Family Family

Everyone shares an awkward dinner, during which Fig and Jack ask Davis invasive questions. They learn that he isn't married and doesn’t have children but has two dogs. Davis says he knows about India’s life, explaining, “I own a phone. And a TV. And I’m alive in the world” (192). Fig interjects that she knows all about Davis, including his lactose intolerance.

After all the children go to bed, Davis and India sit on the couch with a glass of wine. Davis is surprised that she told the children so much about them. Davis admits that he sometimes misses Lewis and is sorry they parted like they did the last time they saw one another. Talk turns to Fig, Jack, and India, who shares how she learned to keep them out of the press but learned it too late after their personal stories were leaked. They both admit that they had hoped to get back together and India shares that she doesn’t find her TV and movie career as satisfying as being on Broadway. They kiss but don’t take it further because the children are upstairs.

India decides against inviting Davis. Robbie sends her flowers with a touching message, and she knows she will always love him. Nestra is a huge success and runs for 452 shows on Broadway.

Despite the play’s success, India finds making a career acting in Broadway plays exhausting. Dakota struggles even more than she did since she doesn’t have an agent and has to work as a barista to supplement her income. Sometimes, India goes months between shows, and when is working, it is all-consuming. She finds there aren’t many female roles in plays that don’t involve rape or death. Ajax tries to encourage her to try television or movies, but India is committed to her “dream job.” She carries on despite the grueling rehearsal schedules and job uncertainty. India thinks she will remain working on Broadway indefinitely until she learns she is going to have a baby.

At breakfast, India thanks everyone for staying and asks if they can stay inside until the paparazzi leave. Camille wants to go, but Bex demands to stay, citing her desire to fight for better representation in film and television for adopted people. Jack notices that outside a group has formed, and they have cake, balloons, and a sign depicting a pregnant India playing the character of Val Halla. The sign reads, “Congratulations India Allwood, Pro-Life Hero of the Year!” (210)

Five years after Lewis’s birth, India decides she wants to be a mother through adoption. She can’t pinpoint why but knows it’s the right choice. She uses her index cards to capture her thoughts as she processes her decision. After thinking it through, she reveals, “I am ready for forever with a baby. I am not ready for forever with anyone else” (215). Dakota is sad when India announces that she is giving up her Broadway career to move to Hollywood and raise a family, but India promises to visit.

The group is from the Los Angeles Mothers Advocate for Life, and Velma Robinson, their spokesperson, is there with her adopted daughter, Leslie. Velma thanks India for the stand she’s taken against abortion by choosing adoption. India corrects them that she isn’t anti-abortion and is staunchly pro-choice. She declares they are there to “exploit [her] and [her] family to promote [their] agenda” (219). India’s reaction horrifies Velma, and as Evelyn’s camera rolls, she uses Leslie to make a point by asking India if she believes she should have been aborted. India doesn’t respond and only raises her eyebrow.

Ajax is furious by the exchange and tells India she has angered everyone online from all sides of the argument. Her studio calls a meeting for the following day, and Ajax worries they will fire her. India wants to refuse the meeting, but her mother advises that she get a lawyer and attend. Though she remains tough on the outside, India fears losing her job and not being able to provide for her children. Sarah advises that she attend the meeting and apologize for angering people but not to agree to anything unless it’s in writing.

India finds that working in Hollywood differs significantly from stage acting in New York. She cannot audition for movies since she is planning to start the adoption process, so she has to settle for television roles. None of the casting directors like her because she is too loud, acts with her body too much, and, in their eyes, is not the right body size. Ajax finally finds her a role, but they want her to lose 30 pounds, and she declines.

Ajax pitches the Val Halla role to her; initially, she is skeptical of playing a superhero. However, she nails the cold read, and the casting director calls her back. In the next round of auditions, they ask the actresses to audition next to potential lead male characters. India is shocked when Henri LeClerc walks in and becomes her partner. They are both cast, and she has a job secured. India completes her adoption application and is paired with a social worker named Regina Starlite.

Fig overhears India’s conversation and becomes anxious and frightened, mainly when she hears the word “fired.” She hides in her closet, and Bex finds her there. She comforts Fig and tells her she shouldn’t fear the people outside. Though she’s never told anyone but her therapist, Fig tells Bex that her birth mother tried to burn herself, Fig, and Jack alive in their car. Authorities took her mother to a hospital for treatment and placed the children in foster care. When her birth mother was well enough to return home, she said she didn’t want the children back. Fig thinks her adoption story is not the same as Bex’s because India gave Bex to Camille and wasn’t trying to kill her.

India gets the call from Regina in the middle of the night, and she assumes it means a birth mother is in labor, just like her experience. However, Regina explains that it’s twin children, and this is a placement. India rushes to the hospital where Fig and Jack are recovering from smoke inhalation. Regina says to India that their mother’s parental rights have been terminated and that the placement will be challenging due to their trauma.

When she sees them, India falls in love with the twins and accepts the placement with all its uncertainties. She sees Regina as having a negative view of adoption, and though she acknowledges that the kids have been through trauma, she refuses to see their placement with her as traumatic. She climbs into the hospital bed with the twins, and when they wake up, she takes them to the cafeteria for breakfast. India thinks she can use her index cards to organize everything she’d learned in parenting class but soon realizes that “parenting proved itself unindexcardable” (243).

