Her Secret Daughter

He wasn’t tired of building. He loved putting jobs together, and he loved being a dad, two things he’d have never predicted as a younger man.

But since Addie came to him, he’d grown tired of pulling up stakes every few seasons.

He turned onto the road, and glanced back at the two women.

The taller one had moved forward and put an arm around Josie Gallagher, but Josie Gallagher wasn’t looking at her friend.

She was watching him pull away, and the sorrowed look on her face made him want to pause. Turn back. Find out what was really wrong, what put that deepened sadness in her gaze.

He did no such thing. He had a business to run for the next few months, and she was facing changes she didn’t want or need, but they weren’t his fault.

“She looks sad, doesn’t she, Daddy?”

Right now he wished his beautiful daughter wasn’t so intuitive. “Everybody gets sad sometimes, Addie-cakes.”

“A little sad,” she agreed, but when he glanced back, his daughter’s troubled gaze was on the beautiful woman standing outside her soon-to-be-demolished restaurant. “But I think she’s not just a little sad, Daddy. I think her heart hurts, like mine does sometimes.”

What could he say to that? To have a father walk out because parenthood dragged him down, and then lose a mother to a tragic accident within months of Addie being declared cancer-free?

Addie had known heartache, and when foolish people reassured him she was too young to remember those early life tragedies, he bit his tongue to keep from lashing out.

He’d seen the grief in her little face and the naked sadness in her eyes. Time had eased much of that, but if Addie thought the Gallagher woman had a sore heart, he was inclined to believe it, because Addie had had way more experience with sadness than any six-year-old should ever have to face. No matter what he did, or what choices he made, from this point on he was totally invested in making sure her life was as trouble-free as it could be. She’d been dumped by a drug-using birth mother, abandoned by an adoptive father, fought cancer and won, only to lose her mother in a commuter train crash.

Now she had him. And he had her. And with God on their side, they’d make everything work out. Despite Addie’s funny attempts to gain him a wife, they were doing okay. And that was all right by him.

Chapter Two

“Josie.”

Josie didn’t want to make eye contact with Kimberly, but her cousin’s proximity left her little choice. “Yes?”

“What’s going on?”

Josie moved toward the restaurant side of the building. “Change is in the air, it seems. I need to make a list.”

Kimberly’s hand on her arm made her pause, but not because she wanted to. With Kimberly’s due date so close, she didn’t want to be a jerk, but seeing Addie had rattled her entire being.

Her restaurant gone, her beautiful daughter climbing out of a strange man’s car and the secret she’d buried seven long years ago yawning widely... “It’s just a lot to handle, Kimberly. I was hoping we’d win, that it wouldn’t come to this.” She splayed her hands in the direction of the barbecue joint. “And yet it did.”

Kimberly studied her. She started to say something, then stopped herself. “We’ve been friends and cousins since we were born, Josie.”

Josie nodded. They’d grown up hand in hand, then lost touch for a while, and now here they were, back in Grace Haven. Kimberly had found the love of her life. She had a great job, a lovely new home and a second baby on the way.

Josie had nothing, and that reality didn’t sit well.

“Whatever it is, it might be easier to talk about it.”

“There’s nothing, Kimberly. Except losing all these years of work and effort, watching it get the wrecking ball and bury my hopes and dreams with it. Other than that, it’s nothing much at all.”

She wanted Kimberly to buy that story and let things go, but Kimberly arched one brow and then made a little face of regret. “I’ll be here when you’re ready.”

Josie waved her off deliberately.

She had no intention of being ready, ever. She’d shoved that horrible night and the ensuing time into a deep, dark closet of her consciousness, and she kept it there, locked up tight. She’d moved through life making decisions in Addie’s best interests...

But were those decisions still in her daughter’s best interests? Because seeing her with a stranger and calling him “Dad” sparked too many mental red flags. She couldn’t research any of this with Kimberly around, so she kept her emotions at bay and her hands steady. “I just need time, Kimberly. That’s all. Time to get used to this.”

Unconvinced, Kimberly moved to her car. Josie followed, and when Kimberly turned and hugged her goodbye, Josie longed to spill her guts, but didn’t. She’d kept the secret for so long already. What use would revealing it do? But could she keep it to herself with Addie living so close?

The thought of her daughter nearby sobered her more.

What would that mean? Would she have to move away from the family and friends who’d helped build her business and her self-esteem over the years she’d spent here? How long would the Weatherly man be in Grace Haven?

The host of questions with no answers would hound her until she had time to do more research, and as Kimberly released her, a big part of Josie wanted to tell her everything.

