While the Wolf's Away, page 16
Sheri piped up again. “Okay, looks like she has a brother.”
They looked up the brother on Facebook. Elizabeth said, “I wonder if she had a falling-out with her family.” She pointed at the brother’s profile. “He has pictures of himself with his parents several times for different occasions, birthdays, Christmas, Thanksgiving.” She pointed at Reese’s screen next. “While she only features pictures of her own family during all the holidays and for birthdays. They all live in Denver, so it’s not like it’s too far to visit.”
“Okay, so that could be a good clue,” David said. “Are the parents online? Do the parents say anything about family?”
“Hang on,” Sheri said, tapping away on her keyboard. Her mouth pursed in concentration as her eyes moved across the screen. “Okay. The mom has a page. She doesn’t post much, but seems like they…” Her eyes moved again. “Yeah, she only posts about the son and his family and about themselves. Nothing about the daughter and her family. Nothing about their three granddaughters.”
“I want to call her adoptive parents and see what they can tell us about her parents—if they know anything. I’ll check with our client first to make sure it’s okay, even though she said I could contact them. She might have changed her mind,” David said.
He went back to his office and placed the call. “We might have found your birth mother, but we need to do some more digging to make sure. I want to speak to your adoptive parents to see if they might remember anything that would give us another clue about it.”
Their client was silent for so long, David suspected she hadn’t told them.
“If that’s okay with you,” he said.
She finally said, “Can’t you just give me the name of the woman you found?”
“I’m sorry, no. We haven’t verified anything definitively yet. But I know time is critical, since you need information for medical reasons.”
Another long pause.
He sighed. “If this isn’t for medical reasons, and you just want to learn about your mother, I understand.”
Her heard a sniff on the other end of the line. “I only recently found out, you know?” she said. “That I was even adopted. I mean, I’ve wondered. For a long time, actually. My brother once said I don’t look like anyone else in the family. His comment stayed with me for years. When I finally confronted my mom about it, she seemed shocked, but…yeah. She told me I was.” There was another long pause, and David let her have the time. “I got angry. I felt lied to, and I felt… I don’t know. We didn’t talk, my parents and I, for a while. And things aren’t too good now either, but I have to know. I just need to. That’s all. For me. And for my baby.”
David hesitated, then finally said, “You’re pregnant?”
“Yeah. And when my mom found out, she said ‘like mother, like daughter,’ so I know my birth mom was young, maybe even younger than me. I want to know if my baby will have any medical complications or if my birth mother had any with me. And…” She sighed, then repeated, “I just need to know why.”
“Listen, the most important thing to remember is your mom wanted you to have a good life with a family who could take care of you, maybe in ways she wasn’t able to at that time. Hold on to that.” He rubbed his eyes, tired, and his heart was breaking for this girl. “And if your adoptive mom knows your birth mom was young, there’s more she might know, too.”
“Okay,” she said. “I think you should call them.”
“Thanks, Lisa. Now, if I do verify the identity of your birth mother, I have to warn you that she might not want to see you. It’s not that she didn’t love you before she gave you away, but that she most likely hasn’t told the rest of the family. If she has one,” he quickly said, not wanting Lisa to get the impression he knew who her birth mother was for sure.
“I know,” she said, but he wondered if she really did. Too many times he’d seen hopeful children hurt in situations like these. “Sorry for not being upfront with you about all this.”
“No worries. We just want the best outcome for you—for you to feel some closure, whether you get together with your birth mother or not. And maybe have some peace of mind where your baby is concerned.”
“Okay, thanks.”
“I’ll keep you posted.” They hung up, and David took a deep breath. Jimmy had a happy ending; could he go two for two?
He told Elizabeth and Sheri what he’d learned about the case.
“I see what you mean when you say no telling how these cases are going to turn out,” Elizabeth said.
“Yeah, and also: everybody lies,” Sheri said.
David smiled, heading back to make the call to Lisa Lamont’s adoptive mother.
He’d barely introduced himself when she said, “You’re trying to find Lisa’s birth parents, aren’t you?”
David raised his brows. “Uh, yeah, she said it was okay to call you to ask some questions.”
“Listen. Reese Riley is Lisa’s birth mother. She was sixteen and wild. Reese and I were friends in high school. She would never tell me who got her pregnant. She might not have known who it was herself. My parents took in Lisa when she was just a baby, raising her as their own after Reese’s parents disowned her. But they began to both have health issues, so when I was nineteen and married, I formally adopted Lisa from them. She was three years old at the time.”
“You were young yourself,” David said.
“I was. But I’d been told I couldn’t have kids, which, newsflash, turns out I could, but I already loved Lisa, who’d always felt more like my daughter than my little sister. Besides, Reese’s parents shipped Reese off right after Lisa was born, even though I know it crushed Reese, and it was clear they wanted nothing to do with Lisa, so it just made sense for her to be with me.” She sighed. “I totally lost track of Reese after that. I don’t know what her married name is now, or if she’s even married. She could be dead for all I know.
