Chapter Nine
Dee collapsed. In the span of ten minutes her heart had been exposed to large amounts of both bittersweet joy and pure humiliation. She had not been so open about her emotions and thoughts in so long a time that she wondered if the resurrection of the feelings would kill her. She did not want to get up. She did not want to stay on the ground. She did not know what she wanted or how to reach it.
A soft sound made Dee look up. The book had not been on the floor with her before. Reaching for it, desperate to know anything, Dee opened up the book towards the end. She decided that if Bloom was going to help her, she had to believe and be willing to accept help. Closing her eyes, Deondra pointed a finger to a random spot on the page, deciding that if this book could change for every person and tell their future, it should be able to sense her agony and provide a remedy.
"She could not see, blinded by her hysteria, that her daughter had been begging to be found."
Dee shut the book. The tears were no longer a river down her face, but a waterfall. She curled up on the floor, her head feeling heavy and clogged with memories and hope.
*****
Who knew finding the author of a book could take so much time and patience? After searching the web for about 2 hours, Ryan thought he had actually found something. The other web links had been for other publication companies, and Ryan was on page fifteen of Google results when he called Ariel over. She rubbed her eyes and bent over to see what Ryan had found. The whole website seemed a little unprofessional and like no one had really cared about getting it up. By the name of the publishing company, Ryan had expected the people put a little more time and effort into this. Ariel rest her head in Ryan's lap, sleep tugging at her eyelids.
"Read it to me, baby," Ariel whispered as Ryan stroked her hair, eyes still focused on the laptop screen.
"Gold Page is a great place to have your works published in an easy and affordable way." Ryan smirked. "They misspelled published."
"Sounds like a wonderful establishment," Ariel mumbled. Ryan shook his head and his eyes continued to dance across the webpage.
"Ok, well, there is no address or telephone number...but there is a fax number and email. I almost feel like this is run by five-year-olds."
"Don't be rude," Ariel objected, but laughed a little. "This place published a bestseller."
"Yeah, but they didn't write it..." Ryan retorted. After opening up his email, Ryan copied the email address he had found and pasted it onto a new message. He realized he had no idea what he wanted to say.
"What should I say?" Ryan asked Ariel. Ariel lifted her head from Ryan's lap and stood up from her chair.
"Well...start with hello..." She walked to their bedroom and closed the door quietly behind her. Ryan sighed.
Hello, my name is Ryan Dupree. I have recently read one of the novels you published by Darin Bloom, "A Story to Be Read". I am curious to know more about this wonderful book and its author. If you have a way for me to communicate with the author, or any information at all about the book itself, I would be happy to hear from you. Thank you.
Ryan waited up for about half an hour, refreshing his page every so often, desparate and anxious for a reply. This meant the world to him...and to Ariel. He thought about his little baby girl he had yet to meet and smiled. Walking to the kitchen, he opened the drawer of miscellaneous items and found the last ultrasound of the little life growing inside Ariel. A tear came to his eye when he touched it gently and thought about how she might be in danger. He kissed the picture.
