“Are you still going to speak at the funeral?” Marly sniffed. “Because I don’t think you should.”
“I don’t even see why she should be at the funeral.” Sharon bore her voo-doo eyes into Drew’s forehead. “It’s really for family, and friends of the family.”
“Will you two just calm down and let Claire talk?” Drew said. “She was about to say something very interesting to me when you walked in, and I want to hear it.”
“It was probably a proposition,” Sharon mumbled.
“Okay, knock it off, Mrs. Becker,” I said. “I’ve been through absolute hell these past few days, and I know the situation here doesn’t look great, but believe me, I am not trying to steal your daughter’s fiancé, because it so happens that I am very much in love with a man back in L.A., a very rich and handsome talent agent who proposed to me a few months ago, but I wasn’t ready to commit, and now that I’ve had time to think about it, I realize that I do love him very much and I want to be his wife. So I would appreciate the benefit of the doubt here.”
“Oh.” A relieved-looking mother patted my hand. “Then I apologize.”
“Thank you.” I took a deep breath. “Okay, I’ll skip the whole episode with my grandmother and the gun, because I know you are all expected for dinner in an hour, and I don’t want to keep you.”
“Well, wait. You’re invited, too,” Drew said. “Remember? Aunt Penny wants to meet you?”
“If she doesn’t want to go, why are you pushing her?” Marly folded her arms in such a way that I couldn’t miss her blinding engagement ring. Is that to wear or skate on?
“Hold on,” I said. “Please stop assuming the worst. I promise things will look a lot different after you hear my predicament. And frankly, I could use some advice.”
Silence. Who among them didn’t think that they were experts on a host of delicate issues?
“Okay. The first thing you need to understand is that I never heard the name Abe Fabrikant in my life. Then, after he died, and I called my grandmother to tell her why I would be late, she asked me his name. So I told her, and she could hardly talk. And the same with my parents.
“I kept saying, I’m sorry, did we know this man? But they wouldn’t answer me. They just kept insisting that I have nothing to do with the family, which I thought was strange, since all of you had been so wonderful to me.
“Finally, this morning, my grandmother sat me down, and out of the blue she tells me something about my past that at first I didn’t believe. I was sure she’d lost her mind. But then I started to put the pieces of the puzzle together and realized she was telling me the truth. And that’s when I passed out in the shower and had to be rushed to the hospital.”
“Today?” Marly raised a freshly waxed eyebrow. “You were rushed to a hospital today?”
“Yes. That’s right. I spent about three hours in the ER at Aventura Hospital, right by my grandmother’s apartment. They wanted to admit me for observation, but I felt fine, so I put up a fight, and they let me go. If you don’t believe me, I can show you my discharge papers.”
Marly and her mother exchanged glances. Should they call my bluff?
“Oh, come on, you two,” Drew shouted. “Give her a break. She’s got nothing up her sleeve.”
“I’d just like to see proof,” Marly whined. “She says she has it, so let’s see it.”
“Fine.” I got up to find my pocketbook. “I have all the paperwork. My prescriptions, the name of the specialist I have to call on Thursday…”
“Sit down, Claire.” Drew reached for my hand. “It’s okay. We believe you.”
Sharon and Marly exchanged glances.
I felt like crying. Not because they were acting like judge and jury, trying to convict me of having an agenda. What saddened me was that they were so obviously attached at the hip, unlike my mother and myself. Whereas Sharon viewed the intimate details of her daughter’s life as under her jurisdiction, my mother had never concerned herself with my love life, and now I finally knew why.
My gloomy expression caught Sharon’s attention.
“Are you feeling okay, dear?” Sharon tried to take the high road with her conciliatory tone.
“Not really. No.” I sighed. “I fell back on my head, and I’ve got this huge bump that’s really sore. My throat is killing me, I’ve got a headache that won’t go away, my butt is bruised, I’m really tired…but it doesn’t matter. I just need for all of you to believe me. I swear I’m telling the truth.”
“Nobody is saying you’re a liar,” Drew tried.
