The Fountain of Infinite Wishes (Dare River Book 5) (2 page)

“J.P. is aware of our plans though,” Sadie blurted out. “J.P.’s our big brother. He’s given us his blessing, and that’s…well, it means the world.”

Vander smiled again at Sadie. “Thanks for clarifying that, Sadie. What do you think will happen when and if I find your father?”

“Ah—” Sadie exclaimed, looking at her for an answer.

“Is that question really necessary?” Shelby asked. “We’re obviously here, and we want to hire you.”

“I’m sorry if the questions seem personal,” he said in that same even Yankee tone. “I know this must be hard for you. But in order for me to do my job to the highest standard, I need to know my clients’ goals.”

“It’s simple,” Shelby said with an edge in her voice. “We want to find our father. That’s our goal.”
 

Sadie looked over at her and shook her head as if to chide Shelby for being harsh. She couldn’t help it. Questions like that might talk them right out of wanting to find Daddy. It was hard enough to dig into the past without considering the many ways in which it could go wrong.

“This is difficult for us,” Sadie said, looking back at Vander. “I’m sorry Shelby was short with you.”

“I can apologize for myself if it’s needed,” she said tersely, crossing her arms over her chest. She knew she was being difficult, but all of a sudden, she couldn’t seem to help herself. Anger was pouring into her like water in a leaky boat—even though she knew it was misdirected.

“You don’t need to apologize for anything,” Vander said, rising and coming around his desk.

Shelby knew he meant it, and she released a pent-up breath. “I seem to be…emotional. I
am
sorry.”

“Again, there’s nothing to be sorry about,” he said, sitting on the edge of his desk. “As I said before, kicking off a search like this is tough. It would be for anyone. I’m here to help you. We don’t know each other yet, but if you agree to move forward with me, we will. I’ll need to know everything you can remember about your father. Since you were so little when he left, most of what you know likely comes from other people. Am I correct?”

They both nodded.

“Most cases that involve an absence of this many years require a little more legwork. The databases I usually use to find someone only go back about twenty or twenty-five years—around when computers became mainstream. Your daddy disappeared on the cusp of that time if I’ve judged your ages right.”

“You have,” Sadie said. “I hadn’t thought about the computer thing. Oh, goodness.”

“It makes sense to me,” Shelby said. “I didn’t expect it to be easy. I’ve done my own Google searches and the like, and I’m pretty good at finding things out. I couldn’t find anything.”

“You seem incredibly smart…and brave,” Vander said, gazing at her intently. “But I have access to information you wouldn’t. We may get lucky with your father. We may input his name and last known address some twenty years back and get a hit.”

“But you don’t think it’s likely?” Sadie asked, glancing Shelby’s way, tension around her mouth.

“I have a gut feeling it might not be that easy,” Vander said, resting his hand on his knee. “Otherwise, your mother wouldn’t be so unwilling to discuss why he left or where he went.”

“You think our mama might know all of that?” Sadie asked, blinking rapidly.

“Sometimes a parent keeps that kind of information a secret to protect her children.”

That was impossible. “Our mama isn’t secretive,” Shelby told him, her mind spinning now. “She’s a preacher.”

His face didn’t change, but Shelby thought his eyes crinkled a fraction. “Was she a preacher when your father left?”

“No,” Sadie said slowly, like she was thinking things over, “but both of them were good church-goin’ people.”

And yet, their daddy had up and left his wife and four children, Shelby could almost hear Vander thinking.

“What more can you tell me about your father and your family?” he asked.

Shelby let Sadie paint her version of the story, and while Vander kept his focus on her sister, she felt him glance her way every once in a while to take stock of her reaction.

“Is that how you remember things?” he asked her finally, shifting his large frame on the desk to give her his full attention.

“Sure…I mean…as you said, most of what we know is from J.P. and Susannah since we were so young.” Truth be told, she and Sadie didn’t really have their own memories of Daddy, and that bothered her more than she wanted to say.

“All right,” Vander said. “I think I have a clear picture of things. Let me tell you what my services include. As I said, I’ll use all the resources available to me to discover your father’s whereabouts. Obviously, the greater the difficulty, the more resources I’ll need to use, but I promise you, if you want me to, I will pursue every lead available. We won’t know whether it will be easy or difficult to locate him until we start the search.”

They both nodded. He pushed off the desk and walked around to sit in his office chair.

“Depending on how things go and what we find, we’ll be in constant communication. If you need to reach me, I’m pretty much available day or night. Lucky for me, I don’t need much sleep.”

The thoughts that came into Shelby’s head had nothing to do with Vander working a case to find their daddy. She imagined showing up at his front door in nothing but a trench coat. Goodness gracious, she really needed to stop watching murder mystery romances on TV. When she came back to the conversation, Vander was looking at her with that quiet intensity of his. Her mouth parted, and for a moment, she could have sworn he’d read her mind. Then he shifted his attention back to Sadie.

“And how much do you charge?” Sadie asked.

“Two hundred dollars an hour, plus expenses if there are any,” he told them, handing them each a sheet of paper. “Here’s my fee schedule so we’re all on the same page.”

His presentation was simple and flawless. Shelby felt Sadie waiting for her to make eye contact and knew her sister was worried about the money. Even though Sadie worked at a craft store and lived simply, she’d wanted to contribute to the cause. Shelby had agreed, but would be covering the lion’s share.

“If you’d like to confer a moment,” Vander said, standing again. “I can give you a few minutes.”

Shelby suppressed her surprise. He obviously didn’t have anything confidential in his office, or he’d never have offered to leave them alone here. Or maybe he had them pegged for trustworthy people. Most people assumed so, with their mama being a preacher and all. Then again, he might have a camera in his office. He was a P.I., after all. Gracious, she was overthinking things.

