Linda Conrad - In Safe Hands

“Ba! Ma!”

Colin turned to look at the baby without smiling. “She looks like my mother.”

Maggie glanced down at the child in her arms. “I think she looks like you. Do you want to hold her?”

He shook his head and edged back a step. “I know what her father looked like, but what about the mother?”

“I never met her, of course,” Maggie began as she bounced Emma in her arm. “But her driver’s license picture showed a pretty woman with dark, golden hair and fair skin. Which is a little strange, because their neighbors in Alexandria say she spoke with a heavy Spanish accent.”

“You think my brother met her while he was in Mexico?”

“It’s possible. But if so, that would mean she probably came from a wealthy family. The richest and most powerful families there take pride in being descended from fair-skinned Spaniards. My own mother’s family comes partially from those Spaniards and partially from the original native Indians—related to the Mayans.” She stopped talking for a second, waved her free arm widely across her body and smiled, hoping to get a smile in return. “Thus, the stark but beautiful differences you may notice in my own coloring.”

No smile came back at her. Colin kept his features straight and his mouth immovable.

“We’ll probably never know for sure.” She hurried to fill up the silence, as Emma had already quieted down. “I don’t see any way that we’re going to be able to trace Emma’s mother. I suppose she will always be a woman of mystery.”

Colin nodded sharply, as though he agreed. Then he turned to stare at his brother’s headstone again.

Maggie heaved a heavy sigh. Once again, she was dying to ask him what was in the back of his mind about the baby’s future. But he hadn’t let himself get to know Emma at all. Maggie wanted him to do that much before he made any final decisions.

“When we get back to the house, you can contact your mother to tell her about your brother’s accident.” And that she has a granddaughter she has never met.

“No,” he said without turning. “I told you. I haven’t spoken to my mother in years. I understand she knew full well my brother had an undercover assignment that kept him from coming home at my father’s death, but she didn’t bother to tell me that when I saw her at the funeral.”

Maggie wondered if he’d really given his mother a chance to get a word out at all back then, or if he’d run over her with his pent-up anger. “Maybe she was told not to say anything. Aren’t undercover operations supposed to be…uh…secret?”

Текст предоставлен ООО «ЛитРес».

Прочитайте эту книгу целиком, купив полную легальную версию на ЛитРес.

Безопасно оплатить книгу можно банковской картой Visa, MasterCard, Maestro, со счета мобильного телефона, с платежного терминала, в салоне МТС или Связной, через PayPal, WebMoney, Яндекс.Деньги, QIWI Кошелек, бонусными картами или другим удобным Вам способом.