A Seagrove Christmas (South Carolina Sunsets #6) - Rachel Hanna Page 0,45
with awe in their eyes, he was proud of all the hard work he put in.
“Why don’t we go inside and enjoy breakfast at our current dining table one last time?” Julie said.
“That sounds great. I’m requesting those blueberry pancakes with the little bits of bacon in them you make,” he said as he hugged her from behind.
“Oh, you will get anything you want for breakfast after making me that table,” she said, laughing.
They all walked out of the barn, Dawson pulling the doors closed behind him. When he looked up, he saw a car pulling into the driveway he didn’t recognize.
“Who is that?”
“I’m not sure…” Julie said, squinting her eyes.
It surprised Dawson to see Amy, the head of the foster care system, stepping out of her car. She waved and then called Julie’s name.
“I’d better go see what she needs. Why don’t you guys go in the house and start setting the table? I’ll be in shortly.”
* * *
“Merry Christmas! But what are you doing here? Why aren’t you with your own family this morning?” Julie asked as she walked toward Amy.
Amy looked upset, almost like she had been given some terrible news.
“I’m sorry to interrupt your Christmas morning.”
“Is everything all right? You looked a little rattled.”
“Actually, everything isn’t all right.”
“Why don’t we go over here to the picnic table and sit down?” Julie led her over to the old concrete picnic table that had belonged to Dawson’s grandmother. She often sat there, wondering about all the conversations that had been had there over the years.
“I don’t exactly know how to tell you this.”
“You’re scaring me…”
“Julie, remember when I saw Tina and kept thinking that she looked familiar?”
“Yeah. You thought you might’ve known her from somewhere.”
“Well, it just kept bothering me, so I ran by the office last night and pulled up Dylan’s file.”
“Dylan’s file? What does that have to do with Tina?”
“There were a few pictures in the file and as soon as I saw this one, I knew exactly who she was,” Amy said, pulling a picture out of her purse and sliding it across the table.
“This looks like Tina. I mean, she looks younger…”
“Actually, her name is Christina. I guess she goes by Tina.”
“I don’t understand.”
“Julie, Tina is Dylan’s biological mother.”
Julie looked up, her eyes widened in shock. “What?”
“I don’t know exactly how she found out who had adopted Dylan, but I have to believe this isn’t an accident.”
“Oh, my gosh. She’s inside my house right now, about to have breakfast with my son. She was with him at the Christmas festival the other night. I don’t know what she’s been saying to him…” Julie jumped up and ran into the house, leaving Amy sitting at the picnic table alone.
She looked in the living room and then ran into the kitchen, ready to confront Tina even though it was Christmas morning.
“What’s going on? Are you okay?” Dawson asked when he saw her come into the kitchen so frantically. Thankfully, Dylan was sitting at the table, going through his Christmas stocking again and wasn’t paying a lot of attention to his surroundings.
“Where is Tina?” Julie said, seething with a rage she’d never felt before.
“I don’t know. I thought she was right behind me but maybe she went down by the beach?”
Julie turned to head back out the door to find Tina.
“Where are you going?”
“To find her.”
Even though Amy was calling her name, Julie flew straight past her and ran down the pathway to the beach. Sure enough, she found Tina standing there, at the waters’ edge, staring out over the ocean.
“Did you honestly think we wouldn’t find out who you really are?” Julie screamed at her.
Tina turned around slowly, a blank look on her face. “I’m sorry for lying to you.”
Julie closed the distance between them, but she also realized that she didn’t want to get arrested on Christmas day… or any other day… so she stopped herself from lunging and knocking her to the ground.
“Why? Why did you do this?”
“I couldn’t help it. I had to know if my son was okay.”
“Seriously? Aren’t you the same woman who abandoned him when he was a little boy?”
“I see you’ve been told that story too. And it’s not true. “
“Well, it seems pretty true since your son was in foster care and not with his biological mother when we met him.”
“Julie, please listen to me. I know you owe me nothing, and I’ve lied to you for weeks now, but if you’ll just let me explain…”
“Were you trying