Connections

by Amelia C. Adams

  “Really good. I don’t think I even moved the whole time, I was that tired.”

  She invited him to sit on the couch, and she took the opposite corner. “I’m sorry you had to redo all that work. For what it’s worth, now that the tables and chairs are in the dining room, the floor’s not noticeable.”

  “That’s a relief. I hope they catch this guy soon—I wonder if he has any idea how much frustration he’s caused.”

  “You’re sure it’s a guy?”

  “Whoever did it has to be on our work crew in order to get that close to the building without being noticed, and your housekeepers didn’t start until yesterday. Yeah, it’s a guy.” He paused. “But that’s not why I’m here. Maggie, we’ve got to talk.”

  “Yes, we do.” She picked up one of the throw pillows and started playing with the fringe. She needed to do something with her hands—it would help keep her mind off her roiling stomach.

  He leaned forward and rested his elbows on his knees. “Yesterday really threw me for a loop, and I didn’t handle it well. At all. Instead of listening to you, I shut you out, and I left without giving the situation any closure. That was selfish and immature, and you have no idea how much I regret doing that. It must have made a pretty rotten day even more rotten for you, and you don’t deserve that.”

  That was nice to hear, but she still wasn’t sure where this was going. “It was a hard day. Really hard.”

  He rubbed his palms on the legs of his slacks. His hands must be sweaty too. “The main thing, the most important thing, is this—you’re special to me. I knew when we first met that there was something different about you, something unique and alive and magical, and it pulled me toward you like nothing I’ve ever felt. And then when we kissed . . .”

  She blushed a little. Yeah, that had been some kiss.

  “. . . I felt like I’d suddenly been handed the answers of the universe. There she was, the girl I’d been looking for, right there in front of me. At first, I thought our lips just liked touching each other, but no, there was more to it than that. And it caught me so off guard, I didn’t know what to say, and then your phone rang . . .”

  “And I asked you to help me move out of my druggie friend’s apartment,” Maggie finished for him.

  “I didn’t know what to think. I’ve been misled by my feelings before, and I didn’t want to go through that again, and I just shut down. I didn’t give you a chance to explain—I just took off. If I could go back and change that, I would.”

  “What would you have done differently?”

  “Well, for starters, I would have stayed when I brought you home. I would have helped you unpack, I would have found a good place for your bookcase, and then I would have listened to anything you wanted to tell me for the rest of the night. I would have asked questions when I didn’t understand something, and I probably would have kissed you again at least twice.”

  “Those would all have been very nice things,” Maggie replied. Her heart was beating fast, but it wasn’t because of nervousness this time. “I would have enjoyed that. And we could probably still do some of that, but I’ve already unpacked.”

  “Okay—where would you like your bookcase?”

  “I already found a spot for it, too.”

  “Hmm. That just leaves the kissing part.”

  “Yes, it does. But first, I have a question for you.”

  He nodded. “What is it?”

  “Do you believe me now? Without any doubts at all?”

  He slid a little closer on the couch. “I believe you, and I never should have doubted you, not for a second. I should have trusted my first instincts, the ones that told me how amazing you are, how strong and beautiful and brave, and I should have been on your side from that first moment.” He reached out and took her hands. “I’m committed to getting to know you through and through—if you want me to. And if you don’t, I understand. You don’t deserve the way I treated you.”

  She considered that for a moment, her hands starting to tremble a bit again. He squeezed them. “I do deserve to be listened to and believed, and you deserve to be listened to and forgiven. Let’s take this and learn from it, okay? And for what it’s worth, I do wish I’d told you my whole story. I just didn’t want to slam you with my whole sorry past right up front. Some things are delivered best in small doses.”

  He grinned. “Yeah, some things are, and I understand why you didn’t tell me. But I like this idea of taking the situation and learning from it, and thank you for forgiving me. I forgive you, too.”

  “For not telling you sooner?”

  “For being so incredibly beautiful.”