“I feel terrible about what I said to Lisa when I found out she was pregnant. I said it in a moment of anger, and as soon as the words were out of my mouth, I realized how much I must have sounded like Reese’s parents. I never want her to feel unloved like Reese must have. I want to be there for her and the baby.”
“Well, Lisa wants to learn about her birth mother and wants to know if she’s going to have any medical difficulties with having the baby. I can tell her what you’ve told me, or you can. Which would you prefer?” David asked.
“I’m afraid things might not go well between us if it’s just the two of us. Can we meet in your office and discuss this? You could be the mediator.”
“Yeah, sure. Do you want to call Lisa and ask her when she would like to come in? I’m free all afternoon,” David said.
“I’ll call her and talk to her about meeting with her at your office. I’ll let you know what she says,” Ms. Lamont said.
David hung up, hoping Lisa and her mom—her adoptive mom—could work it out. There was clearly a lot of love there.
He told Sheri and Elizabeth what he had learned.
“Okay, so if she had just asked her adoptive mother in the first place, she wouldn’t have incurred any investigative charges,” Sheri said. “Do we still get paid?”
David smiled. “Yeah. She signed a contract. But beyond that, if the woman on Facebook is the mother, the two of you did locate her. We’ll have the discussion in my office to wrap up matters. After that, it’s up to Lisa to reach out to her birth mother or not. We don’t have to take any part in that.”
“So is Reese the same woman we found on Facebook?” Sheri asked.
“I would say so, but when Mrs. Lamont comes in, I’ll get a confirmation.” David’s phone rang.
“We’ll come at two, if that works fine for you,” Mrs. Lamont said.
“It does. Thanks. And I’ll send a picture of Reese Matthews to you to see if you can identify her as your friend,” David said. “Hold on.”
It was quiet for a minute while David sent a link to the Facebook profile, and Mrs. Lamont got it. “Yeah, that’s her… Oh wow, she even has a couple of pictures on there with me when we were kids at the beach and on a hike, about a year before she got pregnant.”
“Maybe your friendship isn’t really over.”
Mrs. Lamont agreed. “Okay, we’ll see you in a little while.”
“Okay, see you then.”
David gave a satisfied sigh, glancing at a wall calendar to check the day. Everything had been so crazy lately, he’d kind of lost track of things. It was a Friday. If he could wrap up the Lamont case, he would be free to do something special with Elizabeth. Maybe even all weekend long. In any event, he planned to do as much as he could with her, to show her the area, to spend some downtime with her, and just enjoy being with her.
The guys all covered for each other if they had something special they wanted to do with their significant others, or even if a couple of the guys wanted to do something, so he was certain they would take any cases that needed immediate attention over the weekend.
He glanced out the window of his office at her, watching as she and Sheri chatted while tackling yet more of their paperwork. He reminded himself he didn’t want to overwhelm her with doing too much. He didn’t need to cram it all into one three-day weekend.
David had started poking around in a case of a man allegedly cheating on his wife when Mrs. Lamont and Lisa arrived to speak with him, early. He didn’t mind early, though, especially when he saw both women looked like they had been crying. But they smiled at him and it seemed that maybe things between them had somewhat been resolved.
They sat in the chairs beyond his desk and he said, “Lisa, your mom has stated that Reese Matthews, formerly Reese Riley, is your birth mother.”
Mrs. Lamont reached over and squeezed Lisa’s hand, then told Lisa everything she knew. From their tearful expressions, he had thought they might have already discussed it.
“I’m so sorry, Mom,” Lisa said. “I should have just talked to you.”
Mrs. Lamont scoffed. “I don’t blame you, after what I said. I think we really needed this intervention.” She brought out her checkbook. “I’ll pay whatever costs you’ve incurred over this.”
“Thanks, Mom. How do you feel about me getting in contact with Reese?” Lisa asked.
“It’s up to you, but after you meet with her, I would like to get in touch with her too.”
“Do you think you’ll ever be friends again?” Lisa asked.
“I don’t know. But it’s worth a try.”
Lisa sighed. “Well, when I get in touch with her, I want you to be there with me.”
Her mom smiled and gave her a hug. “I will be, whatever you need. For you and the baby. I can take care of him or her while you’re getting a degree—because I still want you to do that. You’ll live at home with us, like you’d planned before. It’s all good.” They shook David’s hand and left the building, arms around each other.
Elizabeth smiled at them as they walked out and gave David a hug. He could get used to this.
“They don’t all turn out that way,” he said.
“But it sure is nice when they do,” Elizabeth said.
“It’s possible that Reese won’t want to have anything to do with either her daughter or her friend from so long ago, but you never know. She might, and her birth mother might even be there for her grandchild too.”
“That would be good.” Elizabeth leaned back in his arms, her smile contagious. “By the way, thank you for taking Sheri to open a bank account and helping her to buy a car. She said you got a good deal for her too.”
“You’re welcome. I didn’t want her to feel left out. About tonight… We’ve had such a whirlwind of activity that I didn’t even realize it was Friday night. I should have mentioned it before, but I was thinking we could get a bite to eat at home for dinner and then paddle out to the island in the middle of the lake, then figure out how we want to spend the weekend.”
