Simple Perfection (Perfection #2)(31)

A kindergarten teacher and a dentist.

"I've seen a photo of her birth mother. She looks like her."

"Please let me come. I want to be with her through this. She needs me."

"No, Woods. What she needs is to feel like she's strong. Like she can handle all of this on her own. She knows she's not going insane now. That's big. Real big. She's lived with that fear for so long. It's crippled her. She has to find her own strength now. And she needs to come back to you on her own. With the belief that she is strong and worthy of you."

"Worthy of me? What the f**k does that mean? I belong to her. How can she not be worthy of me?"

"I know this and you know this but she has to figure this out on her own. She had shit for a life. I held her hand for years. Then she left me and within months she had you holding her hand. No one can hold her hand this time."

"I don't want her to be alone."

"This isn't about what you want, Woods. It's about what Della needs."

I pressed my forehead against the window and closed my eyes. I didn't want her to be right. I didn't want to wait for Della. But this wasn't about my wants. Della loved me more than herself. She loved me enough to walk away because she thought it was best for me. It was time I proved I loved her more than I loved myself.

"Okay. But please, keep me updated."

Braden let out a relieved sigh. "I knew you'd do the right thing. Just so you know, I think you're worthy of her, and that's a high bar to reach. You promised to walk on water and I happen to believe Della already does."

Della

Her name was Glenda. When she'd given birth to me it had been Glenda James. She married when she was twenty-two. I would have been six years old that year. She married a man she met her freshman year of college. They had fallen instantly in love. They had kids. Two of them. Today I would be meeting her. And if all went well I would be meeting her family.

I was in a surreal moment. One I couldn't seem to snap out of. The mentally ill woman who raised me wasn't my biological mother. I wasn't going to become her. The woman who gave birth to me was a teacher. She was a mom and wife.

And my brother. He had been adopted, too. I didn't remember him but he'd been such a big part of my life. My mother had snapped after losing him and my father . . . or her husband. He wasn't my birth father and he had barely been my adoptive father before he was killed. There was so much my mother had told me that couldn't be true. She had said she was nursing me and led me to believe she had gotten depressed after my birth. But she hadn't been pregnant. She hadn't given birth to me. None of that was true. I didn't know what was true anymore.

"What are you thinking?" Braden asked as she drove down the busy streets of Atlanta. Glenda was driving down with her family to Atlanta. We were meeting at a coffee shop that Braden knew about. I wasn't sure I could eat a meal with this woman yet. I also wasn't sure what to ask or say to her. There was so much I wanted to know but then so much I didn't.

"She doesn't know about anything. I didn't tell her. I found her but I didn't feel like it was my story to share."

I wasn't sure I would be telling her about my life either. "What if I don't know what to say once I see her?"

"Then don't say anything. Do what you feel comfortable with. If today all you're ready for is 'hello,' then that's what we will do. When you want more we'll make arrangements to meet with her again."

Braden always made everything sound so easy. This woman had put her family in a car and had driven down to Atlanta to meet me. I had to say more than hello. "You won't go in with me?" I asked again. Braden had informed me that I had to do this on my own. It was my chance to prove to myself I was strong. That I was brave and that I didn't need someone to hold my hand. Though right now I was thinking I needed someone to hold my hand. I was terrified.

"Don't do this to me. I want to go with you. I hate the idea of you going by yourself, but this is for you, Della. This is for you."

She was right. Braden was always right. I nodded. "I know. Thank you."

I watched as she pulled the car into a parking spot in front of a quaint little coffee shop. There were tables outside and inside. The crowd wasn't big and I recognized the woman who had given birth to me from the photo Braden had shown me, sitting at the table in the courtyard to the left of the building. She had a cup of coffee in her hand and she was twirling it around nervously. This was scary for her, too, I guess. But she was brave. She was here alone.

"There she is," Braden said, pointing toward Glenda.

"I see her," I replied, and reached for the door handle.

"You can do this."

I glanced back at Braden and smiled for the first time in weeks. "I know."

Her eyes locked with mine the moment I stepped out of the car. I watched as she stood and looked at me. I made my way over to her table, still unsure as to what I would say to this woman. She had given me life but she was a stranger.

"Della," she said as if needing to check and make sure it was me. We had the same hair, nose, and mouth. But her eyes were brown.

"Yes," I replied.

She fidgeted with her hands a moment, then covered her mouth with one hand. "I'm sorry. I just . . . I don't know . . ." She dropped her hand and gave me a wobbly smile. "I've thought about this day. I've thought about it so many times and now I'm actually standing here, looking at you." She studied my face, taking in the features I already knew were hers. "You have Nile's eyes. He'll like that. He always loved his eyes," she said with a smile. "They're his best feature. I'm glad you got them."