Music City (27 page)

The
past week had simply soared by, and now she was about to meet her parents for the first time.  Lori, sensing Shelly’s nervousness, took her hand and squeezed. “It’ll be fine, Shelly.” Lori reassured. “Mom and Pop are really good people. I know they’re going to love you.”

“Lori, it’s everything. I’m worried about them too. They have no idea why we’re coming
. They’re old, Lori. Are you sure their hearts can take this kind of news? On one hand, I’m thrilled to be meeting them, but on the other, I’m worried about everything!”

Lori and Shelly had decided that they would go to Pensacola, instead of having Dennis and Ruth travel to
them. Being able to talk with them alone, in a place of comfort for them, seemed to be the right thing to do. Mike stayed behind, much to his chagrin. They decided it would be better if just the two of them told Ruth and Dennis the news. Lori carried a folder with all the documents confirming that, according to their blood, these two women were, in fact, sisters. Shelly had packed a couple of photo albums to share with her parents as well as a picture of Maye from her younger years, just to see if Ruth remembered her.

“Shelly, it’s not like they’re ancient. Pop won’t be seventy until next
May and Mom will be sixty-nine at the end of December. They’re both in great health, and they go to the doctor regularly for checkups, so quit worrying about that. Frankly, I don’t think they’ll be too surprised—once they get over the initial shock.” Lori laughed. “I know I wasn’t.”

The
ride to their house over on the west side of Pensacola took less than an hour. While you couldn’t see the Gulf from their house, you could feel the humidity of the sea breeze and smell the salt in the air, and Shelly could see glimpses of the intracoastal waterway as they drove. They were there much more quickly than Shelly was ready for.  Lori pulled in front of a brown picket gate and got out and opened it, the short drive to the house was lined with short, obviously old palm trees, and as the house came into view, Shelly saw that Ruth and Dennis were waiting on the front porch for them.

“Mom, Pop, this is Shelly Shepard. Shelly, this is Mom and Pop.”

Dennis and Ruth were oblivious to what was actually happening, but Shelly certainly was not. She noticed everything.

First, she noticed that Lori introduced them as ‘Mom and Pop’, and not as ‘my parents’
and she wondered if they noticed that as well. She also noticed that Lori looked just like ‘Pop’ and for the first time in her life, she noticed a family resemblance she had to someone besides her own children. Other than the eyes that she shared with Lori and Pop, Shelly Shepard looked like a twenty-year younger version of Ruth Morgan. The high cheek bones and the slight upturn in their noses were nearly identical.  When she shook Ruth’s hand, she noticed fingers that looked exactly like the fingers on her own hands. Shelly realized that she had so many questions to ask.

The home was beautiful and spacious,
decorated beautifully, and each of them had a guestroom to themselves.  After putting away their luggage, they joined Dennis and Ruth at the back of the house, in what they called the Florida Room, which was a screened in living area off of the family room that looked out at the intracoastal waterway and Ono Island.

Ruth and Dennis were a bit star-struck at first, but that was fine with Shelly, as she was a bit star-struck herself.  They talked about the beautiful area they lived in, and asked Shelly about the music business, both of them enjoyed all types of music, including country. 

Lori told them again about Noel and her father, and how she and Shelly had come to meet each other at church.  It seemed as though there was just no opening for getting the conversation around to the reason they were there, until Ruth asked, “Where are you from originally, Shelly?”

Shelly and Lori both realized that this was
the perfect opportunity to begin telling them about the true reason they were there.

“I’m from a little town in North Carolina, but Raleigh is where I was born.”

Ruth started to speak, but Shelly, knowing that she needed to stay focused, continued. “I was raised by a woman I knew as my mother, until I was fourteen years old.  Right before my fifteenth birthday she came home one night drunk, again, and hit me with a cast iron skillet because I hadn’t put the skillet in the proper place after I washed it.” Shelly took a deep breath then continued.  “I left that night, and I never saw her again.”