Fool!
“So what exactly did your grandmother tell you?” he asked. “I mean, why did you faint?”
Crap! Why had I opened my big mouth? It was nuts to expose this open wound to strangers, especially before I’d had time to let the facts sink in. For I knew that the instant the words were dumped like a bag of tarnished silver, they could never be thrown back in to the drawer.
In fact, the very idea that in the span of a few seconds I could utter some choice words and instantly turn lives upside down, but mostly my own, was more than I could handle.
“I can’t say it.” I cried into my hands as my body shook. “It’s so awful.”
“Claire, dear. Calm down.” Sharon ran to get tissues. “It can’t be that bad. Just get it out. It’ll make you feel better.”
I shook my head no.
“Is somebody sick? Is it cancer? Did your father lose his job?”
“Nothing like that.” I blew my nose. “It’s…much worse.”
“Claire, we can’t help you if we don’t know what the problem is,” Drew offered.
“You can’t help me even if you do,” I sobbed. “It’s so awful…. See, I just found out…I’m…my parents…I still can’t believe this is happening. I thought I was normal like everyone else, but I’m not…. I was adopted.”
“Are you serious?” Marly looked at her watch. “And you never knew that?”
No, dumb-ass. Would I be this upset if I found out when I was five? “I had no idea.” I wiped my eyes. “I mean, I always knew I didn’t look like my parents, but a lot of kids don’t.”
“That’s right.” Drew nodded. “Claire showed me a family picture. She looks nothing like them.”
“Truthfully, it’s not the worst thing that could happen,” Marly the psychiatrist said. “Look at Drew. He’s adopted, and he turned out fine.”
“Yes, because he knew all along!” I so wanted to bitch-slap her. “But I’m going to be thirty years old in a few days, and I had no idea, okay? It’s different when it comes from out of left field.”
“You poor thing.” Sharon shook her head. “Does your grandmother know who your real parents are? I mean, not that your parents aren’t your real parents, of course. Obviously they raised you.”
“This is the part that is so crazy.” I took a deep breath. “The reason my family is so flipped out is because…see, my grandmother had a son, Gary. My mother’s younger brother. And after he got back from Vietnam, he started dating this college girl, she got pregnant with me, he talked her out of having an abortion, but then he died in this awful car crash on the Long Island Expressway when I was only a few weeks old.”
“Are you serious?” Drew whistled. “That’s horrible.”
“I know, but you haven’t heard the rest of it,” I said. “The girl that Uncle Gary, or actually my biological father, was involved with was a girl from Florida who was going to school in New York. She was studying to be an actress.”
“Oh, that’s so funny,” Marly the brain surgeon said. “Drew mentioned that you’re an actress.”
Is that all he mentioned? “The girl was from a very wealthy family. She was afraid to tell her parents that she was pregnant. She said they’d never understand.”
“Did your grandmother happen to mention her name?” Drew leaned in. “If she was from Florida…I don’t know, maybe we could go on the Internet and try and help you find her.”
“Oh, believe me.
You won’t have to look far.”
“You mean you know who she is?” Sharon placed her hand on her chest.
I nodded. “And so do you.”
“Well, then tell us already.” Marly the lawyer threw up her hands. “We’re late.”
“Oh God. You’re never going to believe this, but her name was Penelope…Fabrikant.”
“What?” Drew shot up. “That’s impossible. That’s my Aunt Penny’s real name.”
“Oh my God,” Marly the genetics expert said. “Oh my God.”
“I can’t believe what I’m hearing,” Sharon said. “Are you saying they’re the same person?”
I nodded. “And when I realized it myself…put two and two together, I fainted in the shower.”
“So wait.” Marly the reporter was suddenly, miraculously interested in my story. “If it’s true what you’re saying, that means that the two of you would be related?” She pointed to Drew and me.
“Exactly.” I patted her arm. “If the story is true, my real father is dead, and my real mother is—I still can’t believe it—his Aunt Penny.”
“Isn’t that something?” Sharon clapped. “Not just related, but first cousins.”
