Our Lives Entwined

by Lilliana Anderson

  He still wanted to help Natalie find her birth mother, and he felt bad that they were coming up empty handed. So when he wasn’t working, he was spending time with Natalie, he was searching for creative ways to find out who the young woman in the Polaroid was.

  “It’s so strange,” Natalie had said when she first saw it. “This girl is my mother, and I have never seen her before. To know that one of those babies she’s holding is me… well… it kind of blows my mind…you know?”

  “Yeah, I know,” Eric had replied, gently running his hand up and down her back as she studied the three images.

  For a long time, she just sat and stared at the one picture of the young woman who they only knew as ‘Belinda’, before finally letting out a deep sigh as she said, “I just wish there was someone who could look at this photo and tell us who she is now. I mean, Belinda might not even be her real name.”

  At the time Eric had just agreed and done his best to take her mind off her worries by suggesting a movie at the cinemas, and it wasn’t until he returned to his flat after dropping Natalie back to her house that he looked at the photos again and had an idea.

  Surely there were websites dedicated to people finding their missing relatives or friends, he’d thought. And perhaps, if he put the photo up on one of those then maybe, just maybe, they’d get lucky.

  That was a good month ago now, and Eric had all but forgotten about it until he’d woken up to an email from a woman claiming to know the girl in the photo.

  Not wanting to get Natalie’s hopes up unnecessarily, he’d spent the day messaging the woman back and forth with different questions about the girl who it turned out, really was named Belinda. By the end of the day he had a recent photo, and a basic location of Belinda, and he couldn’t wait to finish work so he could tell Natalie.

  “Get your purse and put your pretty little arse in the passenger seat of my ute because I’m about to blow your mind,” he told her with a grin and wide eyes as soon as she opened her front door to him.

  His excited mood was infectious and Natalie couldn’t help but smile and feel some sort of excitement too. “Why? What’s happened?” she asked, quickly grabbing her handbag and keys before locking the door and stepping outside with him.

  “Are your parents here?” he asked quietly, not wanting to say anything too loud so they didn’t overhear and become upset (he had noticed that they weren’t exactly keen to talk about Natalie’s birth mother hunt).

  “No. Dad’s at work and mum’s at some council meeting,” Natalie replied with a shake of her head. “Tell me, what’s going on?”

  “First, get in the truck. You’ll want to be sitting for this.”

  “Oh my god, Eric, you’re killing me here. Ok, I’m getting in,” she said as he opened the door from her and she climbed up into the ute’s cab. “I’m in the truck. Now tell me,” she urged.

  “One sec,” he said, with a single finger raised as he shut her door and rushed around to his, causing the ute to bounce slightly as he climbed into his seat and pulled out his iPhone. “Ok, so I didn’t tell you about this because I didn’t know if it would work. But remember that photo we had of your birth mother? Well, I posted it on a few sites that help people find their family and today, someone found her.”

  Natalie’s mouth dropped open as Eric swiped his thumb against his screen and brought up the image of an attractive blonde woman that was taken at some sort of formal event from the looks of her attire.

  “She’s supposedly some sort of socialite or something, and she gave up the babies at 16 because the pregnancy would have ruined her parents’ reputation. It was all kept very quiet, and they told everyone she’d gone away on a student exchange program for a while, when really, she was in one of those places girls can go to have their babies quietly and give them to adoptive parents instead,” he explained.

  “Oh my god. How did you find all of this out?” she asked, staring at the dark, chocolate coloured eyes of the smiling woman.

  “The woman who contacted me said she was at the same facility, and since she was looking for her child, she thought perhaps Belinda was looking for her children too. She didn’t have a phone number or an address, but she had her full name and knew where her parents used to live. So, I thought we could start there.”

  “Start there,” Natalie repeated. “Right now?”

  “If you’d like. Or it can be tomorrow, or next week, or even never if you don’t want to do it anymore. It’s up to you, babe.”