Shelly went on to tell them the rest of the story, walking to the truck stop,
Tom befriending her, and taking her to Nashville, then making sure that she was in a place where she would be safe and taken care of.  She told them about Debby, the lady she lived with for several years in Nashville, and then she told them about Trent, the years of friendship they shared before he ever declared his feelings for her, Ruth cried openly.  When she talked about Vani’s birth, and then Tracy’s, Ruth smiled and laughed with her.

Finally Shelly was drained.  She had talked for hours it seemed, without stopping.  Even Lori learned many things about her that afternoon, and her opinion of Shelly had never been higher.

Then, Shelly got to the more recent happenings. She told them about meeting Alex and Derek, how much Tracy enjoyed working for them and how when Tracy came home and talked about his day it had made her start wondering if they could find Thomas for her.

She talked about Dorothy, and how Dorothy’s arrival in her life had prompted her to find her other siblings, then she got to
the part where Alex and Derek had found Maye. “She passed away this summer, but not before she told Alex and Derek, that when I was born, she switched me and another baby girl in the hospital.”

Ruth gasped, “Why on earth would a mother do that to her own child?”

Shelly swiped at a tear trying to escape from the corner of her eye, “So that my, well, the baby she switched me with, so her father wouldn’t be able to take her away from Maye.  If he had requested a paternity test, I wouldn’t have matched him.  Of course I wouldn’t have matched Maye either, but they would have never tested her, and she knew that.”

Shelly noticed Ruth’s face change from a look of sympathy to a look of utter confusion as she processed Shelly’s words.  She looked at Shelly again, then she looked at her own daughter, then back to Shelly.  Her face changed once again to a look of understanding as tears began to flow down her face.

Shelly continued, “When I first heard Lori sing that Sunday morning, I had an immediate feeling of recognition, like I should know her, she seemed so familiar to me.  When we met face to face, there was an immediate connection, and as it turns out, that connection was the two of you.”

“I don’t understa
nd, Ms. Shepard.” Dennis interrupted, “How are we the connection?”

Tears
were opening streaming down Ruth’s face by this time, she smiled and looked expectantly at Lori looking for confirmation of the thoughts she dared not give voice to.

Lori nodded her head at her mother and wrapped her arms around her, “Yes, Mom, it’s true,
” she spoke in a hushed voice. “We had blood tests done. We are sisters. There’s no doubt.”

Dennis was still confused. 
“Sisters?  How can you be sisters?  I don’t understand Ruth, are you telling me that after all these years, Lori is not my daughter?” Dennis was beginning to get angry.

Sobbing by this time, Ruth scolded Dennis, “For pity sake Dennis, just look at Shelly, who do
you see?”

Dennis still didn’
t understand.  Ruth laughed, “For such a smart man, you sure are dense sometimes.  Dennis. Raleigh, North Carolina, forty-eight years ago, two babies swapped at birth?”

Recognition finally bloomed on Dennis’ ruddy face, he put his hands to his chest, and then wiped his face.  He looked at the three women standing in front of him as if he were looking at them for the first time as the realization of what had happened washed over him.  “How could this be?” He questioned.  “How could I not kno
w, all these years, that that my daughter wasn’t here with me, that she was out there somewhere… lost?”

Dennis
looked from Lori to Shelly, “Are we absolutely sure?” He asked.

“Absolutely sure.” Lori beamed.

Shelly spoke up, “We’ll run the tests on both of you just to be certain, but yes, if Lori is my sister, that makes you and Ruth my biological parents.”

“But, what about Betty? Poor tortured Betty.” Dennis cried.

Shelly squeezed Dennis’ hand
. “Betty was a victim of circumstance and unfortunately, genetics. It sounds like she inherited many of Maye’s less than desirable traits. There’s nothing we can do for Betty now, except honor her memory.”

Dennis nodded, and bowed his head, as tears streamed down his creased cheeks.

