Maddie felt her frustration rising. Victoria’s responses were so smooth, so well crafted, Maddie got the impression she was reading straight from the policy manual she’d mentioned.
“But doesn’t the person who’s adopted have a right to know about their past?”
“A young mother and a couple came to an agreement. Made a decision in the best interests of a child unable to make a decision on their own behalf. There are many reasons why the parties both agreed to a closed adoption. You raise a valid point, Ms. Montgomery, but things aren’t always that simple. I’m not sure it’s a question of whether that child has a right to know...but whether they should.”
The words hung in the silence, but Maddie wasn’t quite ready to end the conversation.
“I understand the importance of privacy, but isn’t there a way to let the adoptee know they have siblings who want to meet them? That wouldn’t violate the agency’s policy, would it?”
“I suppose it wouldn’t,” Victoria finally conceded. “But our director would still want to review the case before she agreed.”
Maddie wanted to question why the agency thought it was necessary to maintain such tight control, but she wasn’t about to say anything that would upset the woman on the other end of the line.
“The baby was a girl,” Maddie said. “We’re not sure of her exact birth date, but she would be in her early to midtwenties now. Her biological mother’s name was Carla Kane.”
In the brief silence that followed, Maddie assumed that Victoria was jotting the information down. But when it stretched out for another ten seconds, she wondered if they’d been cut off.
“Hello? Ms. Gerard—”
“I’ll pass this information on to our director,” Victoria cut Maddie off. “Have a good day, Ms. Montgomery.”
“Thank—” You.
Victoria had already ended the call.
Maddie’s heart sank as she put the phone down.
She’d tried to be assertive, not argumentative, but it was obvious she’d failed.
Because the woman Maddie had been so careful to avoid upsetting had sounded...upset.
* * *
“Here you go, Aiden. Three scoops of rocky road.” Anna handed Aiden a cone stacked high with his favorite ice cream.
“Even though it’s Monday, not Triple Scoop Tuesday,” Liam reminded him.
“Don’t be bitter, bro.” A stopover at The Happy Cow had become a weekly tradition whenever it was Anna’s turn to pick Aiden up from physical therapy. Today, the therapist had announced that his appointments were being reduced to once a week and provided a list of follow-up exercises Aiden could continue at home. “We’re celebrating. Don’t you see the sprinkles on top?”
Liam rolled his eyes. “You spoil him.”
“Of course she does. Thanks, Anna.” He winked at her. “You’re my favorite almost-sister-in-law.”
Anna chuckled. “I should thank you for not minding hanging out here for a little while. Liam’s been so busy lately we haven’t had a chance to meet with Pastor Seth for our premarital counseling. When he had an opening in his schedule this afternoon, we didn’t want to turn it down.”
Aiden knew it wasn’t Anna’s intention to make him feel guilty, but he still felt the pinch. The extra work River Quest had created was part of the reason his brother had been so busy.
There were still moments Aiden wished he would have scrapped the whole thing and given the teams who’d registered a refund.
But where would that have left Tyler and Justin? And Skye, for that matter.
“I doubt my brother minds hanging out at an ice-cream shop.” Liam chuckled. “Just don’t eat all the proceeds while we’re gone, okay?”
Aiden’s gaze strayed to the brick building on the corner of the opposite side of the street. “It’s a nice day,” he said casually. “I’ll probably take a walk or something.”
“Or something?” Liam’s eyebrow shot up. “Like check out a book, maybe?”
Anna grinned.
Rats. Aiden had returned to the house the night before only to find Sunni sitting in the living room, waiting up for him like he was Tyler and Justin’s age and still on a curfew.
She hadn’t asked many questions, though, which was a little suspicious. Now he understood why. His mom didn’t need Aiden to fill in the details because she’d already formed her own conclusion. A conclusion Sunni had no doubt shared with the rest of his nosy family.
“Checking out a book usually involves a library card,” Aiden said. “Which I don’t have. And even if I did, the library closes in a few minutes.”
Liam tilted his head. “Anna, isn’t it strange that a person who doesn’t have a library card knows what the hours of said library are?”
“Very strange,” she agreed, her eyes sparkling.
Aiden shooed them toward the door with his crutch. “Go. Get counseling. I’ll see you in an hour.”
He waited until Anna’s van peeled away from the curb and rumbled out of sight before venturing outside.
The fall festival was a little over a week away, but the businesses on Riverside were already starting to prepare for the event. The owner of CJ’s Variety had parked an antique wagon filled with pumpkins in front of a plate-glass window overlooking the street, and the chamber of commerce had hung pots of yellow and bronze mums from the lampposts—attractive additions designed to draw visitors to the town and encourage the locals to gather together and enjoy autumn’s breathtaking display of natural fireworks before the long winter set in.
Aiden paused to study a poster that listed the activities in the window of the coffee shop next door. The lineup looked the same as it did every year. A craft fair. The chili cook-off and live music in the park. A chain of food booths that featured everything from apple fritters on a stick to the traditional pasty, a handheld meat pie that Cornish miners had introduced to the area in the 1800s.
