The Day Dream Believer

Every adopted child must wonder about the circumstances in which they were given up… Anna does, more than most

Anna had always enjoyed trying to imagine where she might have ended up if her birth mother had kept her. She adored Simon and Julie, her adoptive parents, and they’d given her a wonderful life. But Anna figured there was no harm in fantasising about her birth mother, especially when she didn’t say it out loud.

Her childhood had been filled with trips to their coastal mobile home in Ireland rather than far-flung foreign destinations. Their holiday snaps over the years depicted a happy girl with a bucket and spade, right up to those teenaged ones where she very clearly would have preferred to hang out at the rock-pools with a new love interest rather than standing to pose for her pleading mum.

Their home-life was predominantly peppered with laughter and she was raised to appreciate what she had.

Anna and her older brother Aidan had fought like cats as younger kids, but as time passed they’d grown to accept one another. The normal teenage spats had been replaced by a mutual respect and now, as she headed for thirty, Anna adored Aidan.

At the age of nineteen, she’d finished her beauty therapy course and decided to set up her first little nail bar in an oddshaped corner shop near the river, that had been empty for as long as she could recall. The rent was reasonable and she anticipated it would tide her over until the winter, when she had a job lined up on a cruise ship.

That was ten years ago and she’d never quite made it onto the ship. The nail bar, aptly named Nail It, turned out to be one of those things that had appeared in the right place at the right time. She’d opened a second, then a third, and all three were still roaring successes.

As she sat in the quaint stone courtyard at the rear of the original Nail It boutique, she savoured a solitary half-hour before opening time. It was early June and the sun was shining down gloriously, making her long for a week by the ocean with nothing but a quick dip on her agenda.

Glancing at her watch, she allowed herself to daydream for a spell.

Today her mother was the daughter of a fiercely wealthy family. She’d been forced to put her up for adoption because her betrothed, a vineyard owner from Tuscany, would have been horrified to know she wasn’t pure. Nor would he accept another man’s child.

So, heartbroken but knowing it was her only chance of a decent life for them both, her mother had let her go. A lone tear trickled down her cheek as Anna felt for this young, frightened stranger.

The sound of loud knocking at the salon door ended today’s reverie. “Hello, Jack,” she called out, greeting the electrician. “Thanks for coming at such short notice. The trip switch keeps going and it shuts down all my UV lamps. It’s not ideal, and I can’t have my clients being put out.”

“Leave it to me. Don’t you know old Jack will fix it, Missy?” He looked around and huffed. “This building is so old it really needs knocking down.”

Her client was HARD WORK, with a SNAPPY RETORT whatever she said

“Oh, don’t say that! I make the most money here out of all my shops.”

True to his word, by the time the first client arrived, along with the two other nail technicians, Jack had everything in order. Then the rush began and Anna barely had time to breathe until she had a no-show at four that afternoon.

She tried calling the woman, to no avail, and so decided to use the time to tidy the till, which was gloriously strewn with notes.

She was so busy counting that she didn’t notice the woman at the desk until she politely coughed to get her attention.

“Oh, excuse me!” exclaimed Anna. “How can I help you?”

“I don’t suppose you have a free slot any time today?” She held up her hands,

showing a number of badly chipped nails.

“You’re in luck! I’ll take you myself now. I’m Anna. Have a seat. Can I offer you a sparkling water, or a cooling elderflower lemonade, or coffee perhaps?”

“I’m boiling hot but I desperately need some caffeine,” said the lady, without so much as the hint of a smile.

“Ugh, I know that feeling,” Anna sympathised. “How about a coffee followed by a lemonade?” “Fine,” she said. Anna organised both drinks and sat opposite her. Once she’d chosen her nail colour, the woman downed the coffee and sipped the lemonade.

Normally Anna chatted to her clients with ease, making more of a connection with some than others, but it was never what she’d describe as uncomfortable. She’d always been a noticeably positive girl and her mood was usually contagious.

Today, this woman was hard work and it was clear that she dragged her bad attitude around with her like a snarling beast on her back. No matter what Anna said, she had a snappy retort with a matching pout or a shrug of her shoulder.

She was unpleasant throughout and kept staring at Anna in a way that made her feel odd.

Deciding that speed was the best answer, Anna gave up on attempting to chat and focused on the manicure, taking great care to do so with ultra-precision. The last thing she needed was to antagonise this woman any further and give her any cause for complaint.

She was glad to bid her farewell and welcome Jilly, a bubbly regular who, in contrast, was buzzing about her imminent holidays to Majorca with the girls.

Anna felt her shoulders relax as she listened to Jilly’s plans.

By the time she eventually closed the shop doors well after nine that night, Anna was a wreck. She didn’t feel like going home to an empty flat. Her husband, Tom, was away with work and she wasn’t in the mood to cook, so she walked up the street to a gastro pub they often ate at and perched at the bar.

