Third Date (25 page)

What the hell is this, Fort Knox?

Turning a corner, I found another hallway full of doors all sealed shut. Luckily, my persistence paid off, and after turning close to ten handles, I found one open. Slowly opening the door, it let out a soft creak of age.

Peeking my head around the wood, the room was dark, and musty. The thick, stale air hit my lungs, making me cough. Clearing my throat, I felt around the wall for a switch.

Flipping the light on, the room was dusty, filled with furniture covered under white sheets. Stepping inside cautiously, I took one last look over my shoulder before going in.

Wow, this is crazy. What room is this?

The dull yellow of the bulb cast the room in dark shadows, and my heart began to beat faster inside my chest. By the looks of this place, it was a room that hadn't been used for years. Riding my fingertips over the first piece of furniture, it had a deep curve, and hard, curled edges.

My curiosity was killing me, I knew I should just turn and run out. But I couldn't, I had this unforgiving need to see what was hiding. Attempting to take a deep breath, I covered my mouth as I inhaled more dust than air.

Picking at the sheet, I crumpled a small corner in my fingers and pulled it up. The deep red mahogany was detailed with thick swirls that curled in around each other, the edge still held a fine gloss, almost shiny enough to see my reflection.

Holy shit.

“What are you doing?
You're not supposed to be in here.” The voice shook me to the core.

Startled, I dropped the sheet down, wiping my fingers on my pants. “I'm sorry,” I said, whipping around to find Anna standing in the doorway, her face sour and stern. “You left, I got lost on the way back.”

“Well, I'm here now. And I'm telling you, you're not supposed to be in this room.” Grabbing my wrist, Anna attempted to pulled me from the dusty place. “Let's go, before you get us both in trouble.”

“What is this? Is this a nursery?” I asked, following her lead, but not able to look away from the obvious.

The room had been set up as a nursery. The sheet I lifted covered a crib, and I assumed the many other pieces most likely consisted of a dresser, changing table, and rocking chair. The shapes had come to life, filling my maternal instinct with their rightful position in the room.

The walls were a soft blue, decorated in clouds, hot air balloons, and flying birds. A small boy was gazing out from one large balloon, eyes huge and twinkling with life.

“What it is, is none of your business. Come on, they're going to start to wonder what took us so long.” Slamming the door shut, Anna's eyes set on my face, firming and furious. Brushing past my shoulder, she shook her head. “You should stop interfering, it won't do Layne any good.”

“What the hell are you talking about? I'm not trying to interfere.” Following her back, I tucked my hands into my pockets. “What the fuck is your problem with me?”

“My problem? I saw the way you looked at me, I saw the way you've been studying my parents, and our home. You're too nosy and I don't like it. It's only going to hurt Layne.” Snapping around, Anna held her hand to my chest, and pointed. “Just leave it alone.”

My mind was bubbling with anger, muscles stinging to her tone. “Don't talk to me like I'm the one who's going to harm him. I'm here for Layne, can't you see that?”

“I see someone nosing around my house, someone who's asking too many questions.” Flaring her nostrils, her fists clenched tight.

“Maybe if I got some answers, I wouldn't have to seem nosy.”

“Look, my mother has been through a lot. Now she's found her son, and I found my brother. Can't that just be enough?” Anna's face flashed in concern, lips tightening over her jaw.

Folding my arms over my chest, I drew in a heavy breath.

It should have been enough, it should have been more than enough to watch a family reunite.

But in the back of my mind...

It wasn't.

Layne

P
icking my head up from the photo album in Charlotte's lap; I wasn't ready to call her mom, not yet. She might be my mom by blood, but calling her that was going to take time; Anna strolled into the room... Alone.

Crinkling my brows, my chin jetted out. “Where's Kin?”

Anna rolled her eyes, dragging her long fingers through her hair. “Sorry, Layne, but she left.”

What? Why?

“She left?” I asked. Anna shook her head and fell back into her chair. “Why the hell would she leave?”

