The Prodigal Cousin

“Just wondering why you gave me away when I was hours old.” Or “Thought you might have changed your mind about having a son.” Both approaches involved whining on his part and hurting her. Neither would do.

No one except Fiona had ever known his feelings about being adopted. His parents would have been upset, and he’d been a little ashamed that his own mother had given him away. As an adult, he’d lost any concern for his past in his focus on making sure Fiona survived for their daughters—and for him.

Tamsin and Nina remained his first concern, but now that he saw Eliza Calvert dancing up the pansy-bordered walkway in her husband’s protective arms, Sam longed to know someone else on the face of the earth who shared the blood that ran in his and his children’s veins.

If Eliza accepted them, his daughters would never be alone again.

Another woman climbed out of the car. Taller than Eliza, she was slender but curvy. Her thick, dark red braid slid over her shoulder as she shut the door. She glanced at his car and lifted her hand in a brief wave. With a glance at Eliza and the man disappearing inside, she started toward Sam. Her silky dress outlined her body with each step she took.

She must be Molly Calvert.

Sam opened the car door and stood with trepidation. Eliza had adopted Molly when she was fifteen. Sam’s investigator had picked up rumors of juvenile misconduct, nonspecific because the court had sealed her records and the townspeople avoided talking about her.

Her own parents had abandoned Molly. Again, he knew only the bare bones. Would she resent him and the girls if her mother accepted them?

“The door was open.” Her voice flowed, as smooth as her dress. “You didn’t have to wait out here.”

“We haven’t checked in.” He shut his door and opened the back. Tamsin blinked, stretching a little, smiling before she remembered where she was—who he was.

“We’re here.” He squeezed her hand, still draped around Nina’s shoulder. She drew back, rejecting tenderness—as if she couldn’t bear to be comforted since Fiona’s death. “Wake up, sweetie,” he said anyway.

“Dad.” She instantly donned her armor.

He kissed her little sister’s forehead. “Nina, girl, time to wake up.”

Nina kicked at his hand in her sleep as he took her out of the booster seat and straightened to face Molly.

“We didn’t make a reservation. Do you have two rooms?”

She nodded, smiling at the sleepy girls. “We have something with bunk beds if your daughters prefer—or two adjoining rooms, one with a dressing room that’s been converted to hold a child’s bed.”

Her friendly reception heightened his guilt. He hadn’t considered Molly’s feelings.

“We’ll take the second combination.” He elbowed the car door shut as Nina peered into the growing darkness. “Nina can take the dressing room attached to mine.”

“Daddy, where are we?”

“Bardill’s Ridge, Tennessee.” Love of home deepened Molly’s voice. “Let me get your bags.”

“No, I’ll come back.”

“I’ll get them, Dad.” Tamsin surprised him, but maybe she hoped to avoid the possible debacle inside.

“I’ll help.” Molly grinned at Nina. “Your little girl may want her pajamas in a hurry.”

“Who are you?” Nina demanded.

“Molly Calvert.” She offered a hand on which a couple of rings glittered in the streetlights.

Nina giggled, because people rarely shook hands with her. “Do you have food?”

“All kinds.” Molly’s mouth trembled with an infectious urge to laugh. “What do you like?”

“Ice cream.”

Sam chuckled, pulling his daughter closer. “Good try, but no go. This is Nina, Molly.” He backed around the trunk and dropped his hand on his older girl’s shoulder. “This is Tamsin. I’m Sam Lockwood. We’d all love a sandwich.”

“Peanut butter and strawberry,” Nina said.

“Or whatever you have.” Sam had worried about Nina and Tamsin for so long he hadn’t noticed Nina’s manners slipping. She might be a little spoiled.

“How about you, Tamsin?”

The teenager smiled, her manners in better shape. “Whatever you have.”

“Me, too. Whatever.” Nina kicked against his side. “Lemme walk, Daddy.”

He let her down and then opened the trunk and reached for the large canvas rolling bag that held most of his and Nina’s clothes. Tamsin grabbed her own suitcase. Molly took Nina’s backpack full of stuffed animals and the smaller suitcase that held the rest of the child’s stuff.

“Thanks,” he said. A quick search for his younger child revealed her tugging at the B and B’s heavy front door. “Nina!”

“She’s fine. I’m sure my mom saw you, and she’ll catch her.” Molly slid the backpack over her shoulder. Cool air wrapped her skirt around Nina’s suitcase, exposing her slender calf. Sam forced his gaze back to her face. “We came from a family christening,” she added.

Eliza and her husband had clearly celebrated. “We can find our own dinner if you’ll point us at the kitchen.”

“Seriously, we were just about to loot the fridge and we always share meals.” With a friendly smile, Molly waited for Tamsin to move along the sidewalk in front of her. “We want our guests to feel like family.”

It was the perfect opening. Much as he hated spying, Sam needed to see Eliza Calvert with his girls. To see if she’d be as open as Molly. If Eliza was uncomfortable, he and Nina could drag Tamsin through the Smoky Mountains for a few days and then head home.

They caught up with his youngest, still doing battle with the door.

“I—can’t—open it.”

Sam reached over her head with a rueful glance at Molly, who smothered her laughter in a cough. Over her shoulder, Tamsin looked revolted. Sam cleared his throat and held the door for all of them.

Inside, Patrick Calvert waited behind a dark pine registration desk. Molly started toward the stairs with Nina’s things.

“Dad, they want rooms three and four. I’ll take these up.”

“Thanks, honey.” With a smile at Tamsin, Patrick spun a ledger toward Sam. “Glad to have you. If you’ll sign in? Have you eaten?”

“That big girl said she had food,” Nina said.

Laughing, Patrick leaned way over the desk to see her. “Driving makes you hungry, Miss—” he glanced at Sam’s signature “—Lockwood?”

“Daddy hates to stop,” she said. Tamsin actually laughed, which made Sam’s public humiliation more than worthwhile.

“I packed snacks,” he said in self-defense.