Bluebird

35

May 13, 2013

Annabel had been throwing the ball with the dogs in the backyard, but when Garrett, Samantha, and William got back there she was sat cross legged by the pool, Prince had the ball in his mouth and he was chewing on it, Bowie had his head on Annabel's lap. She was wearing brown linen pants and a plain white teeshirt so there was definitely going to be lingering dog hair, but she didn't care. 

"How'd it go?" William asked breaking her out of her thoughts. 

"Well, Cedars-Sinai broke the law, They're only allowed to take blood from a newborn baby, during a heel prick test, which tests for sickle cell anemia and other blood diseases...Not cocaine. They weren't allowed to take my blood until after a police report had been made or a care report had been filed. No one called the police, and no one made a report. The pediatrician apparently had done it to several babies and lost his job in 1990. But, never the less, Cocaine was still in my system so they, by law, had to call social services. Edith legally took me out of the hospital. She was doing a training in California at the time, and they got the call and the Los Angeles system was full, so she offered to take me back to Utah with her. So she legally took me, she just didn't legally adopt me." Annabel sighs looking at her brother.

"So what now?" 

"I don't know...I want mom and dad to get their parental rights back, but I don't know if that'll be a thing, because like I'm 26." 

"I'm sure they can still adopt you. I mean I see it all the time on social media of people asking their step parents to adopt them." 

"But that's the thing Sam, they're not step parents...they're the two people on my birth certificate were seen as unfit to raise a child." Annabel rolls her eyes.

"Right, but dad had me, Lee, and Stella. He's fit to be our parent. I think it'll be fine." William assures.

"I hope so...So, shall we go out to get dinner or something?" She looks up at them.

"If that's what you want...yeah we can." William chuckles. 

***

When Annabel got home, she didn't bother calling her parents, because she knew they were traveling. She turned the TV on, fed the dogs and then she just perched on the couch. She simply could not understand why Edith and Mike had done what they had done. It didn't make sense to her. Everything in her gut told her there had to be a reason, but she wasn't so sure. She believed Edith had gotten into an accident that caused her not to have children, she had asked for little siblings when she was like 5 and all of her friends had gotten little brothers and sisters but she hadn't. Edith simply told her it wasn't going to happen and dropped the subject. Edith and Mike were workaholics, they loved their jobs too much and she really didn't think that either of them would risk losing their licenses. She buried her head in her hands for a minute and then she groaned and went back into her bedroom. She changed into a pair of burgundy leggings grabbed a grey cocoon sweater and slide her feet into her black Birkenstocks. She threw her hair up into a pony tail and grabbed her glasses and the dog leashes. Her dad had a car take them to the airport so his SUV was still in the garage and she grabbed his keys off the hook before driving out to Salt Lake City. 

By the time she got to the graveyard where Mike and Edith were sitting, the sun was rising. She took a moment to look at it and admire it, taking several pictures of it and then she grabbed the dogs and slowly walked over to the headstones. She sat right in the middle of them on the soil cross legged. 

"Why, just why...I don't understand why you would do something like this. Why did you want me out of all the babies in the world. And why the fuck did you fake it." 

They didn't answer, of course not, they were dead. But just sitting there in front of them felt different. It felt like she didn't belong with them. They weren't her parents. So after a little bit she shook her head went back to Lindsey's Black Lincoln Navigator and got the dogs situated. When she climbed into the driver's seat she threw her purse into the passenger seat. She was going to have to get gas so she leaned over and grabbed her wallet out of the purse but when she did, a small key had fallen onto the seat. It was on a red stretchy key ring. She gasped and then quickly detoured to the storage unit her adoptive parents had left her. 

She had only been there a couple times and she knew that Chelsea had been paying the bill to keep it but she only went in there right after they died and she was given the unit. She unlocked it and stepped in. She didn't even know where to begin  and she didn't want to be there horribly long because she had Prince and Bowie, but she was drawn to one specific box. It had Mike's messy hand writing on it and she peeled it open. There were files upon files...Case files, something she probably shouldn't be looking at, but they were from his time as a lawyer. The last file in the box she really felt the need to open so she did. And when  she opened it up, her hand came up to her mouth.  Casperi V. Buckingham. He had been Cheri Casperi's lawyer in Los Angeles. She had sued Lindsey Buckingham for the car crash. It had a little note in it that said, My last case before appointment in Salt Lake City  as a Judge. Essentially, Cheri had asked Lindsey to pay her medical expenses for a second accident that Lindsey hadn't told her about. He told her about the first one that ended with him getting her a nose job, but this time she had broken her pelvis and her knee and she had physical therapy beyond physical therapy that she was trying to get him to pay for. She took that file and stuck it in her purse. 

Then she went to a leather suitcase that drew her attention. She opened it up and she was even more shocked. There were about a billion photos and pictures of Stevie Nicks, and Fleetwood Mac. There were signed albums and a picture of Stevie in a cheer uniform Edith was on the opposite end of the picture. 

"Oh my god." She shook her head. 

It was beginning to look like she had been semi-kidnapped.