by Diane Burke
A breeze blew across the back of Sophie’s neck and sent a shiver down her spine. Someone was watching her. Quickly, she swiveled her head and looked around. Cain stood about four graves away, his back to her, looking out at the horizon. To her left, some distance away, she saw an elderly woman holding a Bible at another grave. They seemed to be the only people on the grounds.
Sophie’s eyes skimmed the rows of graves and trees for anything sinister. She knew someone was watching her. These eerie, uncomfortable sensations were not figments of her imagination. Whether she could see anyone or not, she knew she wasn’t alone…that someone, somewhere was watching her every move.
“You okay?”
Sophie, startled by the unexpected sound of a voice, jumped and then laughed. “You scared me. You shouldn’t be sneaking up on people, especially in cemeteries.”
Cain laughed. “Point taken. Are you ready to go? I’m anxious to see if my mother can give us any information.”
Sophie nodded. She glanced over her shoulder once more and then followed Cain to the car.
The view as they wound their way down the mountain was breathtaking. Promise, nestled in the valley beneath them, had grown and expanded in little bits at a time over the years. When she was a child, she used to think that Promise looked like a collection of miniature dollhouses in the palm of God’s hand. In the days when she’d been certain there was a God.
Sophie sighed deeply. She knew God existed. How could anyone take a look at this magnificent view of mountains and valley, blue sky and streams, and not feel the strong presence of a higher power? But like a spoiled child who didn’t get her way, she was finding it difficult not to be angry at Him for leaving her on her own during the worst time of her life.
She sensed more than felt Cain tense beside her. She looked over at him and asked, “Everything okay?”
He eased his foot off the accelerator, his gaze bouncing back and forth from the rearview to the side mirror.
“Cain?”
“It’s okay. I’m going to slow down and give this guy behind me a chance to pass.”
“Pass? On a twisting two-lane highway? You think that’s smart? Can’t he wait until we get to the bottom to pass?”
Before Cain could reply, the car behind them tapped their bumper.
Sophie squealed and reached her hand out to steady herself against the dashboard. The drop off the side of the mountain loomed in her peripheral vision.
Cain muttered something unintelligible under his breath, pulled the car over as far as he dared and hung his arm out the window to wave the other car around him.
Instead, the car butted them again…harder this time.
Cain wrenched the wheel and moved his car away from the guardrail and into the middle of the road.
As they sped up and twisted around a bend, Sophie offered a silent prayer that no one was coming in the opposite direction. And offered a second prayer that if He never listened to any of her other prayers He would listen to this one.
Without warning, the car behind pulled alongside them, inching them toward the guardrail. It was all happening so quickly Sophie could barely get her bearings. She tried to see who sat behind the wheel of the other vehicle but the tinted windows prevented her from seeing inside. She took a good hard look and her stomach twisted in knots. It was a black, four-door sedan, just like the car that had tried to run her down.
The sound of screeching metal wrenched the air as Sophie’s side of the car scraped against the guardrail.
Cain twisted the steering wheel, forcing the driver’s side to slam against their attacker.
Again they were forced back against the guardrail.
Suddenly, a small blue sports car appeared behind the black sedan. Sophie couldn’t believe her eyes when the sports car slammed into the black sedan, hurling it forward. The dull, deep metallic thud of the two cars impacting echoed through the air.
Immediately, the black sedan sped up and pulled in front of Sophie and Cain. The blue car stayed parallel to Cain’s.
Cain’s jaw clenched and his knuckles whitened as he hit the brakes. Their car skidded and swerved. The squeal of brakes and the smell of burning rubber filled the air.
The blue car sped up, passed theirs and raced the black sedan neck and neck down the winding road until both cars disappeared around a curve.
By this time Cain had skidded to a halt, leaving half their tires’ tread along the highway.
Sophie’s heart thundered inside her chest. What had just happened? She turned to look at Cain. Anger seemed to seep out of his every pore.
