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His family genealogy?
“Never mind.” Aiden planted his crutch against the floor and levered himself out of the chair. “It was stupid...”
And so was he. For eavesdropping on a conversation. For totally misunderstanding said conversation.
For thinking this was a good idea.
He made it two steps before Maddie landed in front of him, cutting off his escape.
“Aiden...wait.”
Even with a broken wrist and two cracked ribs, Aiden could have brushed Maddie Montgomery aside with no more effort than it would have taken to shoo away a butterfly. But because Sunni insisted her sons use good manners, he produced a grin instead.
“Look, no worries. I’m sorry for barging in on your study session tonight.” Aiden tried to ease around her and found his path blocked again.
“Who do you want to find?”
Aiden opened his mouth to tell Maddie that he didn’t want her help after all, but what came out instead was, “My sister.”
“I...I didn’t know you had a sister.”
“I didn’t either, until a few months ago.” Aiden couldn’t prevent the bitterness from seeping into his voice.
But Maddie didn’t gasp or pelt him with questions. She waited, her silence giving Aiden the freedom to retreat or explain.
Retreat seemed like the better option. Until now, it hadn’t occurred to Aiden that asking for help would mean opening the door to the past and allowing someone to see the skeletons rattling around in the Kane family closet.
He and his brothers had moved to Castle Falls when they were kids, but the past cast a long shadow. People still didn’t understand why the Masons had become foster parents and opened their home—and their hearts—to three troubled boys. And when Rich had unexpectedly passed away from a heart attack six months later, some of Sunni’s closest friends had encouraged her to send Aiden and his brothers back to Detroit.
Sunni had listened to God and adopted them instead, although they hadn’t legally changed their last name to Mason. Aiden hadn’t questioned the reasons behind that decision—or who’d made it—until Brendan had finally gotten around to telling the rest of the family they had a sister out there who might want to find them someday.
And family meant everything to Aiden.
He hadn’t been wanted—something Carla Kane had reminded Aiden often enough—but it was tearing him apart inside that their younger sister might have grown up believing the same thing.
“Our biological mother gave the baby up for adoption after she was born,” he finally said. “I thought...”
“I might know how to find her,” Maddie finished.
“Right.” Aiden touched the bandage on his forehead, hoping Maddie would dismiss the crazy notion as a side effect of his injuries. Playing the concussion card had worked pretty well with his brothers, after all.
“Maddie?”
They both turned toward the doorway, and Maddie’s face lit with a smile.
“Dad! I didn’t expect to see you until tomorrow night.”
A man with thinning gray hair and a frame the width of Aiden’s fly rod stepped into the room.
“I didn’t mean to intrude.” His gaze bounced from Maddie to Aiden and then back again. “I found some of those apples you like at the grocery store and thought I’d drop them off on my way home.”
“That wouldn’t be because you’re hoping I have time to make a pie for dessert tomorrow night, now, would it?” Maddie teased.
“Of course not.” Her dad flicked a look at Aiden. “I know how precious your free time is, sweetheart.”
Aiden didn’t miss the subtle implication that there were people in the room who didn’t.
“The door to my apartment is open.” Maddie’s smile didn’t waver. “I’ll meet you upstairs in a few minutes. Aiden just had a question for me.”
The only thing that moved was the man’s eyebrows. They sank together over the bridge of his nose in a frown that had probably scared away every guy who’d dared to ask Maddie out on a date.
It was a good thing Aiden didn’t scare easily.
Whoa. Where had that thought come from?
Not that Aiden had a problem asking a girl out. But like his brother Liam had so helpfully pointed out a few months ago, Aiden’s problem was that he never followed up with a second or third date.
Because of that, he’d gotten a reputation for avoiding commitment when the opposite was true. Because of his childhood, Aiden understood its value more than most guys his age. He never made promises he didn’t intend to keep. Aiden wasn’t a heartbreaker, but until he met a woman he could trust—with the good, the bad and the ugly—he stuck to the shallow end of the dating pool.
