Tamsyn believed she’d always been somewhere in the middle.
“Your mom was a few years younger than me, but in our youth, we were friendly. I genuinely liked her, and Carter and I tried to help her as best we could. I’m so sorry that you had to witness those harsh words. While they had everything to do with her claiming to everyone in town that Carter was your father, my anger had more to do with my hurt feelings. I felt betrayed. We’d given her money. We’d done everything including offering to help with you, but she tossed that in our faces. I’d had it and I lost my temper. But what you need to understand is that your mom wouldn’t give up when it came to Carter.”
“Don’t do this now, Weezer.” Carter took a step forward.
“I want to hear this,” Tamsyn said.
“Me too.” Noir nodded. “I thought we were done with secrets.”
“It’s not a big bad dark cloud,” Weezer said. “It’s just something we’ve kept to ourselves in part because it could have caused Tamsyn more grief.” She glanced over her shoulder.
Carter lifted his mug. “I should have told you when we did the paternity test and I can’t believe Fred hasn’t shown you the note.”
“There’s a note?” Tamsyn asked, releasing his mom’s hands and grabbing his. “About what?” Fred had sworn he’d given her everything. Shared with her all that he knew, both personally and professionally. Why would he keep this a secret? From her of all people. All she wanted was two answers.
Who was her father?
And what happened to her mom?
Fred had been her biggest supporter. He’d been there for her when no one else hadn’t. While he didn’t agree with this ongoing search, he did support her emotionally.
“The day after my big blowout with Elizabeth, she sent Carter and me a letter. She told us that she expected Carter and me to raise Tamsyn. She was adamant that you were his kid, even though that was impossible. There wasn’t anything threatening about the note. Just an expectation to do the right thing. We ignored it, but the next day she was gone. Carter and I thought long and hard about taking you in, but before we even had a chance to say yes or no, Fred and Anna stepped up.”
“Anna and Fred have always held that no one else wanted me.” Tamsyn fought the tears that struggled to break free. “That if they didn’t take me in, I would have gone to an orphanage.” She cringed at the word. That had been the way Anna put it. Not Fred. He’d been a little more diplomatic and kind about the situation.
“That’s not true,” Carter said. “Weezer and I wouldn’t have allowed that. We would have taken you in, no questions asked.”
“Even with the rumors?” Tamsyn couldn’t believe her ears. None of this made sense. “Why would you? I mean no disrespect, but I can almost understand why Carter would. But you, Weezer?”
“I’m so misunderstood.” Weezer smiled. “You were a child. You shouldn’t have to pay for the sins of your parents. Our only concern and why we thought about it for a night had been you and our children. I don’t hold what your mother did against you.” She waved her finger. “Though, I will say, I didn’t like being accused of having anything to do with your mom’s disappearance, especially when I do hold myself responsible. I can’t help but wonder if my words could have been the catalyst for that.”
This certainly was a strange twist of events. Tamsyn sucked in a shallow breath, trying to pull her cop instincts to the forefront, but all she had was the hurt, scared, ten-year-old little girl.
“You honestly thought about taking her in?” Noir asked.
“Of course we did, son,” Carter said. “We felt responsible for what happened. I also had words with Elizabeth. It had been hard for us to differentiate her mental illness and her cruelty. She had this town believing I had stepped out on my wife. It was made worse by the fact we weren’t actually married or living together at the time, but we were still in a committed relationship. I took what she did to heart and a few days later, she was gone. As Tamsyn well knows, there have been no clues, except one.”
“Her car being left at the train station two towns over,” Tamsyn muttered. “The trail has been as cold as ice since.” She glanced at her watch. “Is it too soon to start drinking?”
Carter chuckled. “We have mimosas, if you’d like one.”
The knock at the back door startled her, making her jump.
“I wonder who that could be.” Carter strolled across the room. “It’s Anna.”
“What on earth is she doing here?” The last person Tamsyn wanted to see right about now was the woman who helped raise her. It wasn’t that Tamsyn didn’t like Anna, she did. But Anna cared more about appearances than she did anything else. She wanted everyone to believe they were one big happy family, but they weren’t.
Anna and Fred had never legally adopted her, even though Fred had said he wanted to.
They had told Tamsyn that it would be hard to adopt because her mother was missing, not dead. And Elizabeth had never been declared dead, something Tamsyn wasn’t willing to pursue.
Besides, Tamsyn didn’t want a new mom. And Fred wasn’t her father.
At least not biologically.
According to Anna and Fred, they couldn’t have children.
And of all the men in Candlewood Falls, Fred had never once been linked to her mother, so she had quickly crossed him off her list. But during the last twenty years, he’d been the closest thing she’d ever had to a father. Their relationship was slightly distant, but that was on Tamsyn, not Fred. And Tamsyn blamed it all on Anna.
