What is this? Who is Delta Dawn the Third? Why does she have my birthday? Why does her mother have yours? What is happening? Say It Like It Is, DiDi! Tell me the truth!”
DiDi was sobbing and gasping and trying to hold on to me. “There was a boy—I got pregnant—he disappeared—I never saw him again. Mama went crazy. When you were born, she forced me to name you after her and me—and she was drinking so much and I was afraid you would get hurt—I ran away with you. I had to—”
“No!” I cried. “You’re lying!” I pointed at the crumpled paper. “That is a fake and it’s not true—it can’t be true and you can’t be—”
“I wanted you to have your own life,” DiDi said, sounding like she was begging me. “I wanted you to have something I never had—”
“And you thought lying to me about who I was and what my name—” My heart dropped. “Who is Galileo Galilei?”
DiDi went pale. “Lori dated a textbook salesman who knew a little bit about science, and he told me about the name Galileo—”
“One of—one of Lori’s salesmen named me—”
“I wanted to give you a name that showed what I thought you could be—I wanted to give you something—”
I held a hand up, cutting her off. “I don’t want anything from you.”
I tore away from DiDi’s grasping hands. Shutting my ears to her voice calling me back. I pushed through the door. Down the stairs. And into the night and a world where I didn’t know who I was.