The woman went into a full blown emotional breakdown. “I couldn’t afford a lawyer and the police were little help with finding my daughter. I’ve looked for her for almost sixteen years. It wasn’t until your friend here walked through my door that I learned he had only been living a few states over under a different name. All these years I’ve lived without seeing her beautiful face. I remarried and had another daughter, but there hasn’t been one day that I didn’t think about the one I lost. Heather told me that you would know how I could find her. Please tell me. Where is my daughter. It’s been so long. I just need to see her.”
She was pleading with Amy and until I turned around, I had no idea that she was crying too. How could someone not feel sorry for this woman. Out of anyone that could relate to her situation, it would have been Amy. “I saw your daughter a couple months ago, ma’am. I’m sure Amy would be happy to help the two of you reconnect.”
She smiled and wiped her eyes again. Amy stood up and looked right at her. “He told me that you had abandoned them. I swear I knew nothing about what you were going through. I never would have kept her from her own mother. I swear it.”
The woman tried to smile as the tears continued to fall down her cheeks. It was like I could feel the pain seeping out of her. “I believe you.”
“I promise you that I will help you get to know her. She’s been through a lot too. She moved out a few months ago, after her father started beating on her. I didn’t know it was going on. I was already trying to leave myself. He’s so much worse now. All I want is to be divorced from that man, so that I can have a real life with Conner.”
“I don’t think you understand, Amy. Rick illegally changed his name. I had to wait almost ten years to finally get the courts to allow me a divorce. Part of it was because I couldn’t afford it.”
I stood up. “Wait! Are you sayin’ what I think you are? Are you tellin’ me that Amy was never really married?”
“That is exactly what I am saying. Even if his name was changed legally, which I know it wasn’t, he couldn’t still be married to me and marry Amy at the same time. Now, I’m sure you will need my help and some old documents to prove it, but you are not married to that man. You never were.”
Amy immediately stood up and buried her head into my chest. She was crying so hard that I wanted to cry myself. I rubbed her back and kissed her on the head. We still didn’t have a solution to the Rick problem, but coming to West Virginia had been worth the trip. I looked over at Heather and saw her crying too. I smiled at her. “Thank you, Heather. Thank you so much for this.”
Chapter 23
Amy
There were no words to describe how I was feeling at that exact moment that this complete stranger told me that my marriage to Rick wasn’t legal. It didn’t matter if he legally changed his name. What mattered was that he was still married to someone else, which would void our nuptials all together. I was overjoyed and I could tell that Conner was as well.
Heather hadn’t brought us here because she thought it would help us find Rick. She brought us here because she knew that finding this out would change everything for my future with Conner.
Reaching out to my step-daughter was going to be difficult, especially since she had been laying low and avoiding her father. Still, I owed it to the wonderful woman to follow through with what I promised. I sent her a text message telling her that I wanted to talk and it had nothing to do with her father. All I could hope for was that she would respond. She had a mother out there that had been searching for her for too long. She needed to know that the woman loved her.
I couldn’t wait to call Miranda and Van and tell them both the good news. Conner seemed to finally relax too. After exchanging our contact information, we left and headed back to the place where Heather’s car had been left. Ty and Miranda would never forgive the girl, but I had to appreciate what she’d done for me. Who would have thought that it would have given Conner and I a fresh start. We could move on, well, just as soon as I could prove that my marriage was a sham.
Heather didn’t divulge any information on her new beau, Rick’s son, Jessie. I could tell that she was truly serious about the guy. With that being said, she needed to come clean with the kid. Lying to the person you love was no way of starting a new relationship. Granted, he probably would want nothing to do with her, if the truth did come out.
After saying our goodbyes, we watched her get in her car and drive away. This time we had exchanged numbers. I didn’t want to be her friend, but I knew that if I needed her help, she would probably come.