Little Girl Lost
Page 35
Amelia flashes back to Jessie, thirty years ago, showing her a scrapbook on the day they met. It, too, had been filled with clippings about an abandoned child. Her story, like Amelia’s and Lily’s, ended in a happy adoptive home. Unlike them, she’s since discovered and met her birth mother. That’s why, when Amelia embarked on this business venture, Jessie wasn’t wholeheartedly supportive.
“You never know what you’re going to dig up, Mimi. About your own past, or anyone else’s. Just tread carefully. Sometimes, the truth is ugly. And dangerous.”
Yes. But it’s worth every moment of risk.
“Can I keep this envelope?” Amelia asks Lily.
“Yes. My mom made photocopies for me.”
“She sounds pretty great.”
“She is pretty great. Oh, I have one other thing to show you.” She reaches into the bag again. “Only this, you can’t keep.”
She pulls out a small jewelry box. It’s plain, white, not from Tiffany, not ribbon-wrapped. Passing it to Amelia, she says, “I was wearing this the day they found me. It’s the only clue I have to who I might have been.”
Amelia lifts the lid. A strangled little cry escapes her as she recognizes the object inside.
It’s a little gold initial ring, with tiny sapphires set on either side of an engraved letter C, filled in blue enamel.
About the Author
USA Today and New York Times bestseller Wendy Corsi Staub is the award-winning author of nearly ninety novels and is a three-time Mary Higgins Clark Award nominee. She lives in the New York City suburbs with her husband, their two sons, and a trio of rescue kitties. Learn more about Wendy at www.wendycorsistaub.com.
Discover great authors, exclusive offers, and more at hc.com.
By Wendy Corsi Staub
Mundy’s Landing Series
Bone White
Blue Moon
Blood Red
And
Little Girl Lost
The Black Widow
The Perfect Stranger
The Good Sister
Shadowkiller
Sleepwalker
Nightwatcher
Hell to Pay
Scared to Death
Live to Tell
Copyright
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Excerpt from Little Boy Blue copyright © 2019 by Wendy Corsi Staub.
little girl lost. Copyright © 2018 by Wendy Corsi Staub. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
Digital Edition AUGUST 2018 ISBN: 978-0-06-274202-5
Print ISBN: 978-0-06-274205-6
Cover design by Amy Halperin
Cover photograph © Ivelina Petkova / EyeEm / Getty Images
William Morrow and HarperCollins are registered trademarks of HarperCollins Publishers in the United States of America and other countries.
first edition
About the Publisher
Australia
HarperCollins Publishers Australia Pty. Ltd.
Level 13, 201 Elizabeth Street
Sydney, NSW 2000, Australia
www.harpercollins.com.au
Canada
HarperCollins Publishers Ltd
Bay Adelaide Centre, East Tower
22 Adelaide Street West, 41st Floor
Toronto, Ontario, M5H 4E3
www.harpercollins.ca
India
HarperCollins India
A 75, Sector 57
Noida
Uttar Pradesh 201 301
www.harpercollins.co.in
New Zealand
HarperCollins Publishers New Zealand
Unit D1, 63 Apollo Drive
Rosedale 0632
Auckland, New Zealand
www.harpercollins.co.nz
United Kingdom
HarperCollins Publishers Ltd.
1 London Bridge Street
London SE1 9GF, UK
www.harpercollins.co.uk
United States
HarperCollins Publishers Inc.
195 Broadway
New York, NY 10007
www.harpercollins.com