Lost and Found (26 page)

Ed let out a breath. He was going to
have a big audience tonight.

When he walked through the front door
of the house, it was no surprise that his grandparents sat on the
couch. He walked right to them and kissed them both before finding
his mother in the kitchen.

“
Oh good, you’re here,” she
said as she stirred the sauce on the stove. “Find your father and
help him set up that extra table.”

Ed kissed his mother’s cheek and
walked out to the family room where they had set up the longer
tables. Darcy stood with Tyler and Spencer, enjoying a laugh. When
she looked up, they all turned his way.

Their eyes. What a strange thing to
notice, all the sudden. They all had the same eyes.

Darcy walked across the room and
placed a gentle kiss on his lips. “Hello, handsome.”

“
You sure do fit in here,
don’t you?”

“
I do.” She waved her wrist
to acknowledge the tattoo. “Where is your brother?”

“
He’s coming with Curtis.”
He looked around the room, and he noticed everyone was watching
him. So much for secrets.

Darcy laid her hands on his chest.
“Are you alright?”

He smiled. “I’m absolutely perfect.”
And he was. Everyone he cared about was right there, staring at
him. Well, almost everyone.

“
What is that?” Darcy asked
as she rested her hand on his chest pocket.

Ed felt the color drain from his face.
He’d meant to put the ring in another pocket, but now she had her
hand over it.

The smiles on the faces of his family
told him he couldn’t wait another second. Christian would have to
forgive him.

“
It’s your birthday
present.”

Darcy licked her lips nervously and
then looked around. “My…present?” She sucked in a
breath.

Ed took her hands in his. “I didn’t
have a meeting in Florida.”

“
Then why did you
go?”

“
I went to meet your
father.”

“
Oh,” she choked
out.

“
I know we’ve talked about
this, but sometimes things have to be done just right. So I went to
Florida to meet your father and ask him for his
blessing.”

She batted her eyes quickly, and he
could see them fill with moisture.

Ed dropped to one knee, Darcy’s hands
still held in his. He could see his mother move to his father’s
side and wipe her eyes.

“
Darcy, he gave me his
blessing.”

“
Oh, God.” Her hand shook
in his, and the tears no longer restrained themselves to her eyes.
They began to roll down her cheeks.

Ed smiled and pulled the box from his
pocket as he heard the front door open and slam shut. Good, his
brother wouldn’t miss this.

From the corner of his eye he saw
Curtis rush into the room, a manila envelope in his hands. But he
stopped quickly when he saw what was going on.

The envelope moved from sight, and his
uncle stepped back behind his aunt.

Ed opened the box, and Darcy gasped.
He took the ring from the box and held it at the tip of her left
hand. “Darcy McCary, will you marry me?”

The answer was almost muffled by her
sobs and the sobs of all the others in the room. But she nodded
quickly, giving him his answer.

Ed slid the ring on her finger, stood,
and then gathered her in his arms as his family rushed in around
them.

Everyone except Curtis and now
Christian, who stood just beyond everyone with the most horrified
looks on their faces.

Ed made sure to hug and kiss everyone,
but he needed to get to those two. Something must have happened
with Christian. His surgery must have…or it was that envelope that
Curtis quickly made disappear when he’d walked in the
room.

He smiled at his grandmother, who took
her hands and cupped his face. “She belongs here,” she
said.

Yes, she did.

Curtis and Christian had kept their
distance through dinner. But as Darcy blew out the candles on her
cake, Ed finally moved toward them.

“
Are you two okay? You seem
very out of sorts for being at a party.”

Curtis nodded.
“Congratulations.”

“
Thank you.” Ed turned to
Christian. “Did everything go okay at your appointment? They don’t
really have to cut off your leg, do they?” He was trying to be
humorous, but it wasn’t working.

His family moved around the room, each
with cake and a smile on their face. Ed couldn’t figure out why
these two were moping around.

“
What’s this?” Simone
turned the corner with the manila envelope in her hand. She’d
already pulled the contents out before Curtis made a lunge for
her.

The room had gone silent. But the
shock on her face said there was something there that they all
needed to know.

Simone put the papers back into the
envelope and quickly handed it back to Curtis.

Darcy moved to Ed’s side.

Ed inched toward his uncle. “What’s
going on? Is that what I think it is? Are those Darcy’s
records?”

“
Not now, Ed. Not here.”
Curtis tucked them under his arm.

“
Wait, you found my birth
record? You found my parents?” Darcy was now right next to him
again.

Curtis took a step back. “I said not
here. Not now.”

“
Something is wrong?” Darcy
turned and set her cake on the counter and then turned back to
Curtis. “Oh, God, what did you find?”

Curtis turned to leave with the
envelope, but Christian pulled it from his hands.

“
This is what he found.”
His voice had an evil tone that Ed had never heard
before.

Curtis made a move to pull the papers
away, but Ed held his hand up to ward him off. Whatever they found
was going to affect him, or they wouldn’t be acting this
way.

Darcy was close enough that he could
feel her breath on his arm. Someone else in the room moved quickly,
as if they knew what was in the envelope.

Ed pulled out the papers and took a
good, long look at the medical record from the night Darcy was
born.

She was born premature.

She was in distress.

It had been a C-section
birth.

The mother had been beaten and was in
ICU.

Dr. Curtis Keller was
present.