“It’s over. We’re all right,” she assured him.
Cain slapped his hand against the steering wheel and stepped out of the car. Sophie quickly followed.
“Did you know those guys?”
“No,” Cain replied. “But I’m going to.” He pulled out his cell phone and punched in a number.
“Cain…it probably is a coincidence, but did you notice…?”
“That it was the same black sedan that tried to run you down three days ago.” His jaw looked etched from granite. His eyes glittered like glaciers. “Yeah, I noted that little fact.”
“And the blue car?”
“An idiot teen who thought he’d lucked out and come upon some drag racers and decided to join the party? Who knows?”
Sophie sighed. Her limbs shook uncontrollably and she could barely stand. If that wasn’t bad enough, now she was going to have to face Sheriff Dalton—again. Every time she thought she was having the worst day in history, the next day dawned worse than the one before. When was it all going to end?
Sophie sat on the guardrail and pulled cold water deep into her throat from the bottle the sheriff had handed her after she gave her statement. The icy liquid soothed her parched throat. She wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. “Thanks.”
“No problem.” The sheriff hooked his thumbs into his belt and rocked slightly back and forth. “Seems like you keep getting yourself into a heap of trouble, young lady.”
“Me? I’m the victim, Sheriff, not the bad guy.” She cupped her fingers over her eyes to shield them from the sun as she looked into his mirrored sunglasses. Sophie hated mirrored sunglasses. You could never see the person’s eyes.
“So Cain tells me.”
“Well, Cain tells me you have problems with teens drag racing in the streets.”
“That we have, Ms. Clarkston. But even our dumbest teenagers wouldn’t be stupid enough to play chicken on a mountain.”
Sophie could feel the blood drain out of her face. “You don’t think it was teenagers racing?”
“Do you?” The large hulking man intimidated her. He must be scary as all get-out during a formal interrogation. She sure hoped she’d never have to find out.
“I don’t know what to think, Sheriff. All I know is one car hit us. A second car hit them. And they raced away. That’s about all the excitement I want to think about today.”
He scribbled a note in the small pad he carried and put it back in his pocket. “The thing is I was on my way to your house anyway. Checked with the title company. The cottage is definitely registered to Elizabeth Weatherly. The problem, little lady, is that I haven’t been able to find anything telling me you have a right to be living in that cottage. I haven’t been able to locate a marriage license in the name of Elizabeth Weatherly Clarkston. I haven’t been able to locate a birth certificate for a Miss Sophie Clarkston. And strangest of all, I haven’t been able to locate your daddy. Now why do you think that is?”
Sophie clenched her hands together and tried not to hyper-ventilate. Instead of answering the sheriff’s questions, she asked one of her own. “Are you going to throw me out of the cottage?”
Those blasted mirrored sunglasses stared back at her and she looked away. One one thousand. Two one thousand. If he didn’t answer soon she was going to scream. Three one thousand. Four…
“Nope.”
Her eyes flew to his face.
> “Anybody with eyes in their head can take one look at you and know you’re Elizabeth’s daughter. You’ve got a key and nobody seems to be kicking up a fuss that you’re there. So for the time being, I’m gonna leave things as they are.”
“Thank you, Sheriff. I appreciate that.”
“Just don’t get too comfortable, Ms. Clarkston. There are too many questions about you and your daddy. And I’m not at all happy about all the trouble cropping up in Promise since you got here. I’m keeping my eye on you, and at the first sign of deception on your part you’re on the street and out of my town pronto. Understand?”
Sophie nodded and swallowed the lump in her throat as she watched him walk away.
“Don’t let him rattle you, Sophie. I told you before that Sheriff Dalton’s bark is a lot worse than his bite.” Cain had approached during the end of her conversation with the sheriff and offered her his hand. “Ready to go home?”
Sophie let him pull her to her feet and followed him to the car. The dents along the passenger side made the door hard to open but Cain managed. She slid into the front and fastened her seat belt. As Cain walked around to the driver’s side, she glanced at her watch. Almost noon. The day had barely started. She groaned. What else could go wrong today?
