“Okay, what about the school? Maybe he could go there and see if they moved if the kids were transferred.”
“That’s good. Can you think of anything else Christopher might need?”
“Patience.” Chris grinned when his wife laughed.
“I know, but I can’t really make a list for that. What I’d like to know is why you signed the paper. The kids were way underage, and the minister even used fake names. When did you sign it?”
Chris sat down and studied the document and frowned. He closed his eyes and thought for several minutes. “I know I never signed it on the day of the wedding. But before I transferred it seemed like I was handed papers left and right to sign, it could have been slipped in there. I remember overhearing the minister telling his office assistant that he was overzealous in his duties and that he had to step back and take a breath before he did something that would cause mistakes. Maybe he was the one that pushed the signatures. Wish I knew where the Perkins’ were, I’d call them.”
“I lost track of them after we went to Japan. When we got back to the States, I sent them a Christmas card, but it was returned with the wrong address.” Shegrabbed her address book and pulled the card she’d sent eighteen years ago and handed it to her husband.
“What’s this mean?” He pointed to an address on the yellow sticker the post office had sent. “This Oregon address?”
“No clue.” Christina frowned as she looked at it. “I’ll add it to Christopher’s list.” She sighed and cut the actual yellow sticker with an address off the envelope. After discussing it for several more minutes, they came up with a couple other addresses that their son should check out.
The next morning, Christopher was sitting at the kitchen table with coffee and the morning paper when his parents entered. They fixed their own coffee and joined him.
“Last night, I made a list of old addresses.” Christina began and pulled the paper from her pocket. “We couldn’t think of any others. There’s the hospital, the church, the school, our old address and the Perkins’. Shortly after we came back from Japan, I sent a Christmas card to the Perkins’, and it came back with this on it. I couldn’t make any sense of it at the time, but maybe if you took it to the post office there, perhaps they could have information.”
“Thank you,” Christopher said.
“Now, Son, I know how you like to have all your ducks in a row, you have to remember it’s been a little over twenty years. There’s no telling where people are now. But I’d stop and see the minister first if I were you.”
“After I find a hotel room,” Christopher admitted and didn’t see his parents exchange amused looks. After eating breakfast with his parents, Christopher leftIllinois and headed toward California but not before receiving a stern word of advice from his father to not push his way through any obstacles he might encounter. He was strongly encouraged to go with the flow, and that sometimes chaos brought answers.
Chapter 5
Willow started her Monday morning like any other morning of her life. She woke, showered, ate breakfast then checked her e-mail. She frowned when the first one she opened was from her assistant, and it was a quick, terse message. All in caps, the note said for Willow to call her as soon as possible. Frowning she picked up her phone and dialed, she swore it never rang before her assistant was on the line.
“Willow! Oh my god!”
“What’s wrong?”
“Nothing, well I hope it isn’t nothing. But time will tell. I have to tell you that I don’t know if I should fire my assistant or give her a raise. I’m just so, so, so...”
“Trish.” Willow laughed. “Take a deep breath, you’re babbling and not making a lick of sense.”
“Damn.” Trish sighed then laughed. “Okay, let me see if I can say this without freaking out again.”
“Why would you freak out?” Willow frowned as she picked up her cup of tea.
“First, you know when I told you I needed an assistant? Because your work was starting to take off?”
“Yes, and you hired Amy. As long as Amy doesn’t know where I am or try to contact me, I’m happy with that.”
“Hell,Idon’t even know where you are. Part of the reason you hired me was that I wouldn’t bother you and that I would probably never meet you in person. Okay, to recap, I’ve been taking several of your pieces to local craft fairs and set up a booth with not only yourstuff, but some other pieces from other artists that I assist for.”
“I know this.”
“Yeah, well, ever since I hired Amy, she’s been taking some of your pieces to actual brick and mortar stores and talking to the owners about setting up a section in their stores for you.”
“Isn’t that a good thing?”
“Absolutely, but Willow, she’s commissioned twenty-five stores in the Pacific Northwest, in Washington, Oregon, and Northern California.”
“But that’s good, isn’t it?”
“Yes! But that’s not my point!”
