Maggie turns off the stove and sits down. “Photos of what, exactly?” she asks while wiping her hands on her apron.
I ask Cole to run upstairs and get me the envelope I brought. When he comes back, he hands it to me with a kiss and sits beside me. My chair squeaks loudly on the hardwood floors as he pulls it closer to his.
“Photos of my childhood...our childhood,” I clarify, looking at Cole.
“Both of your childhoods?” Maggie asks with a frown. “Your Aunt Shelley didn’t bring you here as a child.”
“Maggie, that’s why I said it’s complicated,” I interrupt as I hand her one of the photos of Cole and I standing next to each other by some chickens in the barn.
She gasps loudly and places her hands over her mouth, her brown eyes looking at us in complete shock.
“Holy mother of pearl, that’s Cole,” Maggie says as she gapes at me. “Is that you, Blake?”
“Yes, that’s what we’re trying to tell you. We knew each other before we met here,” I start. “We need to know. Who brought Cole here? You said it was his father, but we’re pretty sure it wasn’t.”
She sighs and closes her eyes. “I got a call from a man that said he knew me—or of me—I can’t remember which. It was around 4:00 in the morning, maybe later, when he called. I thought it was a prank caller because I’d been getting a lot of calls from teenagers that used to mow the lawn here. Anyhow, I hung up twice before he called back again and begged me to listen to him. He sounded like he was crying, so I stayed on the line. He said he was a friend of Liam’s…” she pauses and gives me a pointed look that I don’t understand. “And Cory’s, so I stayed on the line. He told me that he was going to be dropping off a four year old boy. He said he’d explain everything to me when he got here. We hung up, and I still wasn’t sure if it was a fib or not—until I heard knocking on the door. The young man was dressed in all black. He looked familiar, but I couldn’t place him. He had the clearest blue eyes. I just couldn’t get over how young he was. He looked so scared and terribly sad. When he saw me, he started to cry. Really cry. I held him for a bit.”
“He told me that he didn’t know where else to go. He’d gotten my phone number from his mother, and he needed to separate the two children. He didn’t give me too much information. Really, he was just upset and rambling on about needing to keep them safe. He left Cole with me. He told me his name was Cole Murphy and that his parents left him for dead. I didn’t think to call the police. Well, I did think of it, but the man told me that Cole would be in danger if I did that. He gave me information to a bank account and told me that he would deposit money in that account and in my own until Cole turned eighteen. That was it.”
Cole and I look at each other for a long time, our mouths hanging open.
“Well, Cole is his middle name. Murphy is his mother’s maiden name. You said the man was young. How young?” I ask.
“I don’t think he could have been older than twenty. He was a baby himself. He looked so scared,” she replies sadly.
“Is it this man?” I ask, pointing at a picture with my Uncle Michael in the background.
She shakes her head but wrinkles her forehead. “Where did you get these photos?”
“Shelley left them to me in a box. Why?”
“That kid—that’s Mark,” she says confused as she points at another one of the photos of a little boy—photos of Shelley’s family, not mine.
“Really?” I ask shocked. “How do you know?”
“He’s Shelley’s son. I met him when he was about that age. That was the last time I saw him, too,” she says sadly.
I know that Shelley knew Maggie, but I didn’t know how well they knew each other.
I frown and look at Cole as he holds my hand tightly in his.
“Are you sure that’s him?” I whisper.
“I’m positive,” she says without doubt.
I let out a breath. This shit is exhausting...and confusing...and crazy.
Tuesday creeps up on us and I’m kind of freaking out about Mark seeing Cole and vice versa. I told Cole that Mark was the one who took us that night, mainly because I was scared of Cole remembering him and getting physical with him.
When we step into the building, I stop walking and hold on to his arm until he faces me. “I need you to behave,” I say seriously.
He chuckles and dips his head to kiss me. “Baby, I’ll be fine. Even if he is the guy, I’m fine. Right now, I don’t care about any of it, Blake. If this wouldn’t have happened, we might not be together,” he murmurs against my lips.
“Cole,” I say through gritted teeth. “My mother is dead. My father is dead. I’m going to pretend you didn’t say that. Besides, we might have still ended up together.”
He gives me a long, lingering kiss and a smack in the butt before we get in the elevator.
We arrive on Mark’s floor and Office Barbie greets us with a real smile as she blatantly checks out my boyfriend. My mouth pops open in disbelief and I turn my head to look at Cole, who’s watching me—with a smile on his smug face. I narrow my eyes at him and dare him to say anything to her. He chuckles lightly, reading my expression correctly, and gives me a loud kiss on the lips. I look back at Office Barbie and tell her we’re here to see Mark and watch as she calls him, never taking her eyes off Cole. It pisses me off, but I decide not to push it.
When Mark steps out to greet us, his eyes are nothing short of surprised. He frowns at me, and I shrug at him in response before he introduces himself to Cole and leads us to his office. I look at Cole, but his smooth expression doesn’t give away what he’s thinking. I’m not sure if he recognizes Mark or not.
Suddenly, he says, “So, Blake tells me she trusts you, for whatever reason. I personally don’t understand how she can—knowing who you are and what you did.”
Mark shakes his head slowly, chastising. “You two really are meant for each other. I already told Blake that if I wanted to harm you, you wouldn’t be here. What I did was help you. I know you don’t see it that way, but that’s the truth.”
“Finally,” I deadpan.
“Yeah, well, two against one,” Mark says, cocking his head to one side. “Are you here because you remembered and wanted to drill me for answers? I told you that you’re better off not searching for trouble.”
“Maybe, but now I know who my parents are,” Cole says in an even tone.
Mark’s eyebrows shoot up, and he looks at me for an answer.
“I went to Aimee’s house after I had gotten pictures from Shelley. Aimee let me look at pictures of her dead brother.” I emphasize the last part. “You can imagine how I felt when I saw Cole...or Nathan...looking back at me.”
“Does Aimee know?” Mark asks concerned.
“Yes, but she’s not going to tell,” I say.
He looks at Cole. “You better hope not. Your father is a very public figure, and you’re popular in your own right. If people find out, it’ll be a circus—and when the wrong people find out, it’ll be a bloodbath.”
I feel my eyes pop out of their sockets. “What?” I ask horrified. “What do you mean a bloodbath?”