Finding Jessie: A Mystery Romance (28 page)

“This is the longest day
ever
. I’ve been punched in the nose, choked, Tased, bound, gagged, thrown in a car trunk, almost kidnapped, and made statements in two different criminal cases. Now where are we going?”

“Once I find it on Google Maps, we are going to Dr. Susan Cheng’s dental office before it closes.”

“But, we were busy for another hour after she left. I’m sure Jessie Alden already picked her up from her dental appointment.”

“I’m sure she did, too.”

“Sam, I don’t understand.”

“You will.”

“What are we doing when we get there?”

“You’re going to go in and ask if anyone from the ‘facility’ has picked up your grandmother, Beth Conyers, after her dental appointment.”

“The ‘facility’? I don’t get what you mean.”

“I hope this will work. Just trust me.”

“Okay.”

When they got to the office, someone was just about to lock the door. Jessie ran, leaving Sam in the dust.

“Wait!” Jessie said to the older woman as Sam strode up, too. “Has anyone from the facility picked up my grandmother, Beth Conyers? She had dental work this afternoon.”

The woman said, “Let me check. I’ll be right back.” She locked the door and left them waiting.

After a minute, she came back.

“Mrs. Conyers didn’t take the courtesy shuttle. Jessie Alden came this time because your grandmother had to go get a prescription afterward.”

“Oh, thank goodness Aunt Jessie picked her up! How is Grandma?” Jessie ad-libbed.

“She had us all in stitches, as usual, this time, with her stories about the Christmas charity ball. She’s trying to get us all over there to the Silver Arms for bingo night.”

Jessie tilted her head in surprise. “I’m glad she was in good spirits! Thank you.”

“You’re welcome,” the receptionist said and locked up after them.

As they walked back toward the car, Sam said, “Dementia, my ass. She plays bingo and goes to charity events.”

“I know! What a terrible thing to say about her.”

“There’s only one reason I can think of that Jessie Alden said that.”

“She doesn’t want me to talk to Beth Conyers.”

“You got it.”

When they got back to the Volvo station wagon, Sam said, “Do you know where we are going now?”

“To see Grandma at the Silver Arms?”

“That’s right.”

“I hope my sudden appearance doesn’t give her a heart attack.”

“They probably have a security desk where we have to check in.”

“I hope that is enough of a buffer to minimize the shock.” She paused. “Sam, I don’t want to do this unless you truly believe I am Jessie Conyers.”

“I believe you are. And, more importantly, so do the cops.”

Chapter Twenty-three

“I’m sorry, ma’am. You’re not on her visitors’ list,” said the guard at the desk of the swanky independent living facility.

“That’s because we’ve never met. Please, could you just call her and tell her that her granddaughter, Jessie Conyers, is here?”

Sam said, “Please, sir? It’s very important.”

“I’m not supposed to do things like that. I’m only supposed to let in people on the list.”

“I’m pretty sure she’ll want to see me.”

“Very well, I’ll ask,” he said. “But if she refuses to see you, you will have to leave.”

“We understand,” said Sam.

The security guard picked up the phone and called a number off his list. “Mrs. Conyers? Your granddaughter, Jessie Conyers, is here to see you.”

“No, not Mrs. Alden. I know her. She’s been and gone today. This is a different Jessie, a younger one. She said she’s never met you.”

He pulled the phone away from his ear and Jessie and Sam could hear her excited voice babbling away.

“Very good, Mrs. Conyers. I’ll bring her. She has a gentleman friend with her, too.” He paused, listening. “All right, thank you.”

He hung up the phone. “She says to bring you both right away. I’ll call for transportation. It’s too far to walk.”

Tears sprang to Jessie’s eyes as they got in the back seat of the golf cart which another guard drove across the vast red carpet and past chandeliers and billiard tables and an indoor swimming pool. He drove the cart past a media room where elderly people were watching a movie. He drove past several dining rooms with tablecloths and silver tea services and servers in formal clothing. He drove past a room with a string quartet playing Mozart and elderly people dressed in evening gowns and tuxes attended. And finally, at the end of the long hall, he drove out the automatic double doors to a lovely bungalow at the end of a pretty shaded lane where roses climbed the walls.

The sun was setting and when he stopped, he turned on an exterior porch light and helped Jessie out of the golf cart.

“This is it. Bungalow nine, Mrs. Beth Conyers, the director of Silver Arms. Have Beth call me when you want a ride back.”

“Okay, we will, thank you,” Sam said and the guard drove away the golf cart.

Jessie put her hand over her heart. “I had better be her granddaughter. Or I’m the one who’s going to have the heart attack.”

