A Family Name Read Online Free PDF Page B

respond, Charlotte
cracked the door open. "Lexi?"
    She stepped inside the room, and knew
instantly that something was wrong. Lexi wasn't there, but more
than that, Charlotte could feel the emptiness of the room. The
backpack Lexi used for school lay open beside her desk, but her
purse was gone. The plasticky neon pink bag would have been hard to
miss. Panic tightened Charlotte's throat and made her stomach
churn. She told herself to calm down. There had to be a logical
explanation for the girl's absence. Maybe Lexi had left her a note.
She hadn't seen one in the entryway, but maybe there was one in her
bedroom.
    The file folder laying open on her bed made
Charlotte stop in her tracks. "Oh no. She couldn't have."
    Grabbing the file, Charlotte flew back down
the stairs, grabbed her keys, and ran to the car.
     
    ****
     
    Lexi looked at the slip of paper in her hand,
and back up at the shabby apartment building. Confusion warred
within her. How could her real mother live here? When she saw the
address she had assumed that her mother lived in a little house
like Charlotte, just in a different part of town. Her shoulders
slumped in disappointment. After two bus changes and a walk through
downtown Rapid City in the chilly April evening, Lexi had hoped for
more. She had been waiting for this moment her entire life. Now all
she wanted to do was run back to Charlotte's house and be wrapped
in that lovely warmth. Thinking about Charlotte made Lexi feel
guilty.
    She shook herself. Who cared where her mother
lived? Lexi had lived in far worse places, and this was the woman
she had been searching for. The front sidewalk was cracked so badly
that Lexi stumbled. The hot blush of embarrassment burned along the
back of her neck. But no one had seen her – mainly because no one
was around. The neighborhood gave Lexi the creeps. Bare trees
scraped the sky as the wind sent a cold gust whooshing by. On her
way down the block, Lexi had noticed three broken down cars, one a
burned-out hull. The only warmth she had seen came from a barred-up
liquor store. Somewhere down the block Lexi knew was the Black
Hills Paleontological Institute. Why couldn't her mother have lived
closer to that?
    The hallway to the building smelled faintly
of cigarette smoke, and a bare bulb swung from the ceiling. Lexi
followed the worn, stained carpet to apartment 1D. Outside the door
she felt her first moment of hesitation since she had left
Charlotte's house. Who was this woman she had been separated from
as barely a toddler? Why had she been taken? The thought that she
had been so close to having all those answers in her file made her
cringe. She raised her hand to knock but found the door swinging
open before she got the chance.
    A tall, thin woman with shaggy blond hair and
sunken eyes peered around the door frame. "What do you want?"
    Lexi felt her jaw go slack from disbelief.
This woman couldn't be her mother, could she? Why did she sound so…
scared?
    Before Lexi could answer she heard footsteps
pounding down the hallway. Then: "Lexi! I was scared to death."
     
    ****
     
    Charlotte wrapped her arms around the girl.
Instead of pulling away as Charlotte feared she would, Lexi hugged
her back, burying her face in her shoulder. Only after Charlotte
had reassured herself that the girl was fine did she look up at the
woman hovering in the doorway. This must be Lexi's mother.
    "Mary?" Charlotte took a deep breath and
shifted Lexi to her side.
    The woman's eyes widened, her mouth puckered
into a tiny frown. "How do you know my name?"
    "My name is Charlotte, Charlotte Miller. I'm
a social worker…"
    "No, I can't do this again."
    Before Charlotte could do anything Mary
pushed the door shut. Reacting quickly Charlotte shot her foot out
and jammed it in the door. The heavy wood cut into her foot above
her dress shoe. Now that they were here, Charlotte knew she needed
to let Lexi go through with the meeting.
    "Please, Mary, your daughter just wants to
meet you." The words