Free Escape From Fear by Gloria Skurzynski

to offer it to them, but Cimmaron waved him off. “There is no need. I will stand. Why don’t you just come out with it and ask me whatever it is you’re going to ask me? What has happened—has the cat got your tongue?”
    It looked as though Forrest didn’t know what to say. For once, words seemed to dry up inside him. Eyes wide, fists jammed against his sides, he stood silent.
    Cimmaron’s chin tipped toward the ceiling. “Since you’re afraid to speak, let me see if I can guess. You’re here looking for your birth mother. Am I right?”
    His mouth barely moving, Forrest croaked, “Yes.”
    â€œYou want to ask me about January 21st, the day you were born. You come all the way from the United States to ask me this. To find your roots. To find your blood.” A beat later, she added, “To find me.”
    Forrest’s voice sounded strangely flat. “So I was right. You are my—mother.” His shoulders sagged, as if he’d gone soft in the middle.
    â€œI am the one who bore you. Your mother is someone else. Why did you do this to me?” Cimmaron looked almost angry, and Jack’s mind flashed to what his sister had said only moments before. Some people didn’t want to be found. It looked as if Cimmaron was one of those. “You are not mine, not any longer,” she went on defiantly. “Why stir up the past?”
    Forrest squeezed his eyes shut, and Jack wondered if it was to hold back tears. He felt suddenly angry. Why did Cimmaron have to be so cold? There was no need for Forrest to have to stand there as if he were naked in front of them all; there was no purpose in making him squirm. What mother wouldn’t want to meet her own child?
    â€œMaybe we should go,” Jack said out loud. When it seemed as though no one heard, he stayed in his seat. One way or another, the scene would have to play out.
    â€œYou do this to bring me pain,” Cimmaron said, again defiant. “I have enough pain. You do not need to bring more.”
    â€œNo, not for…I needed to…there are many reasons. Why did you give me up?” he asked abruptly.
    Now it was Cimmaron who seemed to flag. “I gave you away so you could have a better life. Your parents, they have been good to you?”
    Forrest didn’t answer.
    â€œThey promised me,” she said, her voice tight. “They said they could give you a better life.”
    â€œI have money. I’m educated. But it doesn’t change the fact that you—you didn’t want me.”
    â€œChild, child, of course I wanted you. But life is hard. We all do what we must do.”
    â€œIs that ‘must’ or ‘want’?”
    Before she could answer, the door to the lobby opened. An elderly couple came inside, pulling two suitcases as if they were dogs on a leash. The man, dressed in a bright orange shirt, looked around expectantly. The woman fussed behind him about how much he’d tipped the cabbie, until she realized the front desk was empty. “Now look, there’s no one here to give us a room. How are we going to check in?”
    In a flash, Ashley was on her feet. “Toby just stepped out for a minute. I’ll get him for you.”
    â€œOh, thank you, dear,” the woman clucked.
    While Ashley vanished behind the door, Denise went to where Forrest stood and placed a hand gently on his shoulder. “Perhaps it would be better if we moved to another place,” she said quietly. Then, to Cimmaron, “Are you hungry? There’s a restaurant where we could go eat, on the street right across from the Park Service. The Songbird. Do you know it?”
    â€œOf course,” Cimmaron said, nodding tersely.
    â€œThen I suggest we continue the conversation there. When you get settled I can run and get the Landons—”
    â€œWho are they?” Cimmaron demanded.
    â€œIt’s a long story. Forrest can explain. It would be