Maybe this was something he was supposed to do on his own, but he needed Liam there. "Thanks for driving, and you know, being here."
Liam turned the steering wheel in a smooth move and then his gaze flicked to Slade. "Anytime. This is their street. Are you ready?"
"Yes and no."
They pulled into the driveway of a modest split-level brick home that had a rock garden and pink flowers in yellow window boxes.
Slade breathed in deep. Once. Twice. Then Liam's hand touched his shoulder. "Dude, they're going to be ecstatic. I’ll be right here if you need me."
Slade nodded and climbed out of the car. His heart thudded hard, like a fist punching into a baseball glove.
The front door opened before he reached it. Melanie beamed a smile. "You’re here. Come in. Mom and James are in the family room. They’re pretty nervous. I told them I’d let you in, in case you were nervous too." She led Slade into the foyer and toward a wide archway. "Here we are. I’ll give you privacy."
The couple sitting together, holding hands on the couch under a large bay window, rose to their feet. Slade shuffled into the room. He had his dad's tall build and blue eyes. "Hi."
"Slade." Tears in her eyes, Tiffany reached out her hands. "May we hug you?"
Choked up, all he could do was nod and spread his arms wide. She hugged him tight, and then James put his arms around them both. Tiffany's shoulders shook and the front of Slade's shirt grew damp. He returned the hug, unsure of what he should be feeling. They were strangers, and yet, they weren't.
Sniffling, she eased back and with a watery laugh, brushed at the evidence of her tears. "I'm so happy to meet you."
"Me too." James wiped at his eyes and stepped away. "Please, sit."
Slade chose the chair beside the couch. He couldn't stop looking at them, searching for more similarities, the shape of a chin, their hands, their mannerisms.
Tiffany grasped James' hand. "I thought about you every day. Every single day."
"Knowing that a part of me was out there somewhere in the world and I'd likely never see you again." James' voice cracked and he shook his head. "I made a decision at sixteen that I've regretted so much over the years. I've pictured you in every possible job, wondered about who you were, what you'd become."
Slade swallowed against a thickening throat. "I wondered about you guys too."
"We'll tell you anything you want to know."
He took a deep breath, and then asked the one question he had asked himself the most. "Why did you give me up?"
Face flushed, Tiffany glanced at James and swallowed hard. He nodded at his wife and let go of her hand. She scooted toward Slade, but stayed on the couch. Her foot tapped in a restless rhythm that matched his perfectly. Same foot and everything. "We were too young. You have to understand, I was raised in a chaotic home, not a loving one. They didn't support my decision to keep you. The fights were nothing less than traumatic. Dad said if I wanted to have the baby to go ahead, but not under his roof. I didn't have much choice. I had nowhere else to go. Honestly, I didn't want to raise my child in that environment anyway. I wanted better for you."
James cleared his throat. "I thought adoption would give you a chance at a good life. I was immature. I didn't know how to be a dad at that age and I was too scared to try."
Slade nodded. He could understand. They'd been too young. He couldn't fault them for doing what they'd thought was the best thing for him. He might have done the same thing at their age. They hadn't hated him, as he'd feared. They'd struggled hard with their decision. "Did you get to pick out Jeannette, the woman who adopted me?"
"They didn't give us any information about her, other than she was a relative of someone who attended the same church as my parents, and she couldn't have kids." The tension in Tiffany's voice reflected his own. "When Melanie told us that she'd found you, and then who you were, we couldn't believe it. We've seen you play ball, but that's all we know about you."
"Please," James moved closer to his wife and leaned forward to rest his elbows on his thighs, "tell us about you. We want to know everything."
"Well..." he hesitated only long enough to take a deep breath then the words flowed easier than he expected. "I grew up in Malibu. Jeannette died in a car accident when I was six."
Tiffany's eyes filled with pain and James reached over and rested his hand on Slade's shoulder. "We're so sorry."
The comforting touch overwhelmed him. "I didn't have an adoptive father. After that, I lived with her Aunt Liz until I turned eighteen. Liz passed away when I was in my first season of minor league ball."
"I'm so sorry you lost them both." Tiffany wiped away fresh tears. "All these years, I've worried, prayed, and hoped that you were okay, that you were in a loving home and had the best of everything."
The few memories he had about life with Jeannette were vague but happy. Letting them think he'd been surrounded by love at Liz's house was a kindness he could grant them. "I grew up on the beach and played a lot of baseball. Every kid's dream."
Tiffany smiled. "I'm glad. But I hate thinking that you've been all alone since Liz passed."
He thought