“Let’s go see my mom,” Cain said as he settled behind the wheel.
Sophie squeezed her eyes shut. She had her answer.
“Cain.” His mother stepped back, allowing him to enter the house. “What’s going on? What’s so important you couldn’t tell me on the phone? I had to leave my shop in Daisy Lee’s hands. Only the good Lord knows what I’ll find when I get back. Are you okay?”
Cain stepped into the foyer of the large Colonial and reached an arm behind him to usher Sophie inside. “Mom, this is…”
His mother’s eyes locked with hers and she gasped. “Sophia.” The older woman’s hand flew to her chest and for a split second Sophie wondered if her unannounced appearance had caused her to have a heart attack.
“You’re the spitting image of your mother.” Martha Garrison stepped back and scrutinized her from head to toe.
Sophie shifted uncomfortably under the inspection. She glanced at the lilac print wallpaper in the foyer, the large fern in the plant stand at the base of the stairs, the wall of family pictures ascending up the stairwell. She’d never been in a house so opulent. She’d spent most of her life in motels and short-term rentals. Her cottage was the closest thing she’d ever had to a real home. Her eyes soaked in the decor like a sponge.
“You are Elizabeth Weatherly’s daughter, aren’t you?” The woman’s smile reached her eyes.
Sophie found the excitement and friendliness emanating from Cain’s mother contagious and took an immediate liking to her. She nodded. “Yes, ma’am.”
“And your mother? Is she with you?” Martha pulled the door back farther and peered outside.
“Mom.” Cain gently grasped his mother’s arm and pulled her back. “Let’s go into the living room. We need to talk.”
Martha glanced back and forth between them. “Of course, how rude of me. Come in. Make yourself at home.” She led the way through the foyer and into a huge, well-lit living room.
Floral arrangements drew Sophie’s eyes to the table in front of the bay window and across the room to the mantel above the stone fireplace. Their light scent provided a clean outdoor ambiance to the room. One thing Sophie did recognize was quality woodwork. The plush, cushioned furniture and expensive tables in the room made a statement of quality as well as comfort.
“Can I get anyone a cold drink? Iced tea? Lemonade?”
After they had selected a beverage and were comfortably seated, Martha said, “I’m sorry for my rudeness earlier. But I’m sure I’m not the only one who points out that the resemblance between you and your mother is striking.”
Heat seared Sophie’s cheeks and she knew she must be lit up like a flashing red beacon. Why was it always so difficult for her to simply socialize like normal people? Why did she always have to feel so awkward and uncomfortable? She hated having these feelings but up to now had lacked the confidence to try and change it. “Thank you, ma’am,” she muttered.
“How is your mother? Is she in town with you? I would love to see her.”
Cain saved Sophie from answering. “Mom, Elizabeth Weatherly died shortly after Sophie’s birth.” He smiled at his mother. “That’s why we’re here. We’re hoping you can tell us about her.”
“Elizabeth’s dead?” Martha’s eyes widened. She bowed her head and took a moment to absorb the information. When she spoke again, she addressed Sophie. “Forgive me, my dear. I’m sure my reaction when I first saw you was upsetting.”
“Mom, how long has it been since you’ve been in contact with Elizabeth?” Cain asked.
“Thirty years,” his mother answered without hesitation. She smiled warmly at Sophie. “She sent me a brief note announcing your birth. She was so proud of you.” Martha sipped her lemonade. “I wanted to write her back. Wanted to send a gift for the baby…um, I mean a gift for you. Unfortunately, Elizabeth didn’t include a return address.”
“Did you ever hear from her again?” Sophie asked.
“No, child. I’m sorry.”
“Thirty years is a long time, Mom,” Cain said. “I know you think there’s a strong resemblance between Sophie and your friend. But how do you know for sure that Sophie is Elizabeth’s daughter?”
