“Just one more to go,” I chuckle, and all their eyes snap back at me. Oh god. “Oh, don’t count on me. Gay and dying, remember?”
Prue throws a napkin at my face. “No dying talk,” she scolds.
I roll my eyes. “Yeah, yeah. You might appreciate a change of subject before they decide you’ll be the one to pop that last child.”
She rears back, a horrified look on her face, and I’m sure I see Nate stifle a laugh.
“Let’s just skip the kids talk altogether,” she says, gritting her teeth. “Every kid okay? Good. Let’s move on.”
Naveen and Tham smile, while Amy just holds her arms tighter against her, the frown not leaving her face.
“I’ve been meaning to tell you guys something,” Naveen says, leaning forward over the table. “I—”
“You’re sure it’s an appropriate time for this conversation?”
“Yes Tham. I’m sure. As far as I know, they might never come back here again, and weagreedthat we should tell them face to face.”
Prue and I exchange a look as Ikram and Nate look more and more confused.
“You might want your… friends to leave.”
“We don’t,” I answer instantly. “Anything you have to say can be said in front of them. Also, Ikram is not myfriend.”
I grab his hand and hold it over the table to make my point. He turns his face to smile at me, his eyes crinkling at the corners. He leans forward to kiss my cheek, right on the corner of my lips.
“Alright then,” Naveen says, not at all affected while Amy does her best to look somewhere else. “As we all know, we’ve been adopted through the Church’s Orphanage. All of us. And as we all realized, our parents were clearly not fit to be parents…
“You two might not know it, but I’m a P.I now. About two years ago, I was hired by two siblings who wanted to find their biological families. They’ve been adopted from the same church as us. And, likeallof us, they came fromdifferent countries.”
I see Prue frown. Her birth certificate says she was born here, in Aspen.
“I looked into the Church first, so I could have something to go from. I hope you’re ready, because the story is… It’s really dark.”
He waits but we both nod, our faces tense. Ikram’s hand squeezes mine.
“That church was kind of a front… It was a real church, but the Orphanage was run by a group of people who already ran other religious places in other parts of the world. The babies they got? They weren’t all abandoned. Most of them were stolen or bought, then sold back to people like our parents, who made the adoption process faster by… Giving generous donations.
“I’ve followed every lead for all five of us, and I can tell you what led you to be adopted here, if you want to know.”
DoIwant to know? I always thought I’d been given away because of my disease. Since it’s genetic, one of my parents must have had it, and was too sick to take care of me. But what if it’s not? What if I’ve beensoldfor some reason and my parents are still alive somewhere?
“Do you mind sharing yours before telling us ours?” Prue asks, barely over a whisper, but Naveen nods, followed by Tham and Amy.
“I’m a child born from an… unconsented relationship,” Tham says, his voice raw. “My mother escaped her abuser through the church. They offered to send her somewhere else and give her paper, but she didn’t have that kind of money. So they asked for her unborn baby. She stayed in the Christian Church in Bangkok until she gave birth to me. Then, we both took the boat until we reached the US. She got her paper the second we reached the port and she left me in the care of the people who brought me to Aspen. She died seven years ago, and she was working as a nurse in Ohio.”
They… Oh my god. Theyboughthim in exchange for his mother’s freedom and safety?
“My mother was a teen when she got pregnant with me,” Amy starts. “She wanted to keep me, and she managed to hide her pregnancy until she was 6 months along. Her parents found out and since it was too late to get an abortion, they made her give me up to the church, back in Canada. I was sent here to Aspen because they were afraid my mother would try to get me back.”
I see her struggle to swallow, her eyes lost in front of her. She waswantedby her parents—her mother, at least. She could have had a differentlife. Maybe she would have received the love we all craved but never really got.
“I’ve found her, not too long ago,” she croaks. “She and my dad are still together. Both ginger,” she forces a smile. “They live near Toronto. They had two sons, and they have a lot of grandchildren. She doesn’t talk to her parents anymore. They’re supposed to visit in a couple of months to meet my children and see me.”
I nod, my throat tight, while Prue just stares ahead, looking at nothing.
“I was abandoned at birth because of poverty in a catholic church back in Sri Lanka,” Naveen says, his voice even. “Their orphanage was full, so they shipped a lot of us to other countries, hoping we would get adopted quicker because we were ‘exotic’.”
“How do you know all those details?” Prue asks.