“That’s okay.” He tucked the crutch under his arm. “I have to go, anyway.” Sunni, who’d dropped Aiden off while she ran a few errands in town, was probably wondering where he was.
He took a step forward, but this time, instead of stopping him, Maddie escorted him past her father and into the narrow hallway outside the conference room.
“You don’t have to walk me to the door, you know.” Aiden’s lips twisted in a wry smile. “I’ll watch for rugs this time.”
Maddie tilted her head back to look up at him, and Aiden waited in vain for the dimple to appear.
Nope. Not happening. Once again, Aiden got the feeling she could see right through him.
“The library closes at two o’clock tomorrow,” she said. “But I’ll be working a few extra hours, going through donations for the used book sale.”
Her meaning was clear—if he wanted to continue their conversation. But Aiden didn’t respond.
Because right now, as anxious as he was to find his sister, Aiden wasn’t sure Maddie Montgomery and her fern green eyes wouldn’t prove more of a hindrance than a help. Because, oh man, he was distracted around her.
Chapter Four (#uf910011d-c735-5898-acf4-465fadba22a0)
Maddie started the countdown as her dad followed her up the staircase to the second floor.
Five. Four. Three. Two...
“I don’t like the idea of strangers wandering in off the street when you’re alone in the library at night, sweetheart,” he said.
Maddie tamped down a smile. When it came to her dad, the saying about old habits being hard to break had proved true. William and Tara Montgomery had loved and protected Maddie for twenty-five years. She’d been out on her own for several years now, but her dad never failed to come up with a reason to stop by and “check on things.” What he was really checking on was her.
“Aiden isn’t exactly a stranger, Dad,” she reminded him. “You see him every Sunday morning at church.”
“I see him staring out the window while Pastor Seth gives the message,” her dad grumbled. “He might be sitting in the chair, but it’s obvious his mind is somewhere else.”
Maddie wasn’t about to admit she’d noticed that, too. Because it would mean admitting that she’d noticed Aiden Kane.
You and every other unattached female in town, she chided herself.
“I left the door unlocked in case another student showed up for the study session, and Aiden saw the lights on,” Maddie told him. “He didn’t realize the library was closed for the evening.”
Her dad reached the door at the top of the stairs before Maddie, and it swung open at the touch of his hand. “You should keep this one locked, too.”
“No one can access my apartment from the street,” Maddie reminded him.
When the title of head librarian had transferred to her after Mrs. Whitman’s retirement, Maddie had been given the keys to the studio apartment on the second floor of the building, too.
The space was small, but Maddie loved every inch of it.
She’d sewn slipcovers for the sofa and decorated the interior with an eclectic style she liked to call thrift shop chic. A folding screen separated the kitchen from the living room, and African violets bloomed in the window. An old steamer trunk served double duty as a coffee table and storage for the surplus of books when the shelves began to overflow.
Growing up, the characters in the books Maddie read had become her closest friends, so she hadn’t been able to part with a single one. For Maddie, sharing a favorite book was like sharing a secret. You weren’t just giving people a book. You were offering them a glimpse into your heart.
I don’t read.
Maddie was still having a hard time processing what Aiden had said. Not only the words themselves, but the matter-of-fact tone in which they’d been delivered. The way someone might say, “I don’t eat kale.”
“Maddie?”
Oops. “Sorry, Dad. What did you say?”
“I just want you to be careful, that’s all.”
“I am careful. And I’ll lock the door from now on,” Maddie promised.
“I wasn’t talking about the door.” Her dad hesitated. “I was talking about Aiden Kane. From what I’ve heard, he can be impulsive and a little reckless. Not the type of man who’s looking to settle down.”
“Settle—” Maddie almost choked on the word. “Aiden isn’t interested in going out with me, Dad.”
Even if she couldn’t deny that for a moment—a teeny tiny moment—her heart had performed that crazy tap dance again when he’d said, “I came to see you.”
A response as ridiculous as Aiden asking her out on a date. They had nothing in common. Whenever New Life Fellowship sponsored a hiking trip or a weekend of downhill skiing, Aiden would be listed as the contact person in the church newsletter. Maddie knew that information before anyone else in the congregation because she was the one who typed the monthly newsletter.
