Family Ties (28 page)

“I’ll be right back.” Gray strode across the lot and up the sidewalk, knocking on the door before opening it and stepping inside.

The air-conditioning hit him as soon as he entered the small office. A well-kept middle-aged woman was sitting at the desk. “Can I help you?”

“I wondered if I could speak to the minister, please.”

“You’re speaking to her.”

So much for all his imaginary conversations – he’d never pictured the minister as a woman.

“Sorry.”

“No problem.” She indicated the chair by the desk. “People assume I’m the church secretary.” She shrugged. “Some of my older members still struggle with a woman in the pulpit.”

She rose to her feet and crossed to a small frig. “What can I get for you, Mister...?”

“Sorry. I’m Grayson Mills.” He cleared his throat. “At least that’s the name I’ve been going by.”

“Oh?” She poured a couple of glasses of iced tea and brought them to the desk.

He squirmed in his seat. This was harder than he’d expected. “It’s the name on my driver’s license. But I’ve recently learned it’s not my real name. I’m part of another family.”

“You were adopted? We don’t keep any records here.” She shook her head, then set one of the glasses in front of him. “And those we had were lost in a fire some years ago.” She was measuring him up for something. “Have you tried the adoption agencies? Or the internet?”

“Uhm, actually, I wasn’t really adopted. I was told my parents came to this church.” He shrugged. “Or I think they did. About thirty years ago.”

She rounded the desk and set the other glass in front of her chair, then turned to look at him.

“That’s a long time for any family to be members of one church, son. I can count on one hand the number of families who might fit such a description and none of them gave up a child for adoption.”

“Did any of them have a child go missing?”

“Missing?” She dropped into her chair. “Explain yourself.”

***

Although the kids were yelling and squealing in the back seat, Andie kept her eyes open for Gray, relaxing a bit when he stepped outside the church office. He shook the hand of the minister then turned toward her. His shoulders drooped, his face seemed haggard and he walked like a man who’d had the stuffing knocked out of him.

She searched his face as he passed in front of the van trying to glean some indication of what had happened inside. He opened his door and dropped into the driver’s seat. His hands were shaking as he gripped the wheel.

“Gray?”

He wiped the back of his hand across his eyes then turned to her, searched her eyes for a moment. “Can you read these directions?” He handed her a slip of paper.

Andie took the wrinkled piece of paper and smoothed it on her thigh. An address was scrawled across the top. She read through the directions. “Yes. I can read them.”

“Good.” He started the van and dropped it in reverse.

“Where are we going?” His mood scared her. She’d never seen him like this. Even the kids had dropped into silence.

“I think we’re going to meet my parents.”

“What?”

“The minister – the woman I shook hands with,” he tipped his head toward the church they’d just left, “she knows my mother.”

“No way.”

He pulled over and parked in the shade of a big tree. Wiped his eyes again. “Exactly what I said.” He inhaled deeply then turned toward her. “Apparently they always believed I’d come home, so they never changed anything – including their church. They still live in the same house.”

“Oh Gray. That’s wonderful.”

“There’s no proof I’m the son they lost, but how many similar circumstances could there be in a community of this size?” Swinging his hand in a tight arc, he indicated the small, suburban town of this church.

“Wow. How do you feel? Are you ready for this?” She was shaking her head in tight little movements. “Who would have thought?”

“Not me. Not ever.”

“So how do you feel?”

He nodded, but one hand tipped up, away from the steering wheel. “Scared. Excited. Nervous. But I better be ready, since my parents are waiting for me at home.” He pulled the van into gear and eased back into traffic.

Fifteen minutes later, after carefully following her directions, he turned on to a quiet street with mature trees. Slowing, he searched the house numbers looking for his parents’ home.

Andie couldn’t begin to imagine what thoughts and feelings were going through his mind and heart right now. A movement up the street caught her attention. An older man and woman were standing on the sidewalk, in front of a house with a white picket fence, watching their van. The woman cried while the man held his arm protectively around her shoulders.

She knew what Gray would look like in thirty or forty years. She saw it in the face of the stranger on the sidewalk.

Gray watched them as he parked the van in the shade across the street. Without shutting off the motor, or even looking at her or the kids, he stepped out and crossed the street. Stood there for a moment.

Andie could hear the woman’s cries. Gray took her into his arms and held her close while his dad wrapped his arms around both of them.

Wiping the tears from her cheeks she turned to the silent kids in the back seat. “Are they Gray’s mommy and daddy?” Jamie asked.

“Looks like it, big guy.” She glanced at the threesome on the sidewalk.

“Will he still live with us?”

Jamie’s question washed over Andie like a cold shower. He’d always intended to move on. And now he’d found his parents and a family he never knew he had. It would be perfectly normal for him to want to move closer to them and spend time with them. It was only right.

She couldn’t expect his promise to hold him since he’d found his family. He needed them.

She took a deep breath knowing she would cope with his decision when he told her. She was used to being left behind. After all, it had happened before.

“I don’t know Jamie, but we’ll be fine whatever Gray decides.”

***

“Come in. Please come in.” The older woman held the door for the kids while keeping her other hand on Gray. She wouldn’t risk losing him again.

“What a beautiful family, Greg. Please introduce us.”

The name caught him off-guard. He hadn’t heard it in more than thirty years.

Warmth flooded him. This was the first time he’d introduced Andie as his fiancée and the kids as theirs. He’d been given a family when he didn’t know he needed one and it had changed his life. He could hardly believe his good luck. And more evidence of his good fortune abounded around him.