  She raised an eyebrow. “That’s something I need to be forgiven for?”

  “Well, not necessarily, but if I’m about to give you an ‘I forgive you’ kiss, I need to forgive you for something, don’t I?”

  “Why don’t I do the forgiveness kissing? Then you won’t have to make silly stuff up.”

  He grinned again. “Okay.”

  She took hold of his collar, pulled him closer, and kissed him. When his arms came around her, she melted into them again, feeling the warmth of them encircle her and keep her safe. Yes, he’d acted like a jerk, but he’d recognized it, apologized, and promised it would never happen again—and she couldn’t say that she would have handled it any better if the positions had been reversed. She couldn’t judge something she’d never experienced.

  “Wow,” he said when he pulled back. “That was a pretty awesome forgiveness kiss. Makes me want to apologize again, if that’s how we’re going to make up.”

  “I don’t think so. That means you’d keep doing stupid stuff, and we need a break from that.”

  “I agree. And I’m starving and want some dinner.” He stood, then turned and held out both hands to help her up. “Where do you want to eat?”

  “Someplace where we can share the same bench in a booth. I have an overwhelming desire to eat onion rings while sitting with your arm around me.”

  He slid both arms around her waist and pulled her close. “Consider it done.”

  Chapter Nine

  Maggie woke up five minutes before her alarm went off the next morning, and she lay in bed and smiled at the ceiling, thinking about the night before. Rob had taken her to the diner, where they’d ordered endless onion rings and Coke, and they’d talked for hours. She told him every last detail of her life, including the name of her first goldfish, and he’d asked questions that showed he was really listening. They’d stayed until after midnight, then realized what time it was and left, each going home to get some sleep before work the next day. Rob had given her an incredibly sweet kiss on her doorstep, and she’d had to work hard not to giggle as she locked the door behind him afterwards.

  It was going to be another day of hard work, so she dressed in jeans and a T-shirt, arriving at the hotel just in time to see a police car pull up outside. Oh, no. Had they discovered something else? Arsenic in the water this time?

  “Excuse me, ma’am. Do you work here?” One of the officers approached as she was getting out of her car.

  “Yes, I do. Can I help you?”

  “I’m looking for Rob Cunningham. Do you know where I might find him?”

  “I just got here, so I’m not sure, but I’ll text him.” She pulled out her phone and asked him to come to the front of the hotel.

  “Thank you, ma’am.” The officer glanced around. “Seems pretty quiet here this morning.”

  “Most of the staff won’t get here for another half an hour.”

  He nodded. “Did you notice anyone missing from the crew yesterday?”

  “I was working with the housekeepers and wasn’t paying much attention to anything else.”

  “All right. Thank you, ma’am.”

  Rob came around the corner of the building and smiled when he saw Maggie, but a slight frown creased his brow when his gaze landed on the two officers. “Hi. What’s going on?”

  “Mr. Cunningham?”

>   “Yes.”

  “We just needed you to verify that this young man has been working here as a temp for the last week.” The other officer pulled out a picture and handed it to Rob.

  “Yes, that’s Aiden Farmer. He was sent over by the temp agency.” Rob paused. “Although, come to think of it, he didn’t show up yesterday.”

  “We’ve been working down the list of employees you provided, and we learned a few things about Mr. Farmer that have led to his arrest. Is Mr. Brody around? We’d like to talk to both of you.”

  “Of course. I think he’s inside.” Rob motioned toward the officers to lead the way inside, then held out his hand for Maggie. She was glad to be included—her curiosity would get the better of her all day otherwise.

  Andrew invited them all to take seats in the office, a concerned look on his face. “What’s going on, gentlemen?”

  “We’ve been looking into the employees who have been working here recently, and this young man stood out to us.” The officer showed Andrew the same picture he’d shown Rob. “When we ran his information, we found out that his last name isn’t actually Farmer. It’s Brody.”

