Page 74 of Lucky In Love
But she knew she had to find her sister and Ciara’s father. This was probably her only chance.
They sat at the kitchen table while the kids played in the far corner of the living room. Maeve smiled, watching Ciara play. She hoped she was doing the right thing for her niece. “I’m not sure where to start,” she confessed.
She pulled the advertisement from her purse and set it on the table. It was a flyer for a strip club, Gentleman Jerry’s. It was located in the suburbs of Chicago; Lombard to be exact. It was sparkly green with a four-leaf clover cut out and a woman’s eye wearing heavy makeup peeking through the clover. It advertised drink specials for the upcoming St. Patrick’s Day weekend.
Both Angel and Jackson waited until she spoke again. They were both used to giving people the time they needed to tell their story.
“My sister Quinn, Ciara’s mom, wasn’t ready to be a mom when Ciara was born. She didn’t even tell Ciara’s father she was pregnant, not that either of us knew where he was when she found out she was pregnant. I don’t blame him for walking away when he did. Quinn creates drama wherever she goes, and he’d had enough. I’ve taken care of Ciara since she was born. Before Quinn split, she at least made me Ciara’s legal guardian.” Maeve paused, and the silence continued for nearly a minute.
“Why do you need to find her now?” Jackson asked.
“I’ve been kind of trying to for several years, but I never had a lead until this.” She tapped the flyer. “That’s my sister’s eye. I’m sure it is. She has to be back in the area if she’s on this flyer. This was left on my car Friday evening, in Lombard.”
“We’re going to need the whole story,” Jackson said. “And I’m going to need to see your ID and Ciara’s birth certificate. I need full names and dates.”
Tears filled Maeve’s eyes and her heart dropped. “This was a mistake,” she muttered. “Never mind.” She shot to her feet.
Angel stood and stepped in front of her. “We can help, but we have to validate everything you’ve told us. And I get the feeling there’s more to why you want to find your sister.”
“And Blain, Ciara’s father. I need to find him. Look, he doesn’t even know about her. And she’s been asking about her dad recently. If anything happens to me, Ciara has no one. I’m sure Quinn is no more able to be a mom to Ciara now than she was when she left. So, hopefully Blain will.” She ended her words abruptly.
“You know, if you find either or both of them, they could challenge you for custody,” Jackson said.
“I don’t want to lose her, but I need there to be someone there for her,” she began. Her lip quivered, and the tears streamed down her cheeks. She couldn’t continue her sentence.
Angel wrapped her arms around her and drew her in for an embrace. “It’s okay. Whatever it is, we’ll help you, Maeve.”
“You have to trust someone,” Jackson whispered. “And you chose Angel to be that someone. Come on, finish what you started.”
Maeve re-took her seat. She told her story, the whole story. For her it was cathartic, letting it all tumble out of her mouth. She told them how her sister lied to Maeve’s boyfriend, Blain Sullivan, got him to break up with Maeve, and then she seduced him. He realized he’d been lied to and wanted to reconcile with Maeve, but the damage was done. Maeve couldn’t trust him and wouldn’t take him back. The relationship between Quinn and Blain lasted less than a month, a tumultuous drama-filled month. And then, in a flurry of typical Quinn-drama she tried to get him back. That’s when he stopped all communication with them both and left the area.
Quinn was five months pregnant before she realized it. She never considered an abortion, but did consider giving the baby up for adoption. In classic, selfish, Quinn style, she brought the baby home but never stepped up to be the mother Ciara deserved.
Maeve was the one who stepped up, and she loved Ciara as if she were her own. When Ciara was two months old, Quinn returned to her party life. By the time Ciara was six months old, Quinn was rarely home. On Ciara’s first birthday, Maeve suggested she be named legal guardian. Quinn agreed. Shortly after, Quinn broke off all communication after telling Maeve she was moving to California with a new boyfriend.
Angel still felt there was more. “So why try to find her now, Maeve? There’s something you’re not telling us.” She reached across the table and took Maeve’s hand.
Maeve swallowed hard and glanced up at the ceiling, her eyes full of tears. “I need surgery. It’s a dangerous surgery. If anything happens to me, I need to make sure Ciara is taken care of.”
“Do you have any other family? What about your parents?” Angel asked.
“Both are gone. My father died of an aneurism when I was a child, and my mother died in a car accident a few years before Ciara was born.”
Angel glanced at Jackson. He nodded. “We’ll help you find Ciara’s parents, and if anything happens to you we will take care of Ciara if they won’t,” Angel said.
Maeve now had tears streaming down her face. Angel handed her a box of tissues.
“It’s called an abdominal aortic aneurysm, a triple A. And it’s a big one, nearly seven centimeters. They told me it will most likely rupture within the next year and then I would bleed to death.” She wiped the tears from her cheeks again and blew out a shaky breath. “Even if the surgery is successful, the recovery comes with more risks.”
Angel rose from her seat and went to Maeve, embracing her again. “Oh, honey, I am so sorry. You have to schedule that surgery as soon as possible. Between us and my best friend Elizabeth Williams and her husband, we’ll take care of Ciara while we look for her parents.”
Jackson reached across the table and took Maeve’s hand, which gripped the table. “A triple A is nothing to mess with. Angel’s right. You need to schedule that surgery ASAP.”
“I know,” Maeve said.
“How and when was it diagnosed?” Angel asked. She hoped Maeve hadn’t been walking around with this life-threatening condition for too long.
“A few weeks ago. I’d been having stomach pain. I thought it was just my stomach not handling acidic foods well. My doctor sent me for an ultrasound and that’s when they found it. The treatment is relatively simple. They insert a catheter into an artery and then they put a stent inside the aorta where it’s bulging to reinforce it at the weak point to prevent the pressure on the aortic wall from rupturing it. The downside is that blood clots can occur, which can cause strokes. There’s also a big risk of bleeding and infection. There are scarier life-threatening risks that happen in a small percentage of these surgeries. I’m trying not to think about that, but I did read on the internet that nearly thirty percent of people who have these surgeries encounter significant issues.”