“Yes, but we’ve only known each other a little over a week.”
Her father smiled. “It only took your mother and me one date to decide that was it. Inside of two dates I was ready to elope. But we did things the old-fashioned way to make our parents happy, and waited four months.”
“It almost killed us.” Her mother chuckled.
Kit was their daughter, all right!
“Do I have grandparents?”
“All four of them are still alive, and you have aunts and uncles and cousins.” Her mother leaned forward and put a hand on her shoulder. “The agent told us you’re studying to be an elementary schoolteacher.”
“Yes. All I have left is my student teaching. Believe it or not, I almost went into secondary education to become a science teacher, but I guess my love of little kids won out. With hindsight, I can see that being an only child probably caused me to gravitate to young people.”
“You’re our daughter, all right!”
It was happening again! Her parents even expressed themselves the same way she did. Genes didn’t lie. With every revelation, she felt herself connecting to them on one level after another.
Her father reached out to squeeze her hand. “We never gave up believing you were alive. Our continual prayer was that you would be happy and well taken care of until we could be reunited. I can see that our prayers have been answered,” he said in a choked voice.
Emotion made her throat swell. “How awful it must have been for you.”
“It was, but today that pain has gone,” Kit’s mother asserted.
“Let’s not worry about the past,” her father advised. “What’s important is that we’re together. Our daughter’s come home to us. It’s a miracle.”
“It is,” her mother cried. “You’re so beautiful!”
“So are you,” Kit responded. “Both of you. I’m the happiest, luckiest woman in the world.”
She meant every word. What a blessing to have been born to two such loving, openhearted people. She already liked them, so it was going to be easy to love them.
“But I’ll never understand why the woman who raised me didn’t go to the police and give me back to you. It’s so unfair.” She broke down sobbing. Her father reached out to clasp her hand.
“You’re home now, sweetheart.”
Kit still couldn’t believe she was hearing those words from her very own father.
“We’re all going to need to talk about this, so say anything you want to say, because we’re listening,” her mother said.
“Right now my biggest question is why she thought I belonged to the McFarlands.”
As soon as she’d said it, Kit noticed the bewildered look that crossed their faces.
“When Agent Kelly was interrogating Frankie Burke at Lompoc, he expected Frankie to talk about kidnapping me from the McFarlands. Instead he gave information that led to uniting me with you.
“Twenty-six years ago my mother was Frankie’s girlfriend for a short period of time. Somehow she ended up taking care of me. She told me Frankie was my father, but that he’d abandoned us before I was a year old.
“On the night she died, she confessed I wasn’t her daughter, and she begged me to go find the McFarlands, my real parents, who lived in Salt Lake. A month later I went to Utah and met Cord. I’m afraid I fell in love with him…before I realized he was a McFarland.”
“Does he still believe he could be your brother?” her mother asked gently. She understood everything.
“Yes. He hasn’t heard the news yet,” Kit said in a shaky tone. “I can’t wait to tell him in person.”
Her father eyed her with compassion. “Of course you can’t. Maybe we should be driving you to the airport.”
“No!” Kit cried. “I’ve just found my true family. I want to spend tonight with you. Tomorrow I’ll fly to Salt Lake and surprise him. When he hears everything that’s happened, I know he’ll want to come back with me to meet you.”
“Sounds good to me. If you’ll look on your left, our house is the fourth one down from the corner.”
The lovely residential area contained a variety of architectural styles.
“It’s the Spanish mission one,” her mother added.
Kit turned her head toward the window. “That’s always been my favorite kind. One day I planned to live in a house just like it.”
As they pulled in the driveway, one of her brothers came out the front door and started walking toward them. He had to be a brother. It was like looking at her twin, although he was as tall as their father and fairly muscular.
They all got out of the car. He looked her over for a long time, then a slow smile stole over his attractive face. “I’m your brother, Steve.”
“I would never have known,” she teased.
His brilliant blue eyes glazed over. “You’re a knockout.”
“I was just going to say the same thing about you. All of you.” Her voice faltered.
“David’s jaw is going to drop when he sees you. He and Chris are on their way over. Welcome home, big sister.” He gave her a brotherly hug. “Do you want to be called Kit or Melissa?”
Her father slid an arm around her shoulders. “She’s been known as Kit all her life. Let’s not change it now.”
Her mother hugged her from the other side. “I agree. We’ll just have her birth certificate altered to read Melissa Kit Aldridge Talbot,” she said as a car suddenly pulled in the driveway.
Kit turned around and saw two people get out—a striking blond woman, and another handsome brunette Talbot who had a lean build like their father.
His lighter blue eyes stared at Kit in shock.
Steve chuckled. “I knew you’d be speechless.”
Kit understood his problem. Her heart was too full to say anything right now. Though she didn’t understand why her mother never came forward with what she perceived was the truth until she knew she was dying, Kit forgave her mother in her heart.
Now that she had been united with her real family—now that they stood together with their arms wrapped around each other holding tight, how could she not forgive?
