Rag Doll Ch. 08.1 - Sherry Baby

As we talked, I watched Sherry sink to a seat on the other couch, with her... uncle next to her, both of them conversing in low voices, but whatever they were saying, it was making Sherry smile and nod. The tears were gone now, although her eyes were still sparkling and bright, but James was smiling, too, and then he reached up and gently chucked her chin for just a moment. Again, I had that fleeting certainty of another milestone achieved, another connection made. I looked at Anh, and she smiled happily at me.

"It is good that Cherie find her way to our home, our family, her family; there are many empty places in this family, questions to be answered, slowly, slowly we will find answers, we will fill them again. Cherie mummy, not Rosa, her real mummy, you mummy, be very proud of her today, I can feel it, can you not? Please to tell me all about her mummy, how she bring you up, both of you. She have much to be proud of, please to tell me all about her, about you and you family."

And so I did; from my earliest years, my earliest memories of Sherry, my thoughts and feelings, how Sherry and I had found out that she was not my sister, that she was Mum's baby step-sister, being kids together, university medical school, losing Mum in that package holiday airliner crash, the story of our lives. She listened, gave condolence and asked simple direct questions, didn't judge, and didn't condemn.

When I eventually ran out of steam I realised Sherry and James had stopped talking and were watching us closely, small smiles on their faces. I felt my face heating as I blushed under their scrutiny

"What, what just happened?" I asked, and Sherry stood up, walking over to kneel next to me.

"Nothing, baby, it's just... you looked just like when you and Mum used to sit and chat, that same expression; you looked like you were at home. It felt so good, Danny, it felt normal, everything feels normal again. Isn't that wonderful?"

I took her hand in mine.

"How did it go, baby, what did your uncle tell you?" I asked, and she smiled that sweet happy "Sherry" smile she does when everything's fine in her world.

"Uncle James told me stuff about my... about Rosa, what she was like, the things she liked, her friends; she wasn't that different from me, maybe a little weirder than me-" I nudged her at that, and she gently punched my leg and grinned, "-but she never really got a chance to grow out of it, to grow up properly. Sidney, my deadbeat sperm donor, should have known better; he did know better, he was old enough to know she was just an impressionable girl and he didn't give a damn. He just played on that, he chased her and she fell for his bullshit, and then he dumped her and you know the rest. I'm just glad we came, I'm glad we know some of Rosa's story now. Thank you Danny, thank you for making it happen."

Anh smiled, reached out and gently stroked Sherry's cheek, stroked her hair, and chucked her chin, her touch gentle and motherly, and Sherry actually closed her eyes and preened under her touch, enjoying the feel of the gentle hand on her.

"Look so much like Rosa, and like my Nia too," she murmured. "That you find your family is good thing. I think Rosa and your mummy be happy with this, I think you have ease their hearts now you find your way back. You are part of my family, you are blood of my blood, and you are welcome here every day of your life. This is least I can offer you, offer your poor mummy. And now I think you will share with uncle who you and sweet boy are, and we will share in return. This must be; there are no secrets in this family, too much hidden too long, no more hiding."

Sherry stared at her wide-eyed, and slowly nodded. She didn't need to check with me, from talking with this lady I already knew we had to do the right thing.

Anh was right: no more secrets. I took Sherry's hand in one hand, and Anh's in the other, and assisted them both to stand. Sherry hesitated, but Anh smiled encouragement, and my hand tightened around her, sharing my strength, letting her know I had had her. Jamie and Nia looked from their mother to Sherry to me, obviously sensing something about to occur, while a corner of my mind noted absently they were holding hands too. James could obviously sense something in the air too, from the way his eyebrow cocked in query.

I gave Sherry's hand a little squeeze; it was now or never.

"Uncle James? There's one other thing I need to tell you." He looked interested, so she continued. "It's about well, it's Danny and me, who we are. You told me how you knew my half-sister took me in after Rosa's... after Rosa was lost. My sister had just gotten married, and two years after Rosa died, Danny was born. I always thought he was my brother, turns out he's my nephew, but that doesn't matter, because we're together now. If that offends you I'm sorry, but Danny and I are all we have, I love him and he loves me, and we'll leave if you want, but we'll leave together. I'm sorry, but that's what we are, it's who we are, and it's what we want."

James looked bemused, but not particularly offended or shocked, and I wondered why that should be. Instead, he cocked an eyebrow at Nia and Jamie, and certain things began to come clear; they were holding hands, but not in any kind of way I would think a brother and sister would. Also, they were sitting a lot closer than I thought siblings might, and then what clinched it was when Jamie slipped his arm around Nia's shoulders, and she smiled up at him.

