Finding Kate, page 1
Finding Kate
Pamela Humphrey
Copyright ©2017 Pamela Humphrey
All Rights Reserved
Phrey Press
www.phreypress.com
First Edition
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
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Step back in time to 1940 and experience an unforgettable romance. When Gertie arrives in Schatzenburg her biggest worry is how she’ll find friends. But secrets set her on the path to become the heart of the small town.
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Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Letter
Chapter 3
Letter
Chapter 4
Letter
Letter
Letter
Letter
Chapter 5
Letter
Letter
Chapter 6
Letter
Chapter 7
Letter
Letter
Letter
Chapter 8
Letter
Letter
Chapter 9
Letter
Chapter 10
Letter
Letter
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Letter
Chapter 13
Letter
Letter
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Letter
Letter
Letter
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Letter
Letter
Chapter 18
Letter
Letter
Chapter 19
Letter
Letter
Chapter 20
Letter
Letter
Chapter 21
Letter
Letter
Letter
Letter
Letter
Letter
Chapter 22
Letter
Letter
Letter
Chapter 23
Letter
Letter
Chapter 24
Letter
Letter
Letter
Chapter 25
Letter
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Epilogue
Also by Pamela Humphrey
Excerpt from Finding Treasure
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Chapter 1
January 18 – 10:21 pm
Stars twinkled in the West Texas sky as my crazy, life-altering Monday sped to a close. I glanced at Alex, visible only by the lights of the dashboard. When he’d proposed a road trip to Denver, I jumped on his impulsive idea with both feet. Spending uninterrupted time together on the open road stirred my romantic notions. Only hours before, we’d acknowledged our mutual interest, sending our relationship in a whole new direction.
The truck, with Alex behind the wheel, acted as a bubble, a quiet space in my world turned upside down. After being kidnapped, escaping, then learning I’d grown up under a false name, with people who weren’t my parents, I was a raw, emotional wreck. Alex probably suggested the road trip knowing I needed time to acclimate to the idea of my new identity. The cab of his truck, a quiet place to talk it out, served that purpose well.
Finding him was the best part of all that happened. My heart bubbled with anticipation, thinking about living in Texas and dating Alejandro Ramirez.
In the hours since we’d left the cabin, we’d talked and laughed, the in-between interspersed with comfortable silence. His permanently etched smile marked a drastic change from the sullen man I’d met less than two weeks before. With big life changes looming outside my bubble, inside, I splashed in a pool of happiness and contentment; that is, until he mentioned stopping for the night.
“We’re getting close to Raton. I think that’s a good place to shut it down. We’ll find a hotel, then something for dinner.” Alex laid his hand on mine.
Warm and strong, his hand—which all last week had been such an anchor of safety—caressed my fingers, a reminder of the tenderness I’d learned lay buried underneath his protective exterior. When he’d suggested the road trip, stopping for the night hadn’t registered as a concern. No thought of sleeping arrangements had crossed my mind, at all. Everything about him set my heart fluttering, but I couldn’t sleep with him.
I wouldn’t.
I had my reasons—reasons I’d never shared with anyone. Besides, there’d been no mention of the L word, and that, at least in my book, was a definite prerequisite. The only reference to love was a red heart on the tee shirt he’d given me. If my reservations weren’t enough, letters my mom wrote heaped reasons on top of all mine.
Given the emotional roller coaster of the past few days and the deep connection Alex and I shared, one far deeper than expected for the short time we’d known each other—fueled by his willingness to take me in and protect me with little regard for himself, but even more so by his honesty—anyway, that connection convinced me that one hotel room was a bad idea, a seriously bad idea.
His sideways glance pulled me out of my thoughts. I need to answer him.
“Raton? Sure. I’ll see if I can find a hotel.” Once I regained a cell signal, I Googled and found a suitable stopping place near our route. I entered the address into the map app on my phone, and a woman’s voice spouted directions every few minutes. I stared out the window, mustering the courage to set boundaries. I didn’t doubt that he’d respect my wishes, but my heart pounded, anticipating his disappointment. I didn’t want to be the reason the clouds returned to those green eyes.
After ten minutes of quiet, Alex’s smooth voice spilled over my thoughts. “What did your dad say? Or Travis? I’m not sure what to call him.”
