by Kay Bratt
Maggie closed her eyes, trying to think. Yes, growing up, Quinn had the best mom ever. Technically, Elizabeth had kidnapped Quinn, but there was no doubt she’d loved Quinn and had given her a good life. It was just that Quinn’s story was so absolutely incredible—albeit tragically so—that of course it made for good news. The truth of it was that when she fell overboard and somehow miraculously made it to the beach and was found, her own grandmother arranged for her to disappear again.
All to avoid some supposed curse on their family.
“I’ve got it!” Maggie opened her eyes wide.
“What?”
“You can say that when you were found, no one claimed you, and child services arranged for you to be adopted.”
“Maggie,” Quinn said, “the entire town was looking for me for weeks. There’s no way child services wouldn’t know who that little girl was.”
Maggie felt defeated. She was right.
“Amnesia?”
“It wouldn’t have mattered. Anyone would’ve known a child washed up was the Monroes’ daughter.”
Maggie noticed Quinn still acted like the child lost at sea was a different person than she was. It was going to take much longer for her to come to terms with her identity, it seemed. But that was talk for another time.
“I just don’t know then. Maybe the truth is the best option?”
“And let everyone know my own grandmother sent me away with a stranger? Never to see my family again? Crushing the hope of her own daughter who grieved her lost child? They will crucify her, Maggie.”
“I know, but she might have to be the sacrificial lamb to keep the entire family and your parents’ businesses safe. And the inn. If you’re painted as a fraud, it’s going to affect your vision for the future here. You don’t want to lose everything you’ve worked so hard for already.”
Maggie hated that Quinn had been through so much in the last year and now was having to face it all again. It just wasn’t fair how some of the nicest people had the heaviest burdens to bear.
“Liam said the same thing,” Quinn finally said after a long pause. “But what she did is a crime. A felony even. I can’t let them know. I have to protect her.”
“At the cost of your own integrity? Quinn, you’re innocent in all this. And you damn sure never asked for any of their money. You’re earning your own way here. Stop trying to shield everyone before yourself.”
“I don’t know what I’m going to do,” Quinn said.
Maggie saw a notification for two new emails at the bottom of her screen, and she clicked her in-box open.
She zoned out on what Quinn was saying when she saw the first one in the queue was from the email address [email protected].
When she clicked it open, the same photo from the Maui Now site popped up, but this time it was edited. A crude-looking heart was drawn around her face. The email contained nothing else, but the point was made. She knew who it was from, and he knew where she was.
She felt the bile rise up in her throat and a loud ringing began in her ears.
“Quinn,” she said. “He’s found me.”
She couldn’t keep the hysteria from her voice, and Charlie heard her.
“Mommy? Is that Daddy on the phone?” he asked.
“Maggie? What are you talking about?”
“Just a minute,” Maggie said, then held her hand over the phone. She took a deep breath and softened the fright on her face before she turned to Charlie. “No, this is Auntie Quinn.”
Charlie’s lip quivered and a tear slid out. “I was dreaming about Daddy.”
“I gotta go, Quinn. I’ll see you in a little while.” Maggie hung up and tossed the phone onto the bed, then gathered Charlie up into her arms, pushing aside her own terror. “I’m sorry, buddy. I didn’t know you were missing Daddy so much. You want to call him?”
Charlie nodded. In his sleepy and sad state, he looked younger than usual, and Maggie wished she could go back to those days when he was happy just rocking in her arms and staring up at her face. But now that he was older, he loved another person as much as he did her. Well, maybe not as much, but somewhere close.
She sighed a long and lengthy breath to try to expel the sudden onslaught of anxiety rushing through her. Not only was she being hit this morning with the mess about Quinn, then knowledge that her stalker knew where she was now, but like a cherry on top, she felt guilty that she hadn’t noticed how much Charlie was missing his dad. It was all just too much.
Things with his dad were complicated. She and Colby had issues. He didn’t understand her need to be independent. And she wanted him to be with her because he was madly in love with her, not because it was the responsible thing to do.
Would she always have these complicated feelings about Colby? As the father of her child, she knew there would always be a connection, but she hoped one day they could simply be friends. Or at least pretend to be as they co-parented their son.
Charlie was her world, and to know that she was the cause of any of his disappointment just broke her heart. It was probably going to be an ice-cream-sandwich-for-breakfast kind of day, just to keep him happy on the way to the inn. But at least she’d bought the good kind made with whole milk. Calcium and protein. Naysayers could bite it. She had bigger things to worry about.
She hoped that the detective was up and about when she dropped Charlie off. Maybe he could direct her to the next steps. She also needed to talk to Rosa about being extra careful not to let Charlie out of her sight.
But right now there was only one thing that would make Charlie’s frown turn upside down.
She reached for the phone and hit the last number called, then realized it was Dr. Starr’s and not Colby’s number. She hung up before the first ring ended. Carefully this time, she brought Colby’s name up and flinched when his photo filled the screen. He was wearing the hat they’d bought together before their first rodeo date. It was startling how much the photo made her miss him. Or at least miss the years they’d had together before things went wrong. She didn’t even want to hear him talk about her moving back.
