"Dr. Tiller's office, confirming your appointment tomorrow at ten," the receptionist sounded young and energetic. "She asked me to request you bring with you a list of any concerns, any unusual symptoms you've noticed in the last year. And any issues with family health history," she continued. "Mother, sisters, aunts… any relative who had issues with reproductive health or infertility." I caught my breath and there was a pause. "Did you have any questions?" she asked.

"No… no. Nothing, thanks. Of course… I'll be there," I answered. "Thank you…"

Sisters… or aunts… I'd never even thought about the possibility… It was only my mother I'd focused on… ever wondered about. And I knew virtually nothing about her, except that she'd been able to give birth to me…

I wanted time. Time to consider all my options, time to weigh the benefits against the risks. The report on Dorothy was right upstairs, in a box at the top of the closet. What chance could there be, that it held any information that might help me become a mother. And Jack become a father. All I knew was that time was the one thing I didn't have. And that I owed it to Jack, to both of us, to do anything I could…

I grabbed the phone and tapped the screen. "India?" My heart was pounding. "I need you…"

"Are you okay, Libby? You sound funny… Is it something with the baby?" Her voice was so sweet, so concerned. I felt a lump in my throat. How had I never realized what an amazing and loyal friend she'd always been?

"I'm fine. It's nothing like that," I swallowed hard. "All my life, I've tried not to ask anyone for help… I thought I could do it all on my own.

There isn't a baby, at least not yet," The words were pouring out now. "But there's nothing I want more, India. Jack and I… it's real. We're real. I want us to have a baby more than anything," I stopped to press a cool hand against my forehead. "But there's something I need to do… and I don't know if I can do it alone…"

"Are you sure you don't want Jack…?"

"I'll tell him everything tonight, if there's anything to tell. But right now, I just want you…"

"Then sit tight, sweetie. I'm on my way."

* * *

I met her as she pulled into the drive. The rain had begun to slow and the sun was peeking through the low clouds. She wrapped her arms around me before she even spoke.

"Talk to me," she said, once we were inside and Moki had given her a wet and thorough welcome. "No baby, yet? That's nothing so unusual." She smiled knowingly. "I kinda doubt it's for lack of trying…"

I blushed from my hair to my toenails and she laughed. "I couldn't be happier, you know." She took my hand and gave it a long squeeze. "The day you and I first met, I thought about Jack." She shrugged her shoulders. "Call it a gift. But I wasn't the only one who saw…" She smiled slyly. "The whole family knew you were a perfect match… long before you two finally figured it out."

Tears blurred my eyes and I wiped at them, overwhelmed. "I love him so much. I want to give him everything he needs… We want to be a family, India, although it still scares the shit out of me… the idea of being a real mother myself…

What if I don't know how… if I don't have enough inside me to give…?"

She smiled, so wise beyond her young years. "Then you lean on the people who love you, Libby. You have a family now, no matter what else happens from here on out. It's what we're here for, sweetie. There's no more alone for you. Not ever."

"I love you, India," I whispered, hugging her close.

"And I love you back. "Now," she wiped her own eyes and shook her hair back. "What am I out here for? I think you and Jack are all on your own with the business of making babies…"

"He had someone look into my mother's past…"

"I know… He told me. And I agreed it was the right thing to do."

I nodded hard. "I wasn't going to read it. But there could be information in that report that I should know. Sisters, maybe. Medical history…" I bit into my lip. "If there's a chance something in there could help… I have to read it, India. No matter what I find out, I have to know." I picked up the envelope from the coffee table. "I just didn't want to do it alone."

She smiled wide, her eyes still bright with moisture. "And you don't have to." She pulled out her phone. "You have no idea… the resources I've got available. We can take whatever information the letter gives, and go from there."

I smiled back, my heart thumping hard in my chest. I slipped my thumb under the yellow flap. "Okay Dorothy… start talking…"

* * *

Half an hour later, I leaned back heavily on the sofa. I licked dry lips, and handed the sheaf of papers over to India. She'd been silent the whole time, waiting. Patient, like her brother.

She glanced through them, shifting them between her hands. "So… is there more here than you already knew?" She looked up. "I see a lot of dates, a few addresses… but does it tell you who she was… or where she is now?"

"Last page… death certificate…" I closed my eyes. "She died just a few months after she gave me away."

India shuffled through them again. "I can't make out what's listed as the cause," she said. "It looks like the ink was smudged. There's nothing else?"

"Names of her parents… but this page here…" I showed her. "They're dead too.

Even if she hadn't given me away, I'd have been orphaned anyway. There's no husband listed… There must not have been anyone left at all." I looked at India's kind, clear eyes. "She was just as alone as I was…"

"Wait a minute…" India shuffled again. "There's a doctor's signature on this." She peered at the paper. "About as legible as you'd expect… But the name of the hospital is clear enough, right here in Asheville." She grabbed up her phone. "Even if the doctor's long gone, there are still records, Libby. And a chance that someone's still there who might remember something."

"It was almost twenty-five years ago…"

She tapped furiously on the screen. A few minutes later she handed the phone to me. "And nobody's getting any younger."