Baked Alaska (9 page)

A few minutes into the wait she hoped wouldn’t be a long one, the door to the waiting area opened and Sadie looked up at a young woman who, upon second glance, she identified as the other half of the photograph still in Sadie’s purse. The young woman wasn’t smiling like she’d been in the photo.

“I have my mother’s documentation,” the woman said when she approached the desk, her voice sounding tired and flat. Her smooth black hair was pulled into a ponytail, and she was dressed in gray yoga pants and a plain white T-shirt that didn’t completely camouflage her curves, though the clothing didn’t emphasize them either.

“Very good,” Hazel said. “Have a seat. Officer Jareg is with someone just now. I will let him know you’re here.”

Hazel picked up the phone again as the young woman turned toward the row of seats where Sadie was sitting. The woman chose the last of the four chairs, leaving an empty chair between her and Sadie. Her eyes were puffy, her face free of makeup, and the dullness of her eyes reflected the same thing her voice had already communicated—she was exhausted. Her bright pink acrylic nails seemed out of place in the solemn room.

Shawn knew Tanice. Did he know this girl, too? Did she have the answers Sadie was desperate to know?

When the young woman sniffled, Sadie couldn’t get her package of tissues out of her bag fast enough. She lifted the strap over her head to make it easier to dig through and to make sure she didn’t inadvertently show the photo hiding there. She wished she’d thought to leave it in her room.

“Thank you,” the woman said, taking the proffered tissue a few seconds later and dabbing at her eyes.

“You’re welcome,” Sadie said. She wondered how to start a conversation, but then realized that she didn’t know what had happened after she’d left deck twelve last night. Shawn was talking to security, and this girl was obviously upset. Had Tanice’s condition become worse? Could she have...died?

Heat grew in Sadie’s chest at the thought, and she wondered how much longer she’d have to wait to talk to her son.

“Ms. Lewish,” the receptionist said.

“Yes?” the woman answered.

“Officer Jareg said you can leave the papers with me if you’d like. He hates to take more of your time.”

“I’m fine to wait,” Ms. Lewish said, smoothing the papers on her lap. “I have some questions for him too.”

“Okay,” the receptionist said. “I’ll let him know you’re waiting.”

The sound of a door opening and voices talking from the hallway caused both Sadie and Ms. Lewish to come to their feet, then look at one another. Sadie looked away first while she fumbled with her bag, holding it tight against her stomach.

The sound of people approaching the waiting area drew their attention, and Sadie let out a breath when Officer Jareg and Shawn appeared from around the corner.

“Shawn,” she said, unable to keep his name in her mouth a second longer. She took a step toward him before realizing he was looking past her at Ms. Lewish.

Ms. Lewish also said his name, but so softly Sadie almost didn’t hear it. She was unable to read the expression on the woman’s face. Surprise, maybe?

Shawn’s expression was definitely one of surprise—
unpleasant
surprise—then he looked at Sadie and an equally certain look of fear replaced his expression.

“Do you two know one another?” Sadie asked.

“Pete and Bre should be right behind me,” Shawn said quickly, looking over his shoulder.

Ms. Lewish was still staring at him, though he was clearly ignoring her.

“You’re Shawn Hoffmiller?”

Sadie and Shawn both looked in Ms. Lewish’s direction. She was scrutinizing Shawn, looking him up and down but not out of admiration, which set Sadie’s back up a little bit. Ms. Lewish narrowed her eyes slightly, her expression tight.

“Let’s wait out in the hall,” Shawn said. He took Sadie’s arm and pulled her toward the door.

“Wh-whoa,” Sadie said, stumbling behind him and trying to keep from dropping her bag. “Hang on.”

Shawn didn’t hang on. He opened the door with one hand and was in the process of pulling Sadie through it with the other when Pete and Breanna entered the tiny room, made even smaller by the seven adults now crowding it.

“Shawn,” Sadie said in reprimand, trying to catch her bag that was sliding toward the floor, but without success. The bag hit the floor and Sadie’s tissues, nail clippers, gum, wet wipes, useless cell phone, a roll of Ziploc bags, and both pictures spilled across the security office. The picture of Pete and Shawn landed face up, but Sadie’s breath caught in her throat as she watched the other picture slide across the slick commercial carpet—face down, at least. It bounced off Pete’s foot before shooting to the right.

She twisted her arm out of Shawn’s grip and shot him an annoyed look as she stepped over everything else in hopes of getting to the picture before anyone else did. Hazel bent down and picked up the photograph before Sadie had the chance, automatically turning it over as she stood.

The room was silent as everyone stared at the faces smiling back from the photograph—Tanice and Ms. Lewish, both unaware of what the next thirty-six hours held for either one of them.

Chapter 10

"“What are you doing with that?” Ms. Lewish asked at the same time Shawn said, “Mom!”

“Uh, I...”

She looked from the picture to Pete, whose expression seemed to be asking why she still had the picture in her purse.

After a few more awkward seconds, Officer Jareg took the photograph from the receptionist’s hand and took a step toward Sadie; there wasn’t room for much more than that one step, the room was packed. “This is yours?”

“Um, well...I
did
buy it. Yesterday, though, before all...of...this.”

He handed it back to her, a question in his eyes. She swallowed as she took the photo, shifting her weight from one foot to the other as she glanced at Ms. Lewish, who was a few inches taller than Sadie’s five foot six. Sadie made a split-second decision and extended the photo toward Ms. Lewish.

“Why do you have this?” Ms. Lewish asked, taking the photo from Sadie’s hands.

“I...uh...” What could she say? Because I’m obsessing about how your mother might be connected to my son?

