Olivia dropped onto the couch in her parent’s living room. She turned the TV on, found a movie marathon and then muted the TV.
“How did it go?” Sallie Gilmore-Martin asked. She sat down beside her daughter on the couch.
Olivia sighed. “It didn’t. I was right there. Right there in front of him and I couldn’t even speak.” She leaned her head back on the couch and pinched the bridge of her nose. “When have you EVER known me NOT to be able to talk?”
Sally smiled and nodded. Her daughter was most definitely a talker. She had talked her way out of a lot of things over the years, punishments, parking tickets, speeding tickets, etc.
Olivia noticed her mother smiling at her. “What?”
“Another of your inherited talents.” Sally explained.
“He…He just…he looks so much like me. I…I mean. I look….” Olivia shook her head. “I don’t know. I was just so close to him. Right there,” She put out her hands in front of her. “Right there in front of me and I…I couldn’t talk to him.
“Liv, I’m….” Sallie started.
Just then Olivia remembered. “He gave me his card. I think he…he thought I was in some sort of ‘trouble.’ Afraid of what my boyfriend might do to me, a domestic violence type thing.” She took the card out of her pocket and handed it to her mother. “He gave me that and told me I could call him, anytime, day or night.”
Sallie studied the card. She had kept up with Tony for Olivia’s sake. She hadn’t hired a Private Eye or anything like that. But she had checked him out on the internet every year or two. She hadn’t realized that there had been a Senior and for the first few years, she had followed him. She had only realized that when she happened to see a birth date and then did the math. She luckily picked up Tony’s trail easily enough and had followed him ever since. She had seen him on his face book page. She had followed his career. She had found out a lot about him through the Ohio State Alumni Association.
Sallie and Tony had met at Ohio State. She was a graduate student, a married, graduate student. A fact Tony had not known. Tony was just beginning his junior year. They had met at a bar on campus. They had sat and talked at times in the quad. She had helped Tony with a class, during his sophomore year. Her tutoring had gotten him a B in the class. She had had a weak moment and then 9 months later, she had a baby, Olivia Marie DiNozzo-Martin. DiNozzo had been added after Olivia had found out, officially, that she was adopted.
Sallie had never hid the fact that Olivia was adopted from her. But, up until the baby was born, Sallie thought she would be able to pass Olivia off to her father, Jacob Ryan Martin, as his. It is not often, however, that two blond-headed, blue-eyed people have a green-eyed brunette. Sallie told Jacob about Tony. She told him everything about that night. And much to her surprise, Jacob forgave her. He forgave Sallie and treated Olivia like the two other kids they had after Olivia had been born. Olivia had a 15-year-old half brother named Jeremy Carter Martin and a 13-year-old half sister named Crystal Jean Martin.
Sallie handed the card back to her daughter. “Call him.”
Olivia looked her mother. “That is a lot easier said than done.”
“If you’re not ready….” Sallie offered. She hoped she had not pushed her daughter, not realizing it.
Olivia shook her head. “No, I ‘m ready. I’m just…scared. He…he doesn’t know he has a child, Mom. He doesn’t know I’m his. What if…? Anything could happen. What if…What if he laughs in my face? What if he just walks away?”
Olivia curled up on the couch and put her head on Sallie’s shoulder. “I don’t think I could handle that.”
“I got to know Tony for a few months before that night in his junior year. He’s a good guy.” Sallie said.
Olivia sighed. “…twenty years ago, Mom.”
“Eighteen and he hasn’t changed. Just look at the job he has. He’s a public servant, a cop.” Sallie explained.
“It’s different when you are cleaning up stranger’s crap. When the crap hits the fan….” Olivia started.
Sallie laughed; her daughter always did have a way with words. “Oh Baby, he is going to love you. It’ll be just like looking in a mirror.”
TBC
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