  Pulling at her lip with her teeth, Natalie took a deep breath, exhaling slowly before she said, “No. I want to do it now. I need to do it now.”

  As a grin spread over his face, Eric leaned across the seat and planted a kiss on the side of Natalie’s head playfully. “That’s my girl. We’ve got a name – now, let’s go and get some answers.”

  “Ok,” she smiled, loving that Eric seemed even more excited about finding her than she did. As he started the ute and pulled out into the street, Natalie continued to look at the picture. “Have you sent this through to Mia at all?” she asked.

  Distractedly, Eric answered as he turned out of Natalie’s street and onto a main road. “Nope. Not yet. Why?”

  Natalie’s thumbs danced over the keyboard on his screen as she composed a message containing the image and a few details to send to Mia. “Oh, no reason. I’ll just send it now. I told her I’d let her know if we found something so…” She shrugged then hit send, feeling that for once she was doing the right thing by her twin.

  ‘I’m so pleased that you’re happy now,’ Louise signed to Mia, as they sat together in a Melbourne coffee shop not far from Louise’s work. Mia had met her friend after work for one of their frequent coffee afternoons to catch up on each other’s lives. They didn’t see each other as much as they did when she was dating Eric, so they had to make extra effort to keep these visits regular and even though they could video call or text, it wasn’t the same as chatting in person.

  ‘I am. It’s ridiculous how much. I just keep smiling like an idiot all the time. And to think, when we got back from Sydney, I had the idea in my head that once I hit thirty he’d get rid of me for a younger model.’

  ‘That’s ridiculous. Cayd would never do that. He loves you too much. Why would you think that?’

  ‘Oh, just that bitch at the charity event who was getting in my ear obviously affected me more than I thought. Then I saw the young girls at the university flirting with him and…’

  ‘Wait, wait, wait – girls flirting with him? Was he flirting back?’

  ‘No. He wasn’t flirting at all. It was all them. But it just reminded me of the things that Belle woman said, and I guess my own paranoia took over from there.’

  Louise reached across the table and took Mia’s left hand and held it up so they could both see the ring. ‘Look at this thing, Mia. It’s huge. Did you know that when I looked it up online, it’s actually called the ‘You’re mine’ ring? That man is one hundred per cent yours and you are his. I don’t think you should ever doubt that.’

  ‘I don’t. Really I don’t. It was just my stupid insecurities, because I know he’s so much older and he’s much more worldly… you know what I mean?’

  ‘He’s played the circuit, so to speak – sown his wild oats, had more than a few turns on the merry go round,’ Louise added, showing she did indeed understand that Cayd was once a bit of a playboy.

  ‘Ok, ok. You get what I mean. I guess, I just worry that I’m not experienced enough for him.’

  ‘To be honest with you, Mia. I think that’s probably exactly what he does like about you. He loves you for you. That’s about as pure as love can get.’

  A grin crept across Mia’s mouth as she looked down at her ring and thought about its name. ‘You’re mine’ it’s what he’d said to her when they’d first made love…

  The beeping of her phone interrupted her thoughts and she reached over to her phone and frowned, signing to Louise that the text was from Eric.

&n
bsp; Louise nodded and waited to find out what it was about as they hadn’t heard a lot from Eric lately. They just knew that he still wasn’t sure when he was coming back, but things were going well with him and Natalie.

  “Mia. What is it?” Louise asked out loud, the moment she saw the shocked look on Mia’s face. “What’s happened?”

  Blinking rapidly, Mia shook her head in disbelief as her eyes burned. She couldn’t speak. She couldn’t think. Her hands shook and her mind screamed.

  Pushing away from the table, she stood and looked at Louise, trying to somehow breathe through the panic that was taking over her body.

  “Talk to me,” Louise said urgently.

  In response, Mia could do little more than continue to shake her head as her blood pumped loudly through her ears.

