The Abduction of Mary Rose Read Online Free PDF Page A

her."
    "Why didn't she just tell me I was adopted? I would have accepted that, and been grateful she chose me." Why such an elaborate fabrication? And why did she still get the feeling Frank was holding something back, that this was only the tip of the iceberg. Who would have thought her mother was such an accomplished liar?
     
     
    Chapter Four
     
     
    Upstairs in her room, Naomi picked up the small framed picture of Thomas from her nightstand, trailing her fingertips over his face. Instead of losing one parent, she had lost two. She may have known him only from his picture and her mother's stories of him, but he was her father, in every way that mattered. Growing up, she'd had many conversations with the young man in this photograph: told him her problems, listened to his advice. Like talking to God, in a way. But now to find out he was a stranger to her, chosen at random to fit a scheme, seemed unthinkable to even grasp. She felt as if she'd been cast asea with no stars to guide her homeward. Even the medals she'd been so proud of were picked up at an estate sale. At least Frank had the good grace to look ashamed when he'd told her that.
    She set the picture back down on the table and heaved a sigh. No wonder Mom told me you were an only child and that you'd been orphaned as a boy. She was making sure I wouldn't ever try to look up your family.
    You know all my secrets. My teenage angst. My dreams.
    Now she wondered who she'd been talking to throughout all those years. Did he have other family? Yes, of course he would have. But she was not among them. She was nothing to him. He'd merely been cast in the role of her father, without his permission.
    Naomi lay awake for most of that night, staring at the ceiling, thinking, questioning, trying to come to terms with this new reality she'd been handed. A mirror to see herself in, as she really was. She'd been duped, made a fool of, given a background that didn't belong to her. A family that was not hers.
      At a sudden weight at the foot of the bed, she looked down to see Molly making her way up the blanket like a stalker. The cat licked her face, as if to say, I know who you are. A stray, like me.
    "Love you too. We're each other's family, aren't we, Molly?" she said, and kissed the soft, furry face.

Chapter Five
     
     
    Faint morning light was filtering through her lace curtains when Naomi slipped out of bed and padded across the hall to the bathroom. Passing the medicine cabinet mirror, she caught a glimpse of herself and the hollowed, dark circles under her eyes. Ignoring them, she stripped off her pajamas and stepped into the tub. Turning the shower on full force, she stood beneath the needle hot spray and let the water beat down on her, turning her face up to it until the water ran cool and she thought she might be able to get through the funeral service with some semblance of composure, providing Edna steered clear of her. They should be comforting one another, and would have been if they had had a normal aunt/niece relationship, if they were a normal family, but they didn't and never would. And now she knew why. She supposed she should be grateful to Edna for laying the truth out there for her, but she wasn't. Not even a little bit. Which didn't mean she would have wanted to go on living a lie. It was the way she did it—using the obituary to lash out at her. To let the world know that she was of no significance in this family: that she didn't belong.
    The memorial was scheduled for ten o'clock. The service would be short, and that was something to be thankful for. Though her mother Lillian believed in God, she wasn't particularly religious and rarely went to church, so a religious ceremony didn't seem like something she would have wanted, although she never said one way or the other.
    Dressed in a navy suit over a plain white blouse, her hair brushed into a loose twist at the nape of her neck, she drove to the parlor.
    Throughout the solemn proceedings, her