Dog Whisperer Read Online Free Page A

probably weren’t going to give her the details. “Do you know where she lives?” she asked.
    â€œSomewhere near Washington, D.C.,” her mother said. “Although I think she moved a couple of years ago, and I don’t have that address.”
    This was so totally weird, and upsetting. “But, you know how to get in touch,” Emily said.
    Her mother nodded uneasily. “Yes.”
    Emily waited for her to give more details, and then realized that it wasn’t going to happen.
    â€œI don’t think very many people in her life know about what happened,” her father said, “and it’s always been my sense that she wants to keep it that way.”
    Emily nodded stiffly. “Because she’s ashamed.”
    â€œNot ashamed of you ,” her mother said quickly. “But, I know she must have a lot of regrets about not being able to keep you in her life, and I think she just decided to keep all of it in the past.”
    Maybe another clue was buried in there, too. “Are you saying that she’s married now?” Emily asked.
    Her mother nodded reluctantly.
    Being married wasn’t that big a deal, so there must be more to it, based upon her mother’s uncomfortable expression. “Does she have children?” Emily asked.
    Her mother sighed.
    Oh, wow. That just couldn’t be possible. Emily almost gasped. “You mean, children she kept ?”
    â€œYes,” her mother said. “She has twins. I think they would be about a year old now, although I’m not completely sure.”
    So, she did have children—and children she wanted . Children she was proud of, and loved, and didn’t keep hidden. “You mean, children she liked better than me,” Emily said.
    â€œNo, it’s not that simple, Emily,” her father said. “She’s in a very different stage of her life now. She’s in a situation where she’s able to take care of them, which she wasn’t, when she was a student.”
    All of this was really more than she felt as though she could take in, and she was suddenly feeling unbelievably tired, but Emily couldn’t bring herself to stop asking questions, either. “So, she has like, this nice little family now,” Emily said, “and I’m this big bad secret?”
    Her mother sighed. “People do the best they can, Emily.”
    Maybe, but her birth mother’s “best” seemed to be pretty lousy. “Do you think she would ever want to meet me?” Emily asked.
    â€œI’m sure that, somewhere deep inside, she would want to get a chance to see you,” her mother said, and then shook her head reluctantly. “But, I honestly don’t think that’s something she wants to have happen.”
    Oh. Emily tried not to look as crushed as she felt. “Can you ask her? The next time you get in touch with her?”
    â€œOf course,” her mother said. “I can’t promise that she’ll answer me, but I absolutely will ask. That’s a promise from me.”
    Okay. And her mother—who was her real mother—always kept her promises.
    â€œWhat matters the most, Emily, is that we get to have you as our child,” her father said. “That’s what’s important to your mother and me.”
    Yeah. But, this was still all really upsetting. So, she might as well go for broke and ask the other important question. “What about my father?” Emily asked.
    â€œShe never told us,” her mother answered. “In fact, I’m not sure she told anyone , even him.”
    What kind of person could walk around keeping total secrets like that? Huge , important secrets? Did Emily even want to be related to someone who could do that? Not that she had a choice, of course. “Was he a student, too?” she asked.
    Her father shrugged. “Probably, but we just don’t know.”
    â€œDo you even know if he was white or