18.

So I traveled down to see Bernie and Maddie. I was still a bit nervous, especially now that everything was out in the open. They had some time to think about the information, and I wasn’t sure if that would change how they felt.

The weekend went well. We didn’t fight, we didn’t argue, we didn’t get annoyed with each other and say mean things. We were stuck together inside a lot because it rained all weekend, and we still had one of the best weekends we had together in quite some time. I was careful not to bring up Hank or Anne. At one point, Maddie asked me point-blank about Anne. She wanted to know if Anne had yet brought up any interest in meeting me. I said no, and abruptly changed the subject.

Finally on Monday, when we were getting ready to go to brunch before my flight home, my mom asked my dad to bring out some pictures. Bernie gave me an old, but very well kept, packet of photographs. It was Bernie, Maddie, and my nana picking me up from the hospital on my “gotcha” day. I flipped through them a few times; it was the first time in my life that I had ever seen these pictures.

The story came out like a dam bursting. I told them about how Hank and Anne stayed together after I was born, but that Anne wouldn't let Hank come to the hospital when I was born. That my name on my birth certificate was just "baby girl". We talked for a good hour about everything, and I told them a lot they didn't know. They listened, they asked questions, they laughed.

Afterwards, we had a wonderful, albeit rainy brunch, and I walked through security on good terms with them.

After the road we have traveled down, it felt so incredible that we were going to be on a positive note with all of this. Since I've been home, they have asked about Hank, although not much. Hopefully, this is a conversation that continue in happier terms.