A short while later, she was enjoying her food when the strange client from that afternoon approached and asked if she could join her.

“Er, yes,” said Anna, thinking there was little she’d like less.

The woman declined a drink, choosing instead to perch uncomfortably on a stool.

“So I presume you’ve guessed who I am?” she said, looking just as miserable and irate as before.

Anna stared at her, racking her brains. Was she from school, or a holiday at the mobile home, or an old neighbour?

“You’ll have to forgive me… It’s been a long day and your face doesn’t ring a bell.” “I’m Grace, and I’m your sister.” The words hung in the air as Anna stared at Grace, desperately searching for familiarity. But there was none.

“So the story is that our mother is dying and wants to meet you and the other girl she put up for adoption.” “Other girl?” Anna whispered. “You and one other were put up

for adoption – purely because you weren’t boys.”

Anna’s mind was whirring. She had sisters… This strange woman and someone else?

“Do I … do we have any brothers?” she asked gingerly.

“Yes, just the one. He’s the youngest because she only wanted a son, you see. I’m the eldest so I was kept with her but the girls in between were discarded until darling David appeared.”

“Oh! I see,” said Anna as sadness and disappointment engulfed her. This scenario wasn’t part of any daydream she’d ever had about her mother.

“It makes me laugh,” Grace said with a dry chortle, “that she lost out in the end. David despises our mother. She made no secret of what she’d done. So he has spent his adult life in counselling trying, in vain I might add, to deal with the guilt that you girls were thrown on life’s scrap heap to make way for his sorry ass.”

Anna was struggling to take the information on board. It was insane! Crazy! None of this was remotely like the romantic stories she’d conjured up in her head over the years.

And much as she could appreciate Grace’s anger toward the world and their brother, it wasn’t poor David’s fault this woman – their mother – had favoured him. Still, that was easy for her to say… she’d had a lovely childhood.

The next couple of weeks were a blur as Anna met her mother and shortly thereafter attended her funeral. She also met David and their other sister, Claire.

Perhaps it was all too raw and the situation too tragic but though the siblings agreed to stay in touch, it didn’t pan out.

For her part, Anna was happy to stay in the warm cocoon of her family, appreciating them all the more.

Julie and Simon and her brother Aidan were wonderful throughout, offering their usual unstinting support.

Although she’d barely known her birth mother and the truth of what she’d done had shocked her to the core, Anna couldn’t help feeling incredibly sad at her passing. She’d been a tortured soul and it was clear that she had wasted so much of her life yearning for what she hadn’t got instead of appreciating what she did have.

Anna was opening the salon early one morning at the end of August when a man approached.

“So sorry to disturb you, but are you Anna O’Dwyer?” he asked. Squinting in the sunlight, she nodded. “I have a message for you from your

All these YEARS she’d never spared a CONSIDERATION for her FATHER

biological father,” he said. “Would you have a moment?”

Anna’s heart thudded as she let the man inside. Normally she’d be wary of letting a stranger in while the salon was empty, but this man seemed genuine and she was beyond curious.

“I wonder if you’ve heard of Frank Sheehan?” the man continued. Anna laughed heartily. “I assume you’re not speaking about the singer and songwriter, Frank Sheehan?” she asked with a nervous giggle. He was up there with the most famous people in the world – so he must be talking about a namesake of his, surely?

“Yes – I’m referring to the man you’ve heard of. Well, he has learned since the passing of your mother, who left a letter for him, that he is, in fact, your biological father. If you were agreeable, he’d like to meet you.”

Anna stood and tried to take the information on board. All these years, she’d concentrated on the woman who had passed her up, but she’d never so much as spared a moment’s consideration for her father.

Over the next few weeks and months her life changed immeasurably. Every daydream she’d experienced was topped. All those notions that had sparked in her heart that she’d been destined for something other than the norm had been right.

The universe had been trying to tell her something, but she’d misread the signs.

She was incredibly sensitive to Julie and Simon’s feelings and conducted things only with their prior blessing.

Even though it was still at the fledgling stage, it was inevitable that her relationship with Frank would always be conducted in public. She’d already attended photo shoots, and even appeared on TV with him.

But none of it was real. None of it compared to what she was doing right at this second – sitting in her childhood home eating dinner while cheerfully arguing with her brother.

Yes, she’d be writing a pretty unusual Father’s Day card for the first time this year. But no matter what life threw at her, Anna had finally realised that the life she’d been living all along was her true fairytale.

As she put her hand on her belly, she could feel her unborn child kicking.

No amount of daydreaming could make her happier than the thought that she was going to be a mum.

Yes, Anna was quite certain – the best part of her life was yet to come.