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Chapter Nine

Name: Dawn Tatibana

Age: 36

Description: She basically looks like an older version of Hilary. She's kindhearted and can sometimes be a bit of a pushover, like when she allowed her husband to kick Hilary out of their house. Something that she regretted since the moment her daughter went missing. She's a housewife and enjoys cooking, cleaning, and reading but sometimes wishes that she were more...


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I hummed a soft melody as I stirred the mix for the cake. Felix won't be home until tomorrow because he went on a trip to the U.S. to visit his Great-Aunt Mae who is in the hospital. I would have gone along with him, but Auntie Mae and I have never really gotten along...

I looked up at the sound of the doorbell in surprise. Who could be coming to my house at six o'clock in the evening? I put down the bowl and start for the door.

"I'll get it!" A.J., my six-year-old son, calls as he runs down the stairs.

I quicken my pace. "Oh no you don't! What have a told you about answering the door?"

He ignores me and pulls the door open just as I walk into the living room. His puppy brown eyes widen in surprise before a slow smile makes it's way across his face. I wonder who could be at the door.

"Hey, Hilary!" he exclaims as he throws himself at the person standing on our porch. "I've missed you soooo much! Who's the baby? Hey, Tyson! I haven't seen you in a long time either. Why'd you stop coming over? What's with the baby, Hilary? Who's the guy with the long black hair?"

I listen to my youngest child ask question, after question, after question as I stand rooted to my spot in the middle of the living room with one though going through my head: Did he just say 'Hilary'?

"Whoa, kid," I hear a feminine voice say and I'm broken from my trance. "Calm down there. Aren't you going to allow your big sister and her friends into the house?"

I still haven't moved from my spot as A.J. looks back at me expectantly. Begging me with his eyes to let them in. I nod my head and he steps aside to let in our visitors.

The first to enter is a tall Chinese boy who looks to be about sixteen or seventeen. He has long black and yellow, almost catlike, eyes. On his shoulder he has a diaper bag. He smiles when he notices me standing in the middle of the living room.

He extends his hand for me to shake as A.J. tells him to walk into the living room. "I'm Ray. Ray Kon."

I take his hand and shake it. "Dawn Tatibana. Call me Dawn."

It seems that I'm finally able to find my voice.

Next walks in Tyson. He's grown a lot in two years. He's also a lot handsomer. He is carrying a folded up stroller and he smiles shyly at me when he sees me after following Ray into the living room. "Hi," he says slowly.

"Hello, Tyson," I say as I push a strand of hair out of my face. "It's been a while since the last time I saw you."

He grins and scratches the back of his head. "Yeah...it has."

Before anything else can be said, A.J. runs into the room and grins up at me. "Mommy, guess what?"

I lift a brow quizzically. "What?"

"Hilary's back and she has a baby!"

"Really now?" I ask as I look toward the entrance to the living room, expecting to see my daughter walking into the living room.

Instead, I see a baby, probably about one-year-old, toddling into the living room towards Tyson. I feel my heart stop as I stare at the baby walking across the floor. She has Hilary's eyes and hair mixed in with Tyson's cheekbones, nose, and mouth. She is so beautiful.

Tyson bends down and picks her up when she begins to bounce on her heels and say, "Up! Up! Up!"

"What's her name?" I ask after a few seconds.

"Tyler," the answer comes from behind me.

I turned around to seem my daughter, my beautiful daughter, standing behind me. Her hair has grown out and her eyes are older. She's matured, I can tell. In two years my little girl went from a teenage girl to a full-grown adult.

"Hi, Mom," she says with a shy smile, breaking me out of my trance.

I smile shyly at her in turn. "Hi," there's another awkward silence so I ask her a question. "You said her name was Tyler?"

My daughter's eyes soften completely as she takes her daughter from Tyson. "Yeah. I came up with the name when---"

"---you were five years old," I finished for her. "You decided that you would name your first child that, boy or girl, because you thought it sounded like a combination of your name and Tyson's."

Her cheeks turned red as she looked at Tyson and Ray and they both lifted curious eyebrows at her. "It wasn't like I like you or anything then, Tyson. It was just that you were my best friend..."

Her voice trailed off and I smiled softly, trying to cover up the awkward moment. "So," I asked as I pushed A.J. ahead of me as I lead the three teenagers and the toddler into the kitchen, "what brings you here?"

"What," my daughter feigned hurt, "I'm not allowed to come and visit my family?"

I didn't say anything. I just fixed her with a stern stare.

A.J. takes this opportunity to speak. "If you were looking for Daddy, he's in American visiting Aunt Mae because she's really sick. But you're really lucky he isn't here."

"A.J.," I said sternly, "you don't need to talk about that."

He ignored me and looked straight into the eyes of his older sister. "Don't you want to know why?"

I watched Hilary swallow. She was debating on whether she wanted to know or not. She looked at Tyson and the boy named Ray. The two boys exchanged glances before looking back at Hilary and shrugging.

"I don't see how it could hurt," Tyson said slowly.

"Yeah," Ray agreed. "It can't be that bad. He's your father."

I shook my head. "Hilary, it doesn't really matter, does it?"

She looked me in the eyes for a few seconds before nodding. "Yes, Mom, it does. I want to know why it's a good thing that Daddy isn't here," she turned to A.J. "Tell me."

"Are you sure you want to know?" he taunted his sister gaily.

I watched her swallow as I felt tears forming in my eyes. "Yes, I really want to know, A.J. Just tell me."

"Hilary..." I started, but a glare from her stopped me from saying anything else. So I turned away from her and went back to stirring the mixture for the cake, any happy feelings that I felt earlier dissipating.