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
FROM THE TIME CORD WAS a little kid, he loved to camp out at Cecret Lake above the Albion basin in Alta. Until his father explained, he’d thought it was spelled “secret.”
No bigger than a football field, it was surrounded by lush forest and lay hidden beneath the towering peaks of Mount Baldy and Mount Superior—the perfect hideout to fend off imagined bad guys and Indians from another age.
Would that the problem besetting him at this stage in his life was like the fiction of his youth. If he didn’t like one dream while he was looking up at the passing clouds, he could always change it to another.
His favorite scenario featured the Cattle King of the Albion Basin. On his trusty horse, Blue, he carved out an empire for himself. He was lord of all he surveyed, from the dark vales of pines nestled among the crags to the meadows bursting with glorious wildflowers as they were right now.
In hindsight he realized Louis Lamour’s westerns had gotten a chokehold on him at an early age. He’d lived every story. It was the escape he’d needed from the great sadness that blighted their family day and night, year in, year out.
Cord hadn’t thought another crisis could come into his life to top that kind of pain. But he was wrong.
From the water’s edge, he gazed out over the lake. In the early morning light he saw his favorite grand-daddy trout jump right out after a fly. That was a determined fish looking for his breakfast. Cord had never been able to catch him. The old guy was too wily.
It was time Cord wised up if he hoped to survive as long.
He’d run the shelter all these years hoping his sister would return. One fine day not too long ago, he’d gotten his wish. There she was in the flesh, standing in the Renaissance House garden looking more beautiful than any flower.
In a couple of days his family would hear the results of the DNA test. Their joy
would be full. They would start to mend. But Cord had no intention of staying around to watch that happen. His only solution was to leave Utah.
He could put Gwen in charge of the shelter if she’d like the job. Otherwise, he’d find someone else capable. Gwen had told him he needed a vacation to get a new perspective. It was time to take her advice.
A year would give him a chance to see a lot of the world. Somewhere along the way he might stumble onto something he wanted to do for the rest of his life away from Salt Lake.
He didn’t need to worry about leaving the family. Naturally, he’d stay in touch with them, but they’d be too busy trying to make up for the years they’d lost with Kit to mourn his departure.
Ben had Julie and the kids. Maggie would enjoy the mental freedom to stretch her wings even more. The spirit of adventure in his sister was jumping to get out.
As for Kit… She’d found her family. The rest would take care of itself. Another man would come along, one she was free to love. But Cord needed to be far away from Salt Lake for that to happen.
He didn’t hold out any hope of falling in love again. But there were plenty of women out there to enjoy if he could ever forget Kit long enough to let himself go. Right now he couldn’t imagine that day coming.
After one more night on the mountain, he’d take off for Lima, Peru, and let the family know where he was after the fact. His business with Gwen could be handled over the phone, long distance. That was the great thing about the technological age. A push of a button, and bingo. Worlds could be created, joined or separated, depending on the agenda.
With a grimace, he stood up and walked over to the Coleman stove to heat up his coffee. Today was the perfect day to climb to the top of Baldy. If the Fates were kind, he’d come back to camp tonight thoroughly exhausted and crash into oblivion.
WHILE KIT WAS ARRANGING for a rental car at the Salt Lake airport, she asked to see the telephone directory. In a minute she’d jotted down Ryan Wentworth’s number.
“Thanks,” she said to the attendant.
“You’re welcome. Your rental car’s out in front. It’s the white Buick.”
The second she got behind the wheel she pulled out her cell phone and called Ryan’s house. To her relief he answered the phone.
“Hello, Ryan? It’s Kit.”
“Oh—hi!” He sounded totally surprised. She didn’t blame him.
“I’m calling you for a big favor, but it needs to be a secret. I don’t want anyone to know I’m back in Salt Lake. Do you think you could help me out?”
“Sure.” He got right into conspiratorial mode. She loved it. “What should I do?”
Kit smiled. “Would you call Brock, and ask him to call me back on my cell phone? Tell him not to say anything to anyone.”
“Okay. Just a minute. I have to find a pen to write down your number.” After a pause he said, “Go ahead.”
She gave it to him. “Listen, Ryan. If he’s not there, will you please call me back?”
“Yeah.”
He was so excited, he hung up without saying goodbye. Five minutes passed before her phone rang. She clicked On. “Hello?”
“Kit?” Brock asked in a quiet voice.
“Hi, Brock. Thanks for calling me back so fast.”
“Ryan said this was supposed to be a secret.”
“It is. Do you know where your uncle Cord is?”
“No, but I bet Dad does. Shall I ask him?”
“Can you do it without giving me away?”
“Yup.”
“I want a chance to talk to your uncle before anyone else knows I’m in Salt Lake.”
“I’ll call you back in a minute.” He clicked Off.
Cord could be anywhere. He’d said he was leaving town for a few days. If Brock couldn’t tell her, then she would drive to the plaza and ask Maggie for help. But she hesitated bothering Cord’s sister, who was probably busy with law clients this morning.
Ten minutes passed before her phone rang again. “Brock?”