“I’m not ready to call him Dad. I think Travis works.”
“Was he disappointed you left without stopping in to see him again?”
“If he was, he hid it.” I smiled at Alex’s profile. “He just sounded excited when I told him you and I were driving to Denver to get my stuff.”
“I bet he was.”
“When he offered me the house, he hesitated. Not sure why.”
“How do you mean?” Alex laid his open hand on the center console, inviting me to hold it.
I skimmed my fingertip along the length of each of his fingers. “He asked where I planned to live, then before I could answer, he said, ‘never mind.’ After a short, awkward silence, he told me The Castle was mine if I wanted it.”
Alex closed his hand around mine. “Hmm. Maybe he didn’t want to seem too pushy?”
“Could be. I’m stunned at the offer but very happy about it.”
“Having you back in Schatzenburg is a dream come true for him.”
“And I hope that living in that house, maybe I can feel Emma? I know that sounds stupid. One of the hardest parts of all this is that she’s gone. I’ll never know her—my mom. It still feels so odd to call her that.”
“That’s not stupid.”
“I’m moving into a house and adopting it as home just because the woman who birthed me loved it. Pretty sure that’s not exactly normal.”
“Normal is overrated.” He pulled my hand to his lips.
“Travis also said there’s more family for me to meet when I’m ready. I have an Aunt Beth living in Schatzenburg, apparently.”
“That’s exciting, right?”
“Yeah. Having extended family will be a whole new adventure.”
“Have I mentioned how happy I am that you’re moving?”
“Not for the last thirty miles.” I tilted my head back against the headrest, thoughts and emotions still spinning from the day’s revelations. “I get a whole house. It looked so cute when we stopped that day.”
“Absolutely adorable.” He didn’t need to wink for me to understand his teasing tone. “He’s taking care of all the moving arrangements, you said?”
“Yep. Everything.” I smiled into the darkness, picturing the bungalow on the corner.
Alex squeezed my hand before letting go and turning into the hotel parking lot. “Sit tight.” He stopped near the double doors, then slid out of the driver’s seat and bounded around the truck.
Despite being tired and emotionally drained, I smiled. I climbed down, using his extended hand for balance, glad to stretch my legs. He grabbed our luggage, and, with his free hand, reached for mine.
As the first set of double doors opened, I stopped. Alex glanced back over his shoulder, a question knitted in his brow. I shook my head.
“What?” He tugged me to the side. “What’s wrong?”
I stared at my feet and let the
He dropped the duffle bags near his feet and folded me into his arms.
I buried my face in his chest. Remembering my past came with its own price. People I knew long before meeting him shaped my view of the world, but I couldn’t tell him about all of that.
Not yet.
Somewhere buried in my tangled mess of memories, hopefully still locked in a remote closet, lurked a memory that, if it seeped out, would darken everything, like an oil spill in the gulf. I needed to avoid triggering the latch on the door that kept it hidden.
“Please look at me, Kate.”
I lifted my gaze, steeling my emotions against what I expected to see. Instead of disappointment, relief softened the lines in his face.
“I planned to get two rooms.” He pulled my head to his chest and kissed my hair. “Wanting you to stay doesn’t mean I expect you to sleep with me.” Soft and matter-of-fact, his words eased my tension.
Relief outweighed the embarrassment of my foolish assumption. I sighed, and he brushed his thumb across my lips before picking up the bags.
“I think you’ve been dating the wrong kind of guys.”
“The non-perfect kind?”
He chuckled as the sliding doors opened. “Just wait ‘til you know me better.”
The brightly lit lobby, decked out in loud splotches of color, sat empty, yet the news still spewed from the television mounted to the wall. He dropped the bags near the front desk. After looking around a moment, he tapped the little silver bell on the counter. “After we get our rooms, I’ll find us some dinner.”
The clerk stepped out from the back, smiling. “Good evening. Y’all need one room?”
“Two, please. Adjoining if you have them.” Alex looked at me and raised his eyebrows, requesting my approval.
“That’d be great.” Grateful for a separate room, I liked the idea of having him close by. It wrapped me in a promise of safety. Not enough time had elapsed, and though my attackers were in either the morgue or a jail cell, I caught myself looking over my shoulder, wondering who was around the corner, fearful they’d find me. I desperately hoped time would erase that paranoia.
