“Do you want to hold the baby now?” she asked.

“You gonna let me back in my own house?”

“I never did see any lawyer,” she confessed, passing him the baby.

“’Course you didn’t. We been through too much to get divorced over a bunch of flirty widows. There wasn’t a one of ’em I’d have, anyhow. Yap, yap, yap. Pack of yippy poodles woulda been easier on my nerves.”

“Norm,” she laughed. She leaned toward him and he gave her a little peck on the lips.

“There. That’s better,” he said.

Gwen glanced at Iris. Her eyes were closed. But she smiled.

* * *

Thanksgiving at Winnie’s house had been a happy day. Lin Su took care of Winnie and helped Grace prepare the feast. The day was sunny, so a little time throwing the Frisbee on the beach occupied Charlie and Troy. Mikhail enjoyed one of his extra-long walks and had finally traded his board shorts for pants.

After a robust meal, when everyone in the household felt sluggish and lazy, Blake helped Lin Su clean the kitchen. Winnie was napping, Grace and Troy went down to their quarters to rest, Mikhail was on the sunny deck, Charlie was on the couch with his computer on his lap and, feeling almost alone, Blake stole a couple of kisses in the kitchen.

Charlie caught them and smiled with satisfaction. Blake knew it was not because he was thrilled that his mother was having a nice romance. It was because he was counting on his mother being in love with Blake and therefore would go easy on Charlie when she found out about his family research. Blake had invited Charlie and Lin Su to come next door for lunch the next day, the Friday after Thanksgiving. That’s when Charlie was going to tell her.

* * *

Blake made a green salad, a bowl of fruit and a bunch of sandwiches, cut in small triangles.

They ate and talked; Blake asked Charlie about what was coming up at school and had he made any plans for his Christmas break. Lin Su had heard that Iris had gone into labor a little early and delivered a baby girl just that morning. And Charlie was clearly nervous, so Blake thought he’d do him a favor and just rip that Band-Aid off.

“Charlie has something he wants to tell you, Lin Su.”

“Oh?”

Charlie glared at Blake. Then he took a deep breath and said, “Mom, try to stay calm.”

She folded her hands in her lap. “This isn’t starting out well,” she said.

“Mom, I wanted to know more about where we came from. I started looking up some of the people you talked about, the family that adopted you. I found your sister and we’ve been in touch with each other. She looked for you but she didn’t have the right facts and couldn’t find you.”

Lin Su froze. Her face had gone pale. “Why would you do that?” she asked.

“I wanted to know things and you wouldn’t tell me,” he said with a shrug. But he seemed to get smaller in his chair.

There were a few guttural sounds that Blake realized was Vietnamese spoken softly, lowly, rapidly. He had never witnessed this before but he could see that what Charlie said was true—anger came out in her native language.

“I told you everything I wanted you to know!” she snapped. “There is nothing else!”

“There is,” Charlie said bravely. “There’s a lot more. For one thing, when you left your adoptive family, they told a story about it. A lie. They said you went back to your people, like to your biological family. They said you’d taken back your original name and disappeared. But that wasn’t true. You worked with some Vietnamese—I even sort of remember. It was like a whole village in a small house or something, but you were always Lin Su Simmons and we moved away from Boston because of me, because I was sick all the time. And my father isn’t dead.”

“Aeiii,” she squeaked. “And tell me, Charlie, what good does knowing that do us now? Does he come and rescue you? Pay for private schools? Send money? Does it fill you with pride to know your mother was abandoned?”

“Lin Su, easy does it,” Blake said. “Charlie didn’t do this to you. He did it for himself. And I don’t think he regrets knowing the truth.”

“I don’t,” Charlie said. “Your mother died,” he added.

“I know my mother died!” she snapped. “Why do you think I was adopted?”

“Not that mother. That mother, your Amerasian mother, she might even be alive. Your adoptive parents had no evidence of her death. Don’t you want to know that if she is? Your adoptive mother died. A couple years after you left. Of cancer, I think Aunt Leigh said.”

“You knew this?” she asked Blake, her eyes flashing.

“Charlie told me he wanted to learn some things about your family if he could. I knew he wanted that.”

“And you didn’t tell me?”

“I asked him not to, Mom. I didn’t know if I’d ever find out anything so why get you all whacked out of shape? But I found your sister Leigh, and she was so happy to hear from me. She wants to see us. She’s been trying to figure out some things about your original family. To help. So there don’t have to be questions.”

“I have no questions,” she said with an angry and dismissive wave of her hand.

“Well, you should, because Aunt Leigh thinks your mother might be alive. She’s been pressuring her father for more details for you. In case, you know...”

“She’s not your aunt!” Lin Su said. “She’s just some woman I lived with as a girl. We were never close, we were never family!”

“Yeah, she hates that, but she said when you came to them she was already away at a boarding school and her older sister was in college. It was later, when you were older, that she really took an interest, but she was in her twenties and after college she went to the Peace Corps. She said she saw you about once a year but she loved you.”

Lin Su laughed. She blinked a few times. “It was very devoted love, wasn’t it? Once a year?”

“She said you’d been gone quite a while before she even knew you’d left. She didn’t know you were pregnant until her mother was dying!”

“Very devoted!” Lin Su mocked.

“They lied to you, Mom. You weren’t three when you were adopted, you were four—they changed your birthday! Aunt Leigh thinks your mother might be alive, might’ve given you up for adoption because she couldn’t raise you alone. Those people who adopted you—they lied to Aunt Leigh, too. Pretending you were a mystery and that you just left because you didn’t want them anymore. It was years before Aunt Leigh knew you were pregnant and your parents wouldn’t help you.”

“Not. Your. Aunt!”

“I’m sorry, Mom. I wanted to know where we came from.”

“You came from me!”

“Yeah, but not just you,” he said meekly.

Lin Su looked into her lap and took a lot of deep calming breaths. Blake watched her carefully. She was so angry. So hurt.

“Are you finished eating?” she asked Charlie.

“Yeah. I guess so.”

“I’d like you to excuse yourself. Go home. I’ll be there when I’m finished working today. I won’t be late. Grace and Troy will be helping.”

“Mom, we should talk about this.”