But she’d promised herself and her baby daughter that no one would ever know about the crime associated with Addie’s conception. What child should ever have to grow up knowing that?

None.

She waited for Kimberly to pull away, and moved back to the apartment. She retrieved her laptop from a dusty shelf, opened it, typed in her password and then began a search. One way or another she was going to find out what had happened to her beautiful child in the past few years, and Josie Gallagher was pretty sure she wasn’t going to like any of it.

* * *

Josie stared at the Peachtree City obituary for Ginger O’Neill and fought the rise of emotion. Addie’s adoptive mother had died in an accident involving a commuter train. That was tragic enough, but there was no husband listed in the obituary, and no father for Addie. Ginger was survived by her parents and one brother, Jacob Weatherly.

Addie was being raised by her adoptive uncle.

Where was the father who signed all the paperwork to legally adopt her? Where was Adam O’Neill? And how could Josie find out without looking like a stalker? Regret grabbed hold and wouldn’t let go.

When she’d arrived in Georgia to be a living donor transplant for Addie, she’d seen Ginger. Not Adam. Was he already out of the picture at that time? When Ginger said Adam was too emotional to meet with Josie, she’d believed her. But maybe that wasn’t the truth?

She lifted her phone and dialed Drew Slade, Kimberly’s husband and the chief of police for Grace Haven. He answered quickly and she dived right in. “I need advice, Drew.”

“Mine to give,” he answered. “What’s up?”

“I can’t talk over the phone. Can I come by? Or can you stop out here?”

“I’m heading home around four, so how about I swing over there first?”

“Yes. Thank you. And, Drew...” He waited at the other end until she continued. “I can’t talk about this to anyone else right now. It’s got to be private. Okay?”

“Meaning don’t tell Kimberly because you know she’ll go ballistic?”

The thought of her family knowing how stupid she’d been...after she’d vowed to never be stupid again...

Her heart ached at the thought of disappointing people she loved, but worse, how could she mess up the innocence of a child who’d already gone through so much? “I’ll explain in person, but I might need your help looking into someone, making sure he’s a good person.”

“I’ll be there at four. And Josie?”

“Yes?”

“Whatever is bothering you, we’ll make it right. I promise. Okay?”

He had no idea what he was saying because as good and strong as Drew was, no one could ever make this okay, and she’d known that from the beginning. “See you later.”

She hung up the phone, grabbed her keys and drove a quarter mile south. The construction road leading to the new waterfront hotel was blocked. Jacob Weatherly had mentioned a three o’clock meeting. It was two thirty-five right now. She crossed through the construction tape, ignored the shouts of a couple of guys in hard hats and circled the newly finished concrete sidewalk rimming the stately hotel base. She pulled out her cell phone to call Jacob Weatherly, then nearly ran into him as she rounded the corner of the hotel.

“Hi!” Addie jumped up on the sculpted concrete edge of a raised garden and waved. “You came to find us!”

Addie looked excited to see Josie. Jacob Weatherly’s expression was more guarded. “Did you just walk through a hard hat area without permission?”

“I needed to see you.” She held his gaze, almost daring him to read more into the situation. “You said you had ideas on my relocation. I’d like to hear more about them, and I’m right up the beach, as you know.” She glanced north to emphasize the proximity. “But the beach is blocked off and the only way into this complex right now is by the road.”

“And permission.” He assessed her with a thoughtful look. “You had my number.”

She held up her phone. “I was just about to call you.”

“I see.” He breathed deeply, as if thinking, then took Addie’s hand. “I’ve got a meeting in a few minutes, so I can’t discuss this now, but if you’d like, I can come by tomorrow morning. How does nine o’clock sound?”

“Like breakfast time, and I make a marvelous French toast with fresh fruit and whipped cream.” She smiled down at Addie when she said it, and should have felt ashamed for enticing the girl, but she didn’t. Not even a little bit. Seeing Addie well and healthy after fighting cancer gave Josie a lift to her spirits, but deepened her concerns.

Had the O’Neills lied in their adoption application? What happened to Adam? Her preliminary internet search turned up nothing, so wherever he was, and whatever he was doing, it wasn’t out there for public viewing.

“We can have breakfast before we come over.” The project manager lifted his watch to show his diminishing time frame.

“But I love strawberries and French toast so much, Dad.” Addie tipped back her head and implored him with a beseeching look while thick copper curls spilled across the shoulders of her long-sleeved T-shirt. “And I’ll be so good!”

