As an adolescent psychiatrist, Dr. McHugh should have been well versed in the tricky vernacular that came with adoption. The common names—birth mother, first mom, tummy mommy, natural mother—all have a qualifier distinguishing the biological parent from the adoptive one, the one who carried the physical, emotional, and psychological weight required to love and raise a child. For her part, Grace was deeply honored by the role Rachel had played in the formation of her family, and always said a special prayer for her on Mother’s Day.
“That’s all right,” Grace said, letting his slip bounce right off her. Lord knows, she was used to it by now. “Penny was arrested when she was fourteen—she’d just entered high school. She and her friend, Maria Descenza, who regrettably is still a friend of hers, were arrested together. I don’t know if any of that’s in her file.”
“It is,” said Mitch.
“Good, so I don’t have to go into the details. It was a difficult time for us all, as you can imagine. Anyway, after her arrest, Penny put her personal story on the Internet for all to see, a Facebook post that went viral. Everyone has some fascination with DID, I suppose. By the time I read it, the post had already caught fire. There were at least a thousand shares in the first hour alone.”
“She revealed her condition to the world?” Mitch asked.
“That she did,” said Grace, her tone a little defeated. “She wrote it all out: how she was the Jane Doe from the park, her diagnosis, about Eve, her arrest, all of it. It was her coming-out party in a way, done on her own terms.”
Dr. McHugh didn’t bother concealing his grimace.
“I tried to put a bow on it,” Grace went on. “Young girl, complicated history, expressing herself, needing an outlet to process her feelings, all that. I do think Penny felt terribly guilty for her arrest, deeply ashamed, and needed to put those feelings somewhere, get some support—which, by the way, she did. A lot of kids at her school commented on that post, and for the most part, they were very supportive and encouraging.”
“So, prior to the Facebook post, her peers didn’t know she had been diagnosed with DID?”
“No. We kept them, and most everyone except a few administrators, in the dark. Students thought Penny was obsessed with her grades and that she was high-strung as a result, which is why she got in so many fights. They didn’t realize it was her alters—Chloe, the perfectionist, and Eve, whom you met—until she posted her story. Unfortunately, the Internet is a damn digital time capsule—which is how Rachel found Penny. She’d been back in Lynn for a few years, reconnected with old friends, and one of them forwarded her that post. She had no idea her daughter lived so close by.”
“And you’re sure it was Rachel?”
“Absolutely,” said Grace. “Attorney Navarro got the discovery materials from the DA’s office, and according to the forensic experts, those correspondences came from Rachel’s computer, so it wasn’t a setup, if that’s what you’re thinking. Penny never told us that Rachel had contacted her, and Rachel made it clear in her messages to Penny to keep it a secret—for a little while at least, in her words.”
“How did she know it was her daughter?” Mitch sounded a bit incredulous.
Grace offered him something of a smile in return. “Doctor,” she said, sounding as if he should know better. “There are only so many girls who can say they were abandoned in a park.”
“Had you ever tried to track Rachel down before she and Penny reunited?”
“Yes, after the diagnosis we were curious about past history, but Rachel was living on the margins. She didn’t want to be found.”
“No arrests?”
“None recent. Rachel had been arrested before Penny was born. We knew that. It was a major possession charge, enough to slap her with intent to distribute. She pled guilty, but to a lesser charge, and didn’t see any prison time.”
“Where was this?” Mitch asked. “Do you know?”
“Lynn,” Grace said. “She’s from there, or somewhere on the North Shore, I know that for certain—ironically, the same district where Penny’s trial will take place. I believe she was quick to cut a deal and give up her parental rights in exchange for having the abandonment charges dropped because, with her criminal record, she was looking at serious time.”
“Makes sense,” said Mitch.
The topic of Rachel led Grace to another question she often wondered about.