“No. It’s Ben.” Oh, no. “Good morning, Kit. I understand you’re looking for Cord. After Brock’s last disappearance act, I’m still paranoid and figured he had a distinct purpose for asking me that question just now.”
“Please don’t blame him, Ben. This is my fault.”
“Kit—no one’s blaming anyone. Brock told me you wanted this to be a secret, so my lips are sealed. For your information, Cord’s staying at his house in Alta.”
The news thrilled her.
“Could you tell me how to find him?”
“Of course, but I happen to know he planned to camp out in the mountains.”
“Oh.” It would be impossible to find him.
“If this is an emergency, keep trying to get him on his cell phone. Even if he doesn’t answer, he’ll check his messages from time to time.”
“It is an emergency, but I need to talk to him in person.”
“If you were in Salt Lake, I’d drive you up there and help you find him.”
“You would?”
“What do you think?”
“As a matter of fact, I just rented a car at the Salt Lake airport.”
“Then come on up to the house. Brock and I will turn this into a father-and-son outing. He’s still working on his outdoor badges for Webelos. I haven’t even thanked you for helping him with that. Let this be my way of making it up to you.”
“Thank you, Ben. You’ll never know what this means to me.” Since the reunion with her family last night, her emotions were transparent.
“Let me give you directions to our place. We’ll take my car from here.”
“Bless you.”
A half hour later she’d changed into some of Julie’s hiking clothes at the house. Brock’s mother also helped pack everything they’d need into the Blazer. She and Katy waved them off without asking Kit any probing questions.
“Your wife’s a real trooper,” she confided to Ben once they’d reached Wasatch Boulevard.
He winked. “I’ll keep her.”
“You’ve been so wonderful about this, you deserve to know what’s going on.”
“You don’t have to tell me and Brock anything.”
“Nope.” His son piped up from the back.
“But I want to,” she said in a fervent tone.
Ben eyed her with some concern. “Then go ahead.”
“What I’m going to tell you will hurt your parents horribly when they hear about it.”
“There’s only one thing that could do that.”
“I know.” Her voice wobbled. “Yesterday Agent Kelly from the FBI arranged for a police car to drive me to the station in Los Angeles. Frankie Burke volunteered some crucial information to get his sentence reduced. The agent immediately followed up on it.
“When I was shown into the conference room, he handed me a news clipping that was dated twenty-six years ago. To make a long story short, I found out I’m not Kathryn McFarland.”
“Good Lord.” Ben pulled off the road near the creek.
“My real name is Melissa Aldridge Talbot. I was born in Rosemead, California. A month after my birth, a robber threatened my mother with a knife as she was getting out of her car to take me into the bank with her. He hijacked the car and forced her to drive him into Los Angeles. When he got out by this park, he took me with him.”
“Whoa, Kit!”
She heard the click of a seat belt behind her and suddenly felt Brock’s arms go around her neck from behind. “Uncle Cord’s going to be so happy he’ll have a heart attack.”
“Amen to that,” his father exclaimed. “We need to find him quick.”
“I bet he’s up at Cecret Lake. He told me that’s where he goes when he’s in pain and needs to think.”
TAKE A GOOD LOOK, McFarland. Who knows how long it will be before you see this view again.
From the eleven-thousand-foot summit of Mount Baldy, Cord had an unobstructed sight of the canyon down to the floor of the Great Salt Lake Valley a
nd the Oquirrh Mountains beyond.
Every time he’d climbed to the top, he would get a renewed sense that someday he would find release from his deep-seated sorrow. But this time he couldn’t sense anything because he was too weighed down with fresh pain.
Everything reminded him of Kit and that unforgettable day they’d spent at Lake Catherine. The breeze carried the fragrance of wildflowers, bringing back the smell of her skin and hair. He saw her smile in the sun, which was dipping lower in the western sky. Before long she would watch it set at Venice Beach.
Through another crippling stroke of fate, he would never be able to lie on that beach with her and hold her while they listened to the pounding of the surf. That passionate mouth would never again search for his. He’d never again know the voluptuous feel of her body, never be the recipient of those adoring looks, never hear that slightly breathless sound from her whenever he came near.
His eyes closed tightly.
Until he tasted salt on his lips, he didn’t realize tears had squeezed out from under his eyelids.
It was time to go.
Oblivious of the terrain, he tore down the mountain, running in the flatter areas, moving swiftly through the steeper parts, unaware and uncaring of the risks he was taking. He didn’t remember his flight into camp.
“Cord?”
The sound of Ben’s voice coming from out of the blue brought him to a sudden halt in front of his tent.
“Hi, Uncle Cord.”
Brock?
He spun around.
Their silhouettes stood out against the late afternoon sky, which was streaked with orange and pink.
His first thought was that something was wrong at home. He must have communicated his fear because Ben said, “Relax, bro. I decided to help Brock finish up what you started on his Forester badge. When we dropped by for a drink at the house and couldn’t find you, we thought we’d come up here on the chance that you were doing some fishing, and say hi.”
“Did you catch any?” Brock asked.
He eyed his nephew. “I haven’t done any fishing this trip.”
“How come?”
“I had other things on my mind.”
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