The Daughter's Return Read online

  “Thank God for your family, Maggie! The foundation’s Web site helped bring Kit home to my parents. They’re so happy, they’re not the same people anymore.”

  “Neither is Cord. Kit has changed his world. It’s like he’s been released from a prison. He laughs and smiles like he never did before. I hardly recognize my brother these days.”

  “I could wish the same thing would happen to your family,” Steve whispered.

  “After a miracle like yours, it has given our family renewed hope that Kathryn’s alive and out there somewhere.” Maggie looked out the car windows before continuing in a soft voice. “You know it was Frankie Burke, the man Kit thought was her father, who finally cracked enough to help solve your sister’s case and unite her with your family.” She turned to face him.

  “Even though he’s in prison serving time for armed robbery, he refuses to talk about my sister’s disappearance, but he knows the truth behind it. I won’t rest until we get answers from him.”

  “Let me help.”

  “Keep praying for us, Steve.”

  “I’d like to do more than that. I heard you telling Dad you were going to go to Lompoc prison and talk to Frankie. How about letting me come along for support?”

  “I’ve got some research to do first. By then you’ll be in classes.”

  “Right now class seems very far away. Since our family has been united with Kit, we’re all having trouble wanting to do anything but be together. It’s been a nonstop party. But it’s about to end.”

  “That’s why I fly. It keeps me focused.”

  “You know what I mean.”

  “Of course I do, so I’ve got an idea. How would you like to move to Salt Lake for fall semester and clerk for me?”

  Steven’s head swiveled around. He looked like a man in shock. “You’re serious?”

  “Absolutely. I’ve been thinking of asking you since I heard your specific area of study was contract law. If you’re anticipating a specialization in debtor’s rights, then my office is a good place to start.”

  Not only would Steve make a great addition to her office, she knew how important it was for Kit to have someone in her own birth family around. It would give the McFarlands and the Talbots a sense of continuity they all needed.

  “I could take classes at the U law school while I’m there….”

  Maggie could hear his intelligent mind turning everything over. “Kit will be at the U finishing up her last year. You guys could see a lot of each other. It would be fun.”

  “If I thought it were possible…”

  “It is. You’ve been to my penthouse with your family. Two floors down there’s a great furnished apartment like mine ready to move into. It has enough rooms to hold your whole family when they want to come for visits.”

  “I couldn’t afford it.”

  “Since I own the building, I’m sure you and I could negotiate a price within your law clerk’s budget.”

  “Maggie—”

  “Best of all it’s only a two-minute walk to the cottage where Kit and Cord will be living during the week. I often eat lunch with him. On the weekends they’ll stay at his house in Alta Canyon. The whole situation’s perfect.”

  “Too perfect. Something’s wrong with it.”

  Maggie laughed softy. “Maybe after a while it will seem like too much togetherness and you’ll be thrilled to get back to California. But my offer is sincere. Why don’t you come to Salt Lake in a few days and visit the law school, take a look around my office and the empty apartment, see what you think.”

  Though Maggie had loved all the wedding festivities, she was glad it was over. After the honeymooners returned from Europe in a few weeks, there would be another big reception at the McFarland home in Salt Lake. Then everyone would be getting back to their busy lives and she could once again concentrate on finding out what happened to Kathryn.

  None of the family had ever stopped looking for Maggie’s sister. They never would. Maggie never would. Since a miracle had happened to unite Kit with her real family after twenty-six years, Maggie was on fire with renewed hope that the McFarland family could experience a similar miracle.

  “I think you and your family are the most generous, extraordinary human beings I’ve ever known. It’s probably the reason Kit fell in love with your brother on sight,” Steve murmured in a husky tone. “You’re all made of the same great stuff.”

  Before Maggie could respond to such a touching compliment, the newlyweds were climbing into the back seat of the car.

  She looked over her shoulder at them. Talk about two radiant lovers…

  Skwars Farm, Wisconsin

  July 30

  THE SMALL LIVING ROOM of the tiny farmhouse looked larger with a fresh coat of pale yellow paint. Anna looked around, satisfied with her handiwork. Time to wash the roller brush and pan, then go home.

  After putting in a full day’s work at the farm bakery before coming over here to paint, she was exhausted. Bed was sounding better and better.

  She started for the kitchen, but stopped when she glimpsed Nelly and Miki through the doorway. They were getting married next week, and would be living in this little farmhouse. The two of them were so wrapped up in each other, they’d forgotten anyone else was around. Anna experienced bittersweet pain just watching them.

  Though she was thrilled for her cousin, it meant Anna was losing the closest thing she had to a sister. With Nelly moving out of her parents’ home where Anna had been living for the past two years, she felt her world crumbling.

  Not wanting to disturb them, she put the pan and roller on the floor against the wall and quietly let herself out the front door into the warm, humid night. Her house was a half mile down the road. Anna started walking toward it.

  All of the lush farmland and buildings she could see in every direction belonged to the Skwars’ descendents and their progeny. There were thirty farmhouses, large and small, plus different outbuildings and shops dotting the landscape. The earliest ones dated back a hundred years when the first Skwars immigrant from Czechoslovakia settled here.