Jack finds it difficult to explain his identity since he’s only half Korean. He doesn’t remember his parents or anything about his life before being adopted. He knows that he and Fig are opposites despite being twins. They look similar, but Fig fits the Asian stereotype of being intelligent, bookish, and well-behaved at school. In contrast, Jack gets into trouble and doesn’t excel in academics. He joins Bex and Fig in her closet, and they decide they want to track down Lewis and convince him to come to LA to help them fix India’s image.

India struggles with parenting in the beginning because of the twins' trauma and her preconceived notions about what children need. They don’t sleep well at night, and she struggles to find food they enjoy. She calls Regina and her mother for help, but neither gives her clear answers. Her mother helps her realize that the twins need a safe place to talk. So India goes first by sharing her story, including all the details about Rebecca and Lewis. Gradually, the twins begin to share more about themselves, feeling like they can trust India. All this occurs two months after India’s show starts production.

The children can’t find Lewis online, presumably because he doesn’t have social media. Fig knows they can’t ask their mom to help them find Lewis because she will say that they need their privacy. She goes to Davis and asks if he has any specific details about Lewis’s dad that would help. Davis tells her that India picked the Andrews because they had a unique Christmas tree decorated with corks celebrating their accomplishments. Fig takes these details and uses them to refine her searches.

With some internet sleuthing, Fig learns the name of Andrew Silverman’s company and calls without planning what she will say. When she gets Andrew on the phone, he says they’ve been worried about her and Jack with all the media publicity. Fig lies and claims that Bex needs a stem cell transplant and asks if their family can travel to LA to see if Lewis is a match. Andrew says they will fly out as soon as possible.

Just before the twins begin kindergarten, India reaches a place where they can leave the house. They go out to dinner, and everything goes well until the table next to them orders flambeed bananas. When Fig sees the flames, she hides under the table and screams. After India realizes what is happening, she crawls under the table and comforts Fig. They don’t go out much afterward because Fig is also frightened of large crowds, mirrors, windows, and loud sounds. Once India’s show becomes widely advertised, the paparazzi begin appearing at the house and photographing the kids. Jack once threw rocks at a reporter, and the person called 911.

India often calls her mother for advice, lamenting how her parenting challenges are difficult. Sarah reassures her that the emotional wounds of her children are not her fault, and that she is not a bad mother for not being able to solve all their problems. India, in a moment of vulnerability, expresses her frustration with the romanticized notion of motherhood, stating that "everyone says motherhood is natural and beautiful and magical and life-altering” (262). Sarah, understanding her struggle, acknowledges that while motherhood is indeed life-changing, it is also a demanding and complex role.

Lewis is 12, likes to wear capes, and thinks of himself as “the geeky weird kid who dresses funny” (263). His dads let him wear his cape to LA because they think donating bone marrow to his half-sister would be heroic. Lewis’s dads greet Davis as if they know him, but Lewis feels strange staring at the man, his biological father. Having always had to explain his skin tone, Lewis is happy to finally see where it came from but doesn’t feel any connection to Davis. Lewis thinks Davis is tall and asks when he hit his growth spurt. Davis converses awkwardly with Lewis until Bex interjects that she must meet with Lewis to discuss important things. The Andrews look at Bex confusedly because she doesn’t look sick.

As filming begins for Val Halla, India struggles to balance work and family life. She has to hire nannies and worries about not being with the twins enough. She spends a lot of time sitting in her trailer waiting for her call when she is on set, so she begins bringing the children on set with her. The twins enjoy being in her trailer and seeing their mom at work.

India becomes frustrated with the production company’s insistence on using stunt doubles and the nonlinear way directors film the show. Ratings are good from those who view the show, but the producers don’t promote it well, and not enough people watch for it to be renewed. Ajax assures India she can find other work now that she’s had a leading role. Eventually, the show is picked back up for a second and third season but is in constant jeopardy of being canceled.

The children explain to Lewis that Bex isn’t sick. They brought him there to help rescue India’s public image. Lewis clarifies that they “want [him] to be a commercial for her” (275) and suggests they get a “creative strategist” like his dad. Fig says they can’t hire one, so Lewis thinks they can go out in the driveway and hold a press conference.

In India’s meeting with the studio executives, they tell her that they agree with her stance on adoption and abortion, but they must help her “manage the message” (279) for the public. They ask that she agree to an interview at home with the twins, Bex, and Lewis. She can tell her story, and the public can see the kids. They will provide her with a script for the interview, in which she will apologize to all those she angered. India protests, reminding them that her children remain private and that she isn’t sorry for any of the things they are asking her to apologize for. They encourage her to consider her decision because her career will be over if she doesn’t agree to the terms.

India arrives home just in time to stop Fig from speaking to the press outside. She herds all the children back inside and gets emotional when Lewis introduces himself. She apologizes to Lewis’s dads for Fig luring them there under false pretenses. Fig is worried because she knows her mother is angry with her, and her plan to fix the media problem isn’t working.