“There is a reason why my restaurant was voted number one in Southern fare and barbecue for two years running,” Josie noted. “And I’ve got a few supplies I need to use up before the move.” She left the offer sensible. If she pushed too hard, he might get suspicious. Clearly he had no idea about her relationship to the child clutching his hand. For now, she’d keep it that way.

“She does love French toast.”

Addie wrung his hand, grinning.

“All right, nine o’clock for breakfast. Although...” He turned her way again with a questioning expression. “I’m surprised, Miss Gallagher. And surprises raise questions in my head. I’m sure you can understand that, especially when your relationship with my employer has been adversarial.” He held her gaze, and Josie refused to blink or quiver. “But let’s see what tomorrow brings.”

“Perfect.” She turned to go, and he caught her hand.

Instant panic set in.

Her heart rate soared. Her hands went cold and her feet refused to move.

He didn’t seem to notice as he directed her to the small parking area alongside the finished portion of the hotel. “Let me drive you to your car so the outdoor crew doesn’t go ballistic on you. They’d catch the boss’s fury if he thought you were walking in dangerous areas without proper gear. You might not like too much about Carrington Hotels right now, but there’s a reason they’ve been voted one of the top ten construction companies in the country, and that’s because they care about quality and safety. That’s part of the reason I’ve been with them for a dozen years,” he added. He released her hand to open both doors on the passenger side. “Quality and safety are top on my radar, too.”

She shelved the bits of information he was giving her. She’d give them to Drew when he came by, but as she climbed into the front seat of Jacob Weatherly’s car, their hands touched again, briefly.

This touch spurred no panic. Was that because she read the gentleness in his gaze? The humor he slanted back, toward Addie, as she made a big show about getting her seat belt buckled? Or was it the honesty she discerned in his face?

You’ve been fooled before. Don’t let it happen again.

She took the mental warning to heart because she’d made a grievous mistake once. She’d fallen for the winning smile and trusted the wrong man.

Right now, with Addie living there in her neighborhood, she couldn’t afford to make a mistake again. She’d entrusted two people with her most precious possession, her newborn child. What happened after that was anyone’s guess, but she was determined to get to the bottom of it, because Addie deserved what Josie had promised her: a nice, normal life, unblemished by scandal. Josie had every intention of making sure her daughter got exactly that.

* * *

Strong, yet scared. Or maybe scarred was a better word, Jacob mused as he pulled up next to Josie’s aging SUV a few moments later. He’d noticed the two catering trucks in her side parking lot, brilliantly bright and absolutely clean. Her restaurant had a similar appearance, while rugged enough to be a classic dive. She’d captured the retro look outside. Tomorrow morning would give him a look inside the Bayou Barbecue. The legal battle had kept him from stopping by before now. Carrington lawyers didn’t want anything muddying the waters of eminent domain. Now he’d get to see the internal workings of the east shore go-to spot for great food.

Josie swung her door open and got out of the car quickly. “Thanks for the ride.” The look she gave him was pleasant but probably insincere. Understandable after his company had seized her land.

Then she looked toward Addie, and it was nothing but pure warmth and joy. “I’m going to go get the berries right now, so we’re all ready for tomorrow morning. Okay?”

Addie clasped her hands together. “Okay!”

She stepped back and shut the door. Jacob pulled away and headed for the work trailer offices behind the chain-link fencing. He glanced back, through the rearview mirror.

Josie had gotten into her car and was backing out of the space. He found that reassuring for some reason. Her surprise arrival concerned him. She’d shown up, out of the blue. She’d crossed a construction zone. She—he paused and his thoughts took a different route, a more personal one.

She was downright beautiful, and clearly worried. Who wouldn’t be in her situation?

As he pulled up to the double-wide work trailer, Addie leaped out of her seat and waved toward the road.

Josie Gallagher was driving by. She spotted the girl and gave a quick wave back, nothing over the top, but it seemed to make Addie happy. “I like her, Daddy!”

She clutched his hand and skipped alongside as he approached the work trailer. “You do?”

“Mmm-hmm.” She bobbed her head and her curls bounced. “She has really pretty hair.”

He couldn’t fault her six-year-old reasoning because he’d noticed Josie’s hair, too. Dark brown, with copper-red highlights, but not enough to be called auburn. And those smoke-toned eyes with a hint of green. He’d noticed their odd shade as she turned the corner of the concrete walk and their eyes met.

“I would love a dolly with hair like that,” Addie confessed. “All of my dolls have hair like mine.” She sighed as if hair made a difference. It didn’t, of course. “I might be really, really tired of yellow hair.”

“Strawberry blond,” he reminded her and laid a hand over her head. “Really pretty strawberry blond hair, and I think you’re exactly the way God wanted you to be, Addie-cakes.”

