was had just turned twenty and was about to deliver the baby of Davis William Roberts. I was the surrogate for him and his wife Veronica but what he didn’t know was that I was carrying twins. I was supposed to give him one child and I knew he would want both of you so I never told him that I was having twins. I had scheduled a c-section but fortunately for me you two decided to come early. I had done my research and I went to a small hospital in Alexandria where no one knew me. I gave birth to you and your twin sister, Hannah.”

Kathleen waited for the name to sink in and she saw the recognition in her eyes as it all fell into place. She waited for the fury and the hate to take root but all she saw in Maddie’s eyes was more questions.

“Mom are you telling me that Hannah and I are sisters?”

Kathleen nodded her head. “I suppose I got the idea after watching The Parent Trap while I was pregnant. So when you guys came it worked perfectly no one at the hospital knew me so after you were born I called Davis and told him I had went into labor early while visiting family out of town. He was upset but we agreed that as soon as I could travel I would bring the baby to him. I know I was wrong for not telling him about you but I couldn’t bear the thought of giving you both up; it broke my heart to give up Hannah. So when I got back to town I called and made the arrangement to meet and sign all the paperwork and give him Hannah. I took my check and thought I would never see him again. I started a nice life with you but not a day went by that I didn’t think of Hannah. I truly didn’t think I would ever see her again but somehow fate had other plans. When I enrolled you in preschool they were amazed at how smart you were and that was how you ended up Oak Hill Academy and you and Hannah had been immediately drawn to one another. I knew my charade was up when Justin came knocking on my door to tell me that he worked for Davis and that he very much wanted to meet with me. So I went and he was nothing like I expected he was kind, down to earth and understanding. He told me he wanted to see you and to know you but that he understood how complicated that would be so he offered me another life. The next thing I knew we were moving here and you and Hannah were inseparable and even though you didn’t know it you were with your father and I was able to get to know Hannah as well. I am so sorry for not telling you the truth and I wish that I could go back and change it but I can’t. “

Maddie sat in silence trying to make sense of it all and she just couldn’t seem to wrap her head around it all. She felt as if she was in one of those made for TV movies based on true events. She finally looked up at her mother and she crumbled as she watched the tears falling desperately down her cheeks. Maddie reached for her as they clutched each other and cried for all that had been lost over the years. Maddie wished she had known the truth it would have changed so much and Hannah wouldn’t have felt so alone all these years. She realized her mother had said that her brother had something to do with this as well and she knew she needed to know the rest of the story.

“Mom you said Nate had something to do with this so what’s the story?”

Kathleen wiped her eyes on a tissue and nodded her head. She knew this was going to hurt Maddie to know that Nate’s being a part of their family was another lie. She coughed and finally looked at Maddie.
“You remember when Davis died and I immediately left to visit Aunt Martha?”

Maddie nodded her head as she thought back to that day so long ago; the day her father had died and she hadn’t even known. She had been playing on the beach completely unaware that her father had died.

“You know we stayed for a while and then when we came home Nate was here with Justin.” Maddie nodded. “Well Nate wasn’t really Justin’s nephew who’s mother had died he was the son of Nathaniel O’Brien the other vehicle that was involved in the accident that killed your father. We adopted him and raised him as our own.”

Maddie could see the pictures flashing through her head of Nick’s family and his very pregnant mother. She had thought the baby had died but now she realized that he had survived and been living as her brother all this time. She could see it now in the way his hair fall across his brow and the deep blue of his eyes he looked exactly as Nick must have looked at seventeen. She wondered how she had never noticed it before.

“So Nathaniel Joseph is Nicolas Jordan O’Brien’s little brother.”

Kathleen looked at her daughter as if she had no idea what she was talking about. “Maddie who is Nicolas? All of Nate’s family was killed in the accident it was by the grace of God that they managed to save him.”

Maddie shook her head no. “No mom sorry but Nate has an older brother who is a year older than me and Hannah. He is a genius who works for the Pentagon and is currently a patient of mine oh and did I mention that Hannah is in love with him?”

Kathleen ha d no idea what her daughter was ranting and raving about but she intended to find out. “Maddie honey slow down and tell me what’s going on.”

Maddie looked at her mother and she wondered how she could take in Nate and leave his brother alone with no one. She took a deep breath and began at the beginning when Hannah had first met Nick all those years ago.

Kathleen listened as Maddie told her about Hannah’s unexpected visitor at the wake and how she had been obsessed with finding him ever since. Kathleen felt horrible for Nick if she had known she would have taken him in as well; now she would have to tell Nate that he had a brother out there somewhere.

As Kathleen began to speak she heard the doorbell and she wondered who on earth would be calling on a Holiday at the worst possible time. She patted Maddie’s arm. “Honey I’ll be right back.”

Kathleen walked to the door and looked out the peephole to see Hannah nervously on her doorstep looking more lost than ever. She opened the door as quickly as possible and pulled Hannah into her arms.

“Hannah honey what’s wrong?”

Hannah looked as if she were in shock as she trembled in Kathleen’s arms. She was overcome with ever smell, sound and touch that surrounded her. This woman was her mother and this is where she should have grown up. She pushed away from Kathleen as Maddie came down the hall to the door.

“Hannah what are you doing here?”

Maddie really looked at Hannah and she saw what had always been there. The same ivory complexion, the same wide hazel eyes, the same unruly brown hair that surrounded the same heart shaped face. She reached for Hannah and held her close and breathed in the moment committing it memory this was her sister.

“Maddie we have so much to talk about.”