“My brilliant son. Well, don’t stay up too late. I thought I might make pancakes in the morning since we both have the day off.”
“That’d be great, Mom. Thanks.” She made the best pancakes. And ever since she’d taken a part-time caretaker job a couple years ago, she didn’t have many Sundays off.
When she slipped from the room, he went back to work, chugging the Coke as he went. Finally the first draft was done. He set it aside to clear his mind before he tackled revisions.
He grabbed his phone. It was too late to text Addison. She had the kids’ class for early service in the morning. But the notification from earlier appeared on the screen. My Legacy had a match for him. He tempered his excitement—all the matches so far had been maternal.
He never mentioned the matches to Mom because she’d gotten upset three years ago when he admitted he’d sent in his DNA. He assured her his search for his biological father didn’t mean he loved her any less. That she’d been a great mom and no one could ever replace her. But he’d obviously hurt her feelings. Or maybe it was because he’d done the test without telling her first. He must’ve known deep down that she wouldn’t approve. And that recent visit from his bio dad’s widow proved him right.
He logged in to the website and opened the screen that revealed the matches. His eyes fixed on the most recently added name.
He froze. Stared at the name until his vision blurred.
He blinked away the fog. But the name remained. As did the relationship descriptor beside it:parent/child.
His thoughts ricocheted through his mind. He struggled to make sense of it.
“Mom?” The word was nothing but a croak.
It was... a mistake of some kind. It couldn’t be right. Could it?
He bolted from his bed. “Mom!”
Chapter 47
Josh was sitting on his patio listening to Patrick’s sermon when a call came in, quieting his brother-in-law’s voice. Since the number was unknown, Josh refused the call, and the sermon resumed. He had to hand it to Patrick—the guy was pretty insightful.
Josh had meant to attend the service this morning but he’d slept late—an aberration. What did you expect when you lay awake half the night thinking about the woman you couldn’t have and wondering when it would be acceptable to text her again?
Maybe today. It had been three days since she’d texted last. “You’re pretty lame, my friend.”
While Patrick was preaching on “Five Ways to Let Go”—a sermon Josh needed like water—he opened Facebook and went directly to Maggie’s page. He didn’t glean any new information as she hadn’t updated it in weeks.
“And that’s what you get for surfing the internet instead of listening to the sermon.”
His phone dinged, a voice mail. Promising himself he’d continue the sermon later, he stopped the live recording and tapped on the message.
“Um, hello. We’ve never met, but my name is Robyn Jennings. I’m Will’s mother.”
Josh bolted upright in his seat.
“Could you return my call as soon as you can, please?”A click sounded and the voice mail ended.
Adrenaline flooded his system. He shot to his feet and tapped Robyn’s number. Had something happened to Will?
Or had the woman somehow made the connection between Maggie and Josh? Maybe Will had mentioned his last name and she’d pieced it together. And if she knew Josh was Will’s uncle, did that mean Will knew also?
“Hello?”
The voice coming from his phone startled him from his thoughts. “Uh, hello. This is Josh.” He omitted his surname in case she hadn’t put it together yet. “You just left a message for me. Is Will all right?”
“Yes. I’m sorry. I didn’t— No, he’s fine. I hope I didn’t call too early.”
“Not at all. I was just sitting on my patio enjoying the weather before it turns sweltering. It’s already pretty humid but it’s supposed to get up to a hundred today.”The weather?He palmed his face.
“Yes, I heard.” Silence dragged out.
Josh sought to fill the gap and came up empty. He didn’t know what she wanted and didn’t want to give anything away.