“Well, I don’t think he’d mind if I had a brown-haired dolly.” The logic of her reasoning wasn’t lost on him. “I think he’d be okay with that, actually.”

He’d never really noticed that her dolls were all light-haired. A couple were from her early years, and several were more recent gifts, but she was right. Every one of them was pale and blond- or copper-haired. Clearly he and his parents thought alike, but that was shortsighted. Her playthings should have diversity, shouldn’t they? To reflect the real world?

He set up Addie with a juice box and crackers in the front room, then arranged for the conference call in the adjacent office. He made a note to check out the doll situation when he had time, then refocused his attention on dock-building bids. For the moment, Addie would have to get by with what she had with her, and she was such an easygoing child, he was sure that would be just fine.

* * *

“You never told anyone about the attack?” She’d surprised Drew Slade, Josie realized less than two hours later, and a man who used to be top security for the current president of the United States didn’t surprise easily. “Josie, why not? They could have helped you. They still could,” he added firmly.

Fear and shame had held her tongue seven years ago. She clenched her hands in her lap and wondered how all of her careful reasoning had come to this. “I wasn’t on the best terms with my family when I went to Louisiana.”

“How so?”

“Kimberly never told you?” That made her feel better, somehow. Not that she wanted Kimberly to keep secrets from Drew, but she was glad her stupid mistakes hadn’t become gossip fodder.

Drew shook his head.

“I messed up in college. Big-time. I cut loose, and partied with all the wrong people after my Dad died. I flunked out midway through my sophomore year and became a bitter disappointment to the Gallagher clan.”

“We all make mistakes,” Drew replied. “I’m a card-carrying member of Alcoholics Anonymous myself, so I hear you. But I don’t get what one has to do with the other.”

“I embarrassed my family, and they worked hard to help me get straightened out,” she told him. “Counseling, rehab and a job. They stuck by me despite what I did. When I decided I wanted to work the barbecue circuit in the Deep South, my mother and aunts tried to talk me out of it because there’s plenty of temptation in New Orleans. For a barbecue cook, though, it is the place to be if you want to learn all the aspects of good Southern cooking.”

“You moved down there anyway.”

She sighed. “Even though they asked me not to. New Orleans is too wild, they said. My mother begged me to stay home, or to go to some other Southern city, but anyone who is anyone in the barbecue business does a stint in New Orleans. And I was stubborn.”

Drew’s grunt indicated he understood that part well enough. Of course, he was married to a Gallagher, so he had firsthand experience.

“I was there for over two years with no problems, and learning all kinds of things. I got a chance to work with Big Bobby and Tuck Fletcher and Cajun Mary, so I learned from the best. And then this guy shows up—he starts flirting with me and it’s all in fun.” She frowned and gripped her knees tighter. “He seemed so normal, and I’d let my radar down because I’d been on the straight-and-narrow path for a long time. I’d forgotten how slick some guys can be. He was going to meet me for dinner, but then he called and said his car stalled near the parking lot of my apartment complex and it would be a while for them to tow it. Could he come up and wait? I said sure.” She bit her lip, remembering. “He slipped something into my glass of tea. When I woke up the next morning, he was gone.”

Drew didn’t just look mad. He looked furious. “Why didn’t you call it in? The guy’s a criminal.”

If Josie could have tucked her chin any deeper into her shirt, she would have, but it was impossible. “I couldn’t face those inquiries. And if they caught him and brought him to trial, then I’d have to face how stupid I was in college. They bring up everything, you know. They’d have brought up my past, and made it public knowledge. They shouldn’t, but they do.” She raised her eyes and faced Drew candidly. “I couldn’t go through all that again. I’d come so far. I just wanted to put it behind me. For the whole stupid thing to be over.”

“But it wasn’t.”

A tear slipped down her cheek. She dashed it away, but not before another one joined the first. “Three weeks later, I discovered I was pregnant.”

Drew had been jotting things down. He stopped.

“I had a little girl no one knows about. Her name is Addie. Adeline,” she added. “I worked with a very nice agency down there. I was determined that my child would have the best possible chance at life. I wanted her to grow up untarnished by the circumstances surrounding her creation. No child deserves to have that kind of baggage weighing them down, do they?”

“No. Of course not. The agency arranged everything?”

She nodded. “I wanted a closed adoption so I wouldn’t be tempted to check up on things, but I said I could be contacted for life-and-death situations. Two and a half years later, I was contacted by the adoptive mother, Ginger O’Neill. Addie had tumors on her liver. She needed a transplant and they couldn’t find a good match. 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—”