“Mom, let’s go,” Shawn said. He took Sadie’s arm again and tried to pull her toward the door, but she twisted out of his grip immediately. His insistence to talk to her
right now
made her nervous, and she used the excuse of cleaning up the contents of her purse to stall for time. That bottle of anxiety started getting shaken up again.

Breanna stepped around Pete and bent down to help Sadie finish cleaning things up. When Sadie looked over at her, Bre gave her a sympathetic smile, which only compounded Sadie’s fears.

“Ms. Lewish wanted to speak to you, Officer Jareg,” Hazel said in a timid voice.

Sadie glanced up at Ms. Lewish, who held the photograph on the top of the stack of documents she’d brought with her. Was this the first time she and Shawn had met?

Officer Jareg turned slightly and extended his hand toward the hallway. “Ms. Lewish, if you’ll come with me.”

Sadie returned the last item to her purse—a small first-aid kit packed into an Altoids container—and stood while putting the strap of her bag over her head so that it rested on her shoulder again. Secure. If she’d been wearing it correctly when Shawn tried to yank her from the room, the picture would never have ended up on the floor.

Sadie felt like she owed Ms. Lewish more of an explanation, but what could she say? Pete took her arm, turned her toward the door, and walked her out of the office. Shawn led the way and Breanna brought up the rear. Sadie felt surrounded.

They all seemed to let out a collective breath once they left the office. Well, everyone but Sadie, whose tension was still rising. The narrow confines of the hallway required Pete to let go of Sadie’s arm so that the four of them could walk single file in the direction of the elevators.

“Where should we go?” Shawn asked over his shoulder after they pushed through the curtain that separated the security office from the passenger cabins.

“How about the card room?” Pete suggested. “It was empty this morning.”

“There was a bridge tournament at ten,” Breanna said from the back of the line. “I saw the posting for it when we were at the library earlier.”

“How about the Good Times Café? It doesn’t open until noon, but they only use those velvet cords to close it off,” Shawn said.

“Good idea,” Pete said. “I’m sure—”

Sadie stopped in the middle of the hallway, forcing Pete and Breanna to stop as well. It took Shawn a few steps to realize they weren’t behind him anymore. Sadie waited until he turned around. “How about you tell me what’s going on. Right now. Why are you acting so strange? Is Tanice okay?”

“Who?” Shawn asked, looking confused.

“The woman from the deck last night, the one I still know nothing about. She’s doing better, right?”

Shawn exchanged a look with Pete or Breanna—or maybe both of them—over her head, and it made Sadie’s frustrations rise even faster.

“They said not to talk about it,” Pete reminded her. “If we could find somewhere private—”

Sadie shot a glare over her shoulder before looking at Shawn again. “Well, you all get a gold star for doing what they told you to do.”

“Maybe we should just go to one of our cabins,” Pete said, putting a hand on her shoulder.

She shook off his hand as her concerns and frustration began morphing into anger. She was not a child, nor was she some delicate collectible that needed special treatment. Sadie opened her mouth to once again demand an answer when a fifth voice joined the melee.

“Why did you have my mother’s picture?”

They all turned around to see Ms. Lewish coming down the hallway, the picture in her hand, though she no longer had the documents.

Ms. Lewish reached Breanna and pushed her aside before Bre had a chance to hold her ground. They were similar in height, but Ms. Lewish was built larger and was sturdier than Breanna’s more willowy form. Pete wouldn’t be so easy to get past, and Ms. Lewish stopped a few feet away from him. Her eyes cut past Pete to land on Sadie, who returned her stare. As they faced off, Sadie was surprised to feel an odd bond with the younger woman; she wanted answers, just like Sadie did.

“What were you doing with this?” Ms. Lewish asked again, holding out the photo.

Pete turned sideways, looking back and forth between the women on either side of him.

Sadie couldn’t think of any reason not to be honest. “She was talking to my son on the first day of the cruise, but he wouldn’t tell me who she was. I don’t really know why I bought it. Just wanted answers, I guess, and thinking it might have some.”

Sadie didn’t expect her words to affect the woman so strongly, but the confrontational look on Ms. Lewish’s face disappeared. The photograph dropped to her side as she looked past Sadie to Shawn.

“This is your . . .
adoptive
mother?”

A flash of heat landed in the middle of Sadie’s chest.
Adoptive
mother?

Shawn’s hand was suddenly at Sadie’s back, pulling at her shirt as he moved down the hall, taking her away from Ms. Lewish. “Mom,” he said from behind her, but didn’t finish his thought as Sadie fought and pulled against his attempts to remove her from this confrontation.

“She doesn’t know?” Ms. Lewish continued, still looking at Shawn.

“No, I don’t know,” Sadie said quickly, finding her voice and trying to dig her heels into the cheap carpet. She threw an elbow behind her and hit Shawn, but it didn’t seem to faze him. “I don’t have any idea what’s happening here.”

“Sadie,” Pete said.

“Mom,” Breanna said at the same time that Ms. Lewish also spoke.

“I’m Shawn’s birth sister,” she said. She lifted the photo and pointed at Tanice. Sadie’s entire body froze in dreadful anticipation. “This is our birth mother.”

Chapter 11

“As a reminder, disembarkation is taking place on deck seven, midship and aft, with a wheelchair-accessible exit on deck four, aft. Please join us back on the ship tonight at eight and ten for the tribute to the Temptations in the Starlight Theater on decks nine and ten, forward. All passengers must be back on the ship by nine thirty tonight. Have a lovely afternoon in Juneau, Alaska.”