They tested me and I was a match. I pretended I was taking a winter vacation from the restaurant. I flew to Emory, had the procedure done and saved Addie’s life.”
“All with no one knowing what was going on. That must have been incredibly difficult to go through alone.” Drew sat back. “You’re an amazing woman, Josie.”
She held up her hands, palms out, to stop him from saying more. “I did what any mother would do. But here’s the problem, Drew. The project manager for the Carrington Hotel going up next door? He has my daughter with him.”
“Here?”
Josie nodded, grimly “He came over here today to offer advice, and Addie climbed out of his car.”
“A lot of kids look alike, Josie.”
She handed over her phone with the obituary page highlighted. “Her mother died. Her adoptive father is out of the picture, but I don’t know how or why. This uncle, Jacob Weatherly, has my daughter with him and I need to know what’s going on because a child isn’t like a piece of real estate. They’re not a commodity to be bargained with or handed around. They’re people, and the deal I struck with the adoption agency and the O’Neills has been broken.”
“Don’t get ahead of yourself, here.”
She stuck out her chin, stubborn as ever.
“Once an adoption is finalized, it’s done. So if something happened to the parents, then they have the right to assign a guardian in their absence. Are you worried that this is a bad guy? Did he hurt her? Or seem mean?”
“Just the opposite, but that’s not the point, Drew.”
His expression said it might be the point, even if she didn’t agree with it.
“She was mine first.”
“Yes. But the legal agreement between you and the agency—”
“Is binding,” she interrupted. “But what if the adoptive father misrepresented himself? I checked all over the internet and couldn’t find a thing about him, except a divorce record filed two months after the adoption was finalized.”
Drew sat back. “You think he never intended to stay married while they were adopting Addie?”
“That’s exactly what I think. And I think his wife knew that, because she lied about him when I came to Emory. She made excuses for why he wasn’t there, why she was taking care of everything. I didn’t put it together at the time, but looking back I see the pattern. I know I signed away my rights to my daughter, and I did that willingly, to give her a fresh start. But if the O’Neills were acting out a role so that Ginger could have a child, even though she knew her husband wasn’t interested in having a child, that’s fraud.”
“It could be. But this isn’t exactly my expertise, Josie. Cruz is more schooled in law than I am, and he’d know who to contact.”
“I agree. But what I need from you is more immediate while I check out the legal sides of all of this. I need you to check up on Jacob Weatherly. I know his sister lied to me. He seems nice on the surface, and he was sweet to Addie, but I’m done taking chances, Drew. I’ve been living a lie for seven years, trying to protect her—”
“And yourself, maybe?”
She couldn’t deny it. “That, too, but mostly I wanted a solid life for her. I did all the right things, Drew, and it still came out all wrong. Now we need to fix it.” She didn’t have to read his expression to know it wasn’t that easy. “I don’t know how we can make this right, but the first thing we need to do is to run a check on this new adoptive father. Can you do that for me?”
“I’ve got a few connections.” Drew stood. “I’ll take care of it. But Josie, when are you going to tell the family what happened? When will you open up to them?”
“I don’t know.” She bit her lower lip and shook her head. “I guess I’ll have to, won’t I?”
“Yes.”
“I need time.” She spoke softly. “I’ve spent all these years keeping this secret, a little more time can’t hurt. But I can’t rest easy until I know she’s in good hands for the time being.”
“Consider it done. And then?”
And then...she had no idea, but the thought that a married couple would pretend to be happy to gain a child, and then split up once they had her...
She felt deceived, and she was pretty sure they’d deceived the adoption agency, too, which meant the agency had a stake in this convoluted situation. But Addie came first. She walked Drew to the door. “I don’t know what will happen next. I can’t leave it like this, with all these loose ends. I wanted Addie’s childhood to be wonderful. If I’d known that Ginger would be raising her alone, I’d have picked another couple. The agency had a whole book of them. It’s not because I’m controlling, but it was the most important decision I’ve ever had to make. If they misrepresented their marriage, that’s a huge thing.”
He hugged her.
The embrace felt good. She was relieved to have finally told someone the truth. When he released her, he stepped back and pointed north, toward the village of Grace Haven. “You need to tell them. All of them. I won’t say a word, but once Cruz gets someone to check out the legal end of things, word could spread, and you don’t want your mother or the rest of the family finding out accidentally. Gossip spreads fast in small towns.”
It did. “I’ll figure it out. And I won’t wait too long. I have to get used to the idea first. You probably think I was pretty stupid back then. Don’t you?”
He shook his head instantly. “You did nothing wrong. You feel stupid because you trusted the wrong person, but that doesn’t make you stupid, Josie. It makes him a criminal.” His quick rebuttal and strong voice lent strength to his reply. “I’d like to get my hands on him and let him know that defending a woman’s honor hasn’t gone out of style.”
His words bolstered her. Tears smarted her eyes again, because the thought of someone sticking up for her seemed wonderful, but shamed her, too. Her family probably would have reacted like this. Just like this. And she hadn’t given them the chance. If she had—
“Stop second-guessing yourself, and I’ll let you know what I find,” he ordered. “And get hold of Cruz quickly. We need to know where we stand legally. He’ll know who to contact about that. If the original adoption was fraudulent, that could negate any subsequent court rulings because they rested on the assumption that the initial adoption was legitimate.”
She hated the thought of Addie being bound up in legal proceedings, but she couldn’t think only of that. She had to think of what had happened in the past, and how that had affected a child’s life. “I’ll talk to him tomorrow.” She started to step back, but Drew put his hands on her shoulders and held her attention.
“I’m glad you finally told someone. There’s a reason the Bible says the truth shall set you free. Because it’s true.”
The Bible spoke of truth often. The good book was a champion of honesty and integrity and sacrifice, all the reasons she’d sought a solid, happy couple to raise her child because she didn’t want Addie fettered with a dark beginning.
