Awake at Dawn (Shadow Falls #2)(76)

"Seriously, you really enjoy decorating cakes?" her mom asked. "I do, too. Do you remember that I took that class when you were younger and made you the Cinderella cake?"

"Yeah," Kylie said. "I loved it." Another big freaking lie. She'd been fourteen and embarrassed out of her mind when her mom had served a fairy-tale cake at her soccer meet, but hey, what did one more little white lie count compared to the others she'd told today?

Lies aside, this whole new direction in their relationship was really going well. So well, Kylie decided to chance asking for more info about her real dad.

Picking up her soda, Kylie twirled the can in her hand. "Mom, can you tell me a bit more about Daniel?"

Her mom's eyes widened. "Sure. I guess. But I think I pretty much covered everything the last time you asked."

"You hardly told me anything. Like ... where were his parents from?"

She smiled. "I remember him telling me that they were originally from Ireland."

"They're Irish?" Kylie asked, not sure it would help, but not sure it wouldn't. "When did they come to America?"

"I don't know."

"Was Daniel born in the States?"

"I'm guessing he was. He didn't have an accent."

"But you don't know for sure, right?" Her hope started to wane. If he was adopted in Ireland, wouldn't that make it almost impossible to trace him?

"I think he would have told me if he was born somewhere else."

Kylie nodded. "You said his parents were in Dallas, right?"

"Close to Dallas. You know, somewhere up there."

"Where?" Kylie couldn't believe she'd spent this last two weeks calling Dallas numbers only to learn they didn't even live there.

"I can't remember." Her mom studied Kylie. "You're not thinking of trying to find them, are you?"

Okay, decision time. Kylie had told the PI that she would eventually tell her mom about her quest. Maybe this was showtime. "Would it upset you if I was?" Kylie asked, not wanting to add any more stress to her mom's day.

Her mom frowned. "I ... I just ... We don't even know if they're still alive."

"They could be," Kylie said, and couldn't tell her mom that her real interest was in finding them so they might be able to lead her to Daniel's real parents. Soon, her mom might find that out, but one thing at a time.

Besides, she didn't have a clue as to how she could explain that she knew Daniel was adopted. Well, not a clue without going through the whole ghost thing, and that was totally a conversation she didn't want to have with her mom.

"Seriously, would you mind if I tried to find them?"

Her mom let go of a deep breath. "I don't mind, Kylie. I guess I'm just worried they will be very angry at me if you did. There have been so many times that I felt guilty for not letting them know about you." There was something in her mom's voice that drew Kylie's attention.

She suddenly realized if her mom felt guilty about not telling them, then she had to know where they were.

"Do you know where they are, Mom? Do you know how I could find them?"

Chapter Twenty-four

Her mom looked down. "I..."

"Please, Mom," Kylie said. "Please. If you know anything, tell me."

Her mom seemed preoccupied with her soda as if fascinated by the condensation running down the can. "I couldn't bring myself to throw away his obituary," she said finally. "I put it in the back of the frame of your baby picture hanging on the wall. It has their names and the town they lived in."

Hope flared anew in Kylie's chest. "When you get home, can you scan and e-mail it to me? Please."

Her mom nodded. "If they are still alive, they are going to hate me."

"I don't think so, Mom. They'll probably just be happy to meet me now."

Her mom touched Kylie's cheek. "I'm sorry, baby. I did what I thought was best at the time, but now ... it looks as if I didn't make the best decisions."

"You did fine," Kylie said. And without thinking, she gave her nonhugging mom another hug.

An hour later, Kylie watched her mom's car move down the road until it was a tiny blue dot that finally faded from view. Both Burnett and Holiday were waiting on her at the gated entrance when she returned.

"I think my mom is going to be fine," she told them, assuming that's why they were there.

Then she realized Burnett had probably been listening to their conversation the whole time. That's when she got a feeling they weren't here just about her mom.

"Am I in trouble for fighting with Selynn?" she asked. The thought had crossed her mind during her conversation with her mom. Like it or not, Selynn was FRU.

Holiday shook her head. "No. Selynn deserved what she got. She handled the situation all wrong. Terribly wrong."

Holiday glanced up at Burnett as if she was saying this to him as much as to Kylie. "If anyone says one thing about what went down out at the swimming hole, I'll be the first to tell them how the cow ate the cabbage."

When Kylie was about to ask Holiday what she meant about the cows and the cabbage, Burnett shrugged. "I don't think anyone will be saying anything," he said, humor dancing in his eyes. "I never have understood that saying. How does a cow eating cabbage translate into giving someone hell for something?"