Near the bottom of the poster, Aiden saw the Castle Falls Outfitters’ logo superimposed over a picture of the river.
Lily’s doing, of course, but Aiden hadn’t known they’d put money into advertising River Quest.
Another layer of guilt added to the weight he had already been carrying.
Sure, they’d reached the maximum number of teams for the competition, but River Quest would be a true success only if spectators came to watch it, too. If those spectators browsed for souvenirs in the Trading Post and filled next season’s calendar with guided trips down the river.
If Brendan and Liam finally began to see him as a valued partner instead of their kid brother.
Aiden shook that thought away as he turned from the window, but it wasn’t as easy to ignore the ones that crowded in to take its place.
What if he’d made another mistake? What if River Quest ended up costing more money than it brought in?
Aiden crossed the street, retraced a path that was already becoming as familiar as the one he’d taken through the woods with Maddie the night before.
In the past, staring up at the stars while the river played music in the background smoothed the ragged edges of Aiden’s soul. But last night, it was the woman sitting next to him who had instilled a sense of peace.
And panic.
Aiden hadn’t known those two emotions could coexist. But then again, that was before he’d met Maddie.
He liked spending time with her, but Aiden wasn’t sure she felt the same way about him.
According to the clock in the bank tower, the library should be closed. But lights glowed in the window and—Aiden turned the handle on the door—the building was still unlocked.
Maddie wasn’t behind the circulation desk, and the chairs in the reading nook were empty.
Aiden was about to call Maddie’s name, quietly of course, when he heard a low giggle on the other side of the bookshelves that formed a colorfu
l hedge around the children’s area.
He decided to investigate, the ladybug rug absorbing the tread of his footsteps as he followed the sound to its source.
A young woman in a lavender dress sat on a plastic chair, as still as a statue, while a girl about five or six years old carefully arranged a crown of plastic daisies in her hair.
It took a moment for Aiden to realize the woman was Maddie.
Tawny hair flowed over her shoulders, all the way down to the center of her back.
He forgot how to breathe. All Aiden could do was open and close his mouth a few times, as helpless as a landed trout.
“We’re playing princess!” The little girl spotted Aiden before he could back out of sight and regroup.
Maddie twisted around in the chair, and a tide of red flooded her cheeks when their eyes met.
“Aiden. W-what are you doing here?”
He dragged in a breath and forced it out again. “I was waiting for Anna and Liam and thought I’d stop by and—” And what, Aiden? Make it sound legit. “Say hi?”
It probably would have sounded more legitimate if Aiden hadn’t phrased it in the form of a question.
“Hi!” The little girl saved him from the awkward moment with a gap-toothed grin. “My name’s Isabella but Gramma and Daddy call me Bea sometimes. What’s your name?”
Thanks to Anna’s twins, Aiden had gotten pretty good at following the conversational twists and turns of the under-ten set. “Aiden.”
“That’s a nice name,” she pronounced before pointing to the circle of plastic daisies listing over Maddie’s forehead. “I made a crown for Miss Maddie. Isn’t it pretty?”
“Very pretty,” Aiden agreed, unable to pull his gaze away from the woman sitting in the chair.
Maddie shifted, clearly uncomfortable as the center of attention. Aiden, on the other hand, liked seeing this whimsical side of her. She’d be a great mom someday.
He bent down until he and the little girl were eye to eye. “There’s only one thing missing,” he whispered.
“What?” she whispered back.
“Her wings.”
Two bright blue eyes rounded on him. “Wings?”
“This princess is really a pixie in disguise. And pixies,” he said solemnly, “always have wings. She must have misplaced hers.”
“I’ll look in the dress-up box!” Maddie’s pint-size fairy godmother had taken only two dancing steps toward an antique steamer trunk in the corner when the door opened again.
“Isabella?”
“We’re back here, Gramma!” The girl went up on her tiptoes and waved her arms in the air.
A trim blonde woman close to Sunni’s age appeared a moment later. “I’m so sorry, Maddie,” she said without preamble. “There was a line a mile long at the grocery store, and then I realized I’d left my checkbook in the car...”
“That’s all right.” Maddie smiled. “It gave me and Isabella time to find a book about ponies.”
“My mom had a pony when she was my age, didn’t she, Gramma?” Isabella locked her arms around her grandmother’s knee. “When Daddy gets home from work, I’m going to show him the book and ask if I can have one, too!”
The wrinkles fanning out from the woman’s eyes seemed to deepen. “Your daddy won’t be home until after you’re asleep.” She gently clasped Isabella’s shoulders and turned her toward Maddie. “Now, what do you say to Miss Maddie?”
Another gap-toothed grin. “Thank you!”
Maddie returned the smile and handed Isabella a book with a bright-eyed pony on the cover. “I’ll see you next week.”
“The bed-and-breakfast is full between now and the fall festival, so it may be a little longer than that. Not that I’m complaining,” the girl’s grandmother added quickly. “Without guests, the beds would be empty and we’d have to eat all the pancakes ourselves. Wouldn’t we, Bea?”
