But why would she come here? And why would she claim to be my daughter? And how does our DNA match?
“It’s obvious.” Gabby said. “My twin sister must have been switched at birth.”
“I have heard of that happening, actually.” Cherry said, “Or maybe another mother in the same hospital the day you were born lost her baby so the nurse replaced hers with your moms surprise baby.”
“Uh, yeah I’ve never heard of that happening.” Jewel said.
“Honestly, I’d believe that more than her being Gabby’s daughter.” Edith defended her roommate.
“Why don’t we all do a little research?” Clair suggested. “What’s your sister’s name?”
Gabby was going home for the first part of summer to do her own research, but she welcomed the help. By the end of the day there were three leads worth looking into.
Annabella/Perdita Montgomerie who lives in Denver.
A woman who shares her same birthday, and lives in Omaha, but she's moved around a lot and looks like she was born in Pennsylvania. Her name is Danika Delmar.
And the most promising one is a woman living in upstate New York. Not only do they share the same birthday, but they were born in the same place, ACMH Hospital. Her name is Collette Poughet.
“If you’re really not my mother, and you’re going to find my real mom, I’m coming with you.” Marie emerged from the hall where she had been listening.
"A cross country road trip is exhausting enough without having to entertain a nine year old." Gabby said.
"You won't have to entertain me. I've done it before, remember?"
"That's true." Clair agreed, "it might be good to take her with you. She doesn't belong here with us."
Gabby rolled her eyes, "So if I take her I can leave her with her real mother. I guess that makes sense."
They packed up her small commuter car and left the following morning. The first couple hours were quiet. Neither of them said anything. Gabby finally remembered that she had brought some cds to keep her alert. She popped one in and started singing along to her favorite Disney songs. Marie stayed silent, though she did smile at Gabby's enthusiasm.
"Don't you know these songs?"
"No. I've never heard them before."
"These are from Disney movies."
Marie looked confused.
"Haven't you ever seen a Disney movie?"
"Movie. I've seen Casablanca."
"Casa, no, I mean. What's your favorite movie?"
"I haven't really seen many movies. We never heard of them growing up, and Madam Gabriella only liked proper movies. She said frivolous things were a waste of time."
"Disney movies are not a waste of time. I'll show you my favorite ones when we get home. I mean to my moms house."
They continued to listen to various soundtracks and songs until they arrived at Annabella/Perdita Montgomerie's house. It was around 4pm. They didn't have a plan when they nervously knocked on her door.
A woman who looked to be about the right age came to the door. She had long blonde hair with darker roots and tan skin. "Can I help you?"
Gabby smiled. "Hi, we're conducting a research study collecting data about people who live in our neighborhood. We want to find the percentage of people who have grown up here or have relocated from somewhere else. It's for her third grade class." She lied on the spot.
Marie gaped and then forced a smile. "So... did you grow up here or move here? "
"I moved here."
"Really? From where?"
"Wyoming. I grew up on a ranch. I competed in rodeos. That's where I met my husband. Ricky Montgomerie. He was born and raised here."
"Oh." Marie hung her head. "Thank you." And then she returned to the car.
Both women watched her for a moment, "uh, thank you. Have a nice day." Gabby said and rushed to the car to drive away.
"Montgomerie is her married name. That makes it easy to cross her off our list." They pulled into a parking lot to find the route to Marie's next potential mother. Once they figured out their next route they realized they were in a movie theater parking lot.
"Marie, it's time you experience something magical."
"What? "
"Your first movie in a theater. "
They bought two tickets for the only Disney movie showing. Then Gabby really splurged and bought them each drinks and candy and popcorn to share.
They both enjoyed the movie, but Gabby really enjoyed watching Marie watch the movie. It was the first movie she had seen that was actually age appropriate. Her eyes were wide while she gazed at the massive screen. She jumped at the startling part, sending popcorn up into the air which made Gabby laugh. She pulled her knees up and hid her face - mostly - at the scary part. All in all it was a fantastic time.