Shelly sat in the Florida room in the morning sun a few days later enjoying a cup of coffee and one of Ruth’s delicious homemade blueberry muffins.  Her thoughts were on her children this morning, how were they going to react, she wondered.  All of their lives, Shelly and Trent were their only family, they had missed so much by not having loving grandparents.  A tear seeped from Shelly’s eye just as Lori entered the Florida room.

“Hey, there you are.” She smiled as she took a seat next to Shelly.  “Penny for your thoughts.”

Shelly shrugged, “Just a bit of melancholy, I think.  I’m feeling sorry for myself, feeling sorry for my children.  They’ve never had family other than me and their dad before.  They missed so much because of Maye.”

Lori took her hand, “We all have Shelly.  We all have.  That woman played God with our family, and took so much away from all of us. I don’t know if I can ever forgive her.  I can’t
begin to imagine what you’re feeling.”

Shelly shrugged, “It wasn’t just my life she was altering that day when she changed my leg
band.  I think that is what I’m having a hard time processing.  It wasn’t just me, it was you, Dennis and Ruth, and my children that she affected.  Not to mention her own flesh and blood, her own daughter.”  Shelly shook her head, “How could someone do that to their own children?  How could she ever change our leg bands knowing when she did, that she would never see her
own child
again?”

Lori shook her head, “I have no idea, I really don’t, and I guess we’ll never know.”

Lori smiled and straightened, “Let’s talk about something more fun.  Tell me more about Vani and Tracy, do they have anyone special in their lives?”

Shelly smiled, if this was what it was like having a sister, someone to drag you out of blue thoughts and cheer you up, she could get used to it. 
Shelly thought back to recent weeks, Vani was rarely home in the evenings, and when she was, Derek was there too. She smiled.  “I think that maybe there might be some feelings starting to warm up between Vani and Derek.”

Lori grinned, “That very good looking detective?  Oh wow, he is good looking!  What makes you think there might be something going on?”

Shelly smiled, “Just the way they look at each other, and the fact that any time I need to call Derek, Vani offers to make the call.  Anytime there’s an opportunity to invite Derek over, Vani  readily agrees.  She seems to find reasons to see him.”

“Oh, how exciting! What about Tracy?”

Shelly laughed, “Tracy dated one girl, for a very long time, off and on, nothing serious, but I was always worried that she would be the one he decided to settle down with.”

Lori interrupted her, “You didn’t like her?”

Shelly shrugged, “It wasn’t that I didn’t like her, she was just… I don’t know how to explain it, just a feeling I had when she was around, like she liked Tracy more because of
who
he was, than who he was.  Does that make sense?”

“Perfect.”

“Then, I found out that he was dating a woman my age, if not older, all through college.”

Lori gasped.  “Oh no, how did you find out?”

“She tried to blackmail him, so he told me.”  Shelly shrugged, “She went away easily enough, but then I questioned myself.  Have I made my son susceptible to controlling women?”

“I don’t think you’re controlling—granted, I haven’t known you long but you don’t strike me that way.” Lori observed.

“Trust me, I can be controlling.”

“…But,” Shelly lowered her voice to a conspiratorial whisper, “Derek told Vani that he only ended it with the older woman because he has feelings for this new girl, Brandy.  I like her.  She’s sweet.  She’s in college, and they met because her best friend is one of our up and comers.  She seems to have her head on straight, and Tracy seems quite taken with her, so I’m cautiously optimistic.”

Lori clapped her hands, “Oh, that is so exciting!”  Then a tear slipped down her face, then another.

Shelly was confused, she didn’t want to make Lori cry, “What’s wrong 
Lori?”

Lori swept her arms around to take in the whole room
. “This.”  She wiped another tear from the side of her face, “I never in a million years would have dreamed that I would be sitting here in my parent’s home, talking about
my
niece and nephew with
my
sister.  It’s a dream come true, and it’s overwhelming.”  She leaned over and hugged Shelly, “I am so happy you’re
my
sister.”