She handed the phone to Charlie. It would be midafternoon on East Coast time, and Colby was probably still working, but he always said there was never a bad time to take a call from his boy.
“You talk while I take a shower. Tell him you love it here.”
He gave her a confused look before concentrating on the phone.
Maggie left him to it and headed to the bathroom. She planned on standing under the hot, streaming water and thinking only about what new safeguards she needed to work on. She’d also imagine cats, dogs, fleas, and hair balls—anything to get the vision of Colby’s twinkling green eyes out of her head and the sneaky feelings they’d brought back up. She reminded herself again that she had bigger things to worry about.
Chapter Twelve
“How many of these are legitimate guests and how many are people looking for a story?” Quinn asked Emily. While she’d love to celebrate the fact that they were booked solid for the next two months, she wasn’t naive enough to believe that suddenly the Hana Hamoa Inn was the best stay on the island.
“I haven’t had time to research them. I’ve been too busy doing checkouts and taking calls. Mr. Westbrooks asked to extend their stay, by the way. He also said he needs to talk to you, and it’s important.”
“David? Oh. For how long does he want to extend?”
“He said to go ahead and put it in for two more weeks if it was okay, and then he’ll let us know if it’ll be longer.”
“Interesting,” Quinn said. She wondered if that meant Julianne was too sick to travel. She also hoped he had some news about Maggie’s stalker. “I’ll call him when I can get five minutes to step away.”
Emily slid over the spreadsheet they kept printed out for daily maintenance issues—a piece of paper that Quinn would rather see empty. Unfortunately it already had a pile of to-dos going.
“I had to call Jonah in, and that took some tracki
ng. He was helping mow the side yard and didn’t hear his phone. The coffee maker in room four isn’t working, and the bathroom sink in six is stopped up. Four is cranky, and six has threatened to leave a bad review if the sink isn’t repaired immediately.”
As soon as the words were out of her mouth, the phone rang again. Emily raised her brows but picked it up. “Hana Hamoa Inn, how may I help you?”
Quinn turned away. Everything was in an uproar at the inn. She needed to get a guest list and google each of them. She needed to hire another morning shift front desk person, and she’d already promised David she was going to do something about getting the dance team there to talk to Julianne. She was overwhelmed, and the perfect life she’d carved out for herself went from being within her reach to spiraling out of control overnight. It felt like a storm was brewing, and she didn’t like it. Not one little bit.
“Good morning, Mr. and Mrs. Monroe,” the bellman at the doors said.
Quinn looked up to see her parents on their way in, making a beeline straight to her. That was all she needed. She was just as helpless as they were to hide from prying eyes, yet here they were, coming out to check on her. She couldn’t deny they genuinely cared about her well-being, even if they didn’t really know her yet.
“I’ll be back up in a few,” she mouthed to Emily, who nodded with a look of panic in her eyes.
“Let’s go to my rooms,” she said, beckoning for her mom and dad to follow.
Jules had already seen her suite, but Noah hadn’t. When they walked into the sitting area, he whistled.
“Nice,” he said. “I could live here.”
“Thanks. It works out great for me to be here on-site. At least most of the time. Though right now I wish I lived on the other side of the island.”
Noah went to the bookshelf in the corner and appeared to be reading each book title, as though he could get a glimpse inside her head by knowing what she liked to read. They were always trying to dig a little, but usually in unassuming ways.
Jules sat down on the small settee but was looking toward the bedroom. Quinn was glad she’d made her bed and put away her laundry from the day before.
“I’ll bet you do,” Jules said.
“Would you like some fresh-squeezed juice?” Quinn asked.
They both nodded. Quinn went to the corner of the suite where her mini kitchen was and opened her fridge, pulling out the juice she’d squeezed at five o’clock that morning when she couldn’t sleep any longer. She was glad for a moment to busy her hands while they looked around. She didn’t blame them for being curious about how she lived. They’d fallen in love with their own sweet, tiny brown-eyed girl and then lost her for thirty years. Quinn figured they were always going to try to see some of that child they once knew inside the woman they’d recently met.
When she had three glasses full, she brought them over on a tray, handed her parents theirs, and settled stiffly into the armchair facing them.
“Before we get on to the drama that my presence has caused, have you heard anything from Kira or Michael?” she asked.
“No. And she’s blocked me from her phone and all social media,” Jules said. She looked stricken as the words left her mouth. Noah put an arm around her, giving her a comforting squeeze.
Quinn never tired of seeing the two of them together, so connected and still obviously in love after so many years. These days, it was a miracle to have a relationship stand the test of time. She could only dream of a love like that someday. She supposed she had some of her father’s hopeless romantic quality inside her after all.
“I’m sorry. She’ll come around.” Quinn really didn’t know what to say.
She wanted to call Kira and make her see what was happening with Michael trying to drive a wedge between her and the family. But they weren’t close like that yet. Quinn also didn’t want to ask if her grandmother had loaned them the money or not. All she knew was that if Kira and Michael went ahead and started their own charter business without the blessing of Noah and Jules, it was going to be trouble. She hated to see a solid family suddenly fracture over money. Especially when her parents had been so generous with the profits from what they’d built.