  It was after 11:00 p.m., but she felt no fear being alone. Everyone was a relative. They were a tightly knit group who watched out for each other. That sense of community kept generations of Skwarses together. Today their thriving fruit-farm enterprise was renowned throughout the state of Wisconsin. Yet it had never felt like home to Anna.

  She’d lived here all her life. First with Olga, the niece of Anna’s great-grandmother. When the old woman’s health had failed, Anna had been passed around among the different family members.

  Two years ago, she’d been rotated to Josef and Milena’s house. They had five children, the oldest of whom was Nelly. Anna had always liked Nelly, who was close to her age. Sharing the same bedroom, working in the bakery together, they’d become great friends.

  But those days were over. After the wedding, Nelly would be helping her husband to get ready for the harvest.

  With Olga long since dead, and her favorite cousin married, Anna knew she couldn’t live here any longer. Unlike her relatives who were satisfied to stay on the farm all their lives, something inside her yearned for a new experience. She had her dreams, but she felt as if they were unlikely to become reality. Seeing Nelly in Miki’s arms tonight had jolted her in ways that left her aching and feeling empty inside.

  She could have been married by now. Two different guys with no imagination from neighboring farms would have loved to join the Skwars dynasty. But the thought of spending the rest of her life with either of them brought her no joy.

  When she entered the house, Nelly’s father was just starting up the stairs.

  “Josef?” Though he was a cousin who was a generation older than herself, he was like an uncle of sorts. Of all the family members she’d lived with, he was her favorite. “Do you think Milena would mind if I talked to you for a few minutes?”

  “Of course not. She’s already gone up to bed. Where’s Nelly?”

  “S
till out with Miki.”

  He grinned. “That was a foolish question, wasn’t it? Come in the parlor.” He opened the door for her. After she passed through, he asked, “How’s the painting coming?”

  “It’s done.”

  “I’m sure they appreciated your help.”

  “I was happy to do it.”

  He sat down in one of the wingback chairs and indicated the couch for her. She sank down on the end of it. “What’s going on? You look like you’ve lost your best friend.”

  “I have.”

  His gaze studied her features for a minute. “You’re talking about Nelly.”

  She nodded.

  “My Nelly will only be a five-minute walk down the road.”

  “It’s not the same as having her here and you know it.”

  Josef sat forward. “You’ve never been happy here, have you?”

  “Out of all the family members I’ve lived with, I’ve enjoyed being in your home the most.”

  “That’s nice to hear, but it’s not exactly what I meant. I see something in your eyes that’s always looking beyond the mark.”

  He understood a lot.

  “I’ve got to do something with my life, Josef.”

  “You mean college.”

  “Yes.”

  “If that’s what you want to do, then the family will get together to help you, but there’s just one problem.”

  “What is it?”

  He stared at her for a long moment. “When Olga brought you and Greataunt Marie to the farm, you were a baby with no papers.”

  “Papers?”

  “You had no birth certificate. No christening record. Nothing.”

  Anna blinked. “But you have to have a birth certificate to do anything. To go to school, to get married—”

  “Exactly. Olga couldn’t believe your mother and father would simply leave you to your great-grandmother’s care without giving her some kind of documentation. After you arrived here, I understand the family searched for your parents to no avail.

  “When Olga wanted to go to the authorities about it, Marie wouldn’t hear of it because she was so certain your parents would make contact. Before she left New York, she left a forwarding address and phone number with all her friends so your father and mother would know where to find the two of you.

  “I’m afraid the months stretched into years while she waited in vain for some word from them. According to Olga, Marie was adamant about saying nothing to the authorities. She was so positive they’d come, and Great-uncle Jainos backed her up.

  “In the meantime, the family protected you by keeping you with us and giving you jobs where you didn’t need a social-security number. I didn’t know about the missing documentation until you came to stay with Milena and me. Julia’s the one who told me something should be done to get you legalized.

  “We were waiting to see if you would accept Robert’s proposal before we brought up the subject. But since that didn’t happen, and you want to go to college, then it’s time to do something about your situation. You need to consult a good attorney. The family will pay for it.”

  Anna was in shock.

  Her thoughts flew back over the years. As certain incidents came to mind, she realized how well the family had shielded her. She particularly remembered the time she’d wanted to get a driver’s license, and the family had told her to wait until she could afford to buy her own car. They’d let her drive around the farm, but not out on the highways.

  “What kind of an attorney should I see?”

  “Julia has some ideas. Why don’t you talk to my sister in the morning. She’s the one who knows the most about your situation. I’m sure she’ll be able to help you.”

  Devastated, Anna got up from the couch to leave the room. He followed after her.

  When they reached the bottom of the stairs, he said, “Don’t hate the family too much, Anna. Everyone has wanted to honor Marie’s plea to leave this situation alone in the hope that your parents would come for you.”

  “But they didn’t! They never wanted me!”