Shrugging her shoulders, Anna went back to digging at her nails, her eyes set like stone on her hands.

“What do
you mean
she left?” I asked as the agitation sat in the back of my throat.

I wasn't going to let this woman just sit there and dismiss the fact that Kinsley had left... Without coming to tell me.

Sister or not, she was going to give me an answer.

“She left, said she wasn't feeling good, I don't know. The taxi just pulled up to get her.” Her eyes studied mine for a moment, then drifted back to her fingers.

Standing up briskly, Charlotte tried to grab my wrist. “Layne, Honey, sit back down. There's still so much I want to show you.” Shrugging her off my arm, I let her words hang in the air.

I wasn't going to sit back down, no way in hell. Kinsley had just left, and she left without telling me. That wasn't sitting right in my chest, it was nestling into an uncomfortable spot in my muscles.

My ribs hurt, my lungs were sore, and my heart was pounding so hard I thought it was going jump clear out of my mouth and land on the floor.

She would never leave without me. She would never leave and not come tell me.

Kinsley wouldn't do that.

My feet echoed through the hall as the hard soles hit the tile. I didn't know this house, but my internal compass was guiding me in the direction of my woman. I turned left, I turned right, finally spotting the light from the front entryway.

Reaching the door, I tore it open. The humid air hit my lungs, forcing me to take a short, weighted breath. The back end of a taxi was driving away, the brake lights sparking red at the end of the driveway, then disappearing as it turned to leave.

Fuck! She left, why the hell did she leave this way?

I couldn't wrap my head around why she had sheepishly parted, leaving me here to fend for myself. I couldn't do this without her, I needed her here.

A firm hand crept over my shoulder, strangling the muscle. A deep, low voice whispered into my ear. “Let her go, Son. I could tell when you guys got here that she wasn't a good woman.”

Cocking my head over my shoulder, I pushed Greg's hand away. “You know nothing about her.” Stepping back, I dug my fingers into my pockets to grab the keys for my rental.

“And I don't need to, you're a Galloway, you're better than her.” His head tilted a hair, chin raising to the ceiling.

“I'm not a Galloway, I never was.” Drawing a hard line with my eyes, I spoke through clenched teeth. “You guys abandoned me. Who are you to say you're better than her? You don't even know her, and you don't know me.” I felt the words leave my mouth, and I wished they could turn solid, flying out to smack him in the face.

Greg pondered what I said for a moment, his face firm and flat. Then he surprised me, letting out a loud chuckle, his large round belly jiggling with each exhale. “Layne, it was nothing like that. We didn't abandon you, if you'd let me explain—”

“I gave you the chance to explain, and all I got was pictures of your glorious life. You had the chance to tell me, but instead you let Charlotte smother my questions with images of what I missed out on.” A shiver raked my spine, my hands driving into fists by my side.

“No. That woman is your mother, and we were going to tell you everything, but we wanted to ease you into it, Layne. We didn't want you to think we never wanted you...” His voice drifted off, but he wasn't thinking, he was reading.

Greg was reading me, my stance, my face.

Stepping back, he pointed a finger around the room. “You see this, Layne? You see all this?” Lunging forward, his arm fanned out in one large swoop. “This is who you are. You were always a Galloway, but you were stolen.”

Stolen?

What?

Flicking my eyes to his face, my brain twisted his words into every shape I could manage.
“Stolen?”

“Yes, Son!” Greg yelled, as his body became spastic and moved in quick bursts. “This is your great grandmother, Virginia Galloway, and this...” Holding his arm up, he traced the gold edge of the frame. “This is your grandfather, Gregory Galloway the third.”

I watched the animation across his face, his eyes flashing in liquid metal, the deep blue darkening and turning silver. Slowly he paced across the room, his breathing heavy, his fingers curling and opening. But there was something else...

Nerves.

Anxiety.

Fear.

What does he fear?

