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Chapter One

Thirteen Years Later 

“I’m….what?” Keeley’s voice was incredulous.

“Adopted, sweetie.” And her mom’s was patient, as always.

“But….how?”

“Thirteen years ago, a couple came to the doorstep of my apartment in Atlanta. They had a baby with

them. They said it was dangerous for you to stay where you were from.”

“And where is that?” Keeley interrupted.

“They wouldn’t say,” Alexa said, and cut her off as she started to question her again. “Let me finish. They

wouldn’t say, but they told me your name and that unless something terrible happened, either they or your 

 parents would come back. They described them to me, just in case, and told me your middle name was

your mother’s first name. Anora. Keeley Anora, they said. They wouldn’t give me your last name, either.

Only said they thought they may have been followed and if questioned, to deny it, everything. I asked

them for their names. Brielle. Brielle and Joseph. They wouldn’t give me their last name.”

“Do you think they were my parents and just lying so you wouldn’t get in trouble?” Keeley asked

somewhat numbly.

“No. I think your parents trusted them very much. And I think that whatever they were afraid of, they

were right to be afraid. Two days later, I saw on the news that a man and woman had been shot in their taxi

when it stopped at a four way stop sign. It was the couple that left you in my arms.” Keeley stared, wide-

eyed and a little in shock. Alexa forced herself to continue, to get the whole story out there. So she would

at least know.

“I knew then, somehow I just knew, that your family would not be able to find you without them. But

whoever had killed them had gotten that far, and I was not about to risk both of our lives. So I packed up

everything and we moved here. Washington State was the farthest I could go to keep you safe. And it was

a bit easier to claim that you were my child and make up a credible story after just moving into town with a

new baby that hadn’t been to the hospital yet.”

Keeley looked a little overwhelmed, and at a loss for words. She looked like she was trying to memorize

the kitchen table. Too much information at once. Alexa tried a different approach.

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“Keeley? Do you have any questions for me?” Keeley finally looked up.

“The hospital? They just believed you like that? And wouldn’t they have been able to find me in hospital

records?”

“Well, I certainly looked like a frightened young single mother. I told them that I had been in a bad

relationship, and that I feared for your life and mine. I told them that you were a month old—Brielle told

me your birthday and what your measurements were, did I say that before?—and that my ex-boyfriend had

come home drunk and started tearing up the place. In my haste to leave, I had forgotten your birth

certificate. The doctor there took that considerably well; I must have struck a chord with him. He even

went as far as to recommend an excellent counselor—who also happened to be his wife. Everything went

very smoothly in that regard. And they wouldn’t have been able to find you even if you had been born in

the States, because I would have had to have been at the hospital in which you were born.”

Keeley gaped. “You don’t think I was born here?”

Alexa smiled, or tried to, anyway, reassuringly. “No, I don’t. Brielle and Joseph had very slight accents,

and it was clear they were trying to hide them in order to appear less conspicuous. They sounded

European, at least. And aside from you being an infant, you were clearly suffering from jet lag, though all

you really needed was sleep.”

Keeley nodded again, but it was clear her mind was far away.

“Do you have any more questions?”

“One more. Should I not tell people?”

Alexa sighed. “I don’t think so, Keeley. Not because I don’t want you finding your family, but because

somebody could still be out there looking for you that wants to hurt you. And it will cause a lot of 

 problems for us both if someone were to go tell an officer or someone else that could take you away from

me. I wouldn’t want that. Do you understand?”

“Yes,” Keeley said.

“Now, I have to get ready to go tonight. The babysitter will be herein fifteen minutes. Promise you’ll

 behave?”

“I always behave, Mom!” Keeley protested.

Alexa laughed. “That you do.”

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“Are you really seeing Mitch again?”

“Yes, honey, I like him.”

“I don’t.”

“Maybe you will when you get to know him. We’ve only been on two dates—it’s still too soon for us all to

do something. I have to get to know him a little better, but maybe we can all go to a movie sometime, all

right?”

Keeley nodded and smiled a little before heading off to her room.

Alexa sighed. Keeley was normally right about her first impressions of people. But she had only met the

man once, and for a whole two minutes, if that. Surely this time she would be gone. He really was a nice

guy. Hopefully.