Chapter 40
Chapter Forty
Brisbane
The show was over. Mima clutched her purse to her side as she stood by her car, unwilling to leave, yet knowing she had to. She’d hoped she’d get to see Allen again after it ended, but he’d been caught up in some kind of meeting with the producers, and she’d been ushered out into the parking lot.
The studio doors whooshed open, and Allen stepped outside. He strode forwards with purpose, then noticed Mima and changed direction to walk to where she stood. He pressed his hands to his hips and shifted nervously in front of her.
“Hi,” he said. “I’m glad you hadn’t left yet. I was trying to get away…”
“It’s fine,” she replied. “I wanted to talk to you without the microphones and lights.”
“Yeah, me too.”
She inhaled a sharp breath. “I wanted to name you Oliver. And I thought you were gone. So, it’s going to take a bit of getting used to. I’m still trying to grasp the fact that you’re standing here, in front of me.”
“I’m sure it’s a shock. I wanted them to tell you everything, but they were adamant that it had to be a surprise. Do you want to grab some dinner and talk?”
She nodded. “That would be great.”
“We can go to my place, if you like. I’ll order Chinese.”
“Perfect.”
Allen’s flat was enormous. It sat on the top floor of an exclusive building with only six units in it.
It was luxurious and modern, with a view of the city skyline.
Mima sipped a glass of wine while Allen ordered Chinese food over the kitchen phone.
She stared out across the city as the sun set behind the skyscrapers, musing over the series of events that’d brought her to that moment.
“Food is on its way,” Allen said.
They both sat on leather couches facing one another. One entire wall was windows looking over the brilliant colours of the setting sun. The kitchen and living rooms were one big open space, with an enormous piece of indigenous art in pinks and oranges on the living room wall.
“What do you do for a career?”
He leaned back to thread his fingers together behind his head.
“I’m in technology. I started out coding, but then built a company of my own, developing custom software for corporate clients in the late eighties.
A couple of years ago, I sold that company and invested in real estate and the stock market.
Since then, I’ve lived off those investments, searched for you, travelled and basically tried to enjoy my life after many years of hard slog. ”
“Wow, that’s incredible. And it sounds complicated.
I’m not great at tech—I still haven’t quite figured out how to use a computer.
And the whole modem thing is a mystery to me, that beep boop beep boop noise it makes, and I don’t know how to open my email or what to do with it.
Kate’s showed me before, but it’s all out of my grasp.
Now I have an expert to turn to.” She grinned. “A real computer genius.”
“Anytime you need help, give me a call.”
“I’ll remember that. By the way, your flat is lovely,” Mima said.
Allen glanced around. “Oh, thanks. Yeah, I like it. Not exactly what I’d pictured for myself, but it’s good.”
“What did you picture?”
He sighed. “I thought I’d be married with kids by now. Unfortunately, it didn’t work out that way for me. Still, I’m happy enough.”
“I’m sorry. I know what you mean. I thought I’d have that too.”
He looked at her with eyes full of understanding. “You didn’t marry?”
“No, never did. I fell in love of course—once, during the war. He was American, and his name was Ollie… Oliver… that’s who I wanted to name you after. But he was killed in battle in the final days of fighting. And then, later… with your…father.”
“I’m so sorry,” he said. “I’ve wondered about my father.”
“He was a musician named Luca Falco, an Italian who migrated here after the war. It makes sense that you didn’t find him since I never told the hospital his name.”
“What happened to him?” Allen asked.
She shrugged. “I don’t know. He left us. That’s all I can tell you. He was upset that I was pregnant, and he left.”
“Did you love him?”
She nodded. “I did, at the time. But it was so long ago. Who can say?”
“I guess it was a scandal… you not marrying him.” He leaned forward, elbows on his knees.
“A huge scandal. I was arrested for moral danger and sent to a hospital with a refuge for single mothers.”
“Arrested?” He arched an eyebrow. “Wow.”
“Times have changed.”
“Apparently so,” he said. “And you told the audience that they said I was dead?”
“That’s right. Until today, I honestly thought I’d lost you all those years ago. I had no idea…”
He shook his head. “For most of my life, I believed you didn’t want me. That you’d given me up. It’s what my parents told me. I think it’s what they’d been led to believe by the adoption agency.”
“I’m sure they thought so,” Mima replied.
“It was illegal, what they did. Even back then, you couldn’t take a baby forcibly from its mother’s arms. You couldn’t give him up for adoption without the mother signing the paperwork…
” She paused, thinking. “But then, I suppose I did sign something. It must’ve been the adoption paperwork.
They told me it was my discharge papers, and I was so distraught, I didn’t read through it.
” Her jaw clenched. “Hindsight can be so clear while also cruel. If only I knew… I would’ve moved heaven and earth to get you back.
And perhaps they knew that, which is why they said you’d passed.
If they’d taken you by force, I would’ve fought them. ”
“Then they changed the birth certificate so I couldn’t find you,” he said.
“And I couldn’t find you,” Mima replied. “Because I did look for that paperwork. I wanted to change your name to Oliver as a memorial. But I never could locate it.”
“Now you know why.” He pressed his fingers together. “I’m so glad I finally get to meet you and hear your side of the story. It’s really helped me to process the whole situation.” His eyes glistened with unshed tears.
“I’m glad I could do something, even if it’s not much after all these years,” Mima replied. “Why did you look for me?”
He straightened in his seat. “As they said on the show, my parents told me around eight years old that I was adopted, that you hadn’t wanted me, but that they chose to love me.
And they were very good parents. I was a happy child.
They’re still alive and living on the Sunshine Coast. But when I finished high school and came to Brisbane to study at university, I finally realised I could search for you without upsetting my parents.
I was on my own, and they didn’t have to know about it. ”
“Do they know you found me?”
He nodded. “They were in the audience today. That’s who I was speaking with after the show. They were really happy for me. Very emotional, of course.”
Mima felt the tears welling up again. “I’m so glad you had good parents. It’s such a relief to hear that. I hope I get to meet them.”
“They’d like that too,” he replied. “Anyway, I started looking for my birth certificate right away. I thought it would at least give me your name. But as I said earlier, I couldn’t find it.
It took years before I finally gave up and called this show.
Decades, actually. I went on with life, travelled, built a career, fell in love, got engaged.
Then she cheated on me after eight years together, and we broke up.
I haven’t really had another serious relationship since then. ”
“I’m sorry to hear that, honey. I’m sure you’ll find love again.”
“Thanks. Anyway, when the show found you, they refused to tell me anything about you. Said I had to come on the episode to meet you, and so of course, I couldn’t refuse that.”
There was a buzz at the front door. He went to answer it and soon returned carrying a bag of Chinese takeaway containers.
They set it all up on his glass dining room table, and Mima spooned some food onto her plate.
They chatted about his life and Mima’s role at the inn.
He told her about his parents and childhood, and she talked about the Summer sisters and her friends Edie, Paul and Jack.
They murmured together for hours, laughed, cried, and ate far too much Chinese food.
“I can’t wait to take you to the Waratah Inn to meet everyone,” Mima finally said when she stood at the door to tell him goodbye late that night to return to her hotel room.
He kissed her on the cheek. “I can’t wait to meet them, Mum.”
Hearing him call her “Mum” released a balloon of joy deep down inside her soul. She drifted back to her car to drive home with a teary grin on her face.