Gavin spoke up from his office. “We’ll handle anything that comes up so that the two of you can have some fun. As much as you have covered for us so that the rest of us can spend time with our mates or families, it’s well deserved. We all agreed to this. Plus we already stole Sheri for the night. Amelia and I invited her over for dinner.”
“Oh, yeah, I need to visit more with Amelia—and Gavin—after our wild escape mission. I have to thank her for saving us from Kintail and the rest of his thugs,” Sheri said.
Elizabeth gave her a hug. “You’ll have a good time.”
“I will, and so will you. The two of you need this time together.” Sheri went back to—what else—filing.
“Thanks, Gavin.” David hadn’t wanted to assume anything, not knowing exactly what their caseload looked like. He was down to the one case for now, the cheating husband case, and that could wait until Monday, but that didn’t mean his partners had the same leeway.
“Thank you, Gavin,” Elizabeth added.
“See you later,” Gavin said, and Owen and Cameron chimed in, too, from their respective offices.
Sheri gave Elizabeth another hug and then went back to work, looking completely at ease among her new packmates.
The sun was still bright overhead as David and Elizabeth headed outside. Normally, he left late in the day, tying up any and every loose end before heading home…because he didn’t have anyone to go home to. Or else he’d have dinner with one of the families, lingering with his friends for the same reason. But now? Now he had Elizabeth to spend time with. And Elizabeth to go home with. It could just be the two of them. Not always, of course. He wasn’t selfish that way. They’d both do their own things, spend time with others. He was happy to share her with the family.
But as he slipped his hand in hers as they walked back to his cabin, talking about what they could make for dinner, he thought sometimes it was nice not sharing too.
Chapter 17
Once they arrived back at the house, David and Elizabeth both headed for the bedroom to change to go boating. Though every time she began stripping off clothes, unless it was to shift into her wolf—well, even then—David had to fight getting sidetracked.
“So what do I need to wear?” Elizabeth stood in front of her closet, hands on hips.
Smiling, he pulled off his dress shoes, shirt, and trousers and gave her a suggestive glance.
She chuckled. “I know. For you, nothing at all.” She motioned to his boxer briefs. “I feel the same way about you. But for canoeing and the island, what’s best to wear?”
He grabbed a pair of board shorts out of his drawer. “Swimsuit, shorts, shirt, light jacket for tonight if you think you’ll feel chilly. I’ll gather the rest of the stuff together, but I thought we could roast marshmallows on a campfire, swim, and hike as wolves on the island.”
She decided on a bikini while he pulled on his board shorts, then grabbed a bag to carry the rest.
“Hiking shoes too,” he added, “though we’ll be exploring the woods as wolves, most likely, but just in case we make a trek in our human forms, they’re the best to wear.”
“Okay, sounds great.”
David couldn’t wait to take advantage of it being summer and the days being so much longer. More time to show Elizabeth the things he liked to do in summer. Even though they could see well at dusk and dawn, he still wanted to show her what it would be like during the daylight hours. “Have you ever paddled before?”
“No,” she said. “But I love boating and being on the water, so I’m looking forward to doing this with you.”
“I’ll show you the ropes. It’s easy. Before we were turned, the guys and I did a little of everything. Whitewater rafting, mountain climbing, hiking, canoeing. The only difference now is we can do the hiking as wolves too. So when we reach the island—that will take us an hour or so—we can strip and shift and run as wolves all over it.”
“That sounds like fun. This truly is the perfect place to be wolves.”
“It is. We have rock climbing nearby too.”
After they had a dinner of stir-fried rice and beef and bell peppers, they cleaned up the dishes. David packed up some gear: food, water, beach towels, the first aid kit, a sleeping bag, a small tent—just in case they stayed overnight—and a tarp. He also grabbed a couple of life jackets. They carried all the stuff out to the boat shed. They hauled out the canoe and paddles, threw the backpacks and other gear over their shoulders, then brought it all down to the shore.
“Sure is easier doing this with two people than one,” David said as they set the canoe on the shoreline. “I think that’s it unless there’s anything else you want to take with you.”
“I’m good.”
“I’ll be the stern paddler,” he said, “since I’m heavier and know how to do this. You are the bow paddler.”
They loaded the gear into the boat and pushed the boat farther into the water, the stern just touching the bank.
Before they got in, they slipped on their bright-orange life jackets.
David steadied the boat by holding the stern between his legs. “Now, just step in, keeping to the middle, and sit on the bow seat there. Hold onto the gunwales, the top edge of the hull of the boat, while you’re moving around so you don’t fall overboard.”
“Okay, I think I’ve got this.”
Once she was seated, David held onto the gunwales and placed one foot into the boat. Then he pushed away from the shore with the other foot and climbed aboard.
They heard a loon on the lake some distance from where they were as they paddled silently, the breeze-stirred waters bumping at the blue canoe, Elizabeth’s light-brown hair tousled and caught in the breeze. She was as beautiful as he had remembered. Gone was the fear of Kintail and his minions. She was happy, and he couldn’t have asked for anything more.
