Or had her memories of that been wrong too?
“You were, dear.The happiest little family ever.Your parents loved you, and Naomi adored you.I know, because you and Martin were the cutest playmates.”The woman sucked in a ragged breath.“It all came tumbling down that one autumn night.In the blink of an eye, your grandmother became your father, your mother and your entire family wrapped up in one.”
Maxie flinched.She remembered that night as clearly as if it had happened yesterday.The police lights flashing outside the house.The knock on the door.The horrified expression on her grandma’s face.The confusion she’d felt when she’d been told.
Audrey shrugged.“I helped out where I could.You’d come over to my house to do homework so your grandmother could run errands.I’d pick you up from school when she was out delivering flowers.But when you got a bit older, I thought you should know more.That’s when our friendship began to falter.”
“You thought she should tell Maxie she was adopted,” Zac said.
“I did.”Audrey’s stern librarian voice came back to the forefront.“It was the truth, and you deserved to know.”She tilted her head towards Lexie.“When did your parents tell you?”
Lexie’s lips quivered.“My parents were firm believers in full disclosure.”
When the older woman frowned, Cam stepped in.“She’s always known.”
“Oh, well…” Mrs.Shimwell patted Roxie’s hand once again.She held on to it tightly as she lifted her chin.“Naomi and I had a basic disagreement in beliefs, but I think at the heart of it, she was guided by fear.”
“Fear of what?”Maxie asked.
“Fear of losing you.She’d lost her husband, and then her son and daughter-in-law.I suppose she was afraid you’d go off looking for your birth parents—or should I say family.”
Maxie was having trouble taking it all in.No wonder she’d felt so blindsided when she’d seen her sisters walking down the street.The truth had been intentionally kept from her.Maybe not to hurt her.Her grandmother had been hurting, but Maxie had been hurting too.She’d loved her parents with her whole heart.It had been a good life they’d shared.A quiet one, but good.
She laid her hand over Zac’s at her waist and entwined their fingers.“I never found any paperwork.After she died, I looked through all her dealings.Why wouldn’t I find anything about the adoption?”
“Did you look in her treasure box?”
It was then that Maxie knew that everything Audrey had said was the truth.Her grandmother had an intricately carved wooden treasure box in which she kept her favorite things.It had been a private, secret place.Every once in a while, if she was really good, her grandma would show her things that were kept inside.
Maxie’s chest squeezed.She hadn’t had the heart to open that box.In the year her grandma had been gone, she hadn’t been able to work up the nerve.
Her chin dipped.The if-onlys were ringing in her ears.If only her parents hadn’t left Roxie behind.If only her grandmother had told her earlier.If only her birth parents hadn’t given them up in the first place.
Zac pressed a kiss to her temple, and she had to fight back tears.
Mrs.Shimwell stood and pulled Maxie into a hug.“If I’d known your sisters were out there, I would have told you,” she said into her ear.“I would have helped you find them.”
Later that night, Maxie was sitting in bed going through her grandmother’s treasure box when a soft tap came at her door.She glanced up in surprise.She’d been so immersed she hadn’t heard anyone on the stairs.“Come in.”
The door opened, and Zac poked his head inside.“Hey.”
She sat up straighter.She’d expected it to be either Roxie or Lexie.He’d been called back down to the station not long after Audrey had dropped her bombshell.She hadn’t noticed the sound of his Jeep pulling into the driveway or the sweep of its headlights cross her room, and she’d been waiting for them for most of the evening.“Hi.”
He entered, and she realized he was in uniform.It ratcheted her nerves tighter.He looked like that unobtainable dream she’d had for months.He closed the door behind him, and all those muscles flexed and stretched as he set his gym bag on the floor…those same muscles she’d gotten so up close and personal with just this afternoon.
“How are you doing?”he asked.
“Okay.”She fiddled with the box in her hands.“Better.”
She folded the letter from her grandmother, the one in which she finally told her she was adopted.It had been written near the end when her grandmother had been very sick.Audrey had been right; Naomi had been afraid of losing her.
She slipped the letter into its envelope and set it back inside the box where she’d also discovered her adoption papers.She couldn’t find it in her heart to be angry with her grandma.She’d done the best she could, and that had been enough.Nobody was the villain here.It had been a set of unfortunate decisions and circumstances that hadn’t unraveled until today.
“Roxie let me in,” Zac said.“I told her I’d forgotten my key.”
Maxie set the box on the bedside table.So, he was still keeping up the act.Or weren’t they acting anymore?Everything had gotten so jumbled.
“Is everything okay down at the station?”she asked.Whatever had called him away had kept him busy for a long time.