Oh, stop gloating. I know what you’re thinking.
“You poor, sweet thing.” Marly my new best friend came over to hug me. “I feel so sorry for you. You must be in complete shock.”
“Well wait. Hold on.” Drew said. “Don’t you think if Aunt Penny had a baby thirty years ago, that by now she would have at least talked about her?”
I almost laughed. After the sneak preview in the bathroom, Drew was apparently still holding on to the hope that I was wrong about our being related. And Sharon the Mama Bear knew it, too.
“Not necessarily, dear,” she said firmly. “A lot of women Penny’s age had children out of wedlock and simply closed the door on that chapter in their life. It’s the children who go crazy looking for their birth parents. Not the other way around.”
“So as far as you know, she has no idea who or where you are,” Drew said.
“Exactly. See, when this whole thing happened, she was living with my grandparents. And I guess a few days after the funeral, she left a note in my stroller and took off in the middle of the night.”
“And that was it?” Sharon asked. “She never came back? Never contacted your family?”
“Yeah, then after it was obvious that she’d left for good, my Aunt Roberta and her new husband, Lenny, adopted me and changed my name.”
“Changed it from what?” Drew asked. “Did she tell you?”
“Yes…it’s just so hard for me to say.”
“Of course it is, dear,” Sharon practically purred. “The whole thing is such a terrible shock.”
“Are you a Fabrikant?” Drew pressed on.
Whoa. Had I misread him? Did his interest in this story have anything to do with the sudden possibility that he would have to split his rightful inheritance? “Yes, I’m a Fabrikant,” I answered. “She named me Hannah…Hannah Claire Fabrikant.”
“She named you Hannah? That’s bizarre.”
“Why?” I bit my lip. “Is there another one?”
“No. I mean yes. Well, there was. She’s been dead for many years. My dad and my Aunt Penny’s grandmother was Hannah. I grew up hearing the stories. It was Bubba Hannah this and Bubba Hannah that….”
“Isn’t that something?” Sharon smiled. “This story gets more interesting by the minute.”
Oh, stop. We all know where you’re coming from. Still, I gasped, too. The facts were unraveling at a rapid pace, fitting together like a giant jigsaw.
“Wait until my dad hears this.” Drew whistled. “I wonder if he even knew about you.”
“Oh, wait. This is so cute, Claire.” Marly the college professor clapped. “That would make Drew’s dad your Uncle Ben. Like the rice.”
Sharon delighted in her daughter’s witty repartee, and an obliged Drew chuckled.
“So what are you going to do now?” he probed. “Do your parents know you know?”
“That’s what started this whole commotion. When I called them this morning to tell them about Abe’s apartment, they realized that I’d connected with Penelope’s family and decided to grab the first flight out of New York. I guess they were afraid that someone from your side might tell me the truth, and if that happened, they wanted to be here to tell me their version of the story. They just never expected my grandmother would be the one to spill the beans, or that I’d end up in some emergency room. It was really awful when I got discharged.
“I couldn’t look them in the eye, couldn’t talk to them. I tried, but after a while I knew I had to get the hell away, so I called Viktor and asked if there was any place he could bring me to shower and change. Collect myself.”
“Oh.” Marly sighed.
“So you see? Nothing was going on here. I was just so desperate for someplace to hide. You can understand that, right?”
“Of course we can.” Sharon came over to hug me. “What a terrible ordeal for any child to have to go through, especially after the experience you already had on the flight. Who would ever believe such a thing? Your own grandfather, a stranger, seated next to you on a plane. I tell you, the older I get, the more I wonder about the world…what God has in store for us…. Oooh, darling. You feel warm to me.” She felt my forehead. “Claire, you’re burning up. Don’t you feel it?”
“I guess I felt a little hot before.” I shrugged. “But it always takes me time to adjust to the humidity down here.”
“No, dear. You’re definitely feverish. Let’s call the doctor. You could have an infection brewing.”
“I’ll be fine. Two Tylenol, and I’ll be good as new…. I am very tired, though. Do you think it would be okay if I laid down for a little while?”