  Andrew looked up from the picture, clearly startled. “Brody? Are you saying he’s a relative of mine?”

  “When we brought Mr. Farmer—er, Mr. Brody—in for questioning, he said he’s your brother.”

  Andrew leaned back, looking as though the air had been knocked out of him. “He does have my father’s nose,” he said at last, almost to himself. “I knew my father had a couple of mistresses, but I didn’t know about any other children.”

  “Aiden is nineteen years old and lives on the south side of town,” the officer went on. “When we pressed him, he admitted to sabotaging the paint, and also to ruining the concrete. He wouldn’t tell us why, though. He said he wanted to speak to you.”

  “He wants to talk to me?”

  “You don’t have to meet with him if you don’t want to, sir. We have his confession—his motive isn’t as relevant to us.”

  Andrew seemed dazed. “I think I do want to talk to him,” he said at last. “I have so many questions.”

  “Visiting hours are until six,” the second officer said as he stood up. “I take it you’re pressing charges for vandalism.”

  Andrew blinked. “Yes, I am,” he said. “And thank you for moving on this so quickly. I didn’t expect results so soon.”

  “Your lawyer impressed upon us the importance of getting this done immediately,” the first officer said, his voice wry, as they left.

  “Wow,” Maggie whispered to Rob. “A brother he didn’t know about?”

  “That’s so wild,” Rob whispered back.

  Andrew returned from walking the officers out and sank into his chair. “I don’t even know what to think,” he said at last. “I had no idea that I had a brother. And he’s been here sabotaging the hotel? Why?”

  “It sounds like he’s planning to tell you when you go see him,” Rob replied.

  “Yeah. Hey, would you come with me? He worked under you for a few days, so he’s got some answering to do to you as well, and to be honest, I’d rather not go alone.”

  “Of course. When?”

  Andrew looked at his watch. “How about in a few minutes? I’m not going to be able to concentrate on anything else until this is resolved. I’ll call Marissa really quick first . . . she’ll want to know.”

  “No problem. Let me talk to the crew and make sure they know what to be working on this morning, and I’ll meet you out front.” Rob stood up, then bent and gave Maggie a kiss on the cheek. “I’ll see you later.”

  “Good luck,” she said as both men left the room. It was time for her to get busy too—that kitchen wasn’t going to clean itself, even though she badly wished it would.

  ***

  Rob rode over to the police station with Andrew. At first, Andrew was silent, and then he started talking like he couldn’t hold it back any longer. His life wasn’t any of Rob’s business, but Rob sensed that he needed a sounding board.

  “My father . . . well, he was something else.” Andrew chuckled, but it wasn’t out of humor. “He wined and dined other women like he was a twenty-five-year-old bachelor right up until he died, but he never gave my mother much to live on. He seemed to think that being his wife ought to be enough for her. And when he died, he left his two mistresses large bequests in his will. My mother was gone by then—makes me wonder if he’d left her anything if she’d still been alive.”

  “And this brother of yours?” Rob asked. Sure, it wasn’t any of his business, but he was curious.

  Andrew shook his head. “I have no idea. My father never said anything about having other children. But that reminds me.” He hit a button on his steering wheel. “Call Matt Kingston.”

  “Calling Matt Kingston,” the car’s automated voice replied.

  A moment later, Matt’s voice came over the speaker. “Hello?”

  “Hi, Matt. This is Andrew. Listen, can you look something up for me?”

  “Sure. What do you need?”

  “Aidan Brody. He’s nineteen, probably lives here in Topeka.”

  “Is he a relative of yours?”

  “Um, looks like he’s my half brother.”

  “Oh. Wow. That’s a surprise.”

  “You’re telling me.” Andrew exhaled loudly. “And it makes me wonder if I have other siblings running around out there somewhere.”

  “Would you like me to look into that for you?”

  “I was hoping you could, but I didn’t know if you worked exclusively with family history and genealogy. Those who have gone before.”

