Anna Adams - The Prodigal Cousin

“I don’t even have to think about accepting them.” She’d welcome Jack the Ripper if her mother asked her to. “But one big happy family? Sam, as a brother, seems odd to me.”

Eliza curved her hands around Molly’s wrists. “I need you to try. You are his sister now.”

Desperation in her mother’s tone and fingers made Molly smile without responding to her demands. “What about Dad?”

“I don’t know.” Eliza sank onto one of the desks. “He said he doesn’t know me, and I got the feeling he might not want to.”

“After he understands, he’ll bend over backward.” Molly dropped the balloon bits into the garbage can. “He already learned to love me because of you. He knows how this works.”

“Are you crazy?” Eliza snorted, the only unladylike sound she’d ever made, and Molly couldn’t help laughing. Her mom took Molly’s shoulders in her hands. “No one learned to love you. Your father and I couldn’t love you more if we’d brought you home from the hospital the day you were born, as I wish I could have done with both my children.”

Staring into her mother’s eyes, Molly longed to believe, without doubt, just once in her life. Words were so easy to say. Bonnie, who’d abandoned her in every way a human being could abandon her child, had said words like that. But now, as then, words weren’t enough.

Molly’s inability to trust gave her sympathy for her adoptive father. A firm defender of justice, he might not know how to stop feeling betrayed.

But she hugged her mom. “Why don’t we ask the girls and Sam to come apple-picking this weekend?” Honestly, it was the last thing she wanted. Apple-picking at Gran’s was her favorite family gathering, and she was childishly unwilling to share.

Her dad and Zach always fired up the deep fryer for apple fritters. Her mom and Aunt Beth and Grandpa led the smaller children in a pagan march of gratitude among the fruit-laden trees. Best of all, everyone shouted gossip and news between the heavy branches and then ate potluck lunch until they slumped to the ground, overfull of good food and family feeling.

Three more pickers would lose themselves among the teeming Calverts. Sam and Tamsin and Nina couldn’t ask for a less stressful introduction to their new family.

Eliza’s grateful tears made Molly both proud and guilty. Her mom hugged her again—a quick squeeze that reminded Molly that Sam might have a place in her mother’s heart, but she owned a corner already.

“Thanks, honey. I knew I could count on you.”

Smiling hurt, but for her mom’s sake Molly had to welcome Sam into her territory.

“DAD, I think Mr. Calvert’s leaving.”

As Tamsin opened the door, Sam looked up, and the ball he and Nina had been tossing hit him in the knees. Nina collapsed in giggles.

“Why do you say that?”

“I was reading on a bench in the square, and I saw him pack his car and drive off.”

Sam stared at her. First, she hadn’t asked if she could leave the Dogwood. Second, she should have told him about Patrick before he’d driven away. Last, Sam had managed to ruin Eliza’s marriage, the last thing he’d meant to do. “I hoped it wouldn’t come to this. He’s really gone?” Sam asked.

“Yeah.”

“Have you seen Eliza?”

“No. I was surprised she wasn’t with him.”

“Where’s Mr. Patrick going?” Nina asked.

“I don’t know, sweetie. Tamsin, why didn’t you tell me when you saw him packing?”

“I’m not his keeper.” Tamsin looked blank.

Annoying, but she was right. Keeping up with Patrick Calvert after her own father had ruined the man’s life wasn’t her responsibility. “Will you look after Nina?”

“If I don’t have to drink fake tea with that lizard and Judy.”

“Ooh, tea.” Nina danced toward her sister. “Let’s play tea party. I’ll go get everyone.”

“Yeah,” Tamsin said, meaning the opposite. She scooped the ball off the ground and tossed it at her sister. “Let’s play with this.”

“Nina, play catch with Tamsin, or maybe try out the swings over in the side yard.” Sam withstood a wave of guilt. He couldn’t take back the truth now, but he hadn’t meant to hurt Eliza or her family. A vision of Molly flashed in his mind. His guilt doubled. “I won’t be gone long, Tamsin. I just want to find Eliza.”

“All right, but she may want to be alone.”

Naturally, his daughter considered him to be the most inept human being ever called upon to offer comfort. He’d done her little good over the past year and a half.

He punched a small, silver bell on the reception desk. No one came. He called Eliza’s name. Tapping the scarred, polished wood, he waited a minute or so.

Finally, he circled the desk and opened the door behind it. The dark hall was empty. He’d almost hoped Eliza would be hiding there, reluctant to talk.

“Eliza?” The hall emptied into the wide kitchen, which didn’t feel half as welcoming without his birth mother and his daughters there. And Molly, but he could hardly bear to think of what he’d done to her.

Molly might try to look hard, but she hadn’t been able to conceal her tenderness with Nina or her concern for Tamsin last night.

He turned toward the stairs. Somewhere up there lay his birth mother’s room, but he had no right to climb those stairs uninvited.

He’d caused the havoc in this home, and he should try to fix it if he could. Forcing himself up the stairs, he wondered what to say if he found Eliza.

He knocked on the first two doors. Silence met him.

At the third door, he knocked again and Eliza immediately opened it.

“He’s my son. I have nothing else to say, Pat—” She backed up, her eyes red from crying. She pushed her fingers beneath each eye and looked away. “Oh. I thought you were my husband.”

“He left you?”

“Wouldn’t you if you found out your wife had lied to you the whole time you’d known her?”

“What do you mean?”

“I never told him about you.”

He understood. Fiona had lied at first. She’d thought he wouldn’t want to date her if he knew about the condition that had prompted so many prospective parents to leave her at the orphanage. But he’d fallen in love with her.

He managed a hesitant smile. “I’d forgive her once she explained.”

Eliza turned, covering her eyes again. “I’m sorry. This isn’t your problem.”

“It is. I came hoping Tamsin and Nina might be part of a family, but if I’ve already ruined yours, I’ll leave.”

“You won’t.” Eliza turned. “Now that I know about you, you aren’t going anywhere and you aren’t taking my granddaughters.” He must have looked startled, because she laughed at his expression. “I don’t make the same mistake twice, Sam.”

“I have a conscience.”

“So do I.”

Her conscience made his decision harder. “I don’t want to stay because you feel you should make up for the past.” He straightened. “I had a good life.”

Текст предоставлен ООО «ЛитРес».

Прочитайте эту книгу целиком, купив полную легальную версию на ЛитРес.

Безопасно оплатить книгу можно банковской картой Visa, MasterCard, Maestro, со счета мобильного телефона, с платежного терминала, в салоне МТС или Связной, через PayPal, WebMoney, Яндекс.Деньги, QIWI Кошелек, бонусными картами или другим удобным Вам способом.