Page 234 of Broken Brothers

“Oh, you’re my mother, alright.”

The four of us, including my birth mother’s new husband, sat in her living room, munching on her brownies. It was interesting to observe the contrast that I would have grown up with if I had stayed with my birth mother and father. It was as stark a contrast as blue collar and white collar.

Their apartment—and apparently, all the other places they had been before—were very run of the mill places. The most space they ever had was a house with two rooms. I had no other siblings; my birth had complicated things for my mother, which had racked up enormous medical bills, constraining her and my father’s ability to take care of me. My mother did mention that Melanie had paid those bills as part of the thank you for adopting me, which made me love everyone in the room that much more.

They said that the newest vehicle they drove was from 2005; they said that a treat for them was going to Outback Steakhouse. They had gone to New York City once in the last eighteen years, and they had felt out of their element.

But one thing that struck me, listening to my mother, was how loving and doting she was and how she described my father being. Even my stepfather, a man by the name of Carl, was a kind and gentle person. I was happy to have grown up under Melanie, but now I felt even more pain about the fact that I never had a father figure.

“I’m so happy to see the kind of man you’ve grown up to be, Chance,” my biological mother said. “I knew Melanie would take care of you, but you always worry about the people you love. I never stopped worrying about you.”

“I…”

I had no idea what to say.

“I’m just sorry I didn’t try and reach out earlier.”

“Nonsense,” Bethany said. “If I were in your shoes, I would’ve been angry too. To be given up for adoption at that age,you can’t know for sure what’s going on. You just feel abandoned and left behind. So I would be angry in your spot too.”

It was incredible how well she knew what I had experienced. Either she just had that mother’s intuition, or maybe… maybe she’d been adopted too?

“Can I ask…” I said before trailing off.

I didn’t know if it was appropriate to ask. I didn’t want to cross any boundaries. But I couldn’t shake the question from my mind.

“Why you gave me up?”

“Oh, honey, I fully expected you to ask the question, of course you can ask,” Bethany said. “Well, when I had you, I was sixteen years old. I had to drop out of high school. My parents disowned me for having a child out of wedlock, but Parker was the most devoted father that you could have ever seen. He was in the military, but when he was around, he made up for the times he was deployed or at base. The problem was, as I mentioned, I had the medical issues giving birth—nothing that was your fault, just something that happened as a freak accident. So I took on as many jobs as I could, but then it became a real pain.”

She took a deep breath.

“Parker’s parents helped so much in that time, but it was becoming a strain. We couldn’t afford to raise you, but I didn’t want to give you up. I loved you and still do, and…”

Bethany paused to wipe a tear away. Even I was starting to feel emotional; my eyes were watering and on the verge of spilling out.

“Parker and I just wanted what was best for you, Chance. We knew you were a gifted child; we saw signs of it early, like how you learned to spell early and how you learned basic math quickly. But we knew that you would never reach your full potential in this household. And so… we put you up for adoption.And an angel by the name of Melanie came through and helped out.”

“Oh, you’re too sweet,” Melanie said, but she was crying now too.

About the only person who wasn’t crying was Carl, and he had his hand over his mouth, as if trying to stave off the emotions of the moment.

“I’m sorry I never got to know you before,” I said. “I know I said it, but you sound like you would have been wonderful parents, even if you didn’t have the money my adopted father did.”

“Your father was a wonderful man, Chance,” my birth mother said. “He put up with a lot of my weaker moments. He understood that sometimes, just because I tried to push him away, it didn’t mean I actually wanted him away. I’m just an introvert by trade, and sometimes I needed to be left alone. But he was always there for me, and when you have someone like that in your corner, it’s a wonderful thing.”

I smiled. I’d like to be that person for someone. For Layla, ideally.

“Do you have any ladies in your life, Chance?”

I cracked a smile.

“Eh, kind of,” I said. “It’s a long story.”

“Oh, I don’t mean to pride,” Bethany said. “I just was curious.”

But I think she knew what she’d done. She had that mother’s intuition that always seemed to know the truth, even when the son hadn’t even hinted at or said anything about what kind of advice she was dropping.

We spent the next couple of hours trading stories of a much lighter variety; Melanie didn’t say much, perhaps conscious of coming across as rich and spoiled, but I was more than happy to tell my mom and Carl about everything I’d experienced as a kid.Edwin’s name never crossed my lips, but otherwise, anything went.