“I’m sure it will go better than the meeting at the police station with your lyin’-eyes aunt.”

Jessie rang the doorbell. “I can’t believe this is happening! I’m so nervous.”

Sam smiled. “It’ll be fine. Just be yourself.”

“Easy for you to say. You know who
you
are.”

“You will, too,” Sam promised.

An older woman—a redhead with gray at her temples—answered the door.

“Grandma?” Jessie breathed.

“Jessie!” the old lady said. “Oh, Jessie!”

There was no hesitation as Beth Conyers opened her arms and Jessie went into them. They kissed each other on the cheeks and wept.

Chapter Twenty-four

Jessie sat next to Beth Conyers on one of the long white leather couches in the living room of the bungalow. They couldn’t stop clutching each other’s hands and looking at each other. Sam sat on the side of Jessie, holding her other hand.

“How long have you looked for me, dear heart?”

Jessie smiled at her endearment. “All my life, I have wanted to know my real family. But until today, I never even knew my real name, and truthfully, until I get the results of a DNA test, I can’t prove I am your granddaughter.”

“You look like us, like all of the Conyers women: red hair, turquoise eyes, milkmaid complexion, and thin as a rail.”

“No matter how much we eat!” Jessie said and Beth laughed with her.

“Absolutely,” Beth concurred. “Who’s your gentleman friend, Jessie?”

“Sam Gold is my boyfriend. He’s a bookseller and—”

“—and I am very glad to meet you, Mrs. Conyers,” Sam interrupted, which was something he never did. Jessie realized that he didn’t want Beth Conyers to know he was also a lawyer.

“You look just like the baby I held in my arms.”

“You were there when I was born?”

“No, a few days later. I had the flu and I couldn’t come until I was over it.”

“Do you know who my dad is and when my birthday is and everything?”

“Of course I do, my dear!”

“You do? Oh my gosh!” And Jessie erupted into more tears.

“You don’t know your own birthday, Jessie?”

“I’ve never known it. I’ve never celebrated one birthday.”

“I don’t understand. Were your adoptive parents of a religion that didn’t celebrate birthdays?”

Jessie sighed. “It’s much more complicated than that. Would you please tell me my birthday?”

“Stay right here. I need to get something.”

Beth Conyers walked across the Persian rug to a desk in a little alcove of the living room. She slid open a bottom drawer and rummaged through a file cabinet. She pulled out a big brown envelope and then out of the envelope, she pulled a plastic bag with a document in it.

She walked toward them slowly. “I’ve done a bad thing, something that I hope you can forgive.”

“Grandma, I don’t understand.”

“You will.” She put the plastic bag in Jessie’s hands.

“It looks like a birth certificate.”

“Yes. Actually, it is a standard certificate of live birth which was filled out by the nurse-midwife.”

Jessie didn’t take it out of the plastic bag. It looked fragile. “My birthday is February 14
^th
, 1973.” She looked up with tears shimmering in her eyes. “I was born on Valentine’s Day.”

“You sure were, sweetie.”

“Oh, my gosh. What a great birthday! Hey, I’m nearly forty years old!” She smiled at Sam. “We just closed a little gap there. Sam worries about being too old for me, but he’s perfect.”

“You didn’t know how old you were?”

“No. I didn’t! How could I?”

She and Sam exchanged glances.

“There’s no state seal on this, Grandma. Where did you get my application for a birth certificate or whatever this is?”

“I stole it.”

“You
stole
it?”

“Yes.”

Their eyes met. “But why, Grandma? Why would you do that?”

“When my teenage daughter had you at that unwed mother’s home, I didn’t want her to marry the man who took advantage of her. He was not a nice man.”

 “Wait a minute,” Jessie said. “Are you saying that my mother was raped? And that I am the product of that rape?”

Her grandmother’s voice was gentle. “I’ve had forty years to think about what to tell you in this moment of truth. Jessie, here’s the truth: Please understand that you are a blessing to me. Your life is precious and you are one of God’s children. I am so happy to meet you and I want you in my life very much. Cross my heart. For years, I have wondered about you, if you were happy, if you were healthy. And here you are, an answer to my nightly prayer for four decades. Praise God.”

“You’re very, very kind,” Jessie choked out. “I don’t know what to say.”

Sam reached over and squeezed her hand. “Jessie, you are in a room with two people who care about you and accept you unconditionally. It’s a gift, honey.”

She swallowed her tears and hugged her grandmother, and then hugged Sam.

“Okay, I’m going to try to process some of these emotions later. Otherwise, if I don’t get ahold of myself, I will be overwhelmed. So, what happened? How did you get the document?”