Martha’s gaze locked with her son’s. “Because Elizabeth and I were more than best friends. We grew up together. We were inseparable. I loved her like she was my own sister. Right up to the day she disappeared.” She stood up. “Wait right here.”
An awkward silence stretched between them when Martha left the room. Trying to find something to break the silence, Sophie said, “Your mother seems very nice.”
Cain clasped her hand. “She’s okay as far as mothers go.”
She chuckled. Cain might be an expert at many things but hiding his tender feelings for his mom wasn’t one of them. Sophie sighed. How would her life have been different if her mother hadn’t died? Would they still have traveled constantly or would her mother have insisted on settling down? Would she have been able to attend school, meet other children, make friends?
Immediately immersed in guilt, Sophie tried to stop her errant thoughts. She was being selfish. Her father had done the best he could. He was a single parent…of a girl, no less…and he didn’t always get it right. He hadn’t known the first thing about makeup or party dresses. He hadn’t given a second thought to his daughter wanting to attend school dances or to date.
He had never realized how many hundreds of times Sophie needed the advice, comfort or leadership of another female. A bittersweet smile tugged the corner of her mouth when she remembered the many nights she’d cried herself to sleep, missing the mother she didn’t remember.
Martha Garrison carried a shoe box into the room, deposited it on the cocktail table and gingerly removed the lid as if she was opening a secret treasure. She lifted out old greeting cards, letters, scraps of paper, a few pictures and then she smiled. “Here it is.” She withdrew a card yellowed with age and handed it to Sophie.
“It’s the last correspondence I ever had with your mother. I’ve kept it all these years…right in here with all my other life treasures….” She patted the box on the table. “Just in case. I never gave up hope I’d hear from her again.”
Martha picked up the box and cradled it on her lap. “And now her daughter is sitting in front of me and I…” The older woman’s eyes misted. “I feel like someone rolled back the clock and your mother is here again exactly as I remember her.”
Sophie squirmed and lowered her gaze to the card. She didn’t have a clue what she should say or how she should act under the circumstances. Her fingers trembled as she gently ran them over the outside of the birth announcement. Her birth announcement. Written in her mother’s hand. How surreal this all was—the last two weeks felt like a dre
am and no matter how hard she tried she just couldn’t wake up.
Cain gently took the card from her fingers. His eyes held empathy and understanding. “Let’s look at it together, okay?”
He opened the card. It was a typical birth announcement. Name. Date. Weight. Significantly missing were the parents’ names or any other identifying items such as hospital or home address. At the bottom of the card was a note in handwritten script.
I couldn’t let the happiest day of my life pass and not share it with my dearest friend, the sister of my heart. I miss you so much. I hope you are happy (and that you and ‘the one’ are still together. That way there’ll be a happy-ever-after for both of us). I’m sorry I haven’t been in touch. And I’m sorry I can’t let you know where I am. Maybe someday I can. But know that I think of you every day of my life and I miss you.
Elizabeth
Silence engulfed the room. Cain broke it when he looked up at his mother. “The one?”
Martha grinned, “Your father, of course. Elizabeth and I had a code name for him so we could talk about him in his presence without him knowing it.” His mother laughed. “One of Elizabeth’s ideas. It worked pretty well, too. Your father would squint his eyes and glare at me suspiciously, but he never knew for sure we were talking about him so he wouldn’t say anything.”
Sophie took the card back from Cain and addressed his mother. “Why couldn’t she tell you where she was? What happened between the two of you?”
“A man. That’s what happened.” Martha’s mouth pulled into a grimace.
“Maybe your daddy was somebody else. I certainly hope so.”
Sophie inhaled sharply.
“Mom!”
“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that. I’m sure the man who caused your mother to leave after her high school graduation isn’t your father. This announcement came six years after she left. I’m certain she came to her senses and married somebody else. I’m doubly sure because she sounds so happy in this note.”