Avery stayed silent but reached for Rachel’s hand to lend support.
“Why does it matter to you now?” Rachel asked. “You never wanted me in the first place, so you should have been happy when I disappeared.”
“Disappeared? You mean when you were murdered.” Judith moved forward in her chair. “The day you supposedly died was the beginning of the end for our family. Your brother was blamed and went to prison. Your father left after that. And then I find out you’ve been alive all these years while your brother is rotting in prison. Don’t you care at all about what you did to this family?”
“I was eight years old. I didn’t have much choice in what happened to me,” Rachel said, raising her voice.
Judith sat back again. “You’re not eight now. Are you telling me that in thirty-five years, you never once wondered what had happened to your family? You never saw a newspaper or a news program? How could you not have known?”
“I didn’t,” Rachel said, calmer. “When I was little, we didn’t have a television, and they didn’t have newspapers around. As I grew older, I had no interest in the news. I really had no idea that all this had happened until I grew curious about my family last week and typed my old name into the computer.”
“Well,” Judith said, her voice dripping with contempt. “You’re thirty-five years too late.”
Silence swelled between them. Rachel glanced at Avery, and he squeezed her hand. Finally, she turned back to Judith. “You weren’t my real mother, were you? Aunt Julie was my biological mother.”
Judith shook her head slowly. “No. I wasn’t your mother. And I never wanted to be your mother. It was all dropped on me by my selfish sister.”
Rachel tensed. She’d felt her mother’s contempt toward her all those years ago, but now she knew it was true. “Why did you adopt me then?”
“Because, as usual, I really had no choice.” Judith sneered. “My whole life, I was always supposed to look out for my baby sister, Julie. When my father died, I had to stay home after school every day to babysit her while my mother worked. After high school, my mother never offered to pay for college for me. So, I went to beauty school instead because that was all I could afford. But Julie got to go to college. My mother raved about how Julie was the smart one. Well, I was smart too. And I was definitely too smart to get myself pregnant before marriage like she did.”
“Why didn’t she keep me?” Rachel asked, her heart aching at the thought that Julie hadn’t wanted her back then.
“There was no way your grandmother would’ve paid for Julie to finish college if she’d known she was pregnant. By then, our mother had remarried and moved to San Francisco, so she didn’t see us very often. Julie was going to school in Sacramento, and I was married and living here. Julie begged me to take the baby and tell mom it was mine. I didn’t want to—I already had Keith, and I didn’t want any more children—but your father talked me into it. He said it would be nice to have another baby in the house. Hmph! Maybe for him, because he was gone half the time, but for me, it only meant more work.”
“But Gordon Scott was my father, wasn’t he?” Rachel asked.
“Yes. But at that time, they had no idea they’d end up married. So, I grudgingly took you in.” Her eyes narrowed at Rachel. “It was the worst decision of my life.”
Rachel swallowed back the lump that had formed in her throat. She didn’t want to give this woman the pleasure of knowing her words hurt her. “Why didn’t you give me back when she and Gordon married? They begged you for years to take me.”
Judith grinned evilly. “Because that would have made Julie happy, and I figured why would I want to do that? If I was going to be miserable, why shouldn’t she be?”
Rachel shook her head. “I knew you never cared about me. I wish you would have just let them take me years before. Maybe this mess wouldn’t have happened.”
“Oh, so now this is my fault? Don’t turn this all on me,” Judith spat.
Rachel sighed. “Is that what you wanted to talk to me about? To tell me you never wanted me?”
“No. What I want to know is where is Julie now? She kidnapped you and forged a birth certificate. She should be in jail,” Judith said.
Rachel’s face hardened. “She is, basically.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“Uncle Gordon died a few years ago, and Aunt Julie is now struggling with Alzheimer’s. Most days, she doesn’t even know who I am or who she is. She’s in her own prison—one in her mind.” Rachel’s heart hurt to tell this evil woman about her beloved aunt. But it had to be said.
Judith grinned. “Well, there is some satisfaction in knowing that.”
Rachel had had enough. She stood, and Avery stood also. As she turned to leave, Judith spoke up again. “I want you to insist that Keith be let out of prison. You aren’t dead, so there was no crime. You tell the police that.”
Rachel turned and faced her. “There is still a dead girl, and Keith is still under suspicion. So, there’s nothing I can do.” She spun and headed toward the kitchen with Avery right behind her.
“You were always a selfish little bitch!” Judith screamed at her back.
“Just keep walking,” Avery whispered in Rachel’s ear. “Don’t give her the satisfaction of knowing she’s getting to you.”
Rachel did keep walking. Still, it was hurtful hearing her mother’s gravelly voice screaming the last words at her as she closed the kitchen door. “I wish it had been you who’d died after all.”
***
“Your mother is a real piece of work,” Avery said as they hid away in his kitchen, eating the lunch they’d picked up on the way there.
“She’s actually
