Mom Cooked Only for Bella, So I Found My Real Mother novel · Chapter 14 of 24

Chapter 14: The Lockbox

The first thing I did that morning was call McNeese.

The woman in admissions put me on hold for nine minutes.

"Your mother canceled your enrollment and withdrew the deposit on August sixteenth," she said. "She said you'd decided against college."

"I'm eighteen," I said. "She has no right to do that."

"I know, hon. That's why I flagged it. If you come in with ID and sign the form, I'll reinstate your seat today."

"I'm coming."

"And the deposit?"

"Keep the deposit," I said. "I'll pay it myself, from my own paycheck."

It felt strange to say.

It felt like picking up something I had set down.

Luke drove me to campus in the delivery van, and I signed with my left hand because the right one was still wrapped.

When we pulled back into the Landry's lot at noon, a gray sedan was parked by the gate.

Donald was standing next to it, in his office shirt, holding a steel lockbox against his chest.

I had not seen him since the church supper.

He looked ten years older.

"Luke came to see me at the motel last night," he said, before I could speak. "He didn't have to. He told me what Brenda is doing online."

I turned and looked at Luke.

"I went around you," Luke said. "I'm telling you now. I'm not waiting for you to find out in a month."

"You went to my father."

"I went to the one person who might have proof."

I looked at Donald.

My father held the box out with both hands.

"Four years ago I found the cookie tin in her sewing box," he said. "The bracelet was in it, and two sheets of paper folded under the lining. I put the bracelet back and photographed it. I kept the papers in my office safe. I never opened them again."

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