“That’s okay!” Isabella skipped away. “I love pancakes!”
The woman mouthed the words “thank you” to Maddie and followed her toward the door.
After they’d gone, Aiden cocked a brow. “Babysitting is part of your job description, too?”
“Not very often, but sometimes a mom—or a grandma, in Karen Bristow’s case—asks permission to run a quick errand while their child looks for a book.”
“Bristow?” Aiden repeated. “As in Deputy Bristow?”
Maddie nodded. “Karen is his mother. She’s the one who brings Isabella to the library, though, so I’ve never met Carter or his wife.”
Aiden didn’t know anything about Carter Bristow’s background, but he couldn’t quite see it. The granite-jawed officer didn’t exactly give off warm, fuzzy vibes that screamed “family man.”
Aiden picked up a jaunty felt hat decorated with a peacock feather that had fallen on the floor. “Is this yours? Or does it go in the dress-up trunk... Maddie?” He watched as she sent a waterfall of beaded necklaces cascading off the edge of the puzzle table onto the floor. “Are you looking for something?”
“Trying,” Maddie muttered. “That’s the problem.” She swept up a handful of hair that had fallen across her cheek and tucked it behind one ear. Without the barrette holding it place, though, the attempt proved as futile as trying to change the course of the river.
“What does that...” Aiden suddenly realized that something other than Maddie’s bun was missing. “Your glasses.”
“Isabella.” The flash of that intriguing dimple tempered Maddie’s sigh. “She insisted that princesses can’t be nearsighted.”
Aiden grinned. “In that case, you’d better let me take over the search.”
After a brief time, he found them underneath a pink feather boa on the lower shelf of a bookcase.
“Here you go.”
Maddie reached for them, but Aiden shook his head. “I’m surprised you can read anything through these smudges.” He scrubbed at the lens with the tail of his shirt. “Here. Good as new.”
Maddie looked up at the same time Aiden looked down, leaving less than an inch of space between them. He had a close-up view of her gold-tipped lashes. The exact place where the green in her eyes deepened to emerald.
The air in the room changed, and Aiden’s pulse picked up speed, the way it did whenever he was about to embark on a new adventure. Only Aiden had the strangest feeling this adventure wasn’t taking him farther from home. It was bringing him closer.
“Maddie?” Aiden breathed her name, and the tiny gap between them began to disappear as he bent his head...
“Miss M? Are you here?”
Skye.
Aiden stifled a groan as Maddie plucked the glasses out of his hand and fled.
Chapter Fifteen
“Unless you have any questions, I think that’s all for tonight.”
Maddie shut down her laptop, and the last image on the PowerPoint disappeared.
After spending countless hours over the past two weeks trying to get the teenagers in her charge to pay attention, she was the one who’d had trouble concentrating during their Monday study session.
Maddie had never felt so relieved—or so disappointed—in her life when she’d heard Skye’s voice.
Aiden had left a few minutes after the girl had arrived, allowing Maddie to take her first full breath since he’d shown up unannounced at the library.
The man had a penchant for catching her off guard.
Being content with her life had been easy until Aiden Kane had limped through the front door of the library that day and turned it upside down. First with his request for help and take-no-prisoners smile...and last night, when Maddie had caught a rare glimpse of the man behind that smile. Protective. Fiercely devoted to his family, to the point where he wasn’t afraid to step out and take risks.
And then this afternoon, when he’d almost kissed her.
The knot in Maddie’s stomach tightened.
Not because Aiden had almost kissed her—because Maddie would have kissed him right back.
But when a person had to outweigh the cost against the risk—and the outcome of that risk was uncertain—wasn’t it better to leave things the way they were?
Aiden apparently didn’t think so, because he was intent on finding their younger sister.
Maddie closed her eyes. She hadn’t had an opportunity to tell Aiden about her conversation with Victoria Gerard earlier that day, either. Not that there was much to tell. The woman hadn’t been exactly encouraging about the search.
“Miss M?”
Maddie started at the sound of Tyler’s voice. She thought he’d left with Justin and Skye after their meeting.
As preoccupied as Maddie had been throughout the evening, she hadn’t missed the fact that Tyler had been looking at his cell phone more than the handouts Maddie had passed out.
“Did you have a question about the material we covered tonight, Tyler?”
“No...” The floor creaked underneath his weight as he rocked from foot to foot. “I have an idea for a topic.”
“That’s wonderful!” Outwardly, Maddie smiled. Inwardly, she sent up a silent, heartfelt Thank you, Lord. During her weekly update with the principal, he’d expressed reservations about the amount of time the boys and Skye were devoting to River Quest instead of their homework.
Maddie, who’d tried her best to convince him that spending time at Castle Falls Outfitters was homework, realized the proof she needed would be in the form of the topics for their senior presentations.
Skye and Justin had both handed in the assignment, but Tyler had slumped lower in the chair and avoided Maddie’s eyes.
He still wouldn’t look her in the eye, but Maddie sensed a subtle change in the boy’s attitude. She’d grown accustomed to brusque, but now Tyler appeared almost bashful.
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