Mom Cooked Only for Bella, So I Found My Real Mother novel · Chapter 3 of 24

Chapter 3: Name My Medicine

Brenda arrives with Bella and tells the officer Ginny is unwell. Ginny asks her to name a single medicine. In the parking lot Brenda says she has no idea what she gave up for her.

The officer was tall, tired and holding a clipboard.

I came out of the break room with my shoes already on and my hands where he could see them.

Luke was standing between the cruiser and the door.

"She's been here since nine last night," he said. "I've been on the floor the whole time."

"Are you Virginia Stovall?" the officer asked me.

"Yes."

"Your parents reported you missing at ten. They also say the family silver went missing from the dining room."

I stared at him.

"The silver?"

"A service for twelve. They say you left the house angry."

"I left with a suitcase my mother packed and put on the porch."

"Can I see inside it?"

"Yes."

I laid it flat on the hood of the cruiser and unzipped it myself.

Six pairs of underwear, three dresses, my winter coat, a phone charger and the old stuffed rabbit I had slept with until I was twelve.

No forks.

The officer looked at the rabbit, then at me, and some of the stiffness went out of his shoulders.

"Ma'am, you're eighteen. You're an adult. You're allowed to leave home."

"I know."

"Then I'd like to know why they filed this."

"So would I."

Headlights swung across the lot.

A silver minivan pulled in fast and stopped crooked across two spaces.

Mom got out first.

She wore her good cardigan and no makeup and had been crying, or had made her face look like it.

Dad climbed out of the driver's side with his hands in his pockets.

Bella came last, still in the pink sundress from dinner, her hair a mess.

The morning shift was arriving behind them. A dozen workers in aprons slowed down and stood along the fence, watching.

"Ginny!" Mom cried. She ran to me and put both arms around me.

I did not hug her back.

She smelled like vanilla and hairspray, the way she always did.

"Oh, baby, thank God. Officer, thank you. I was so frightened."

"Mom, you said I stole the silver."

"I said it was missing." She held my face between her palms, gently. "I didn't mean you took it. I was out of my mind with worry."

"You locked me out."

Her eyes filled right on schedule.

"I did no such thing. You stormed off, and the door must have stuck."

"There was a card on the suitcase, Mom."

"What card?"

"The one you wrote."

She turned to the officer, small and brave.

"I'm so sorry. Ginny hasn't been herself. She's been agitated for weeks, and she stopped taking her medication in the spring. I should have said something sooner."

The ground tilted.

"My what?" I said.

"It's all right, sweetheart. No one is angry."

"What medication?"

"You know the one."

"Name it."

She smiled at me sadly, patting my arm.

"Ginny, we shouldn't do this in front of strangers."

"Name my medicine, Mom. Say what it's called."

She opened her mouth.

Nothing came out.

I watched her reach for a word she didn't have.

"It was something for your nerves," she said finally. "The doctor changed it so often."

"Which doctor?"

"Our family doctor."

"Our family doctor retired six years ago, Mom. I haven't taken a pill since."

Along the fence somebody made a low sound that was nearly a laugh.

The officer lowered his clipboard.

"Mrs. Stovall, is your daughter on any prescription?"

"Not exactly. I'd have to check."

"Does she have a diagnosis?"

"I don't want to discuss her private health in a parking lot."

"Then I can't treat this as a mental health call." He looked at me. "Miss Stovall, do you want to go home with your parents?"

"No."

"Do you feel safe here?"

I looked at Luke.

He had not moved from beside the door.

His jaw was tight and he was staring at Mom with open dislike.

"Yes," I said. "I'm safe here."

"Then there's nothing for me to do." The officer tucked his clipboard under his arm. "Mr. Stovall, ma'am, I'd withdraw that theft report if I were you."

"Donald," Mom said sharply. "Say something."

Dad cleared his throat.

"Ginny, come home. Please."

"Why?"

He didn't have an answer for that either.

Beside the van, Bella made a small noise.

"Mom," she said. "Ginny really didn't take anything. I looked."

"Isabella, get in the car."

"But I looked in the drawer, and the silver is right there in the hall closet."

"Get in the car."

Bella got in the car.

I saw her through the glass, pressed against the window with both hands, mouthing something I couldn't read.

The cruiser pulled out.

Dad went to start the engine.

Mom stayed.

She waited until the workers drifted toward the building and Luke walked off to move his van.

Then she stepped close enough that her cardigan touched my arm, and her smile was gone.

Her voice dropped so low only I could hear it.

"You have no idea what I gave up for you."

"What does that mean?"

She straightened my collar with two cold fingers.

"Come home before you find out."

← Chapter 2 · All chapters · Chapter 4 →

Want to keep talking to characters like these? Chat with AI romance characters: AI Boyfriend · AI Girlfriend · Dark Romance · Fantasy Romance · BL (Boys’ Love) · Billionaire Boyfriend · Mafia Boyfriend · Possessive Boyfriend · Hockey Boyfriend · Older Boyfriend · K-Drama Boyfriend · Anime Boyfriend · Vampire Boyfriend · Werewolf Boyfriend · Demon Boyfriend · Fae Romance · GL (Girls’ Love) · Anime Girlfriend · Goth & Alt Girlfriend · Gamer Girlfriend · Tsundere Girlfriend · Fantasy Girlfriend