  This isn’t happening. This couldn’t possibly be happening, she thought, before she turned and ran out of the coffee shop, leaving a dumbfounded Louise behind.

  Only moments ago, Mia was feeling as though nothing could take her happiness away. She felt invincible in the love she shared with Cayd. But as she ran down the street and jumped on the first tram she came across, she felt as though her world had imploded, and all it took was a text message from an ex-boyfriend.

  “Is this it?” Natalie asked, as Eric pulled up in front of a beautiful heritage home in Darling Point. It’s dark wood and stark white façade jutted out of the lustre of its green surrounds as they looked over to it from the street.

  “Yeah, it looks like it. Jesus Christ, this is fucking massive. Her family must have had money since the dawn of time.”

  “Do you think she’ll be here?”

  “I don’t know. We can’t even be sure if her parents are still here. The women who knew her hadn’t been in contact since they left the home.” Eric looked over to Natalie and saw the disappointment flash across her pretty face. “Either way, there’s only one way we’re going to find out. You ready?”

  Glancing over at the grand home once more, she nodded. “Yeah. I’m ready.”

  Hand in hand, Eric and Natalie walked down the long winding driveway that led toward the large home. As it curved toward the entrance to complete a circuit, there was also an area where three luxury cars were parked, shining and declaring to the world that these people had a ton of money.

  As they approached the front entrance, the door opened and out stepped an extremely well dressed blonde woman with what looked like a Gucci Soft Stirrup Crocodile shoulder bag, swinging from her forearm. Natalie recognised it from an article she’d read about ridiculously expensive handbags in her counsellor’s office the last time she’d visited. Natalie also recognised the woman as the one from the photo.

  “That’s her,” she whispered to Eric, as she gripped his hand just that little bit tighter through her nerves.

  Stopping in her tracks, the woman looked over to them. “Can I help you?” she asked, an edge of aggravation in her voice as she watched them make their way toward her. Then suddenly, it was as if she recognised them and her demeanour altered once again, becoming more guarded or perhaps suspicious as she narrowed her eyes. “What are you even doing here? And who’s this? Were you dumped already?”

  Natalie shook her head. “I…” she started, but was unable to get the words out, because she was so taken aback by this woman’s reaction. “Never mind,” was all she ended up saying as she moved to turn away, unsure now that this was really what she wanted.

  Eric held fast to her hand and kept her from leaving. “Are you Belinda Fleming?” he asked.

  She looked from Natalie to Eric. “I don’t go by Belinda anymore. What is this about?”

  “Well, I’m Eric, and this is Natalie. We think you met her parents almost twenty-five years ago when you gave up your twins for adoption?” he said as more of a question than a statement.

  “Wha–“ she started then pressed her lips together and shook her head. “No. Just…no,” she said, reaching into her bag to pull out her car keys. “I don’t want any part of this.” She began to walk toward her car, holding her keys in front of her to unlock it with a high pitched beep.

  “But if you could just talk to us,” Eric called after her. “If you could just answer a few questions. She has a right to know…”

  Belinda stopped as she opened her car door and turned around to them, pointing her finger at them in anger as she spoke. “And I have the right to be left alone. Now, go away.” With that, she slammed the door of her car shut and promptly reversed out of the driveway.

  Both Eric and Natalie stood staring after at her, and the moment she was out of sight, Natalie put her face in her hands and burst into tears.

  Wrapping his arms around her small frame, Eric pulled her toward him and gently stroked her hair. “It’s ok, baby. It’s ok.”

  At the same time, Mia could be found pacing the length of the bedroom she shared with Cayd, wringing her hands together as she took her new engagement ring on and off her finger as she tried to decide what it was she was going to do.

  How was she supposed to react to this new information? How was she supposed to be ok with it? The moment she had made it home, she’d ran to her bathroom and emptied the contents of her stomach before crying hysterically in a heap on the bathroom floor.