The blonde behind the desk tapped on the keyboard. “I have two kings, adjoining, on the third floor. Will that work?”
“Perfectly.” To me, Alex added as he squeezed my hand, “Not far away.”
As promised, once we were settled, he hurried off to get dinner. I headed for the shower. An unending stream of hot water was just what I needed after the day I’d had. I expected to emerge relaxed and rejuvenated. But after way too long under the hot water, I reluctantly stepped out of the warmth onto the cold tile floor, tired and hungry.
I dried off, dug clothes out of my bag, and put on yoga pants and the Someone in Texas Loves Me tee shirt Alex had given me earlier that day, only in place of the word love was a red heart. As I toweled off my hair, he knocked. I unlocked the door between our adjoining rooms, and he stepped in carrying Chinese take-out and drinks.
He set the food on the desk. “Cashew chicken and a Cherry Coke.”
“Mmm. Thanks.” I picked up my fancy little box and a fork before crawling onto the bed.
He dropped into the desk chair and spun to face me. “Have you called your sister?”
“I texted Meg. Told her we were driving to Denver instead of flying.” I stared into my food container, the buzzing in my ears and heat rising on my skin evidence of my irritation at the thought of talking to her.
“And?” Alex didn’t want to let it go.
“She’s called about twenty times, left several voice messages—which I haven’t listened to—and texted at least ten times.”
“She’s worried about you.”
“I know she is. I’m just not sure how to tell her about everything. It’s not that I’m mad about how she talked about you.” I stabbed my fork into the food. “Well, I might be a little mad about that. But really, I just don’t know what to say to her right now. How do you tell your sister that biologically she’s not and that her dad is a kidnapper?”
“I get it. It’s not a conversation you want to have over the phone.”
“I don’t want to talk about Meg. Can we just drop the subject?” My sharp tone surprised even me. I focused on my food, the sounds of munching and chewing keeping silence at bay.
As I popped the last bite in my mouth, the bed jostled slightly when Alex kicked his stocking feet onto the corner and wiggled his toes.
I glanced at his feet, and he kept still. As soon as I looked away, he wiggled them again.
It was silly. I laughed. “I’m sorry I snapped at you.”
Sparkles danced in his green eyes. “You’re beautiful. I don’t think I’ve said that out loud.”
A warmth washed over my face and neck, whether prompted by his compliment or his gaze, I wasn’t sure. My reaction drew an even bigger smile from him.
“You really are.”
I uncapped the bottle and sipped my Cherry Coke, waiting for the heat to evaporate from my cheeks. “Becca’s texted me at least thirty times. They picked up Bureau, by the way.”
“Yeah, DJ let me know.”
“When I texted her a picture of the tee shirt, she said to extend her apologies to you.”
A deep, robust laugh poured out of Alex before he covered his mouth. “It’s late. I should be quiet.” He set down his empty container. “I surprised a lot of people, it seems.”
I slid off the bed and tossed my container in the trash. As I stepped up in front of him, he rested his hands on my hips and pulled me between his knees.
My heart thumped a hundred miles a minute. “Thank you.”
“For what?” Warm and husky, his voice increased my flutters.
“Coming with me. Calling me beautiful, letting me know you’ve been thinking it.”
That wonderfully boyish grin spread across his face as he stood up. He cradled my face in his hands. “I’ve been thinking it a lot.” Sliding his hands down over my shoulders, his fingertips danced down my arms. He circled my waist with those strong arms. Softly and slowly, he brushed his lips along mine, then traced them with the tip of his tongue.
I gathered his tee shirt in my fists and pulled him closer. His hands roamed my back as he covered my mouth with his. I returned his kisses with fervor until breathing became necessary. I felt more than heard his chuckle when my knees buckled slightly. His arm tightened around me. I pressed into him, and he tangled his fingers in my wet curls. Please let him be my happily ever after.
He pulled away, leaving me breathless. “Night, Kate. Knock if you need me.” After planting one last kiss on my forehead, he strode out if the room.
Knock, knock. Need is most definitely the word I’d use.
Chapter 2
Alex
January 19 – 12:03 am
Alex closed the adjoining door but didn’t lock it. He picked up his phone and clicked a number in his favorites. It rang several times before a sleepy but familiar female voice answered. He’d woken her up.
