"But I am her daughter !" Jennifer says in high pitch. I hold her move to stand.
"You are Jennifer McCourtney, Miss. But you are not Sophia McCourtney's biolo.."
"How dare you saying that I am not her daughter!!" Jennifer barks to cut the nurse's words.
"Babe, calm down..," I manage to embrace her and rubs her back. Her breathing is still heavy but she doesn't utter anymore word. "Please continue," I say to the nurse.
"Her husband came after we called him. Knowing he lost his child and almost lost his wife, he was devastating. He blamed himself for letting her wife went to the supermarket alone," the nurse says. She sighs before continues,
"When Mrs. McCourtney awoke, she didn't know she lost her baby. Her husband begged us not to tell her about it. We agreed upon to see her condition it was the best to not yet inform her. Mr. McCourtney insisted to take her home the day his wife awoke. Though the doctor forbade, he still got her out from the hospital. Then the next day, he asked for his daughter's body. He said he wanted to give her proper funeral. Ofcourse, we permitted him."
"Last year we immigrated our database to the new server and also made a crosscheck to the nation medical database. We found some cases of birth certificate frauds. One of them is yours," Mr. Bredley continues the information.
"Why didn't you call me or do something about it?"
"It was becoming federal's case and according to them your case was the least significant. So the fed skipped you and hunted for the more serious ones," Mr. Bredley answers Jennifer then sighs. "That's all we can say about you, Miss."
---------
"Do you think my mom involved in any of this ?" Jennifer asks. She stares at me with a sight that hoping I answer what she wants to hear.
I smile at her. "I don't know, Babe. I'm trying not to assume anything. But based on the fact we have now, she probably didn't know anything about it," I answer her truthfully.
She sighs, I put another french fries in front of her mouth. "I'm full," she refuses. I glance at her food. Her burger is only eaten two bites while her french fries is barely touched.
"You need a lot of energy to shatter your house later. I don't think we will have another meal before dinner. Unless.. you wanna have my sausage as a ..Aaw!"
She throws the salt shaker at me with bulging eyes. "Pervert!" She scowls me. I laugh.
"I maybe pervert, but I'm not the one whose cheeks are flushing red right now," I say, quickly cover my face when she takes the pepper shaker up.
Pouting, she munches her french fries. I laugh inwardly knowing my trick works.
After we finished our breakfast, we go to her parents' house. The house is not totally abandoned. Apparently Jennifer asked someone to clean and maintain it once a week.
"The power switch is at the corner of the wall," Jennifer tells me while finding the key to open the door. I go as her direction and find what she said. I turn the switch on and immediately the terrace light is on. I follow Jennifer to go inside the house.
"Nice house," I flatter, looking around the house. It is not an extravagant house, but it is properly designed and very comfortable.
"Thanks," Jennifer replies, putting the key on the table.
"My father's office is on your left," she says, pointing at a closed door. I nod.
"What did your father do ?" I ask, walking toward the door. Jennifer follows behind me.
"Property contractor," she answers. I open the door. It is a very neat yet dusty office. "After my father died, my mom and I never touched this room. We barely entered it when he was alive anyway," she explains the dust.
"When did he pass away ?"
"2008," she says in short. Her hand is holding a framed picture of the three of them. I stare at her.
"The overdosed you had .. "
She nods and looks at me with a wry smile. "Sleeping pills. I had trouble sleeping after my father died. So I sneakily took my father's prescription sleeping pills. Then one day, I just took one too many," she answers then shrugs.
"Why trouble sleeping ?"
She sits on a small sofa in the room then heavily sighs. "My father.. ended his own life." she smiles bitterly, makes me drop my jaw.
"Few days before he died, we had an argument. You see.. as a contractor, my father was barely home. Not until maybe six months before he died, he suddenly said he had enough working and decided to be a house husband. My mom was totally supporting his decision. She is a teacher and my father had enough saving, so financially we were okay. But me, ofcourse I got irritated." I join her sitting on the sofa.
"He was a stern man and he had never been too much involved in my childhood. So, suddenly he was there and made so many new rules. One of them was forbidding me to go to my boyfriend's prom. I was so angry to him, and I said words..." She halts her words, looking up to forbid her tears from falling.
"I.. I said.. that it was better for me to not have him around. After that, I didn't speak to him at all.. until his last breath." A tear falls in her cheek. She wipes it quickly.
"I felt so .. so guilty when I knew he was suicide. I thought it.. it was because of me. That's.. that's why..." she can't continue her words.as she starts sobbing. I reach to her, putting her head on my chest.
She continues after a little calmer, "After I woke up from my attempted.. my mom finally told me the truth. My father had a last stage brain cancer. That was why he quitted his job. That was why he killed himself. Because he didn't want the disease to win. He prefer to have his life ended by his own will, not by the cancer."
"A man with dignity," I say to comfort her. She nods.
"Anyway, the reason my father forbade me went to the prom was that he didn't want me to have sex before marriage.."
"Aah.. that's why you were being a virgin up until..," I look at her with squinted eyes, "Wait.. does that mean I have to marry you ?" I tease her. She throws me a pillow.
"Dream on! I'm not even your girlfriend, how can you marry me!" she mocks me then stands out from the sofa. "We need to start looking," she says then turns her head on me, "What are we looking for ?"
I chuckle. "Any lead about who you really are. I mean.. where or how did he get you. and maybe who your biological parents are," I answer her.
"Okay, Boss," she says then winks.
Mr. McCourtney's office is not too big. Beside his work desk, it only has a tall bookshelf and a thigh-high cupboard as storages. We start from his bookshelf. It is so neat.
While Jennifer grabs a pile of documens, I'm taking his books collection. He placed his books alphabetically. I take each book, shake them open to inspect whether there is something hidden. He had a wide-range field of books, from Economy to Medical. He even had a Military Strategy book along with "Manual to Catch a Beetle". I stop and read the military strategy book that attracts me.
"You may bring any book that interests you," Jennifer says with lips curl up.
"Thanks. I will. Your dad had amazing collection here," I say, praising her late father.
"He loved to read. He could spend a whole day in here, I guess he was reading," Jennifer says. Then we are back to our activities.
"Do you find anything.?" I ask her after more than couple of hours later.
"Nope. These are all his work documents, contracts, complimentary agreements, blueprints, designs, bills," she answers after sighing. She is almost drowned by piles of documents in front of her.
"Same here. Some books have notes and highlights. I guess your father loved to take notes directly on his books," I tell her my update.
We put all things back to their places, except some books I decide to borrow. After that we move to his cupboard that has nine drawers. When I pull a drawer in the middle I notice something odd. The drawer's length is around ten inches shorter then the depth of the cupboard.
"There is something hidden here," I say to her, pulling all middle drawers. As I expected, all are 10 inches short. But the back is just a plain board.
"Would you take a side a bit ?" I request Jennifer while I move the cupboard away from the wall. It is a light cupboard and the space is spacious enough to shift it easily. Once I moved it away from the wall, something interesting is shown.
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