She held out her held. He shook it. “Nice to meet you.”
“You met my sister Fatima a few days ago.” The mocha-skinned woman dressed in yellow.
“Right. I remember her. She’s lovely. How can I help you?”
He slurped his coffee. “Let’s sit down somewhere.”
“Sure,” she said. “Let’s go to my office.” My office.
He followed her back through the room where the women were just finishing unpacking and sorting books. They watched as the two of them walked past.
They moved into her office and closed the door.
“Please sit down,” Summer said. He did. “Now, what is it?”
“I wanted to give you my condolences.”
“Thank you. You knew my mom?” Surely he hadn’t come here just to give his condolences.
“No, unfortunately I never met her. But my father did. He’s recently passed away, and we’ve been going through his things, you see.”
“Oh, that’s hard. I know.” Images of her mom’s stacks of magazines, boxes of photos, clothes, goddess statues, and all of her books sprang to mind.
His chest rose and fell. “This is harder than I imagine. But I look at you and I know it’s true. You have his eyes.”
Summer’s heart dropped to her feet. “Whose?”
“My father’s. We are half-siblings.”
She grabbed onto the chair arms, as if to steady herself. Could it be true? She examined him, tried to look deep into his eyes, for surely there was the truth. All of her life, she’d wondered who had fathered her. And more deeply wondered why her mother had never told her. Never told anybody. Not even Agatha. She gathered some words. “This is the first time I’ve heard anything about it. Are you certain?” Her voice quavered.
He nodded. He was stiff and nervous. Uncomfortable. “As I said, we’ve been going through his things and found a box. Photos of your mother. And there are letters, along with a journal.” His eyes filled with water. “They loved each other very much.”
The ability to speak left Summer.
“My dad was promised to another. He would have turned his back on his family to marry your mother.” He paused, as if girding his loins. “She wouldn’t have it. That’s the quick version. It’s a complicated story.”
Summer’s world tilted. A mystery she’d tried to solve her whole life. It was solved when this man walked into Beach Reads. Just like that.
“I know it must be a shock, and we didn’t know whether to leave it alone. But ultimately, both Fatima and I knew we would want to know if it were us.”
Summer swallowed the lump forming in her throat.
“Are you okay?”
She nodded.
“I’ll give you a few days to sit with this,” he stood. “Then I want to bring you the box. Is that okay?”
She nodded again. Suddenly she had a father, a half-brother and half-sister. A welling formed in the center of her chest. She stood. “Let me walk you out,” she managed to say.
When the door opened, the group of women were still stacking books and chatting. They all looked up at Summer and stopped what they were doing. Summer and Sam stopped walking. She reached out and grabbed his arm to prevent him from moving. This room was filled with her mom’s family. Warmth spread through Summer as the scent of patchouli wafted by.
“Everyone,” Summer said, “I want you to meet Sam—what’s your last name?”
“The American version is Bellamy,” he said.
“Bellamy, like the book?” Agatha said, her voice lifting a decibel.
Summer pieced things together right there and then. Hannah Jacobs, a friend of Hildy’s, had written the story of Hildy and Summer’s biological father. With a happy ending.
“I suppose,” he said, shrugging.
“It absolutely is!” Summer said. Her voice was shrill with excitement. “Sam is my half-brother.”
After a moment of shocked silenced, the women Hildy loved while she was alive gathered around him, welcoming him into the fold.
Summer, surrounded by the people her mom had loved, felt lighter, happier, ebullient, as if she’d break out in dance at any minute. And as illogical as it was, she knew her mom was there, witnessing this moment.
Summer’s body, mind, and spirit exhaled as she scanned the room. “All’s well that ends well.”
Recipes
Hildy’s Mermaid Pie
Ingredients
1 (20-ounce) can crushed pineapple in syrup, undrained
1 (6-serving-size) package instant vanilla pudding and pie filling
1 (8-ounce) container sour cream
1 (9-inch) prepared shortbread pie crust
1 (8-ounce) can sliced pineapple, drained and halved
8 maraschino cherries, drained
2 tablespoons sweetened flaked coconut
1. Combine crushed pineapple with its syrup, dry pudding mix, and sour cream; mix until well combined. Spoon into pie crust and decorate top with pineapple slices and cherries; sprinkle with coconut.
2. Cover and chill at least 2 hours, or until set, before serving.
Tip: Do not make the vanilla pudding. Just add the dry pudding mix right in with the other ingredients.
Also available by Maggie Blackburn
Cumberland Creek mysteries (writing as Mollie Cox Bryan)
Scrapbook of the Dead
Scrappily Ever After
Scrappy Summer
A Crafty Christmas
Death of an Irish Diva
Scrapped
Scrapbook of Secrets
Cora Craft mysteries (writing as Mollie Cox Bryan)
Assault and Beadery
Macrame Murder
No Charm Intended
Death Among the Doilies
Hollywood Biography mysteries (writing as Mollie Cox Bryan)
The Jean Harlow Bombshell
Buttermilk Creek mysteries (writing as Mollie Cox Bryan)
Goodnight Moo
Christmas Cow Bells
Author Biography
Maggie Blackburn is the author of the Cora Crafts mysteries and the Cumberland Creek mysteries under another pen name. Her books have been selected as finalists for an Agatha Award and a Daphne du Maurier Award and as a Top 10 Beach Reads by Woman’s World. She has also been short-listed for the Virginia Library People’s Choice Award. She is the mother of two young women who are off following their dreams in the music business. She currently lives in Waynesboro, VA, and works at the University of Virginia as a development associate.
This is a work of fiction. All of the names, characters, organizations, places and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to real or actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
PUBLISHER’S NOTE: The recipes contained in this book are to be followed exactly as written. The publisher is not responsible for your specific health or allergy needs that may require medical supervision. The publisher is not responsible for any adverse reaction to the recipes contained in this book.
Copyright © 2020 by Mollie Cox Bryan
All rights reserved.
Published in the United States by Crooked Lane Books, an imprint of The Quick Brown Fox & Company LLC.
Crooked Lane Books and its logo are trademarks of The Quick Brown Fox & Company LLC.
Library of Congress Catalog-in-Publication data available upon request.
ISBN (hardcover): 978-1-64385-438-0
ISBN (ePub): 978-1-64385-439-7
Cover design by Teresa Fasolino
Printed in the United States.
www.crookedlanebooks.com
Crooked Lane Books
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New York, NY 10001
First Edition: July 2020
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