She also knew the first four or five names on the sign-up sheet would inevitably be grown-up versions of the athletic, outdoorsy type of girls Aiden had dated in high school.
Maddie hadn’t dated in high school. Guys never asked her to go out for a movie and burger. They’d asked her for her help with English homework instead.
“I think that sigh—” her dad pressed a kiss against the top of Maddie’s head “—is my cue to leave.”
“Sorry, Dad. I’ve got a lot on my mind tonight, I guess.”
He gave her a look. “That wouldn’t be because you have too much on your plate, now, would it?”
“I like being busy.” Maddie linked arms with him as they walked to the door. “But if you want me to cut something out of my schedule, I don’t have to make dessert for Saturday night,” she teased.
“Never mind.” Her dad’s eyes went wide with mock horror. “I take it back!”
The weekly dinners had become a tradition, Maddie’s way of showing her parents she hadn’t abandoned them, she’d simply moved into her own place like a lot of other people her age. They always spent the evening catching up on each other’s lives, and then her dad would break out Scrabble or the cribbage board.
Yet another reason Maddie wasn’t Aiden Kane’s type.
“I thought you’d say that.” Maddie hugged her dad goodbye and closed the door before another sigh slipped out.
Contrary to what her dad feared, Aiden didn’t want to date her. He needed her help finding his sister.
Maddie flopped into a chair and curled her feet underneath her, questions multiplying like the maple leaves underneath the tree outside the window.
Did Aiden regret telling her? Did his abrupt departure mean he was going to give up the search before he’d even begun?
Maddie wouldn’t. She would have gladly given up half her bedroom—and space on her bookshelves—for a sister or brother. But her parents had found love later in life, and Maddie’s traumatic birth and the two heart surgeries that followed had dictated she remain an only child. It had also significantly reduced the chances of her ever having a child of her own.
She knew that God had richly blessed her in other ways—a job she loved, a purpose and a passion—so the pain of knowing she’d never be a mother had eventually subsided. But there were times—like right now—when Maddie felt the ache all over again, a weight pressing down on the sensitive scar tissue of an old wound.
She’d never told anyone her secret. It was her burden to carry. And the truth was, there’d never been a need. The boys who hadn’t noticed her in school had grown into men who’d fallen in love and married her pretty, more outgoing classmates. Maddie had been the quiet girl in the library.
Her lips tipped in a smile.
She was still the quiet girl in the library. And although Maddie liked and accepted that girl a lot more than she had in high school, it stirred up all kinds of dreams she had no business dreaming. Especially about Aiden Kane.
Maybe there was a woman out there who would eventually change his mind about settling down.
But Maddie knew it wouldn’t be her.
* * *
Lights illuminated the row of windows on the second floor as Aiden let himself out of the library. A gray Subaru idled at the curb, and before Aiden could take another step, Sunni had hopped out from the driver’s seat and jogged around the front of the vehicle to open his door.
Needing a chauffeur was another humbling side effect of Aiden’s injuries. It ranked right up there with knowing he’d lose to his mom in a footrace.
“I hope I’m not late. I ran into Rebecca at the grocery store and we chatted for a few minutes.”
Aiden didn’t have to ask what—or rather whom—the topic of conversation had been. Rebecca Tamblin was Pastor Seth’s wife and the head of New Life Fellowship’s prayer chain. Aiden’s name had been at the top of the list for almost two weeks.
“Not a problem.” Aiden squeezed out a smile as he folded himself into the passenger seat.
Sunni waited until he buckled up before she steered the car back onto the street.
“Are you too tired to take a little detour on the way home? Dr. Voss called me a few minutes ago and asked if we have room at the shelter for another dog.”
Aiden had passed tired a few hours ago and was skidding toward exhausted, but he nodded. “Go for it.”
His mom took her responsibilities as the recently appointed chairman of the animal shelter as seriously as she did the family business.
“I was hoping you’d say that!” Sunni flashed a smile and turned left off Riverside, Castle Falls’ main street. “Did you find what you were looking for at the library?”