Sharon and Drew looked at Marly. How would the judge rule?
“I guess it’s fine,” she sighed. But, of course, she knew if she dared object, she’d be overruled.
“The only thing that bothers me,” Drew said, “is I think Sharon is right, Claire. Maybe you should call the hospital first. Find out what they want you to do…. We really have to get over to my parents now. The Rabbi is waiting for us. But Viktor could run you over there.”
“You can’t be too careful, dear.” Sharon seconded her own motion. “Just go back over there, get checked out, and then have him bring you back here.”
“Or back to our house,” Marly offered. “Wherever you think you’d be more comfortable.”
“Would you stop already?” Drew finally lost his cool. “You heard her. We’re COUSINS, okay? Nothing is going to happen, and I don’t appreciate being second-guessed all the time. This is bullshit, Marly, and it’s really starting to grow old.”
“Drew, calm down, dear,” Sharon said. “You can understand her position. That was quite a scene we walked in on before—”
“Butt out, Sharon,” he said. “I know exactly how it looked, but it’s all been explained…. Shit. I can’t take this anymore. The two of you are driving me out of my mind.”
You go, girlfriend, I almost said. But I was too caught up in the mother/daughter huddle in the corner. Without so much as uttering a word, they had taken a page from a relationship playbook, circa 1955. Retreat. Back off. Too much was at stake to have it all blow up again.
“I really appreciate everyone’s concern,” I finally said. “I do. It means a lot to me. But if I could just rest for a little while, I really think I’ll be okay. And if I’m still not feeling right, you have my word I’ll call the doctor. Just point me in the direction of a couch.”
“No. That’s ridiculous,” Drew said. “Use my bed. You’re not feeling well. Why should you be uncomfortable? When I get back, if you’re out cold, I’ll sleep on the couch.”
We all expected Marly to object. But one look from Drew kept her mute. Good to see his balls weren’t totally in the vise yet.
“You girls go on,” he instructed. “I’ll change a
nd meet you over there. And don’t say a word to anyone, do you hear me? This is Claire’s decision how she wants to handle it.”
“Of course it is, dear. We understand,” the newly obedient Sharon said.
“We’ll wait for you downstairs,” Marly said. “You know I don’t like walking into your parents’ house alone.”
“You’re not alone,” he grumbled. “Your mother is with you.”
Funny how the pendulum can suddenly swing. One minute Drew was this gracious, I-aim-to-please kind of guy, and the next minute he was the drill Sergeant telling the Marly twins how high to jump. Kind of like pornography. Eventually everyone got their chance to be on top.
“So before when you were talking,” Drew said after I crawled into his bed, “about the man you’re in love with back in L.A. The very rich and handsome talent agent. Was that true? Are you going to marry him?”
“Nope.” I fluffed the down comforter. “There is no guy. I made the whole thing up. I hated to lie, but it seemed like the only way to get them off my back.”
“I thought so.” He chuckled. “Not that you weren’t totally convincing.”
“Really? You didn’t buy it?”
“Not one word.”
“And I call myself an actress…. How come?”
“Because when we had dinner last night, you never mentioned anything about being involved. And if I’ve learned anything, it’s when a woman is in love, she just goes on and on about the guy. You can’t shut her up.”
“Good point.”
“And your body language. Not exactly the look of love.”
“Why? What did I do?”
“It’s what you didn’t do after you brought him up. You didn’t smile, your eyes didn’t get all sparkly. You didn’t even look happy.”
“Do you think Marly and her mom caught on?”
“Doesn’t matter. It won’t change anything for them.”
“Does it change anything for you?”
“Not sure.”
“What about the fact that we’re kissing cousins?”
He hesitated. “I like the kissing part.”
“You do?”
“Yes.” He bent down and placed his soft lips on mine for a lot longer than a first cousin should. And being the slut that I was, I kissed him back. Hungrily, in fact. It was so nice to feel passion and heat, even if my skin was already burning with fever.
Claire Voyant Page 16