It was a smile freighted with meaning; what I saw first and foremost, clearly and most obviously, was adoration, plain and simple, compounded with love, attraction, and a sense of unity. Jamie and Nia were so obviously a couple. How could I not have seen it before?

Anh stepped between Sherry and me and slipped her arms through ours.

"Let me tell story, then you understand why what you do not wrong, not shock your family, why we accept what you do. Please sit, we talk."

I looked at Nia, seeing her connection with Jamie all over again, and returning her smile as Jamie bent his head to kiss her. She kissed him back almost playfully and smiled at me once more.

"Please, Danny, just listen, then I promise you'll understand," she said, while Jamie and their father nodded in agreement.

We sat down, Anh between us, and holding our hands.

"When I was young," she began, "I live with husband, baby, in Vietnam. Husband killed, daughter taken, I was alone, I not know what to do, friend smuggle me to Vientiane in Laos. I meet English family, missionaries, they take me in, make me daughter, care for me. When come to England, they bring me. I still their daughter, have sister, Laura. When Laura parents, my parents, die, Laura and I stay together, we are sisters, love each other. Laura go to university, meet James, marry James, have little boy, but Laura very sick, my sister know she not live long. She give me little boy be my son, little boy is Jamie, Jamie Laura son, but he my son, too. I marry James, have baby, Nia. Jamie little boy, but he promise he do everything he can love and protect Nia, she precious, she his baby sister. Jamie love Nia all her life, Nia love her brother, when they are older, they are in love, love not forced, this what they want. Now they are together."

Sherry looked wide-eyed at Nia, suddenly seeing what I'd seen. She tried to cover her confusion with another question.

"What about the baby that was taken, do you know what happened to her?"

Anh smiled indulgently at Nia and Jamie.

"My children find her; they look and look around world, they go everywhere, they ask, they search, find police can help, they find my lost daughter, Nia big sister. They find bad men who steal her away, they meet her, meet her children, now she back with family too. Live in America but still one of this family. How I condemn what you do when it is what I did, what my children do? Love where you find it. Lord Buddha say "love not need to be perfect, it just need to be true". This what you have, and so I will not say anything. Be at peace, children, you have done nothing wrong."

Nia broke the silence by patting Jamie on the knee and standing up.

"Now that we've got all that out of the way, let's talk about what comes next; you guys, you're the first and only family I've ever met, and I guess you're probably feeling like I am, a little stunned, and a little shell-shocked, but we're family, and somewhere out there there's more of us. Daddy had two younger sisters, your mother, Cherie, and her older sister, Barbara. She disappeared after she got married, not long after Rosa passed away, and there's been no word of her since, at least we've never heard anything; have you?" She cocked her head hopefully, but her smile faded when Sherry shook her head.

"I'm sorry, I didn't even know Rosa had a brother, let alone a sister. This is all so new to me, I'm still... getting my head around all this, telling you about us, finding out about you guys, it's a lot to take in..."

James also stood up and fished inside his shirt pocket, pulling something out with a sad, wistful expression on his face. Whatever it was, he closed his hand around it and walked over to us, hunkering down in front of Sherry.

"I got Rosa a special gift for her eighteenth, but I never go to give it to her, so I kept it. I thought I'd give it to you on your eighteenth instead, but I lost you, so please, I know it's a little late, but happy eighteenth birthday, Cherie."

Sherry gasped in wonder at what he held in his hand, a gold pendant set with rubies in the shape of a rose, mounted with small, exquisite sapphires, obviously echoing her name and her blue eyes.

"I had it made especially for her, a rose for our Rosa, and a platinum charm bracelet for Barbara. I hope Barb had a daughter to give it to, it was one she'd always wanted."

Sherry hugged James, and turned so I could clip the pendant around her neck, then turned back to him and kissed his cheek.

"Thank you, Uncle James!" she murmured. "Now I know, maybe we can do something; you found me, you brought me back to my family, now we need to find out what happened to Barbara. We need to find her family, they belong here too. We have to look, it would be the right thing to do."

James kissed her gently on her forehead.

"Don't worry, Sherry-Baby, we will. We're family, and we all belong together."

*

So this is where our story has come so far. Somewhere Sherry has more family, she and James are sure of it, her cousin Jamie is already searching and putting out feelers, because he thinks he might have a solid lead, and I know neither of them will rest now until they put their story back together. And me? I'll be there to support my beautiful girl and her caring family, who lost her but never gave up on her. We'll all keep looking, and one day we'll find the rest of her family and finally underline the story. It's the least I can do for my beautiful Sherry-Baby.

Rag Doll Ch.08.2, the final part of this story, will see Bobby and Ricky finally unravel the mystery of Barbara's origins, her family, and where they are, how they reconnect with their Morrison family, and the significance of Barbara's charm bracelet