DELIVER(98)

On the third morning, her call to the Austin police department was answered with a message from Carolyn Eary. Mr. E’s wife agreed to meet with her. Josh drove her to Austin the next day in the family’s station wagon.

She sat beside Josh in a spartan holding room at the police station. Her palms sweat, and her mouth dried as Carolyn stared at her with pink-rimmed eyes. She swallowed, tongue-tangled, and searched for the appropriate thing to say to the woman raising her child. “Thank you for seeing me.”

Carolyn raised a trembling hand to her face, brushing away an invisible hair. “I’m trying to come to terms with this.” The woman gestured at her and Josh. “But my primary concern is for my daughter. She’s lost her father and—” She choked on a sob. “She’s all I have.”

A maternity test would prove Liv’s parentage. A court order might give her custody. What was best for Livana? She leaned forward, the long table separating them. “I’m not here to uproot Livana’s life. I just want to meet her and, with time, get to know her.” She closed her eyes, opened them. “I have so many questions.”

“You can ask me anything.” Carolyn smiled, though it faded quickly.

“How and when did she come to you?”

Carolyn rubbed her forearms, her blond eyebrows gathering over her blue eyes. “We adopted her. She was only a few days old.”

Had Van kept her during that time? Or had she gone to the hospital for care? She pressed a hand to her abdomen. She couldn’t ask those questions and reveal Van’s part in this.

Carolyn’s lips pinched in a line. “My husband claimed he had an estranged son who contacted him and asked him to raise his child. Said the mother didn’t want her.” She averted her eyes and took her time dragging them back to Liv. “My husband and I couldn’t have children, so of course I was ecstatic. He dealt with the paperwork.” Her cheeks flushed. “It all seems so very obvious now. I should’ve questioned more. He’d never mentioned having a son before Livana came to us, and now I know it’s because he never really had one.”

Josh grabbed her hand under the table, and she laced their fingers, squeezing. Did that mean Van had never met Livana or Carolyn? Was that Mr. E’s doing? Isolating his son from the only family he had? Remorse sat heavy in her stomach.

Carolyn leaned back in the chair, her eyes cold, flat. “It was all one big lie.”

Not exactly. Liv believed Van, but she wasn’t going to correct Carolyn.

“My husband never paid attention to Livana.” Carolyn’s firm eye contact held Liv immobile. “Please believe me when I say I have loved her enough for the both of us. And she has never been mistreated.”

Warmth circulated through her body. Fuck, she’d needed to hear that. “Who named her?”

Carolyn tucked her hands behind her elbows. “He told me his son chose the name.” She shrugged stiffly. “I guess my husband named her after you.” She blinked away.

Van named her. She was sure of it. A bloom of warmth curled through her chest, and her lungs filled with a deep, content breath. “Can I see her? Is she here?” Hope bottled up inside of her, quickening her pulse.

“Yes, of course.” Carolyn rose and left the room.

She clutched her chest. “Oh my God, Josh. OhmyGodOhmyGod. Pinch me.” She swallowed rapidly, light-headed and giddy, gulping deep breaths. Her hands shook over the front of her cotton dress, straightening it. She combed fingers through her hair. Should she brush the strands over her scar?

He hooked an arm around her, touched his lips to her cheek, and chuckled softly. “Stop fidgeting. You’re breathtaking. Livana will adore you.”

She leaned her forehead against his. “Thank you. I’m so glad you’re here.”

The door opened, and she stopped breathing.





Chapter 45




Liv’s heartbeat boomed through her body. She leaned forward in the chair, her Hello strangled.

Huge brown eyes scanned the room and collided with hers. Livana blinked, tilted her head. A dimple appeared in her pink cheek and a beautiful, shy smile stretched across her face.

She’d waited six years for that moment, imagined it every day, and never expected one smile to connect her to life so completely. It was a floating sensation, as if all her past and future failures were lifted. Her soul had everything it needed right there in that room. She tightened her fingers around Josh’s hand.

Livana entered before Carolyn, her dark hair swishing around her shoulders in long waves. Ladybugs embroidered her t-shirt, and her tiny hand clutched a mini-tablet, which connected to the ear buds poking from her ears.

“Livana?” Carolyn closed the door and regarded Liv. “I’m sorry. She’s got this thing with music. Always singing.”

Josh’s thumb brushed over her fingers, and a sense of unity drifted through her, balancing her pulse into a slow, happy beat.

Livana approached, her mouth moving silently, her knees bouncing to some unknown melody. She paused a hug away, and her delicate chin raised. Her lips parted as she stared into Liv’s eyes.

Carolyn tugged an ear bud from Livana’s ear and sat two chairs away. “Livana, this is Liv and Josh.”

A tentative hand reached toward Liv’s face with starts and stops until tiny fingers brushed her scar. Too soon, the gentle touch fell away.