Jessica ran to answer the phone before it rang off. "Hello Winchester 224222. Mrs. Jessica Turner?" said the voice on the other end of the line. 

"Yes speaking." 

" I have reason to believe I'm your daughter!"

Jessica Turner, aged 38, married, with one son of 12 and her husband Alan. He was working away with the diplomatic service and her son Roger was away at boarding school. This left Jessica alone quite a lot of the time. 

She ran a small profitable mail order cosmetic company called Facelift. Although Jessica came from a working class family she had worked hard to get to the position she was in today.

The day had started out like any other normal day, until now. 

There was a stunned silence when Jessica heard the remark made by the voice on the other end of the line. 

"Mrs. Turner, are you alright?"

Jessica suddenly came back to her senses, "Excuse me." she said. "There must be some sort of mistake."

"You are Mrs. Jessica Turner nee Parker of 32, Wilmot Place Bridgeport?" Jessica stood transfixed. "You also gave birth to a baby girl on April 15th 1975 at the Bridgeport General Hospital, then gave her up for adoption." 

Jessica replied, "Yes." very weakly into the phone.

"Mrs. Turner I know this must be a great shock to you, but I was wondering if we could meet and talk together. My name is Caroline Mills."

Jessica knew what the young lady said was true, but to come face to face with her after all this time. 

"Where are you calling from?" asked Jessica.

"I live just outside Bath with a friend. Both my parents who adopted me were killed in a road accident last year. I knew I was adopted, but they would never tell me who my real mother was. I have been trying all this time to find out. This is my reason for my call."

The young lady was owed some sort of explanation and, as both Alan and Roger were away, she decided to arrange a meeting. 

"Well Caroline, if I may call you that. I will meet you. if only to explain my reasons for giving  you up for adoption. Would next Saturday outside the Theatre Royal in Bath at noon suit you?"

"Yes, that would be fine, at noon on Saturday outside the theatre. Oh, by the way I will be wearing a brown coat with a gold guitar broach pinned to the collar so that you can recognise me."

"Well until Saturday then , Oh Caroline, I'll be dressed in navy and cerise, now that we both know what we will be wearing we won't miss each other."

"Thank you Jessica," said Caroline, "look forward to meeting you then, goodbye for now." The line went dead.

Jessica stood in silence for a moment. Had she made the right decision or not? Even if she didn't go, the young lady had now made contact and knew of her existence. She could still come and find her. Yes the decision was made and had to be carried out, unless something unforeseen happened.

Thursday was Jessica's half day, she had decided to phone Alan with the intention of telling her situation, but when the time came she had second thoughts. Eventually Saturday arrived and Jessica thought she would leave early, just stop for a coffee on the services on the motorway and get to Bath early enough to find a parking space near the theatre.

She arrived at the theatre at 11 45 am, she stopped to look at some plants in a garden centre near the theatre then walked quickly to the entrance to wait for Caroline to arrive. She was a little apprehensive at the thought of meeting Caroline for the first time, but it was she who had made the first contact. It was what Caroline wanted to do.

A young lady in a brown coat was walking along the pavement towards the theatre, as she came nearer Jessica could see that there wasn't a gold guitar broach on the collar of the coat. The road outside the theatre was quite busy and Jessica noticed a young man trying to cross the road with a young lady in a wheelchair. Eventually the traffic eased slightly and he made a dash across the road. It was then that Jessica noticed the brown coat and gold guitar broach on the collar. The young lady in the wheelchair was Caroline.

Jessica's eyes started to fill up with tears as she looked at the young girl in the wheelchair. Caroline seemed to sense that Jessica was upset. She broke the ice by making a joke about nearly getting knocked down by a car.

"That's all I wanted  was to end up in hospital for another spell."

Jessica smiled slightly, then Caroline introduced herself and her boyfriend Jeff. She suggested to Jessica that they go and sit and talk down by the river Avon. Jeff said he would push Caroline down to the river, and then leave Caroline and Jessica alone for a while so that they could get to know each other and talk in private.

The day was quite warm and sunny and there were plenty of tourists in the city so it was quite difficult to push the wheelchair through the crowds down to the river path. When they arrived they stopped near a bench and Jeff put Caroline next to it, Jessica then sat down on the bench beside her. Jeff said he would return in about an hour.

After he left it was Caroline who first spoke, she said that she hoped Jessica hadn't been too upset by her phone call, and that if she didn't want to see her again she would quite understand as Jessica now had her own family, and that she was someone from the past. 

Jessica put out her hand to Caroline and said, "I never thought I would ever see you again. Being the only child of very strict church minded parents, the sin and shame of having a child out of wedlock was more than they could bear. I was sent away to have the child in the country with an aunt."

The arrangements regarding the adoption of the baby were made even before Caroline was born.

Caroline told Jessica that she and Jeff had been living together for the past eighteen months, they had decided to get married when the accident happened. 

"My parents were both killed and I ended up in this wheelchair. I have told him that I hold him to no obligation now that I am disabled. He said although the circumstances were tragic it had made no difference to his feelings toward me. He says, it's an added bonus because he knows I won't run off and leave him." She laughed as she said this. 

Jessica said she would keep in contact with Caroline, but hoped that she would give her a little time to break the news to her husband Alan and her half brother Roger who would be home from boarding school at the end of the month. At this moment Jeff arrived and said he hoped he hadn't interrupted. It was such a nice day and he wondered if Jessica would like a trip on the river and they could have lunch on the boat.

Jessica thought it was a splendid idea, so they went along the path to where the boats were. Jeff lifted Caroline out of her chair and carried her along the gangplank. 

Jessica felt a little embarrassed for Caroline, and asked if she minded being manhandled in front of everyone. Caroline said that before she became disabled she had taken everything for granted, but her eyes had been opened to the difficulties other disabled people had to contend with. 

"Getting in and out of public buildings for example, usually there are all steps. The attitude of the public to disabled people ,just because I am in a wheelchair there isn't anything wrong with my mind or speech, but people's attitude towards disabled people is so patronising."

The boat trip down the river was delightful. Jeff asked Jessica if she had to rush home or could she stay for a few hours. She told him that she was free for the rest of the day. He suggested that perhaps she would like to come back to their flat, and then he would run her back to fetch the car, or is she wanted she could follow them in their car back to their home. Caroline agreed and said it was an excellent idea. Jessica could look at some photographs of her when she was a child on holidays with her parents. 

They walked a little way back to the car park when Jessica realised it was the same car park she had parked in. "I will follow you to your flat that will save you coming back into the centre of the city afterwards."

Their car was a Range Rover which the complete side slid out so that Jeff was able to push Caroline into the car in her wheelchair and then clamp her in.

Jessica watched the Range Rover carefully as they left the city centre and drove out to the suburbs. In about fifteen minutes they stopped outside a basement flat. Caroline then wheeled herself into the flat through the front door which had been made wide enough for the wheelchair to go through. Jeff went to put the kettle on for a cup of tea, while Caroline showed Jessica the photographs of her as a child with her parents. The day was soon over.

Jessica said her goodbyes. Caroline said she would keep in touch with her mother. Jessica promised that she would break the news about her long lost daughter to her husband Alan as soon as possible.

Jessica had a tear in her eye as she drove back to Winchester that day.

It was quite hard for Jessica to tell Alan and Roger about what had happened, but being an understanding husband and loving son, they both accepted it very well.

Jessica ran to the phone before it rang off. "Hello Winchester 224222."

"Mother, it's Caroline. I have some wonderful news for you. You're going to be a Grandmother."