Tiny Tina

"Where is he now?"

"I googled him. He's a dermatologist up in Central City."

"That's not too far, Mar. You gonna tell him?"

"I've been thinking about him more in the past twenty-four hours than I have in the past twenty years. Maybe. I don't know. I'm sure Tina will want to know. We'll see."

"You know she's going to want to, you just know it."

"Oh, Sof, you know, in a way this has been good for me. Finally, after all these years I don't have to hide a huge part of me or my life."

"What about Mom and Dad? They're going to want to know. Mom has wanted a granddaughter since forever and now she's got one. Maybe she'll quit hounding me to produce one."

"No, she'll still want more. You're only thirty-four so you better get busy and pop out something other than boys," laughed Maria. "I wonder what they'll say. I bet they'll be pissed at Catharina."

"Oh, I don't think they can be. Her dementia is so bad that she probably doesn't even remember helping you. Hell, she didn't even recognize us the last time we saw her at the dementia unit."

By the end of their second glass of wine the two sisters were giddy and laughing. Sofia was tickled to have a new niece and Maria was relieved the hidden secret was finally coming out in the open. After an hour or so Sofia asked the big question, "So, you going to meet her?"

"Yeah, I think I am. No, make that; I know I am. I'll need her email, I guess."

"OK. I'll send her a quick note saying I've spoken with her bio mom and that you'll be in touch. OK?"

"Yeah. Sounds good. Oh, and Sof, please let me be the one to tell Mom and Dad. OK?"

"Oh, you bet. Could I be there? Maybe to support you and them."

"Sure, but nothing until then. Shoot me her emails and I'll write up a letter and send it to Tina (I still can't believe the name!) in the next few days."

"Hey, Sis, you know I love you and I want the best for you...and for Tina. If you need any help, please let me know. OK?"

-----

Dear Tina,

On January seventh, nineteen ninety-eight I gave birth to a beautiful, six-pound baby girl. I held her in my arms for five or ten minutes before handing her over to the nursing staff for them to take her to her new adoptive parents. When she was in my arms I was struck at how tiny she was and I nicknamed her Tiny Tina.

My name is Maria Suarez and I understand you are my Tiny Tina.

I was surprised you were able to find our family and now that you have, I desperately want to meet you. My schedule can be adjusted easily and I am able to travel. I have so much to tell you and there's so much I want to hear from you.

Please contact me at your earliest convenience at 303-546-xyxy. I can't wait to hear from you.

Love,

Your "Mom" Maria

Maria hit 'Send' on the computer, sighed a few seconds and a minute after she got up from the computer, her phone rang.

"Hello?"

"Maria? Mom?"

"Tina? Is that you?"

Yes, it's me! Martina, but I go by Tina. I...I...I can't believe I'm talking to you!

"I can't either. Whew. I need to sit down. You know, until two days ago I never thought this could ever happen and now I, uh, I'm talking with my lovely daughter!"

"I'm so excited. I've been looking for you for months now, ever since Mom died."

"I heard from Sofia that you've lost both parents. I'm so sorry to hear it."

"Thank you. They were a bit older and I'm doing OK now. I still miss them, though. I had no other family and now I do! I'm so thankful. I so want to meet you and Sofia."

"And you'll get to meet your grandparents. My mom and dad are doing well and still working near here."

"Uh, what about my dad? Do you know where he is?"

"I haven't spoken to him since before you were born. He has no idea about this. I never told him I was pregnant."

"Why not?"

"It's a long story and quite involved. I'll tell you about it when we get together. So, when do you want to...?"

"Anytime. I'm still in college and am doing most of my work online. I've got spring break coming up in two weeks. Maybe we could get together then?"

"Two weeks?! Now that I've talked to you, I don't know if I can wait that long!"

"For me two weeks is nothing. I've wondered about you forever and have been looking for you for months. Tell me where you live and let's figure out how we're going to do this, OK?"

They agreed to have Tina come to Western Oaks to meet Maria and Sofia and a day or so later they'd introduce her to her grandparents. Tina had inherited money from her parents but Maria insisted on paying for the ticket and promised she and Sofia would meet Tina when she arrived at the airport.

-----

Maria barely slept for the next few weeks. She emailed tons of family photos and pages of information about herself and her family. Tina responded with details about her growing up and her adopted parents, who went by the names of Moms and Pops. By the time she arrived at the airport, she and Maria were very well acquainted.

