Lilac Lane (Chesapeake Shores #14)(77)

“In a way. When Ash told me he knew where you were and that he thought I should come, I felt like it was inevitable, you know?”

“Where have you been living all these years?”

“In Richmond.”

He thought the terse response was the end of it, but then she added with a hint of pride, “I’m going to school at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, though, and this summer I got an internship in a medical research program at Johns Hopkins.”

“Brains and beauty,” he said lightly. “I’m impressed.”

She smiled then, and it lit up her face. “That’s what Ash says all the time. Ever since I got to Johns Hopkins I’ve been trying to work up the courage to meet you. I even came here twice. The first time I just sat across the street, hoping you’d come outside. The last time was on the Fourth of July. I came in with a friend, but we didn’t stay. I was too nervous to eat. He got our dinner to go. It was delicious, by the way.”

Now it was Bryan’s turn to smile. “Thank you.”

She regarded him nervously. “Was it a mistake, my coming here? Am I turning your life upside down or anything?”

“Not from my point of view,” Bryan assured her. “I’ve been longing for this moment since the day you and your mom left. Will you see this through? Will you stick around and let me show you proof that I spent years looking for you and your mother? Will you listen to what really happened?”

He hated the pleading note in his voice, but he knew he couldn’t let her go without fighting for this one chance to make things right, to correct the record, at least.

“I didn’t really plan ahead,” she said. “I was going to come on the weekend, but I couldn’t make myself do it. Again,” she added ruefully. “But when I got up this morning, I made up my mind that it was time. I took the day off at work, but that was as much planning as I did. I don’t have a place to stay.”

“I have a guest room—”

“No.” She shut down that idea immediately.

Kiera appeared just then. It was apparent she’d been hovering nearby. For once he welcomed her uncanny knack for knowing when she might be needed.

“Deanna, would you be needing a place to stay for a night or two?” she asked gently. “My cottage is very close to your dad’s, but it would give you some space for your thoughts to settle.”

“It’s an excellent solution,” Bryan said, giving her a grateful look. “Will you consider that, Dee? A day or two’s not long. We’ll only have a start toward getting all the answers we both need, but it’s an excellent beginning.”

Deanna’s gaze held Kiera’s. “Are you sure I won’t be an imposition?”

“Not at all,” Kiera said. “I can take you there now and you can have a bit of a rest.”

“And I’ll stop by as soon as I get through the dinner rush here,” Bryan said. “If there were some way for me to leave now, I would.”

He waited for what seemed an eternity as his daughter weighed her options.

“I’ll stay,” she said at last. “But just for tonight. I need to go back to work tomorrow morning. This summer job is a volunteer internship, but it’s important. I don’t want them to think I’m irresponsible. And you should stay and finish here for the same reason. If Kiera doesn’t mind my staying with her, I could use a little time to let this sink in.” She gave him an odd look. “I thought you’d ask me to prove who I am.”

He smiled at that. “Even Kiera saw the resemblance, Dee. There was no need for proof.”

She pulled a picture out of her purse and handed it to him just the same. “Ash found this recently and sent it to me. I’d not seen it before. It’s the only picture my mother kept of the two of us.”

Bryan looked at the faded photograph and remembered precisely when it had been taken, on a rare day they’d spent at the park with a picnic. His eyes welled with tears.

“You remember it?” Dee asked.

Bryan nodded. “I have others I’ll show you. They’re worn on the edges from my looking at them so often. Thank you for agreeing to stay for the night. There’s so much I want to know.”

“Come along, child,” Kiera said.

As the two of them left, Bryan stared after them with a sense of wonder. It wasn’t just seeing his daughter for the first time in all these years. It was seeing this entirely new side of Kiera, a woman with compassion and understanding, who’d given him the gift of time to make things right with Deanna.





Chapter 18



“Bryan has a daughter and you knew about it?” Moira was practically shouting in Kiera’s ear, her shock and dismay evident. “Yet you never said a word.”

“Because it wasn’t my news to share,” Kiera told her quietly. “And I really can’t discuss this now. I’m trying to get Deanna settled in the guest room. Luke’s given me the night off to help out. He would have given Bryan the night off, but we agreed that my offering to take over in the kitchen for him, even under these circumstances, wouldn’t help the situation given how touchy Bryan is about my invading his space.”

“Hold on!” Moira commanded. “She’s staying with you?”