Lost and Found

After asking everyone we knew for money, we gathered enough up. People gave us whatever they could and told them we appreciated it and thanked them. To my surprise, they were so willing.

Who am I kidding? If only everyone could hand us 1800 dollars, then life would be great. Instead, it went something like this:

“Where do you expect us to pull that money from, Elizabeth? We aren’t made of hundred dollar bills,” Mom said. She paced the room with hands on her hips.

“I have a savings account,” I reminded her, “It’s got more than enough.”

“That’s for college,” she told me snidely.

“Surely if could be used to this, it’s only a little bit.”

“No,” she said sternly. “How about you guys get a job and maybe in a few months, you can go see them.”

“In a few months I start college,” I said. “I don’t have time for that. You guys owe this to me.”

Mom stopped to stare at me and Dad even lifted his head up. “We [i]owe[/i] this to you?” she asked. “What’s that supposed to mean? We raised you, paid for everything for you and you’re telling us that we owe this to you?”

“Heather,” Dad whispered, calming her from starting wherever she was headed. Dad looked at me solemnly. “We don’t have the extra money,” he said.

“Whatever,” I said harshly before standing up, walking out the door just in time to see Marianne and Danny.

“What’s the report?” Marianne asked.

“They can’t give me any,” I said with a shrug.

“Mom and Dawn gave me a couple hundred bucks,” Marianne said.

“Danny?” I asked.

“Well, it’s a good thing my parents have a credit card,” he said with a smile. “I just gotta pay it off…. All of it, including what they already have on there.” I smiled widely and jumped on him in a hug.

“We don’t have to get jobs!!” I screamed. “I’m so happy I could kiss you right now!”

All three of us agreed to go home and get ready with packing. We filled our bellies and all piled into Danny’s car. I didn’t say much to Dad and Mom. I just needed this.

“Are you excited?” Marianne asked me.

“Very,” I replied, looking out the window.

“Do you think we should call them?” Danny asked, talking about the number that came with the address, watching the road carefully. The navigator was programmed when we left my place and Danny was carefully listening to the directions when they came up.

“No,” I told him. “We don’t know when we'll get there and I’d rather meet them in person first because then they won’t be able to hang up on us.”

“True,” Marianne told him. “But what if they shut the door in our face?”

“Then we have a small vacation in Huntington, before school starts.” I said, watching the cars go by. “I’m going to UCLA anyway, I can just stay.”

“Good thing I brought my swimsuit,” she said. I cracked a smile.

After many 1800 or more miles, three days and countless restaurants later, we finally reached Huntington Beach, California.

“I can’t believe we’re in the place where Avenged grew up…” Danny said, all day dreamy like. “I can’t believe you were born here, I’m so jealous, Elizabeth.” I laughed and watched bikini clad people walk along the beach as we strolled down the PCH with the AC blasting. “We should go to their high school!”

“Danny, no… Bad Danny!” Marianne said. “That’s too stalkerish. It’s creepy.”

Danny continued driving, but he didn’t stop talking about how much he wanted to visit those ‘Avenged’ places that he knew about. Marianne was right. It was creepy. But nevertheless, he made it to the address. It was a nice place, with flowers lining the sidewalk from the driveway to the house. The shutters were white and it looked cozy. My real mother lived here…

“Let’s go,” I said quietly. We all got out of the car and I hoped that someone was home. There were cars in the driveway but you never know. The California sun kissed my skin as I led the way to the house. I had the paper Marianne wrote on in case things got sticky… which I hoped they wouldn’t. I rang the doorbell and crossed my arms, becoming nervous. What if these people just moved here and they weren’t the DiBenedettos?

The door finally opened and a woman looking in her fifties or sixties greeted the three of us.

“Can I help you?” she asked kindly, keeping the screen door shut. I didn’t blame her. If I saw three teenagers like us that were foreign to me, I’d do the same.

“Um, well, there’s no easy way to say this, no wait,” I stumbled. I took a deep breath and paced myself. “Hello. I’m Elizabeth Dean. Is this the DiBenedetto residence?”

The lady smiled and nodded. “Yes it is. Can I help you with anything?”

