home from work.”
“You’re all dirty when you get home from work,” she said softly, her pulse fluttering as he kissed the side of her neck.
“And you’ll enjoy getting me clean again, don’t deny it.” The sound of a car door slamming split them apart, and Trent’s eyes widened. “Shit.”
He jumped up and jogged into the front room, muttering a curse underneath his breath. A second later, he popped his head into the study.
“It’s them. They’re not supposed to be home until tonight…” He raked a hand through his hair. “I can’t let them find this—Liv would kill me. I’ll distract them if you can finish up quickly.”
Cora nodded. “Sure, I need maybe five minutes. We’re only missing two pictures.”
Trent shut the door, sealing her inside. She quickly located the album with the year of his birth and flipped through the pages, looking for the photo of him in his mother’s arms. Melanie Walters had a tradition with her baby photos—when each one was born, she’d have a photo of them in the hospital bed, the same blue teddy bear tucked in beside her. Apparently, the bear was an heirloom and had been part of her “birth bag” for each baby’s arrival.
But, for some reason, there was no picture of baby Trent with Melanie and the bear. Cora flicked through the album, which documented his earliest days, but the photo wasn’t there. Oh God, what if they’d accidentally thrown it out?
Shaking her head, she went back to the start of the album. It was marked with the year of Trent’s birth, so it was definitely the right album, but there were no pictures of him at the hospital. The photo had to be there.
Frustrated, Cora shelved the album and searched for the other picture they were still missing—one of Liv on her first birthday, her hands full of chocolate cake—and easily located it. The voices sounded as though they were outside, so she slipped the photo into her pocket so they could copy it at home before returning the original to the album.
She needed to get out, now. But she really didn’t want to leave without everything they needed to finish the project. Growling under her breath, she scanned the office. This was hopeless—they’d have to leave the scrapbook unfinished.
As Cora slipped her bag over her shoulder, she turned, accidentally clipping a box that was sticking out of the bookshelves that housed all the albums. It fell, the lid flying off and scattering papers and mementos across the floor.
Dammit! If she got them caught, she’d never forgive herself.
“Shit, shit, shit.” Cora dropped down to her knees and started hastily shoving everything back inside, her heart thundering as she heard the telltale jangle of keys outside and the sound of voices getting closer.
As she quickly tried to tidy up yet another mess she’d made, her hands coasted over a photo featuring a hospital bed, a baby, and blue bear. Yes! She’d found the missing photo. It was like fate had tipped the missing puzzle piece into her hands. Only…
When she looked closer, something was amiss. Instead of Trent’s father standing beside the bed like in all the other photos where his handsome face had beamed, mouth capped by various styles of facial hair over the years, there was no man. This photo had the two sisters in it. One in the bed and one standing beside it.
Maybe Trent’s father hadn’t made it to his birth and so Melanie’s twin sister had been there instead?
Only…there was another problem. The woman in the bed, holding the baby, had a distinctive tattoo wrapped around her wrist that wasn’t present in any of the other photos. Cora would have noticed it, because she was fascinated by other people’s tattoos. The woman standing next to the bed had no ink showing.
Cora blinked, a sinking feeling filtering through her system. The twin faces of the women stared back at her, matching grins and wide, happy eyes. Melanie wasn’t the woman in the bed; she was the woman standing to one side. The sister.
Which meant that she wasn’t Trent’s mother.
Chapter Fifteen
That Thursday, after Trent had finished work, he walked up the path to his brother’s house, sucking in a huge lungful of the floral-scented air. The yard had two big wattle trees, adorned with thousands of fluffy yellow blossoms, and they’d been here ever since the house belonged to their grandparents. These days, Jace lived with his wife, Angie, and their brood of adorable puppies.
And yes, brood was the