Alone (Bone Secrets, #4)(80)

“Yes. I knew mine was through the Leader’s Way church from the coast.” Her parents had continued to attend until she was nearly ten. Her memories were faint.

“Well, I’ve kept a lot of things. You’re not the first to come searching for adoption records over the years. I’ve helped out a few times.”

Victoria exhaled. Would he have a record of her parents’ names? Would Isabel Favero be on it?

“Are you the pastor?”

Seth was watching her conversation closely. She covered the phone with her hand. “Michael found someone with the church records,” she whispered. His eyes lit up and she tilted the phone away from her ear so he could hear the other half of the conversation.

“Oh, no. He passed away a while back. The records have been stored in my barn since the fire destroyed the original building twenty-five years ago.”

“They’ve been in a barn that long? Are they legible?” Images of water damage and mold crept into her mind. She remembered the church had burned soon after her parents had left.

“Oh, yes. It’s dry and the containers are waterproof. Last time I dug through them was about six months ago. Everything looked good.”

“Do you think you could go look for—”

“I can’t get up the ladder these days,” Cecil cut her off. “I’ve got a bit of a bad leg. You’d have to do the looking yourself. Or get someone to bring them down for you. Sorry about that.”

Victoria paused, her mind racing. She and Seth could easily handle it. Seth met her gaze, reading her mind, and nodded.

“Are you available tomorrow? We could come out in the morning,” she said.

“Oh, that’s too bad.” Disappointment rang in his voice. “I’m flying out at the crack of dawn tomorrow. But I’ll be back in about two weeks if you want to set up a time for then.”

Her heart fell through the floor. Could she wait two weeks?

“Ask him if we could come tonight,” Seth whispered.

“Mr. Adams, what about this evening? Where are you located? I have someone I could bring with me tonight to take a quick look if that works for you.”

“I’m about ten miles east of the coastline. Just over the Coast Range on Highway 26.”

Victoria did some quick calculations. “We could probably be there in about forty minutes.”

“Are you sure you want to come out in this weather? It’s pretty stormy tonight,” Cecil spoke slower, a bit of hesitation and regret in his voice.

“You don’t even have to leave the house,” Victoria said rapidly. “Just point us in the right direction.” Right now she didn’t care if they were imposing; she wanted a look at those records tonight.

“Now, you realize these aren’t legal documents, right?” Cecil said. “These are just some simple church ledgers. But it’s probably enough to give you some leads on your birth parents.”

Would something in there name her mother? What about a father? There was no guarantee that her answers were in a box in someone’s barn. But she’d never know until she looked. “We’d really like to come out tonight, Mr. Adams.”

He gave her his address and Victoria promised to see him within the hour. She ended the call, adrenaline buzzing through her veins.

“What about Trinity?” Seth asked. “Are you okay leaving Katy right now?”

“All I’d be able to do is hold Katy’s hand. I think all three of us know that won’t do a heck of a lot.”

“What’s going on?” Katy asked as she stepped back in the room.

“We’ve got a lead on some church records that might list my birth parents,” Victoria told her. “We’re going to run out there tonight if you’re okay with that. Otherwise we can’t see the records for two weeks.”

“Of course,” answered Katy. “Sitting here doing nothing isn’t helping Trinity. I’m doing enough sitting around waiting for the phone to ring. All of us don’t need to participate. I’ve got more calls to make, and I know how to reach you if I need to.”

“That’s what I thought. We’re going to meet a guy from Leader’s Way church and see what he has.”

“Leader’s Way?” Katy’s brows shot up. “That was the church? Those guys?”

Seth scowled. “You know them?”

“I’ve met some of the castoffs. Women seem to have a third-class citizen role in that organization.”

“I thought the church no longer existed. It burned down quite a while back,” Victoria stated.

“The building may have been gone, but the teachings lived on. What a bunch of pigs. They don’t care for me. I’ve held a few women’s hands as they made the decision to break ties with their families because of the belief system of that church. I have a hard time calling it a church. It’s more of a bunch of old men sitting around telling women to stay barefoot and pregnant.”

“I think that’s one of the reasons my parents left,” Victoria said slowly. “I remember hearing them discuss what the role of a woman should be. My mother wanted me to be more. I think things had started to change in the church back then. It’d suddenly gotten stricter. They moved closer to Portland and never went back.”