State Of Grace

Chapter 25 - Hoax

Anita sat across the kitchen table from Gracie and her foster parents, there was a look on Anita's face that Gracie had seen countless times. A mix of pity and guilt that made her feel sick to her stomach.

"As you know, I've been getting Gracie's paperwork in order for the adoption appointment with the judge," Anita was famous for beating around the bush, "And some new information has come to light, actually it was an oversight from Gracie's last social worker, the one who took her case when Hugo passed away."

"What does that mean?" Stella asked frustratedly.

"It means she's taking me away again," Gracie stared at Anita, furious with her.

"No, Gracie, I'm not here to remove you from this home," Anita sighed.

"What?" Gracie was confused, Anita only ever showed up when something bad happened.

Lilah let out a relieved breath, "You're not?"

"It seems," Anita was talking slowly, taking big breaths between words like she didn't want to say what she had discovered, "It seems that Gracie's birth parents, or at the very least her mother, are alive."

Gracie's hand instinctively reached for the pendant that hung from her neck, the necklace given to her by her Hugo before he died, "That's not funny," her brow furrowed and her nose scrunched up, "I was the one who found my dad's body, okay? You can't fake that. And I saw the order of service from my mom's funeral, my dad gave it to me. I kept it in my journal for years until it was burnt with the rest of my stuff, he wouldn't have lied about something like that."

The truth was that Gracie didn't know her father very well at all, but she knew he loved her, and he would never go out of his way to corroborate such an elaborate lie and he certainly wasn't the type to fake his death.

She thought back to the day she found her father's lifeless body covered in his blood. She remembered the bruises she had from being dragged out kicking and screaming. And then the years of abuse and neglect that she endured in foster care. There was no way her parents were alive. Anita must've meant something else, and that possibility terrified Gracie.

Lilah reached out for Gracie's hand, "Gracie, let's hear what Anita has to say."

"No," she stood up from the table and backed away from everyone, suddenly feeling cornered, "They're dead, she's lying!"

It felt like she was losing her mind, like Anita playing a strange game, and Gracie just didn't understand.

"Gracie, please," Lilah stepped closer to Gracie and took her hand to try and keep her calm, but Gracie was unreachable inside her head, "Sit back down."

Gracie stayed on her feet, fondling the pendant between her fingers, and faced Anita, "Go on then, explain."

"Hugo and Francesca Santos are dead, that's true, but," Anita took another breath, barely looking Gracie in the eye.

"Just tell me!" Gracie demanded through tears as her balled up fist hit the table.

"Neither of their names was on your birth certificate, there was just one, does the name Julia Santos mean anything to you?"

Chewing on the inside of her cheek, she answered reluctantly, "Graciella Francesca Julia Santos, that's my full name." She remembered Hugo once telling her it was a family name. "But if my dad isn't my dad then who the hell did I live with for eight years?" Nothing was adding up in Gracie's head, she couldn't process everything she was being told.

"Hugo and Francesca are your grandparents."

"No," Gracie was shaking her head, denying everything.

"Your birth mother is currently being held in La Mesa penitentiary. She's been charged with prostitution and drug trafficking."