“Yes, so the doctors keep telling me.” A weak, feeble laugh.
Sara hugged her. “I will be in to visit you, but it might be a couple months before you see me again.”
“Sean told me.” Elizabeth smiled. “I’m happy for you two. You seem like a perfect couple.”
Sara glanced at Sean, who was talking to her mom and dad. “If you’d excuse me.”
“Of course.”
When she had told her parents about everything, they had been so understanding that it only served to endear them to her further.
As she approached them, Sara overhead her mother’s words to her dad.
“This house is gorgeous. I think it’s time to go house hunting. Oh, hi, sweetie.” Her mother reached out and wrapped her arm around Sara.
Sean passed her a smirk and she knew what he was thinking. He had mentioned before how her parents were like gypsies, constantly moving around. Her mother had just confirmed his point.
“What would you say to spending the summer here?” Sara smiled at Sean and reached for his hand. Her mother let her go to Sean’s embrace.
“The summer?” Her mom looked between them, then to her dad. “Why would we stay here with you?”
A smile was teasing Sean’s lips, but he deferred to Sara to break the news.
“Sean and I are taking off for the summer.”
“The whole summer?”
“Yep. We’ll be taking a couple months in Europe.”
“Europe?” Her mom slapped her dad’s shoulder. “Why don’t you ever take me—”
Her dad pointed to Sara, realigning her mom’s focus.
She kissed Sara’s cheeks. “I’m so happy for you, sweetie.”
While Sara had every intention of giving the loving people who raised her a hefty portion of money, it hadn’t happened yet. “There’s something else.”
Her mom angled her head in curiosity.
“Sean and I have opened a bank account for you.” Sara paused as she noticed her mother’s lips contort. “You’re set for life, really there’s enough there for many lives.”
Her mom’s hand shot to her mouth and she was crying. Her dad put his arm around her.
“We can’t accept that, honey,” he said.
“Please, don’t be silly. Sean and I have more money than we’d ever need. You are family.”
“I don’t know what to say.”
“You don’t have to say any—”
Her mother hugged her.
Sara rubbed her mother’s arms. “So, if you’d like, you can join us in Europe, or go wherever you’d like, do whatever you’d like.”
Her mother stepped out of the embrace. Her tears were clearing up.
Sara continued. “But if you stay here, Jimmy can help you however you’d like, or get you in touch with the right people. He’ll get the pool set up.”
“Oh, the pool.” Her mother smiled to her father. “Or maybe we could go house shopping ourselves.”
Sara loved seeing her so happy.
Her dad went serious faced. “We don’t know if—”
“Like I said, there’s enough there for a few lifetimes.” Sara winked at her parents.
“Oh, a pool.” Her mom wiped her cheeks. “I better get exercising so I look great in a bikini. I’m going to feel like royalty.”
As Sara watched her mother ramble on, she knew she was going to miss her while they were away, but there was always Skype. One thing was certain—she and Sean needed a holiday.
Sara hugged her mother. “Mom, you are royalty in my books.”
Her mother’s face went serious, and she shot in a nervous glance to Sara’s dad. “Your birth record showed Leslie Abbott as being your mother?”
“Yes.” Sara’s heart thumped. Even though her mother had taken the news like a champ, she didn’t relish the idea of rehashing the subject matter.
“Well, what about your father? Do you know who he is?”
Sara swallowed roughly. She had to admit her thoughts had diverted there periodically since she’d gotten her record. She wondered if Elizabeth would know, but with everything she was going through, she wasn’t certain if she should broach that subject with her just yet.
“It was put down as unknown,” Sean intercepted.
“Yes,” her mother dragged out the word, and took Sara’s hand. “But if you need to find him, you know we’re one hundred percent behind you, right?”
Sara felt her chin quiver and her vision blurred with tears. All she could do was nod and say, “I love you, Mom.”
Thank you for choosing a McKinley Mystery.
The next title, Shopping is Murder, arrives October 2014
But you might also enjoy these other titles in the series:
The Day Job is Murder
Vacation is Murder
Money is Murder
Politics is Murder
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ALSO BY CAROLYN ARNOLD
Ties That Bind (A Madison Knight Novel)
Justified (A Madison Knight Novel)
Sacrifice (A Madison Knight Novel)
Found Innocent (A Madison Knight Novel)
Life Sentence (A Madison Knight Novel)
Eleven, Brandon Fisher FBI Series
Silent Graves, Brandon Fisher FBI Series
The Day Job is Murder (McKinley Mysteries)
Vacation is Murder (McKinley Mysteries)
Money is Murder (McKinley Mysteries)
Politics is Murder (McKinley Mysteries)
Assassination of a Dignitary
Hart’s Choice (A Novella)
Rings of a Tree (Short Story)
Pearls of Deception (Short Story)
The search for a maid results in a mess.
When a woman shows up and claims to be Sara’s birth mother, it pits Sara and Sean against each other. Sara opens her heart and wants to believe the woman, but Sean is suspicious of her true identity and motive. After all, there are billions at stake. But when the woman goes missing and a dead body turns up, they both start to question the truth.
Led by Sara’s intuition, they pursue all possible leads and soon realize they may have welcomed a killer into their home.
Begin Reading
Chapter 1 - The Unexpected
Chapter 2 - Emotional Revelation
Chapter 3 - Hasty Preparations
Chapter 4 - Cognac And Catching Up
Chapter 5 - Differences Of Opinion
Chapter 6 - Making Friends
Chapter 7 - Covert Op
Chapter 8 - Missing People
Chapter 9 - A Little Bribery Goes a Long Way
Chapter 10 - Hunting Down The Help
Chapter 11 - Gamer Meets Real Life
Chapter 12 - Revelations
Chapter 13 - Confession
Chapter 14 - A Means Of Travel
Chapter 15 - Questioning Identities
Chapter 16 - Unexpected Visitor
Chapter 17 - Unanswered Questions
Chapter 18 - Caller’s Identity
Chapter 19 - Catching On
Chapter 20 - Following Orders
Chapter 21 - Withdrawal
Chapter 22 - Deductive Reasoning
Chapter 23 - Unexpected News
Chapter 24 - On The Run
Chapter 25 - The Promise
Chapter 26 - On The Mend
Chapter 27 - A Royal Affair
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.
Copyright © 2014 Carolyn Arnold
All rights reserved. Except as permitted by U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any for
m or by any means, or stored in a database, or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the author.
All rights reserved.
Cover designed by
WGA Designs
Edited by
The Finicky Editor, Lisa Dawn Martinez
Visit the author website at www.carolynarnold.net
Carolyn Arnold - McKinley 05 - Family is Murder Page 10