Chapter 15

JUNE

CHAPTER

FIFTEEN

Once again, here we are at a meeting with the President and his lady love, Hailie, but this time, we are meeting at Camp David. We all agreed we needed to meet somewhere a little more private, where the paparazzi won't follow, and people won't see us.

This meeting is meant to be more about him asking us questions about our lives. He is supremely concerned that we all had good lives and weren't resentful. That makes him sweet. I am not sure how it has affected him and Hailie. I can see shadows of sadness in her eyes, and something tells me it is not all from finding this out. I hope they talk.

"Wow. Every time I see you all, my breath is taken away. You're all so beautiful. Each of you shares a trait with my mother, the reason I wanted you all named for a month. Here, look." He slides over a photo of a woman who looks like a sophisticated actress. I slide the photo to March.

"Wow. I have her eyes," she says, looking at it a bit wearily.

"Indeed you do," he says, smiling. "January has her laugh, February the color of her hair, April, you have the shape of her face as does May, and June… well, June, you look more like me, but I can see her seriousness in you." Blushing, I put my head down, and then the conversation moves easily into his childhood and his mom. The stories of her are riveting and sad, but also exciting and admirable. Then he moves on to his father, also an actor, and his brother, my uncle, Luca. I have an uncle, too. My life has taken such a drastic turn in the last few days. The sheer thought of being around so many people has me panicking. "So what about you ladies? I want to know everything."

Time passes as each of them tells their stories from childhood and how they came to be looking for him. I have heard these stories endlessly, but they always command my attention. I don't realize they have come to me until I figure out there is silence. I look up, and everyone's eyes are on me.

"Oh, is it my turn?" I ask, covering my embarrassed face.

"Yes please." He touches my hand, and I nod.

"Well, my story is quite simple. I was born at Evangelical West Hospital in Buffalo, New York, and when my birth mother left me there, she left a letter that I still have to this day. My parents adopted me from the foster home when I was five months old, and the rest is history." He looks at me strangely for a moment.

"Your birth mother left you a letter?" His voice has changed, and my sisters all hear it. "She-she…" And then it hits me. In it, she tells me she and my birth father were in love.

"Oh my gosh," I whisper, putting my hand to my mouth. "You and my birth mother…" I hear another gasp, but it is drowned out by the knowledge that I was made by this man and his love and not in a vile or a tube.

"You wouldn't happen to have the letter with you?"

"I…I carry it with me." I pull it out of my purse and hand it to him. He opens it and looks at Hailie before reading it out loud. Hailie is paling with each word, and I am so sorry for her. Then, she begins reciting the letter verbatim, and the air in the room is stalled. My sisters and I turn to her, all shocked, and I feel like everyone knows something I am missing.

"Hailie, this is…she's…" Hailie hiccups and nods her head.

"She's our baby!" Hailie cries, and the entire room erupts in shock and awe. I am still unaware of what is happening, but I know it is huge. I feel like I am in a daze—like I know something, but my mind is intentionally ignoring it. Then January touches my shoulder.

"June, they are your parents. Oh my gosh." I look at her, confused.

"What?" She looks at me with understanding and compassion.

"Honey, they are your birth parents." Surely she is not saying... I look over at Armstrong and Hailie, and they both smile at me with tears in their eyes. I know I should ask questions or have some sort of reaction, but right now, I don't know what I am feeling all of this is overwhelming.

Like a coward, I get up, feigning apologies, and run from the room. I feel like I am suffocating. I run and run until I am out in the warm sun and gasp like I have been deprived of oxygen for weeks. I don't know how to get home from here. We all drove together, but I know I can't wait for them, and I can't go back in there. Not now. Not when I feel like this.

On autopilot, I call the one person I know will always be there for me, the person I love more than anything, and the one person I don't want to lose… Owen. He will be my shelter, my solitude, and the one thing that makes sense in a life of chaos. Yeah, I need normal. I need consistency because right now, I don't know anything.