Read Betrothed for Free Online

think so,’ I said, as I fumbled in my bag for my phone.
    ‘We’ll see.’
    When we got back to the car, I punched in the number. The phone rang quite a few times and I was just about to hang up when an elderly-sounding woman answered. I put the call on speaker.
    ‘Um, hi, you don’t know me. My name’s Amy Smith and I think I’m supposed to speak to you about my adoption.’
    ‘Oh, it’s you! I’ve been waiting such a long time for your call!’ The woman’s voice was shaky with a mixture of age and excitement.
    I was silent for a little while, as I struggled to know what I should say next, there were so many questions, but I didn’t know which to ask first. Hilary opened her mouth to rescue the situation but Ruby got in first, ‘Are you still there, dear?’
    ‘I am,’ I said, and then, ‘What do you know about me, Ruby? Why was I given your contact details? Do you know my birth parents?’
    ‘Oh I don’t think those are things I could talk about over the phone. I don’t go out much anymore, but will you come and meet me here?’
    Jack was nodding madly, but I wasn’t so sure, we had no idea who this person was. ‘Um, I don’t know . . . Can I call you back?’
    ‘Don’t hang up, I’ll just hold on.’ I could hear the anxiety in her voice.
    I told her I didn’t have much credit and promised to call her back soon, then I hung up and looked at my friends. ‘What should we do?’
    ‘Go there of course,’ Jack said, ‘It’s only Bondi.’
    ‘We have no idea who she is! What if she’s some crazy old psycho?’
    ‘She sounds like a sweet little old lady to me,’ Jack said.
    ‘And we’ll be with you,’ Hilary added.
    Jack typed the Bondi address into his GPS. ‘We could be there in about half an hour,’ he told us, when the directions had been calculated. ‘And all your questions will be answered.’
    I seriously doubted that, but I said, ‘Fine, we’ll go, but if she comes at us with an axe, I’m hiding behind you.’
    ‘Well I am the man aren’t I?’
    Hilary and I both made scoffing noises, then I called Ruby back and told her we were on our way.
    Given the strangeness of my dreams I’d kind of suspected that discovering the identity of my birth parents wouldn’t be as simple as just going to meet Lena Molloy to find out they’d left me as a newborn because they were too young, or too sick, or too poor. I hadn’t been surprised she’d been unable to tell me that my parents either wanted to know me or didn’t want to know me. And the weirdness of the meeting itself had only reinforced my suspicions. Who goes to some scungy little office to get information about their adoption? And who, once there, is given a secret envelope containing the address of some old lady? The whole thing was bizarre and there were so many questions—first whirling in my head all alone and then bouncing around the car with Jack and Hilary. The three of us picked every aspect of the meeting with Lena apart. What did my adoption have to do with her export business? Why hadn’t my information been kept at the government adoption agency? Why did Lena seem to be suffering memory loss when it came to answering questions? Why had I to prove my identity with my birthmark? (This got Jack distracted for a little while.) What did this old lady have to do with it and exactly what kind of paper was her name and address written on? And who had been to Lena looking for information about my adoption?
    ‘That’s what worries me most,’ I said, ‘the fact that someone has been looking for me. I mean why would anyone want to find me?’
    ‘Well, someone did,’ Jack said, ‘and judging by the way you had to identify yourself, someone else didn’t want them to.’
    I shuddered as more icy fingers walked up and down my body. I’d stepped into a whole world of intrigue and I didn’t like it one little bit. ‘I feel really sick,’ I moaned.
    Jack reached across me into the glove box, and took out a paper bag