I smiled, relieved. “Yes, you can actually. I’m not going to ask if we can come in or anything, but I have some serious questions to ask, I’m hoping you can help, and it may seem weird, but I’m being the most honest I can and -”

"It’s okay,” the woman laughed. “You seem in distress. Would you like to come in?” Wow, I was getting farther than I thought. I smiled and nodded; the woman opened the door and let us in.

“Oh, uh, this is Marianne Foster and Danny Miller.”

“I’m Tracy DiBenedetto, nice to meet you. What is it you had to ask? Please, sit.” We did in the couches provided. I looked to Danny and Marianne.

“Elizabeth is adopted,” Marianne started bluntly. “She’s trying to find her real parents. We’re from Chicago.”

“You came all the way from Chicago?” Tracy asked. We nodded.

“We got some info from the hospital that I’m guessing was transferred over when she was a baby and moved there. Danny and I looked at them,” Marianne continued. I gave Tracy the paper and she read it over.

“Are you sure this is all fact?” Tracy asked. All three of us nodded. “Valary is my daughter…” she said after a pause and looked at me. “But you should know that if this is all made up and you’re just trying to meet them or get closer to them, I won’t put up with it, I will call the police.”

“No you don’t need to,” Marianne said quickly. “If we’re thinking of the same Valary, then we know who she is linked to and trust me it’s nothing like that. We are savage fans trying to get to her through her parents, we’re just trying to find out where Liz comes from.”

Tracy’s mouth held in a tight line. If everything was correct, I was looking at my grandmother. She smiled and looked like she was about to cry when she gave the paper back, and when she did she practically picked me up in a tight hug. I hugged her back naturally. We let go and sat down. “Elizabeth, you look just like her. When I saw you, at first I thought she had come home for a visit, she’s away right now, but then I saw you closer. You have some of your father in you, too.”

“So you know them both?” I asked. Tracy nodded and stood up, going over to an end table.

“Valary was so upset and scared when she found out she was pregnant with you. I didn’t know what to do, myself, my sixteen year old was pregnant for Christ’s sake. She and I talked about it for the longest time. I told her I’d be happy with whatever decision she made. But…” she sat down and held what looked like a few pictures close to her. “she had to give you up. She knew she was too young. It was the right choice for both of you.” Tracy handed over a picture of a newborn to us. “That’s you, Elizabeth. We asked for just one picture, and the lawyers allowed it. She had you not even one day before the adoption was finalized. She didn't even want to see you and I think it's because it would've just hurt her too much. I don’t think Val ever got over giving you up. It broke her heart… she cried for hours and hours… Matt couldn’t even calm her down.”

“Matt?” Danny asked.

“Your father,” she said, looking at me.

“So… he did know about me?” I asked, more so stating it, actually.

Tracy nodded. “He was scared when he found out also. He told Valary it was her decision, that whatever it was going to be he’d be happy with it and would accept it. Just like I told her.”

“Why did they have a closed adoption?” I asked. “Why not an open one so they could see how I was growing up?”

“Well Valary, especially, didn’t want to because she knew it’d hurt her too much… Matt wanted the open adoption but he gave the choice to Valary… here.” Tracy handed over a picture of… my parents. My eyes bulged as Danny and Marianne looked at it. Their reactions mimicked mine. IT was all true and I couldn’t believe it.

“Oh my God…” I breathed. I heard Danny stop breathing, and Marianne gasp. In fact, Marianne and Danny had been right. In the picture were M. Shadows and Val DiBenedetto Sanders. It was their wedding picture. They both looked as happy as can be.

“I take it you know them?” she asked, not sounding surprised at all.

“We… met them at a concert a little while back…” Danny said, still not believing it. If I could read his thoughts, they would most likely be that of jealousy and amazement. Jealousy because of who my parents really are and amazement because he’s friends with me.

“Wow,” Tracy breathed. “I don’t think they’re ever going to believe this… uhm… how long can you stay in town?”

“As long as you need us,” Danny answered for both Marianne and I. I, on the other hand shook my head no. School started in a few months.

“That’s excellent," she said, apparently not seeing my head shaking. "I’ll be right back, I’m going to call Michelle, that’s Valary’s sister, your aunt.”

Notes

Ugh! I feel like an idiot! I accidentaly deleted the story because I was trying to change the cover image and deleted the wrong thing. Please resubscribe!