Page 5

There was a deep and long moment of silence, the kind that makes my heart stop and then pound. I could feel everyone's eyes on me. I actually began to tremble again, my thighs shaking. I embraced myself like someone who was afraid she would just fly apart.

"How are you all today?" Doctor Marlowe asked. "Ginger peachy," Star said.

"Good," Misty said with a nice smile.

"I'd like to have slept in longer," Jade said. "It's supposed to be our summer holiday."

Doctor Marlowe laughed and gazed my way, her eyes soft, warm, compassionate.

Even so, a ribbon of pain stretched across my forehead from temple to temple, tightening and tightening until it felt like it was cutting through my brain.

"I think I woke up with a fever this morning," I said. "I had chills. I still have them a bit," I added and embraced myself. I rocked a little in my seat.

"Take it easy, Cathy," Doctor Marlowe said in a soft whisper. "Take deep breaths like you've done before:' I did so while the others continued to stare at me.

"I'm sorry," I whispered.

"Before I started to talk to all of you about my story, I felt like throwing up," Misty said in support.

"I did throw up this morning," I confessed.

Star frowned and shook her head.

"It's only us, Cat, not the whole country. You aren't on television on Oprah or something"

"Give her a chance," Jade ordered.

Star tilted her head a little and looked at Jade from an angle.

"Do you have some words of wisdom, Princess Jade?" "I'm just saying it wasn't easy for any of us."

"I'm not saying it was," Star argued. "But whatever her story is, it can't be worse than any of ours, can it?" Jade shrugged.

"I still haven't recovered from telling my own story," she said, as if we were all in a contest to outdo each other for misery.

The other two nodded in agreement.

"No one's going to laugh or anything," Misty promised with those sweet eyes.

All right, I thought. All right. They want to hear it. I'll tell them. I'll tell them everything Then they'll be sorry. We'll all be sorry.

"My situation is a lot different from yours, and yours, and yours," I told each of them.

"How so?" Star fired back.

"For one thing, I'm adopted," I replied and quickly added, "but I didn't learn that until this year."

"Your parents kept that a secret all this time?" Misty immediately asked.

One thing about these girls, I thought, they weren't going to be bashful about asking questions. It wasn't going to be easy hiding anything from them.

"Yes."

"Weren't there any baby pictures of you?" Jade asked.

"No. Well, not before I was two."

"Didn't you ever wonder about that? Everyone has pictures of their children when they were infants."