Surprise!!

James was sitting in his parent’s kitchen thinking that he was the luckiest man on earth because both of his parents were well known in the medical profession. His mother, Naomi was the lead project research specialist who would delve into books to find out everything she could about her topics. She was like a bulldog when it came to researching something because once she got onto the trail of something, she never let go of it until the end when she was satisfied with what she found out. His father was a doctor, a specialist of the heart, who had performed surgeries on celebrities and some well known public figures. He was called in when the surgery was tricky and no one else wanted to touch the person. Seth, his father would take it on without a second thought, and usually, the outcome would be on the positive side. James was sitting there wondering why he didn’t want to go into that area of expertise. He dreamed of the day he would own his own business and have many people to bark orders at. Thinking of seeing the blood ooze out of people makes him sick to his stomach and he would pass out cold on the floor. Laughingly, he knew that was not a good thing for a doctor to feel.

James knew that he was lucky in many other aspects of his life which include his four other brothers and one sister. He used to daydream back to the time when life was simple and people didn’t sue people at the drop of a hat. He could remember the time another guy was picking on their sister who had come crying because of the words he had called her which made the brothers go out to have a little talk with the boy. His parents called on their parents later in the evening to ask them to control their boys. No police officers or lawyers were brought into the situation. Oh, how he loved that period, every situation was handled between parents and the family, a time when life was easier to live and to raise a family in. A time when people respect people, their lives, and God was number one in most people’s lives. A time when children could and would go outside to play until the street lights came on and the children would take off in all directions to get home before they would get in trouble for being late.

Sitting there in the dreamland of his past, he didn’t notice that his parents had walked into the kitchen with their lawyer following them. As the three sat down opposite him, not known how today was going to come out, they sat on the edge of their chairs ready to either fight or flight. They knew that today was the day that he had to be told the mystery that all the other adult children knew by now. When their children turned eighteen, they were all told the deep, dark, secret of the family. With James, being the youngest, the parents sighed a deep breath of relief because everyone would know the secret and they could talk about it in the open. They were scared of how it was going to affect James because of the ties that he had with the other family, but they also knew he had to be told.

James looked at each in turn before saying anything. He knew that his parents had asked him to stop over at two in the afternoon because they needed to talk to him about some important things. Feeling nervous about what they needed to talk to him about, he called his older brother to see if he would be there and his wife answered the phone saying that he was busy. Plus, he had to go into work at one-thirty, so no he wouldn’t be there for the important meeting. For some reason, James knew that his wife was lying about where his older brother would be. When he noticed his parent’s lawyer was also at the meeting his thoughts went crazy about what was going on. Was he adopted? Was he kidnapped? Was he just really his mother and not his fathers?

His dad started off the conversation and James sat there in disbelief as he listened to what his dad had to say about his past. He didn’t know what to say or do about anything, his life seemed to be changing in front of his eyes. His dad paused to catch his breath and that is when his mother took over by saying, “Things can stay the same or it can be different. We will be understanding. How things go from now on is up to you. I hope that I can still be your loving mother.”

His dad continued by saying, “I am sorry Son that we waited until now to tell you this, but we were scared of how you would react to the news. On the night you were born, a drunk driver ran the stop sign in our old town and hit your parents on the right side of their car. Your parents were killed instantly, but they rushed your mother into surgery so they could save you.  It was touch and go for a while with you. You were in the hospital for about four months. The drunk driver is in prison for several different charges and we were the only witnesses to the accident. No one else in town knew that we adopted you right after it happened and raised you as one of our own. We love you dearly Son. We will understand if you want to learn about your real parents. We have a scrapbook of items that we collected out of magazines and newspapers for this day. It is up to you how life goes on from here.”

“I guess I will have to think about what I want to do. Of course, I want to find out about my birth parents. Why did you think I would be mad about what happened in the past? Neither of you two was driving the car that killed my parents, were you? No, you said the driver is in prison, so why should I be mad?”

“Well, we had been out celebrating that night with some friends. No, we weren’t driving the car. We were in the car’s back seat. The husband was killed instantly while the wife who was driving got sent to prison. We always felt some of the blame should rest on our shoulders because we were in the car with her.” James got up to walk around the kitchen to get some of the nervous energy out of his body. He stopped beside his dad to look at the parents and realized how much they had suffered by just keeping the secret from him. His dad looked down at the floor and James noticed that his mother had tears rolling down her cheeks. He melted instantly when he noticed that his mother was crying because of this situation. 

He smiled as he softly said, “You two will always be my parents, birth or adopted I don’t care which. I am just blessed that I am part of this family and blessed to be your son. I only have two questions for you. Who were my parents? Why is your lawyer here?” James knew that he would always love his parents for the life that he did lead. He would always trust his parents and his family.

His parents looked at each other before his dad continued by saying, “Your parents are Lewis and Sally Morton.” His dad paused to look at his mother before continuing, “Your parents were rich and everything came to their only child which is you. Our lawyer is here because he has been handling whenever anything comes up on the accounts, stocks, and government bonds. He can answer any questions that you may have concerning any questions that you may have.”

James sat there long after the threesome left and wondered how his life would have been like if that accident never happened? Would he have felt the love like he did with this family or would he had been left with a nanny? Some many questions with little answers, James had decided to research what he could learn about his parents starting with the accident? What he did know about his parents, Lewis and Sally Morton was that they become rich because of the family business plus buying the right stocks at the right time. He knew he was going to do research, but he also knew that he was going to take this slow. Don’t jump into something without thinking it through.