Far From the Tree

A few weeks later, Grace, Maya, and Joaquin decide to meet up at Maya’s house. Joaquin tells his sisters about the car, but he adds that he “told [Mark and Linda] that [he] didn’t want to go through with the adoption” (295). Rafe starts texting Grace, which makes her blush and inspires Maya’s curiosity. Maya steals Grace’s phone and teases her about Rafe until she sees a message from Daniel and Catalina saying, "Milly is changing so much, so fast” (299). When Maya sees the picture of a baby attached, she realizes that Grace had a baby and gave her up for adoption. Grace is overcome with horror, and when Maya asks why Grace didn’t tell them, Grace loses her composure and screams that Maya and Joaquin would have judged her for abandoning her daughter “the way [their] mom abandoned [them]” (300).

Grace breaks down crying and explains that she loves her daughter and only gave her up because she wanted her to be happy. Grace says that living without her daughter is like “walking around with this hole inside [her]” (301). Maya and Joaquin rush to hug Grace and comfort her, and she cries herself to sleep. When Grace wakes up, Maya and Joaquin apologize for “[making] [Grace] feel like [she] couldn’t tell [them]” (303) about her baby. Grace fills them in on the details about Peach’s father, her adoptive parents, and why Grace has been so determined to meet her birth mother. Maya shows Grace and Joaquin an envelope with their birth mother’s name and address, and the siblings decide to look for their elusive bio mom the next weekend.

In the days leading up to their road trip, Maya still feels terrible for stealing Grace’s phone and exposing her secret. She wonders if her mom misses her in rehab, and although she is still angry with her mom for putting her and Lauren through all of this, Maya knows that “the problem [is] bigger and more complicated” (309) than she wants to believe. When Maya’s dad announces that the coming weekend is Family Weekend at the rehab center, Maya realizes that she will have to choose between going to see her bio mom and her adoptive mom. She “[has] zero intentions of telling her dad” (311) about her trip to see her bio mom, and when Lauren tries to talk her into going to see their mom in rehab, Maya refuses. She is still angry with her mom and says she’ll talk to her when she’s ready. Maya doesn’t tell Lauren where she’s going because she doesn’t want to saddle her little sister with such a big secret. Instead, she texts Claire and asks to meet her at the park in the middle of the night. Maya tells Claire everything about “Grace and the baby,” about “Joaquin [...] and the failed adoption,” and “how their mom had looked on the floor with blood coming out of her head” (317). Finally, she tells Claire that she and her siblings are going to find their birth mom. Maya realizes she has been doing the same thing as Joaquin: shutting out the people who love and care about her. She apologizes for hurting Claire and admits she is terrified of being alone. Claire promises that she’s “not going anywhere” (318).

Joaquin decides not to tell Mark and Linda about his decision to go looking for his birth mom, which “turn[s] out to be a huge, huge mistake” (319). One day, he sees Birdie kissing another boy at school, and he is devastated. Birdie’s friend tries to tell him that Birdie “doesn’t even like [the other boy],” and that she is “just trying to make [Joaquin] jealous” (320). On Saturday morning, Joaquin is a bundle of nerves, and he starts to take his nervousness out on Mark and Linda. He starts to resent them for their kindness and generosity, and the car they gave him feels like “a huge, metal reminder of all the things that Joaquin would never be able to pay back to his foster parents” (322).

Finally, they ask him if everything is okay, and Joaquin lashes out at them and tells them to stop giving him things he didn’t ask for. He brings up the way people look at them when they go out like he is just “the poor brown kid” who was rescued by “two white people” (325). Joaquin says that Mark and Linda can never teach him about his Mexican heritage, and in a moment of malice, he says that he “[can’t] make up for the fact that [Mark and Linda] can’t have babies” (326). Immediately, Joaquin realizes that he has crossed a line. He runs out of the house and believes that “Mark and Linda [will] never let him back in their house” (326) after what he said.

Grace tells Rafe about her plan to go with Maya and Joaquin to meet their bio mom. Rafe urges her to tell her parents, but Grace refuses, saying, “They’ll just give a million reasons why it’s a bad idea” (329). She tells Rafe that Maya and Joaquin found out about Peach and that Peach’s adoptive parents want Grace to come and visit in a few months. Grace is nervous, but she “doesn’t want [Peach] to have any questions like [Grace] do[es]” (330) about her biological mother. Rafe reminds Grace that she has “always done the right thing for Peach” (331). On Saturday morning, Maya arrives at Grace’s house, and both girls are nervous and fretful. Joaquin arrives and declares that he’s “not going” (333) and tells them about what happened at Mark and Linda’s. Joaquin thinks that if he comes along, he will ruin this day just like he ruins everything else in his life.

Maya yells at him and says that “no matter where [he] go[es]” or “how far [he] runs,” Joaquin is “still a part of [her] and Grace and [they’re] still a part of [him]” (335). She tells Joaquin that he’s not some lone wolf anymore, and she and Grace won’t allow him to sabotage himself anymore. Reluctantly, Joaquin agrees to come. After hours of driving, they arrive at the address of Melissa Taylor. A woman answers the door, but when they ask if she is Melissa Taylor, the woman says that “Melissa passed away a long time ago” (339) and that she is Melissa’s sister, Jessica. Grace is rocked with grief and shock, and Jessica suddenly realizes that the teenagers in front of her are her long-lost nieces and nephew. She starts crying and “pull[s] the three of them into her arms” (339).