“I don’t know about that,” Jules said. “Kira has always taken things too personally. She’s had a history of feeling attacked, when that’s the furthest thing from what is really happening. Her teenage years were not easy. For her or us.”
Noah raised his eyebrows and nodded, his face giving away that Jules had made an understatement.
Quinn was surprised. This was the first she was hearing of Kira being less than perfect.
“The girls joined Jonah in therapy when they were old enough to understand that we’d lost a child. Kira more than Lani had a problem with feeling like she was only wanted in order to replace you,” Jules said.
“Which is ridiculous,” her father added. “Children have a hard time getting that we love them each the same but differently. Just because we lost you didn’t make us love Kira any less for who she was as an individual, and she sure wasn’t meant to be a replacement for you. That would’ve been impossible. Still, she always questioned her place within the family, craving reassurance. I thought she’d gotten past it, but maybe I was wrong. I don’t know.”
“I’m sorry,” Quinn said. He looked so sad. And that made her sad.
“Don’t be,” Jules replied, her voice soft. “You have nothing to be sorry for, Quinn. None of this was your fault. You were the victim.”
Quinn knew that, but it didn’t make it any easier to accept that her disappearance was the cause of so much anguish in one family. For thirty years she’d wished for relatives, but she’d made the most of her circumstances and appreciated the mother and the life she had. It was still surreal that all along she’d had a family in Maui, longing to know what had happened to her. Her parents and brother grieving over her, and her sisters trying to compete with a ghost they’d never met.
“The girls were always with us on charters when they were growing up, but when Kira turned eighteen, she didn’t want to be a part of it anymore,” Noah said.
That really surprised Quinn. She thought Kira had always been a part of the family business.
“She met a boy—just like I did,” Jules said, smiling. “Who talked her into rejecting the family and the work we do. She quit, telling us it was too painful to be near the water that took her sister. She knew that was the one thing we wouldn’t argue with. Their emotional well-being is always our top priority. We thought she needed some space. Some distance from everything to be able to finally heal.”
Quinn winced. Her fault.
Again.
Noah chuckled. “She went to work in a boutique, catering to the rich tourists. It was a nightmare for a girl used to being out in the beautiful seascapes of Maui to be cooped up with an onslaught of demanding shoppers. She was miserable, although she tried to hide it.”
Jules smiled at the memory, but the smile slowly disappeared. “Then she met Michael, and he talked her into coming back. Told her she was crazy to walk away from such a dream job. Turns out that it was his dream all along, and she was the ticket.”
“And now he’s the one who talked her into walking away,” Quinn said. “This has to hurt both of you.”
Noah shrugged. “Your kids grow up, and in their quest for independence, they sometimes hurt you. You can’t do anything about it but let them go and hope they eventually figure out that their parents aren’t the villains they think we are.”
“She’ll see that starting a business isn’t as easy as she thinks,” Jules said. “And when she does, we’ll be waiting. She’ll always have a place with us.”
Quinn suspected her parents were afraid to lose another daughter and wanted to keep Kira in their sights. She also noticed that Jules didn’t mention saving a place for Michael. It was time to change the subject.
“So, I guess we should talk about the reporter and how we want to handle this. He’s made my job here much
harder, to say the least.” Quinn had already decided she was going to have to stay in the background and try to work from the small office behind the front desk. She didn’t want any other cheap shots from someone aiming to cash in on a possible juicy story or candid picture. To them, it was like a reality show.
To her, it was her life.
“I had a feeling this would come up one day,” Noah said. “We should’ve addressed it when we found you. Now a year has gone by, and it makes everything look suspicious.”
Jules shook her head. “I disagree, Noah. How could we have addressed it then any better than we can today? No matter how we spin it, my mother—from the infamous Rochas that so many on Maui already hate—orchestrated a kidnapping. All the good she’s done over the years to try to make up for it will be forgotten if this comes out.”
Quinn could feel the walls closing in on her. Her grandmother had committed an unforgivable act, but that was the thing—she’d been forgiven. Now it would all be dredged back up. All the old woman wanted was to go to her grave with a clean conscience, which her family had granted her and which she’d finally accepted.
This wasn’t going to help that goal.
Quinn wished she could turn back time. Every bad thing that was happening was her fault. Why did she have to even try to find her biological father? Her search had netted results but at her family’s expense.
It made her feel horrible. And how could she ever make the inn a success on her own terms now? Sure, the calendar was filling up, but it wasn’t because she’d made it a valuable destination. It was because people were curious. Everyone wanted to see the woman who was once the little lost girl—the island’s own prodigal daughter.
Profits or not, it made her sick to her stomach. Privacy was priceless, and hers was now being offered for the fee of one night’s stay at the Hamoa Inn.
Really, there was only one way to make it all go away. It was going to be the hardest thing she’d ever done, but it was best for everyone.
She took a deep breath, then let it out slowly.
“I have a solution.”