His dad wiped his eyes and dropped an arm around Jamie and Chloe. “Why don’t we sit in the living room and get acquainted. If I look, I’ll bet I can find some candies for you.”

“Gray always has candies too.” Chloe was never shy.

“He does?” The old man turned to him and reached into his pocket, pulling out a mint. “I’ll bet they aren’t as good as these.”

Chloe giggled as she reached for the wrapped candy. “Of course they are. They’re the same thing, silly.”

For a moment the only sound in the room was the crackle of the cellophane as Chloe and the boys opened their treats. But then Mrs. Johnson, his mother, spoke up. “I’ll take the wrappers and get us some cold drinks. What would you kids like?”

She listened to the list from the kids and took Gray’s hand. “Would you like to see the kitchen?”

He nodded and followed her down a short hall. As he crossed into the bright room, he smelled cinnamon and apples. Memories swamped him – meals and arguments and hugs and love. He gouged his eyes with a finger and thumb. The past surrounded him, pulling him into memories he’d forgotten.

His mother wrapped her arms around him, drawing him close. “You are here where you belong, my little Greggie. Home with your mom.” Leaning back she studied him while brushing the hair from his forehead. “I always knew you’d be a good looking man. And I was right, although you’re taller than I expected. You get your height from my side of the family.” She smothered him in another loving hug then turned to the fridge. “Come let’s give your family...” She fisted her hand against her chest, struggled for and regained control. “I never thought to be able to say those words to my youngest son.” She closed her eyes for a moment. “Thanks be to God.”

The living room had broken into pandemonium by the time they returned with sodas and iced tea. Chloe and Jamie were vying for attention while Billy played a computer game.

“We keep the toys for our grandchildren.” She looked up at him. “You have eleven nieces and nephews.”

Gray felt a piece of his soul settle back into place. A piece he hadn’t known was missing. “I have nieces and nephews?”

His father nodded. “You do.” His voice cracked with emotion as he motioned Gray further into the living room. “Come, look at the wall – we’ll reintroduce you to your family.”

Around the corner, pictures of every shape and size covered the wall. His parents had hung photographs of them as a family. Eventually, the groupings split into streams with the families of each of his siblings. Where his family should have been the color of the paint showed clearly.

“Your mother left this space for you, son. She’s been waiting for you to come back to us.”

Throat choked with emotion, eyes burning, Gray could only nod. He swallowed deeply and blinked hard. “Can you tell me who each of them are?” He looked at the early pictures and pointed to the biggest of the boys standing behind his seated parents. “Is this George?”

His dad nodded. “It is.” He pointed to each of them. “This is Ralph, Brenda, and William.”

He pointed at the pictures following the last one of their entire family. “These are their families. Come I’ll introduce you to their faces until they get here.”

“They’re coming?” Panic rose in his chest. It was too much, too soon.

“Your mother called them while we were waiting for you to arrive.” He searched Gray’s face. “Most of them are working, so they won’t be here until dinner. And Ralph is out of town, so you’ll have to see him later. George is on his way. He should be here in an hour or so.”

Confusion swamped him. So many people and so many names. He didn’t think he’d ever keep them all straight. But he was going to try. In a second, he’d gone from being a loner to having a huge family – twenty-one people he didn’t know.

“Gray?” Andie’s voice pulled him from the abyss of overwhelm back to the room. “Would you join me?” She patted the space beside her on the sofa. Filled with gratitude, he crossed to her side and took the hand she slid into his.

Thank God for Andie. She’d read him from across the room and offered him an anchor in the midst of all this emotion.

He looked around the room. Memories he didn’t know he had kept surfacing. “You were always so good with plants, mom. What happened to them?”

“Oh those.” She waved the memory away. “I don’t have time for them anymore. And since I retired I haven’t the energy.”

“You went to work?”

“She did. Your mother went to university and received a degree and became a teacher.” Pride warmed his dad’s words. “I don’t know how she did it, but she finished with honors and taught elementary school until they forced her out.”

“I’d have still been working but....” She looked at Gray, her heart in her eyes. “It doesn’t matter anymore.”

“You didn’t work outside of here when I was little, did you?”

“No, you rascals kept me too busy. After you were taken, I lost my focus for a while. When I got back on my feet, I decided to make a difference for other people’s little kids, like I hoped someone was doing for you.”

Gray could hear the curiosity in her voice. Knew he’d have to tell them both the story of the intervening years, but he couldn’t yet. He needed time to connect with his family and this part of his past before he could begin to assimilate the past into his present. And he didn’t want to think about Ida Mills and her treachery. Not yet.

“Can I see the rest of the house?”

“Betty, take him up to his room.” His dad’s voice was soft but directive.

“My room?”

“We kept your room ready for you, Greg.”

“Why do you call him Greg? His name’s Gray.” Chloe’s voice interrupted them.

When Andie tried to shush her, his mother intervened. “You know him as Gray, for me he’ll always be my little boy, Greggie.” She squatted to Chloe’s height, right beside her. “Is it okay if I call him Greg?” She looked up at Gray from her position beside Chloe. “Is it okay?”

“Of course it is, mom.” The endearment slipped out without conscious intention, bringing more tears to her eyes. She rose and held his cheeks in her hands.

“I never thought I’d hear you call me that again.” She held his gaze, tears coursing down her cheeks. “Welcome home son.” Then she hugged him close, her arms tight bands of emotion.

“Now mother, give the boy some room to breathe,” his dad

said as he approached them. “Let’s show Greg his room.”