The drive through Nebraska was long. They only made it four hours before they had to stop at a motel to rest for the night. But it was fun. They spent the whole time talking. About the movie. About food they liked. About animals. Gabby began to really enjoy spending time with her, even though there was a 14 year age gap.
The next four hours in the car were filled with singing together, laughing, and actually planning what to say when they met Danika.
"The study idea worked well enough. Except that we didn't have any paperwork or anything. "
"Yeah, but why can't we just tell her why we're there?"
"Because that's weird and creepy. "
"That's what I did when I found you. "
"Yes. And it was weird and creepy. "
"Well it worked. "
"How about we buy a notebook and clipboard so we look a little more official. Then we can ask the questions we have. And maybe you can stay in the car."
"No, I can be useful. "
"Fine. "
"And we should take her cookies."
They came up with specific questions that would answer the main question at hand. If she was her biological mother.
This time they knocked but no one answered. They rang the doorbell. Nothing.
"Oh man, she's not home! " Marie shouted.
Then the door opened slowly.
A hesitant woman peaked out.
"Hi, are you Danika Delmar? "
"Yes." She squeezed through the narrow opening into the porch.
"Hi, we are with an adoption agency. And we're collecting data from our community. Will you participate in our two minute survey? You get free cookies at the end."
"Okay, sure." Danika said.
"Great!" Gabby said and continued to take off her questions:
Where were you born? Washington DC.
Were you adopted? No.
Have you ever given a child up for adoption? No.
Would you ever consider adopting a child? Maybe.
What is your heritage? Filipino.
Are your parents alive? Yes.
Do you have any pets? Yes.
"Okay that's all we have for you. Thanks for your time. "
Marie handed Danika a box of cookies and she and Gabby headed back to the car.
"Why didn't you ask her all the questions? " Marie asked.
"At first I thought she looked enough like me to be Annabella/Perdita, but there was something off. She looked less Italian and more Asian. It's not her."
They had another 19 hours to drive before they would get to Gabby's moms house in Philly. Luckily they had plenty of car snacks to eat and music to listen to.
When they got too the motel that night they didn't just fall asleep when their heads got the pillows, even though they were exhausted. Instead they talked for a while.
"Gabby?"
"Yeah? "
"I wish you were my mom. I really like you. "
"I like you too Marie. "
"I neve knew mothers were real. Growing up there was only one woman I ever saw. She was neve happy. She always had a frown on her face. And she hated all of us. "
"There weren't any other girls where you grew up?"
"No, there were other girls. Just not women. We were told that our mothers died and she was our mother now. But she hated us. The only person she liked was Apophis, but everyone had to like him. He was our god."
"Your god?"
"Yeah we always had to kiss his cheek and let him examine our growth. He didn't want us to be too fat so if he couldn't feel our ribs through our smock we weren't allowed to eat that day."
Gabby was speechless.
"That's no God. He sounds more like a demon if you ask me. " She put her arm around her and pulled her close. "You don't ever have to go back there. You're safe from them now."
Marie snuggled her head into Gabby and fell asleep. Gabby didn't fall asleep so easily.
I can't believe she went through such awful abuse! It doesn't seem like she ran away from home, she seems eager to find her real family. But how could her story be true? Then again, how could Marie make all of this up? It's insane to think that she could imagine all of this. But could this be real? Is there really a cult out there starving children and killing their mothers? What a horrible thought!
What if they took my sister when she was born and froze her and Marie isn't my daughter but my sister? How does DNA work anyway? Gosh I need to sleep. I have a long drive tomorrow!
There's still a possibility of the woman in upstate New York being her mother. And my sister. I hope it's her. I hope it's not her. That would royally upturn my whole life not to mention my moms life. She's been through enough! She doesn't need this, too. But maybe it would be good for her. Maybe she would be happy about it. Or maybe she would feel guilty all over again. Ugh, turn off, Brain. Sleep. Just sleep!
Her demands weren't met for another couple hours. She spent the time worrying about what may or may not come while holding the little girl who seemed so innocent.
"I promise you," she whispered to Marie, "we will find your mother or someone safe who can be your mother. You will never be mistreated again." And with that she fell asleep.
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