George and Francis McCary were there
to take guardianship of the child.

And the baby’s mother, Regan Keller,
was not to have contact with the baby.

There was no describing the anger that
burned in Ed’s chest. He’d forgotten there was mention once of a
baby. The thought never crossed his mind when Darcy happened into
his life. But now, here she stood—and the information she’d been
looking for was right in his hand.

He’d never felt so
deceived.

He took a step to distance himself
from her. “This is what you wanted? This is why you wanted to get
close to me?”

Darcy’s eyes opened wide. “What are
you talking about? I love you.”

“
Do you? Or was it just
part of your plan to get this information? You looked in our files.
You infiltrated our family.”

Tears were streaming from her eyes.
“Ed, what does it say?”

Regan moved in behind her and held her
hands out. “Give me the file.”

“
I want to hear it from
Darcy. I want to know she used me.”

Her lip quivered. “I don’t know what
you’re talking about.”

Regan ripped the papers out of his
hand and looked down at them. “Oh, dear Lord.” She covered her
mouth as Zach moved to her side. “I never thought this would
happen.”

Darcy watched Regan and then turned
back to Ed. “What’s going on?”

“
You make me sick. I can’t
believe I fell for your lies. You came here to find your birth
mother. Did you ever think of what that would do to her or her
family? There is a reason people don’t tell their children they’re
adopted. Sometimes the truth is too terrible.”

Darcy’s eyes narrowed on him, and then
they grew wide. She turned back to Regan, who sobbed next to her.
“Oh. Oh! I didn’t…”

“
How can I trust
you?”

“
How can you not?” she
argued. “I love you.”

“
You used me.”

“
Ed…”

“
Get out of here. You don’t
really belong here at all.”

Darcy took the ring off her finger and
pressed it into Ed’s hand and then ran as fast as she could out of
the house.

The truck took its time turning over,
but finally, it roared to life and she sped away from the
house.

Her vision blurred, and she fought to
keep breath in her lungs. She had no idea. None. How could she have
known she was the daughter of Regan Keller? There was no way she
could have known.

She wiped at her eyes as she screeched
to a stop at a stoplight. She had to get out of Nashville. She had
to go home. Home. Home—which wasn’t there anymore.

She wasn’t even sure how she’d made it
back to her apartment. The entire trip, the entire night, was just
a blur.

Darcy threw the truck into park in the
driveway and ran around the side of the house. The steps were
steeper than she’d remembered, and she stepped off one and nearly
slid down the concrete stairs.

Once she caught her breath, she shoved
her key into the lock and jiggled it. She tried to calm herself
down, tried to keep from shaking, but it was no use. She couldn’t
get the door open.

With tears streaking her face, she
finally managed the lock and nearly fell inside when she twisted
the door knob.

There was no time. She had to pack,
and she had to do it quickly. If she never saw another Keller, it
would be too soon. But that only made her cry more. She was a
Keller. The forgotten Keller. The one the Kellers gave
away.

There was a reason she felt so
comfortable with those people. That was her family, and she’d been
robbed of it.

She wiped her nose with the back of
her hand. Ed was her damn cousin. Just as quickly, she realized
they weren’t related at all. His father was adopted. Her birth
mother was adopted. There was no blood that was shared
there.

They had been lovers. They
had been
in
love.
All of that was gone now. He hated her. They all hated
her.

Darcy went straight to her bedroom and
pulled her suitcase out from under her bed. She began to fill it
with clothes from her closet and from the drawers of her dresser.
It didn’t matter how it landed. It just had to be done.

Then she moved to the bathroom, taking
an empty box with her. She filled it with all the items in the
drawers. Luckily she’d already repacked the boxes her mother had
saved for her. After all, Ed had asked her to move in with him.
God, how stupid could she have been?

It had been an hour since she’d
hurried away from the Keller’s house, and in that short time, her
life was packed up and ready to go—well, she didn’t know where. All
she knew was that before anyone could get to her, she’d be
gone.

Darcy picked up her suitcase and swung
open the door. She nearly slammed the door again when she saw a
woman standing in the now dark stairwell.

It was Regan.

Darcy’s hand tightened around the
handle of the suitcase. She didn’t say a word. She didn’t know what
to say.

“
Can I come in?” Regan
asked in the same soft voice Darcy had always known her to
have.

Her heart ached as she looked at the
woman in a different light. This woman gave her life. This woman
gave her away.

This woman was here now.

Darcy stepped back and let Regan into
the apartment.

She looked around at the now packed up
space. “You know, in all the years I lived upstairs, I never came
down here when they turned it into an apartment. It’s
nice.”

Darcy shut the door and set her
suitcase down. The air was thick in her lungs. She had so many
questions, but the words were not coming.

Regan turned to look at her. She
clasped her hands in front of her. “Did you know it was me you were
looking for?”

Darcy shook her head.

“
I believe you.”

“
You believe me, but Ed
doesn’t?” Her voice was shaky and soft.

“
He will when I’m done with
him.”

Regan stood there. She scanned a look
at Darcy from head to toe, and then she smiled.

“
I’ve always wondered what
you looked like.”

Darcy pursed her lips as if it would
keep the tears at bay. “You did?”

Regan nodded. “I’ve never seen you
before. When you were born, I closed my eyes. I didn’t want to see
you. I loved you too much. Only Curtis saw you.”