Maria and Sofia stood outside of the TSA exit waiting on pins and needles for Tina's arrival. Suddenly, there she was; a tall, beautiful young woman with dark, wavy hair to her shoulders, a regal posture and an attractive face and smile. Maria took a small step towards her when Sofia nudged her in the back saying "Go to her, Silly."

Maria broke into a run with arms outstretched and the two women wrapped each other up in their arms. Both were crying tears of joy. "My baby, oh, my baby, how I missed you. God, you look lovely, so grown. The last time I held you, well, you were only six pounds."

"Maria! Mom? Can I call you 'Mom'?"

"Of course. Call me anything you want!"

"Mom, I've waited for this moment my whole life. I can hardly believe it."

"Tina, Dear, let me look at your arm."

"Why?"

"Your birthmark."

"Oh, yeah, I pretty much ignore it anymore. Here it is."

"Itis you. You are my daughter! Oh, god, I'm so happy!" she exclaimed as she hugged her daughter yet again. A few seconds later she pulled away and said, "Tina, here's my bratty little sister Sofia."

"Oh, Sofia! I have to thank you for making this all happen," she cried as she hugged her aunt. "Without you doing the DNA thing, I'd have never met you. Thank you, thank you from the bottom of my heart."

"Oh, you're welcome. I'm so glad it worked out. Come on you two. Enough of these tears. Let's get the luggage and head home."

The three walked arm in arm down to the luggage pick-up area all the while talking, laughing and still crying big tears of happiness. Once her bag was claimed, the three left the airport and drove to Maria's modest house. The mood that evening was one of sheer elation. Around midnight Sofia finally excused herself and left but mother and daughter sat together on the sofa trading life stories, laughter and tears. Eventually, around three am they crashed for a few hours only to wake up and pick up where they had left off.

On that Saturday Maria took Tina around the small city and showed her the sights and her law office. Tina admitted she was attracted to law for a career but was also considering biochemistry so she could do research on human genetics, the subject which brought her to her mother. They had dinner with Sofia who encouraged them to plan to see their parents the next afternoon. She called to set it up with Maria and Tina sitting quietly by.

"Mamma, it's Sofia. You doing OK?"

"How's the store?"

"Great! Say, uh, do you have any plans for tomorrow afternoon? Maria and I wanted to drop by."

"Why do you ask? We just wanted to..."

"No, Mamma, no one is in trouble," she chuckled.

There was a long pause before she went on, "Let me say we might have a little surprise for you."

"No, that's not it and I'm not going to tell you. You and Papa will have to wait until then, OK?"

"Great. We'll see you around two. Bye!"

She turned to the two and laughed. "She wants to know if one of us is pregnant and will be giving her a granddaughter. Wait until she sees she's already got one."

"I hope she doesn't get upset," said a worried Maria.

"Mar, there's no way she'll be mad. Once the shock wears off, I bet she'll be delighted. Dad, too."

"I sure hope so. Let's keep our fingers crossed."

-----

The next afternoon Sofia picked them up and drove them to their parents' place. A very nervous Maria and an excited Tina followed Sofia up the sidewalk. Sofia's finger had barely hit the doorbell when her mother suddenly jerked the door open.

"What is all the secrecy about, huh?"

"Hi, Momma," said both daughters at the same time.

"Can we come in?" asked Sofia.

"Who is this with you?"

"This is Tina. She's...uh...she's the reason we came by to visit. Can we come in?"

"Hi," said a suddenly shy Tina.

"Come in, girls. Tina. I've got coffee or tea and some nice cookies. Honey," she yelled to the back of the house, "The girls are here."

A few seconds later their father ambled into the living room, smiling at his daughters and looking at Tina with a puzzled frown. Maria, Sofia and their parents chatted briefly until the refreshments were served.

Maria knew her parents were very curious and she would need to tell them soon. After a few sips of coffee and a nibble on her cookie, she cleared her throat. "Mamma, Papa. I know you're wondering why we've brought a stranger over today." Both parents nodded. "I, uh, I want to formally introduce you to your, uh, your granddaughter Martina."

There was stunned silence for a bit before the light bulbs seemed to turn on. "Tina, right? Tina, how is it that you claim to be our granddaughter?"

"Well, Mrs. Saurez, I found out only recently that, uh..."