  He put a hand on her shoulder and squeezed gently. “I’m so sorry. There’s something wrong with parents who abandon a little baby. Deep down I know Greataunt Marie must have been ashamed to think she had two grandsons who turned out to be—” He stopped himself.

  “Go ahead and say it, Josef! It would only be what I’m thinking.” Tears gushed down her hot cheeks.

  “No. I’m not going to do that. They couldn’t have been all bad, otherwise your mother and father wouldn’t have given birth to a wonderful daughter like you. I’ve told you before that I love you, Anna. We all do.”

  “I love you, too,” she said in a quiet voice before racing up the stairs where she could give vent to her grief.

  The Daughter’s Return

  CHAPTER TWO

  Salt Lake City, Utah

  August 6

  NINE DAYS IN A ROW above one hundred degrees, and another one hundred–plus day predicted for today. It was a dry heat, but still nothing compared to the oven of the Middle East at its worst.

  By seven, Jake had finished his early morning run up City Creek Canyon behind the State Capitol. His spacious furnished apartment was one of five ideally located in an old Tudor-style mansion on the hill running up to the Capitol where there was a superb view of the city.

  The landlord indicated the tenants kept to themselves. Everyone had a different schedule. He wasn’t more specific than that. That suited Jake just fine.

  He hadn’t expected to like living in Utah, but the many scenic canyons and rugged mountains rising from the valley floor caused him to change his mind.

  Quite a few people enjoyed jogging at the same time of morning. He’d met several women who gave out signals they’d like to get to know him better. So far he wasn’t interested and only smiled at them without slowing down. With less than five months to go before he was back on the job, he’d made the decision not to get involved with anyone.

  Out in the field, the women agents he dated knew the score. If they had expectations for something lasting, they kept it to themselves. Out here, he didn’t want to have to explain himself, so it was better to leave well enough alone.

  Most weeknights he cooked his own meals and read until late. Occasionally, he took in a movie downtown. On the weekends he drove to the mountains to camp out and fish.

  Since Dan had told him he wasn’t responsible for leading his team to their deaths, he’d been sleeping better nights.

  He could only recall one nightmare that had brought him out of a deep sleep. It had happened the first week of his arrival. This time it hadn’t been about the mission that had turned into a tragedy. He’d dreamed Kamila was being tortured.

  The doctor in charge of his physical therapy at North Avenues Hospital urged him to stay away from all alcohol, coffee, tea and tobacco as a way of keeping fit and warding off bad dreams.

  Since Jake had taken his advice, he was beginning to have a sense of well-being he hadn’t experienced in years. Though he was living a spartan existence, he liked the feeling.

  If the worry over his stepmother hadn’t been eating at him, he probably wouldn’t have been as restless at his sedentary day job. So far he hadn’t been presented with anything to really challenge his mind. But there was one plus to the job. His five co-workers, all married and older than he was, were nice people who for the most part minded their own business.

  Once showered and shaved, Jake ate breakfast, then headed for work with a bottle of freezing-cold citrus Gatorade.

  The Eagle Gate Genealogical Firm was located on the ground floor of an apartment building at the bottom of the hill. It was a two-minute walk from his own apartment.

  “Morning, Jake.”

  He shut the front door. “How are you, Wendell?”

  “Couldn’t be better,” the owner said, his head already buried in a census book. “Some new disks came in for you to transcribe. Late nineteenth–century names. I’ve put eve
rything on your desk.”

  “Thanks.”

  Wendell, whose expertise was the U.S. and British Isles, manned the front desk located on one side of the room. He helped people who wanted to trace their lineage back across the water to England, Ireland and Scotland.

  The opposite side of the room had been set up as a reception area. Jake walked past him to reach his own small room down the hall where the offices were located.

  At present, the firm specialized in Western and Eastern European genealogy. Since Jake’s arrival to help with the Czech, Polish and Slovak research, it had eased up the heavy workload for Lara, who could now concentrate fully on Russian searches.

  Arnie, a Dane, ran the Scandinavian department. Simone, who spoke Italian, French and Spanish, headed up the Romance languages research. Gunter worked on Swiss, German and Austrian genealogies.

  Jake admired their collective expertise. They adored their work helping people research a family name to its roots. Genealogy was more than a job to them. Once you got hooked, you couldn’t stop. In the future, the CIA would be able to hire all of them for intelligence-gathering purposes.

  His office was mostly desk with a couple of chairs for clients. No window. But the blessed cool of good air-conditioning made it a welcoming place.

  Lara loved gardening so she supplied him with two pots of pink and purple petunias to keep his space from being completely colorless. Simone steeped herself in clutter and couldn’t understand why he didn’t have one family picture displayed.

  He had a lot of mementos in storage in Florida, including pictures, but they had to remain there while he worked undercover with the CIA. Jake had no plans to retire.

  To satisfy everyone’s curiosity, he’d told the staff his belongings hadn’t caught up to him since his move from San Diego where he’d been brought up in a Czech household. No one suspected his cover story about being a detective wasn’t on the level. Simone took pity on him and hung two large posters on his walls, one of Prague, the other of Warsaw.