“Thank you for the offer to confer,” Shelby said, knowing Sadie would do better if they chatted. “A moment would be
lovely.”

He gave them that killer smile of his, as if he’d enjoyed every drop of sugar she’d poured into her Southern drawl. “Ladies, would you like anything else to drink?”

“No thank you, Vander,” Sadie said, smiling at him as he turned and left them alone.

“I can handle his fees, Sadie,” Shelby told her the moment the door closed.
 

“I didn’t expect it to be so expensive,” her sister said. “I guess I should have if Gail and all those politicians and celebrities use him. He’s really nice, don’t you think? I didn’t expect that.”

For some reason, Shelby hadn’t either. She’d known he was handsome and successful, but Vander Montgomery also knew how to listen and manage client relationships better than many of the professionals she worked with. It only made him more attractive in her eyes.

“Do you think he can find Daddy?” Sadie asked.

Shelby took in the restrained power emanating from the room and nodded. “If anyone can, he can. But I think we’re asking the wrong question. I rather hate admitting it, but Vander was right to press us about what we expect to find. Are we really prepared to learn things we’re better off not knowing? I got mad at him, but really I…just got mad, is all. I feel like I’m poking a stick in my own hornet’s nest, you know?”

“I know exactly what you mean,” Sadie said softly. “I get angry, but it also makes me sad.”
 

Suddenly Shelby wasn’t sure what they should do. Vander had dredged up all the anger she’d shoved into a box a long time ago. Their daddy had abandoned their family. Their mama hadn’t really ever explained it satisfactorily. Maybe she couldn’t. But maybe Vander was right. Maybe Mama was being secretive to protect them.

“We were taught that pursuing the truth is always the best course of action.” Sadie made a face. “Even though we weren’t given that truth.”

“Maybe Mama doesn’t really know why Daddy left,” Shelby said, as much to convince herself as her younger sister. “Maybe this would help her find closure too.”

“She must suspect
something,”
Sadie said, her voice raising. “A good man doesn’t just up and leave his family without a word.”

“No, you’re right.” That part of the puzzle had never made sense. If Mama had said he’d had a drinking problem or been in trouble with the law, Shelby might have understood. But no excuse had ever been given. He had been there one day, gone the next. That was all they knew.

“I sure wish Mama would answer our questions,” Sadie said in exasperation. “It would save us a lot of money and heartache.”

“But Mama hasn’t said a word about him in all these years, even though she knows it’s caused us heartache.” Shelby felt her diaphragm tighten. “I don’t see that changing.”

“Neither do I,” Sadie said. “And that scares me. Mama preaches about talking about things so they can heal, and all her silence has done is allow this hurt to fester and grow.”

Truer words had never been spoken. Shelby didn’t like to think about what it must cost their Mama not to live her values. Or why. In fact, it scared her spitless.

“What do we do if Susannah asks us about this again?” Sadie looked over her shoulder at the door to see if Vander had returned. “I’m terrible at hiding things.”

“She’s too happy with Jake to ask,” Shelby said. “Besides, I think she’s going to be an ostrich about this.”

“But what if we find something?” Sadie asked, tears filling her eyes. “What if we find Daddy? Don’t we have to tell her?”

Shelby’s heartbeat ramped up, and she pressed her hand to her chest, taking deep breaths to quell its urgency.

“We’ll tell J.P. first and see what he thinks is the best course of action,” she said when she was able to speak. “Like we agreed.”

“And Mama?” Sadie asked, wringing her hands now.
 

“If we all agree—and I mean even Susannah—we tell Mama we love her, but we needed answers.”

Sadie got a little more teary-eyed at that. “I’m just going to pray God can soften this whole situation. We don’t need any more hurt coming up from the past.”

Yet, they both needed to find out the truth—or at least try to—in order to move forward with their lives. “So we hire Vander.”

Her sister reached for her hand. “Yes. I still want to contribute what I can.”

“You really don’t need to,” Shelby said, patting her hand. “You know Gail pays me well.”

“He’s my daddy too,” Sadie said with a stern nod. “I want to contribute
something.”

Since Shelby knew better than to hurt anyone’s pride—especially her sister’s—she smiled. “I’ll take them in baked goods and crafts.”

“I can make you a quilt!” The corners of her sister’s mouth tipped up.

“Sadie, you’re always giving your quilts away. You should keep one for yourself.” In fact, her sister usually thought of others before herself, just like Mama had taught them they should.

“I know you’re right, but there’s always someone who could use a quilt. Besides, the only reason I got good at them was because I made so many for the people at church. Now, I get to sell them at the craft shop. It’s a blessing. Every quilt I make is stitched together with love.”

Yes, every swatch her sister selected was done with intention. Her quilts were all the more special for it.

“I can make you peach jam too since we’re just coming up on peach season,” Sadie continued. J.P.’s wedding had been three weeks ago on the first Saturday of June, but because Tammy loved peaches so much, he’d found some early Eastern ones and asked Sadie to make a peach pie for the rehearsal dinner. It had been delicious.

Out of all of them, Sadie was the homiest. She’d even grown tomatoes for salsa last summer, and as if that hadn’t been effort enough, she’d packaged jars for everyone in the family with hand-written labels and artful bows. She was a good sister to have around.

“Done,” Shelby said, and they shook on it.
 

They hugged each other. The door opened, causing them to break apart.
 

Vander stuck his head inside. “Are you finished conferring?”

“Yes,” Sadie said brightly as he walked toward them.

He sat on the edge of his desk again and gave them that compelling smile. Her reaction to him was completely normal, she decided—the man was a chick magnet. His charm must come in handy with his job. People talked to nice, well-dressed handsome men—especially women.

“We’d like to hire you,” Shelby said, giving him what she hoped was also a professional smile. “Thank you for letting us talk it through.”