"Momma, I really should be the one explaining things. Tina is my daughter. I had her when I was staying with Catharina those three years after you moved here."

"What?! You had a daughter and never told us? Why?"

"I'll explain all that later, but for now you need to know that I accidentally got pregnant, decided to have the baby and adopt her out. Catharina helped me the whole time and I finished school and, well, you know the rest."

"Why now? Why do you tell us now?"

"After Tina's parents died and she had no family left, she searched for her biological family. We connected a couple of weeks ago and she flew in day before yesterday. We've been spending the entire time catching up, getting to know each other."

"Momma, Tina contacted me first because I'd done a genetic screening and the company figured out we were related. I told Maria and she admitted she was Tina's mom," added Sofia.

Maria's mother looked stunned while her father had a scowl on his face. Then Tina spoke up, "Mr. and Mrs. Suarez, I hope you understand how exciting it was to meet my biological mother, my aunt and now you two. I'm honored to be related to both of you."

"How can we be sure?" asked a skeptical grandfather.

"Dad," replied Sofia, "The genetic match was very close. She and I share one quarter of our genes. That means she's a niece or a half-sister. Maria admits that she gave birth twenty years ago."

"And Mamma, she had a tiny birthmark on her left arm the day she was born. Here, look," said Maria as she tugged up Tina's sleeve, "Here it is. Tina is your granddaughter, my daughter."

Her stunned mother looked at Tina and whispered, "I have a granddaughter?"

"Yes, Mamma," replied both daughters, "You do."

"Well, Nieta Tina, come and give your abuela a big hug!"

With a squeal of delight Tina jumped up and went over to her grandmother and gave her a warm hug before turning to her grandfather and hugging him. "Can I call you Grandma and Grandpa?"

"Yes, of course," they both replied. Suddenly the tension bled from the room and everyone started to speak at once. Tina stayed with her new-found grandparents telling them about herself while Maria and Sofia talked and laughed, relieved things had gone so well.

After fifteen minutes their father called out, "Everyone, listen up. This calls for a celebration. I happen to know a grocer who has been known to sneak a bottle of champagne from the store now and then. Honey, let's open that bottle sitting in the fridge."

Once all had been served, Tina cleared her throat and called out, "I want to be the first to propose a toast. Here's to a very fine family, one that I'm proud to be a part of. I love you guys. Thank you for taking me into your family."

"Here! Here!"

Several hours later Maria offered to take them all out to dinner. The celebrating continued until the waiters shooed them out the restaurant. Later that night after Tina had gone to bed, an exhausted and relieved Maria sat quietly in her room and wondered when the next shoe was going to drop; when was Tina going to ask to meet her father?

-----

The shoe dropped in the morning.

"Uh, Mom, could you help me meet my dad?" she asked over her second cup of coffee.

"Of course, sure, I could. But I want to warn you it may not go as well as yesterday."

"Why?"

"I understand he's married and, well, his wife may not be too thrilled to see evidence of his prior sexual life."

"But that was before she came on the scene, right?"

"Yeah."

"Then it shouldn't be a big issue. I'm not looking for money or anything. I just want to meet him, just like I wanted to meet you."

"Yeah, but I knew about you and he doesn't. He could be pissed at me for hiding it. I hope any anger wouldn't be directed to you."

"Are you saying you won't help?"

"No, I'm not saying that at all. I just want to warn you, you know, if things don't turn out well."

"OK, I get it. So, how are we going to do this?"

The two spent the better part of an hour discussing the best approach. One would be for Maria to contact him, initiate a contact and tell him about Tina while offering him an opportunity to meet her. The other approach would be for both of them to meet him and tell him together.

"You know, I could go with you to Central City, stay at the hotel while you meet him. You could text me to join you when it was a good time."

"That might work. Or I could go there and meet with him, tell him the situation and arrange for a reunion later. Say, in a week or so, maybe."

They finally decided to go with Maria's plan. She would contact him, arrange for a meeting over lunch so as to not interfere with his work and tell him then. It was with extreme nervousness that she dialed his office.

"Dr. Sanchez' office."

"Yes, my name is Maria Suarez and I'm an old friend of Dr. Sanchez. I'll be in town soon and wondered if I could arrange to meet him for lunch to catch up on old times."

"I'll have to talk with him. You know, he's very busy but on his surgical days he sometimes has a bit of free time. Give me your number and your name again and I'll ask him."