  When she calmed down, she dragged herself out of the bathroom and pulled her phone out of her bag, and with a shaking hand, she reopened the message from Eric’s phone and held her breath. Part of her hoped that it wouldn’t be there anymore – that this was just some sort of sick joke that her mind was playing on her. But when the image came up, there was no denying it. Suddenly, she felt like throwing up all over again.

  Swallowing the thickness in her throat, she sent a message to Cayd, asking him to come home as soon as he could. Then she went to their room, took out a suitcase and started packing.

  Cayd still wasn’t home when she was ready to leave. If she could trust her voice to speak without sounding hysterical, she would have called him and demanded his return. Instead, she paced, contemplating whether she should just leave the ring on the bed and explain later. She didn’t know if she could do this right now.

  Finally, Cayd came through the door, calling out to her. “Mia, is everything ok? I just got your text.” He continued talking as he walked through their home looking for her. “I would have seen it earlier, but I was with a patient, and I only looked at my phone as I got out of the car just now…” The moment he reached the door to their room, he stopped dead in his tracks, his eyes moving from the packed suitcase on the bed to Mia where she stood, holding obviously to the ring on her finger with a pained expression on her face. “What is this?” he asked, his brow creasing as he heart felt like it just dropped out of his chest.

  “I need to leave,” Mia told him, her own heart aching as she saw his beautiful features take in the scene before him.

  “I don’t understand. What’s going on?”

  Taking a deep breath, Mia stepped toward Cayd and showed him her phone. As he took it, he caught her hand and searched her eyes, his touch still sending shockwaves of desire through her body. It didn’t matter that she was upset, her body still called to him. “Look at it,” she told him, her voice but a strangled whisper.

  Still holding her hand, he shifted his gaze from her to the phone as he lit up the screen and looked at the image. “Why do you have a photo of Belle on your phone?” he asked calmly, although his heart was thudding furiously as he felt as though everything that was important to him was about to come crashing down around him.

  “Read the message.”

  Tapping the photo, he returned to the message text and suddenly, his face drained of all its colour. He released her, wiping his hand over his shocked face as a numbness came over him. He struggled to speak, but forced his throat to clear.

  “She… Belle… She’s… she’s your mother?”

  Mia clapped her hand over her mouth as she let out a pained sob.

  “Are they absolutely sure?” he aske
d, backing up until he was sitting on the end of the bed, unable to hold himself upright any longer.

  “It looks that way,” she whispered, slowly sliding the ring from her finger and stepping toward him, holding it out to him.

  “No,” he forced out, a huge lump forming in his throat as his eyes burned with emotion. “I won’t take that. You’re not leaving over this.”

  “I have to, Cayd. Can’t you understand that?”

  “No, I can’t. We love each other, Mia. Past mistakes be damned, we love each other for who we are now. I want to spend my life with you. I want children with you. There is not a single woman in this world I want to be with besides you, and I’m not letting you ruin us over a mistake I made before I even knew you.”

  Tears streamed down her face as she continued to hold the ring in her hand. “Can’t you understand how I feel right now, Cayd? Over the last year, I’ve discovered I had a twin and that twin seduced and stole my boyfriend. Then I was lucky enough to find a man…” her breath caught as she tried to form her words. “A man who I fell desperately in love with and now it turns out that a woman, who I detest, is my mother and she was once my fiancé’s lover! I just… I can’t do this! I. Can’t. Do. This.”

  She reached out to grip the handle of the suitcase but was stopped in her tracks when Cayd wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her toward him, burying his face against her stomach as he clung to her and breathed her in.

  “Please,” he begged. “Don’t do this to us. Don’t let these people ruin what we have.”

  Closing her eyes, she let the tears fall from her eyes as she allowed her fingers to instinctively thread through his hair as she held onto him too.

  She loved him. She really did love him with all her heart. But how was she supposed to spend her life with him, knowing that he had been intimate with her own mother? It seemed like fate, for some reason, was out to get her. And she just didn’t know how to get past it. She needed time – time alone to think.