And why …? What had she gotten herself into …?
Wait a minute—Abby’s fear quickly turned to anger—this kind of mean prank reeked of Mason Craddock and his pathetic jock friends. She could just imagine them laughing and slapping each other on the back. And to think she almost fell for it!
Abby felt at the same time relieved and incensed. She kicked a pebble across the driveway. What a jerk. Mason was still mad at her for turning him down when he asked her to the spring dance. He must have gotten her cell number off one of the cards she had passed out around town.
Even if Mason and his brainless clones had gotten wind of Abby’s search for the girl, why would they have automatically assumed that she was looking for her sister and using the doll story to cover up her real motive? Was she that obvious? Had other people figured it out too?
Abby felt heat scalding her cheeks. Why should she care what they thought? How could they even begin to understand the emptiness she lived with, day in and day out? Or how it felt not to know what had happened to your dad and sister?
She considered for a moment calling Mason and letting him know exactly what she thought of his sick joke. Then again, why give him the satisfaction of knowing that he’d finally gotten her attention? That’s exactly what he wanted.
Abby looked at the picture of Ella on her cell phone. Why was she so inexplicably drawn to this child? Was it because she wanted more than anything for her to be Riley Jo? Or was there a true connection that defied words?
Either way, until she knew the answer, she wouldn’t stop looking for her.
Kate leaned on the wood railing on the umbrella deck at Angel View Lodge and looked out over Beaver Lake. The morning fog had lifted, and scores of sailboats and fishing charters were moving in all directions on the blue water. She spotted a number of Angel View paddleboats out there, as well as the three green-and-white houseboats she rented by the day or week.
A mixed flock of gulls and terns flew in the direction of Egret Island. The sky was azure and cloudless, the breeze mild. She never stopped being amazed that she owned this little slice of heaven, even though managing the lodge by herself was difficult. How she missed Micah—his entrepreneurial spirit. His innovation. His talent for fixing most anything. His friendly interactions with guests.
Her man had a passion for natural beauty evidenced by all the windows and decks he had designed to ensure that guests at the lodge could soak in the view from every side. Each task, project, or hobby he undertook, he did with exuberance. The word boring wasn’t even in Micah’s vocabulary.
Usually, when there was tension between them, he was the even-tempered half of the partnership. Slow to anger. Quick to forgive—and forget. Half the time she didn’t even have to tell him what she was thinking. He could look past the exterior and read her heart. No one could bring Kate out of a bad mood like Micah. When she wanted to pout and hang on to her anger, Micah would pull her into his arms and just hold her. It was as though he could see her soul—flaws and all—and cherished her anyway.
Or so she thought. Sometimes she wondered if she had finally pushed him over the edge of his patience with her stubborn unwillingness to consider putting some of their money into a riskier investment. They’d had arguments before but had never found themselves at such an impasse. Despite all of Micah’s wonderful qualities, he was a risk taker and couldn’t seem to understand that Kate wasn’t.
Outwardly, Kate rejected the notion that this man, who had loved her so deeply and devoted himself to making her happy, would have turned to another woman. But deep down, the fear tormented her. For weeks before his disappearance, she’d been consumed with financial worries. Their communication was often strained and their lovemaking nonexistent, solely Kate’s doing and something she now deeply regretted. What she wouldn’t give just to feel Micah’s arms around her again.
Kate looked out at the glistening lake. She had finally reached a level of acceptance that made it bearable to move forward without her husband and baby girl. But Abby’s stubborn insistence that the child she saw could be Riley Jo threatened to unearth the broken dreams Kate had finally