Page 48 of So Much More
Again, I’m sorry I left you waiting this morning.
Sincerely,
Randall Hamilton
I stick the letter in an envelope and then head back to the hotel and drop it off at the front desk, extracting a promise from the clerk that she’ll hand deliver it to Andrea’s room. Then I go straight home so I’ll be there if she calls.
The only problem with this plan is I’m home alone again, but now I have a glimmer of hope that I can make at least one thing right with Wendy.
* * *
“Are you Wendy’s boyfriend?” is the first thing Andrea asks me as we sit in the hotel lobby very early the next morning.
“I was. I’m not sure now.” Apparently I have no problem being honest with strangers before the crack of dawn.
She gives me an assessing look. “Because you missed breakfast with me yesterday?”
“That and something else I did Friday night.” There I go with the honesty again.
Andrea laughs. “You don’t hold back, do you?”
“I kind of feel like I’m talking to Wendy. It’s wild how much you two look and sound alike.”
“So it’s true, then? I thought Jack was exaggerating when he told me that.”
“Not at all. Since we don’t have much time before you need to leave for the airport, let’s get down to business. Can you tell me how you found out about Wendy?”
“It’s a long story, and if Wendy wants to hear the entire thing, I’ll tell her. But for now I’ll tell you that for my whole life, my mom told me my father died before I was born, and I had no reason not to believe her. So imagine my surprise when my mom sat me down a few months ago and told me the truth. She had an affair with a married man and thought it would be easier to tell everyone—not only me—that the man who got her pregnant was dead. But in reality, he was alive, and Mom knew he had at least one other child: Wendy. I’m an only child, so it was shocking to find out I’m actually not. Then I tracked Jack down, talked to him, and here I am.
“I understand Wendy being leery of meeting me. This is all so new and strange, and I wasn’t sure about meeting her, either. But when Jack told me she lives in Chicago, and I was headed here for a wedding, I figured I should take a chance and see if she’d meet me.”
“I’m glad you did,” I say.
“There’s something else I told Jack not to tell Wendy yet, because I wanted to tell her myself, but I feel okay telling it to you.” She presses her lips together before saying, “I have a daughter.”
My eyebrows shoot up. “Wendy has a niece?”
Andrea nods. “She’s six. Her dad and I were never married, and he’s not in the picture anymore, so Mom helps me out with Emily. That’s where she is this weekend—with my mom.”
A smile spreads across my face. “I think Wendy will be very excited to learn about Emily.”
“Really?” Andrea seems relieved by this news.
“Yes. She loves kids.”
“I haven’t told Emily yet that she has an aunt. I don’t want to get her hopes up in case things don’t work out with Wendy.”
“I understand that.” I look at my watch. “We only have a few minutes left, and I have a lot of questions, but the most important one is this. Forgive me for my bluntness, but what do you want from Wendy?”
“I do forgive the bluntness,” Andrea says. “You’re trying to protect her, like I’m protecting my daughter. And the answer is I want a sister—someone I can count on and who can count on me, someone I know I can always call when I need a friend, someone I can be myself with, and vice versa. I know it would take a while for Wendy and me to get to that point, but ultimately that’s what I want. I don’t have any family other than Emily and Mom, and I want more of a family for my daughter. I want her to have aunts and uncles and cousins she can love and who will love her.”
Andrea is so earnest, I know she’s telling the truth.
“You couldn’t have given a better answer,” I say.
“It might sound contrived, but it’s true.”
“I believe you. And now I’m even angrier at myself for missing breakfast yesterday, because if I hadn’t, maybe you’d be sitting here talking to Wendy now instead of me. I’m sorry I screwed that up for both of you.”