  “You mean dead people?” Matt chuckled. “No need to be politically correct. Yes, that’s my specialty, but I can look at other resources to locate people who are still alive. And since your father has passed away, some of his records should be available on my genealogy resources too.”

  “I’d really appreciate it. Anything you can find out about Aidan, his mother, and any other siblings who might exist.” He paused. “Or am I being nosy?”

  “I’ll only look at public records, nothing that would compromise any privacy. Things that would turn up in a basic Internet search.”

  “Thanks, Matt. I guess I could hop on the Internet myself, but I’m so swamped getting the hotel ready, I appreciate you taking care of it.”

  “No problem. In fact, I’ve been Googling while we’ve been talking, and I already have a little information for you.”

  “That was fast. What did you find?”

  Rob felt like he was intruding on a private conversation, but he supposed that if it was too private, Andrew wouldn’t be having it with him sitting right there.

  “Aidan Farmer Brody, son of Sarah Farmer, father listed as Scott Brody. Aidan is nineteen years old, graduated from Topeka High last year, and I have an address and phone number.”

  Rob saw Andrew’s hands tighten on the steering wheel when Matt said “Scott Brody.” Instead of responding to that, though, he said, “Any listed siblings?”

  “Not yet, but I’ll keep looking.”

  “Okay. Why don’t you send me a text with whatever you find, and I’ll check in later?”

  “Sounds good.”

  Andrew hit the disconnect button and turned left into the police station parking lot. “Family reunion time,” he said as he climbed out of the car.

  When Aidan Brody was brought into the visiting area, Rob could see his similarity to Andrew right away, now that he was looking for it. When he’d met him on the job site, he’d thought Aidan was just a temp worker and hadn’t noticed it.

  “So, Big Brother Andrew,” Aidan said, tilting his head to the side and studying his visitors. “Nice of you to finally give me the time of day.”

  “If I’d known who you were, of course I would have made time for you,” Andrew replied. “Truth is, I didn’t even know I had a brother until this morning.”

  “What? Are you serious?” Aidan scoffed and leaned back in
his chair. “All my father could ever talk about was you—Andrew this and Andrew that. You mean he never once brought me up to you?”

  Andrew shook his head. “I’m sorry, no. But he and I didn’t spend much time talking. We weren’t very close.”

  “Huh.” Aidan folded his arms across his chest. “The way he went on about you, I thought you were the golden boy.”

  “No, not so much.” Andrew rested one elbow on the table that separated them. “I’ve just got to know, Aidan—why didn’t you just come see me and introduce yourself? Why go through all the hassle of pretending to be someone else and getting a job on the crew and sabotaging what I’m trying to accomplish?”

  “Because you have everything, and I have nothing,” Aidan spat. “My father only came to see us once a week, but you had him all the time. You run a huge company, you have that great hotel, you live in a giant house—and I have nothing. And when he died, we weren’t even invited to the funeral. I lost a father too, but you’re the only one who got to mourn him.”

  Andrew held up a hand. “Now, listen up. I’m really sorry that you grew up without a father, but you have to understand that I did too. He spent his time building his empire, counting his money, and impressing people with his power. My parents were divorced when I was young, and he let my mother keep his name, but that was about it. As far as my company goes, I built that. Yes, I inherited his estate when he died, but he left a pretty nice amount to your mother, and you might want to talk to her if you haven’t seen any of that.”

  Rob wondered why Andrew wasn’t mentioning the other mistress. Maybe he was trying to be kind.

  “So, you’re trying to tell me that you’re some poor, picked-on kid who grew up in a mansion and had everything you ever wanted, but you didn’t have a daddy?” Aidan’s voice was bitter. “I feel so sorry for you.”

  “My father had a mansion. I bought a house for myself and my mother when I became an adult—I’d worked hard and planned smart. But no, I did not grow up in a mansion—I grew up humbly, and no, I had very little of what I wanted. I don’t know what you’ve been told, but you’ve been misled.”