The Blossoming Universe of Violet Diamond by Brenda Woods

look.
    â€œYou’ve been there?” I asked.
    â€œYes, Poppy and I went on a safari in Kenya. It was an amazing experience,” she replied.
    â€œFor real? How come you never talked about it before?” I asked.
    â€œYou never asked before.”
    As I’d learned online, not everything about Africa was good. “But a lot of kids are starving and sick and don’t have doctors,” I told her. “And that’s pretty sad, huh?”
    â€œNo, it’s very sad.”
    As Gam drained the lasagna noodles, the steam fogged her glasses and for a minute she was blind. We both laughed. I thought about Roxanne Diamond and wondered if she made lasagna and wore glasses. Part of me started to think maybe it was a mistake to go to Seattle. Maybe I was chasing someone who really didn’t want to be caught.
    But I have to meet her. I just have to.

14
SEATTLE, HERE WE COME
    D o you think I should wear a dress?” I asked my mom as I searched through the clothes in my closet. Tomorrow morning, we were leaving for Seattle.
    She was sitting on my bed, wearing blue doctor scrubs and a worried look. “It’s up to you, V.”
    My hand landed on a lavender and purple striped dress and I pulled it out. It was pretty and girly but not too fancy. “Perfect?” I asked.
    â€œPerfect,” she said, but tears were in her eyes.
    Sometimes a person needs another person to hold their hand, at least that’s what Gam says. And I could tell by the look in my mom’s eyes that she needed hers held—now.
    I snuggled beside her on the bed and took her hand. “We don’t have to go if it makes you sad. I mean, it really doesn’t matter that much to me,” I told her, but it wasn’t the truth. More than anything, I wanted to go.
    But if you say no, I will give you the silent treatment for months.
    â€œI talked it over with one of the psychologists at work, and we both wonder if it’s a good idea. I don’t want you to be rejected or disappointed and have your feelings hurt, Violet.”
    â€œYou mean maybe she won’t talk to us?”
    â€œThat could happen. She didn’t say a word to me at your father’s funeral . . . wouldn’t even look at me. It was as if I’d died, too. I just want to warn you. If she does that to us tomorrow, we will leave right away and I don’t want any argument from you, understood?”
    She won’t do that to me. I didn’t make a U-turn.
    I squeezed her hand tightly. “Understood.”
    She kissed my cheek and said good night, but she still had a worrywart face.
    â€¢Â â€¢Â â€¢
    I showered, washed my hair, towel dried it, did finger curls, and put in bobby pins because I was desperate to look pretty tomorrow.
    Later, Hazel was huddled beside me and my head was on the pillow, but I was wide-awake, staring at the dark ceiling, when my door opened and Daisy crept in. “V?” she whispered. “You asleep?”
    â€œNot.” I sat up and turned on the table lamp.
    D plopped on the bed. “I just came to say
bonne chance
tomorrow. Good luck.”
    â€œGood luck? It’s not a test or a spelling bee or anything like that, Daisy.”
    â€œI just meant I hope she’s nice to you.”
    â€œMe too,” I replied.
    Daisy gently patted my head, and right then, I felt good. Good like when you press your nose into the middle of a gardenia and sniff out all the sweet smell.
    â€œMeeting her might be weird, huh?” I said.
    Daisy shrugged. “Maybe . . . but I think it might be good for you to know her.”
    â€œDo you think it’ll be like finally getting to meet your birth mother?” I asked.
    â€œMom is your birth mother, goofball. It’s not the same, V.”
    â€œBut I still have another family I don’t really know about. Don’t you understand?”
    Daisy shook her head. “I guess not