"Thank you very much. You've been most helpful."

A few hours later the call came through.Dr. Sanchez' office calling back for Ms. Suarez."

"Yes, that's me."

"Dr. Sanchez said he'd be glad to meet with you. He proposed a dinner engagement so as not to be rushed at lunch. Will that work for you?"

"That would be fine. I certainly don't want to interfere with his home life."

"Oh, since his divorce it won't be an issue. His evenings are completely open. He usually spends hours here doing paperwork and charting. Between you and me, he needs to get out of here more."

"OK, I see. Well, any evening is OK with me. How about Thursday?"

"I'll see to it. He loves going to Enrico's Bistro here in Central City. I'll make reservations for six pm. Will that work for you?"

"That would be fine. Uh, can you recommend a decent hotel since I won't be driving home after dinner?"

"Yes, I can suggest the Central City Manor. It's small, intimate and not too expensive. Would you like me to make reservations for you?"

"Oh, that would be lovely, please. Thank you."

"Give me your number and I'll text you the details. One night or two?"

"Oh, just the one. I'll need to get back home to work pretty soon."

"OK. And just between you and me, Dr. Sanchez needs a night off. Make sure you don't let him rush you through dinner," she laughed.

-----

Thursday was a mere three days away and Maria had to make a couple of quick schedule changes so she could leave Thursday morning and not return until Friday afternoon. Her secretary agreed to make the changes but came in to Maria's office a few hours later.

"Maria, your schedule has been changed as you requested. Uh, I took the liberty of moving Mr. Farrell's Friday afternoon appointment to the following Wednesday."

"Why?"

"Well, he was the only one scheduled for Friday afternoon and I figured you could take it off for a long weekend. OK?"

Maria laughed. "You basically wanted the afternoon off, right?"

"I'll admit that thought crossed my mind but Maria, you've been working too hard lately and you've been tense off and on. Everything OK?"

"Some personal things are working themselves out slowly. You're right. I could use the time off. I'll be able to return without rushing. Thanks. You're a gem, Donna. Since I'm leaving early Thursday why don't you take the time off as well? And I'll pay you for it, OK?"

"Thank you, Maria. You're a peach! I hope whatever you're doing will work out OK."

"Yeah, me too."

-----

The drive to Central City was a bit longer than she had anticipated but she was still able to get to the Manor in time to change her clothes. She had worried about what to wear and decided on a modest blouse/skirt outfit and low heels. The blouse, however, was nearly see-through emphasizing a sexy bra but she kept the neckline modest, accented only by a small necklace. She had her hair up in an attractive twist and had used a tiny bit of her favorite perfume.

"Why am I dressing up?" she asked herself before admitting it never hurt to look good for her one-time boyfriend.

A Lyft dropped her at the door of the restaurant and she nervously walked in.

"May I help you?"

"Yes, I'm to meet a Dr. Sanchez this evening."

"Of course. He just came in. Follow me."

And there he was. She would have recognized him in a crowd of thousands. His distinctive hair was as attractive as ever only now with a bit of salt and peppering around the temples. He still had a nice muscular build and there was only a trace of a tiny fullness over his belt. All in all, Miguel had aged well and looked great.

There was a bit of uncertainty as they approached each other until he held out his arms and she went to him, accepting a warm hug.

"Mar, it's so good to see you again. I can't believe it's been, what, twenty years?"

"Twenty-one, actually."

"Yeah, you're right. I left to go to the U in ninety-seven. Have a seat," he said pointing to the booth behind him. "Our waiter should be here soon. Drink?"

"Yes, please. Wine?"

"Sure. You never drank red. Still true?"

"Mmm-hmm."

Once the drinks had been ordered he leaned back and looked at her with a bit of a puzzled frown. "So, Mar, what brings you to this neck of the woods? My receptionist said you were going to be in town for...?"

"Actually, that's not entirely true. I came to visit you."

"Me? But why after all these years?"

"Oh, I wanted to catch up with you, see how you were doing and, you know, get reconnected."

"Well, I guess I'll lead off." He gave a brief summary of the intervening years. He had finished pre-med, med school and finally a dermatology residency. He had spent two months in the community while he was still in training and decided to move there. He was working for a large multi-specialty clinic as one of two dermatologists.

"Sounds like you've done well."

"I have, at least professionally. Personal life fell apart recently, though."