Drawing his hands tightly across his head, he pulled back the gray strands. “You see, Layne, you were taken from this, from us.” His palms slapped his chest, thumping against his sweater.

“If I was taken from you, then why didn't Charlotte show me any news clippings? Why didn't I find any sliver of a news article about a stolen baby?”

Greg was underestimating my research. I wasn't sure if he knew how long I studied my own life, my own existence. But from the look on his face, he thought it was very little.

“Layne—”

Throwing up my hand, I cut off whatever stupid fucking excuse he was about to try and swoon me with. “No. I'm leaving, goodbye, Greg.”

I was stolen?

How does a stolen baby end up in foster care?

Did he really think I was that stupid?

If there had been a child taken from any family, in any state, at any time in their life, the kid wouldn't end up in the system.

There would have been searches for me, headlines, even a fucking missing person poster if I had been abducted as a baby.

No, the answer was a lot simpler than that...

They never looked for me because they never lost me.

They abandoned me and forgot me for time to steal away.

Kinsley

S
crolling through page after page of digital typed words, I searched. There was more to that family, there was more than what they were saying.

And I was determined to find it.

I had only been back at the hotel for about twenty minutes, and not one text from Layne. Glancing at my phone, the screen was still blank, still empty. Every text I sent him seemed to go through, but nothing came back.

Fuck.

What the hell am I going to do?

I'm going to find the answers for him.

There was no way in hell I was going to let that family dig their nails into Layne, no fucking chance.

They weren't the sweet loving family that they were trying to portray. No, this ran deep, and sinister.

Staring at the screen of my laptop, a surge of shock hit my nerves. My eyes gaped at the thin glass surface, as the answer stared back at me.

The loud metal clank of the lock rang out in the quiet room, the door swinging open in one loud whoosh. “Kinsley? Kinsley are you alright?”

Snapping my head up, Layne was standing in the doorway, his face flooded with worry. “What happened? Anna said you didn't feel good.”

Pushing back from my seat, I leaned an arm on the small table. “Is that what she told you?” Shaking my head, I took in a labored breath. “No, Layne, that's not it at all. Did you get any of my texts?”

His brows shifted high, head falling into his shoulder. “No, I had turned my phone off when we were at the house. Why did you leave like that?”

“Your sister—”

“She's not my sister, they're not my family.” His face deepened, thin lines forming at the edge of his lips. “They abandoned me, it's that simple.”

“No, Layne, that's not what happened. Come look at this, look at what I found.” Turning the computer, Layne walked over and leaned his thick fingers over the wood.

I watched him read, I watched his emotions well up and coat his eyes. He was lost in what I had found, he saw the reality, but wasn't sure how to let it filter in.

“She is your sister, Layne. There's no mistaking that, but they are not your parents.”

“I can't believe this, how did you find this?” His eyes were plastered to the screen, staring at the article about a stolen child.

“Anna helped me. When I went to the bathroom, I found this room, a nursery.” My words began to ramble out, forced and quick. Breathing through my nose, I just let the entire situation with his sister flow like gushing rapids. “Anna found me snooping around, and she didn't like it. But she finally told me where to look, Layne, she finally gave me a hint to the family secret she had discovered.”

Layne's mouth dropped, his lids expanding to their limit. “I... I don't know what to think.”

Grabbing his face, I forced him to look me in the eye. “You did find your sister, that you did do. But those people are not your parents. You and Anna were given up for adoption, she was one and you were a baby. Charlotte, she worked at the orphanage you guys were in, and I think she wanted to take both of you.”

His eyes flickered in thought, the rims hardening as my voice filled his head. “She had wanted children, Layne, only she decided to take them, not have her own. From what Anna thinks, Charlotte wasn't able to get to you in time. She had taken Anna, and had a room set up for you, but she wasn't able to get you.”

“This is insane, Kinsley. It can't be real, there's no way. Why is Anna still there then? Why didn't anyone figure it out?” Falling back to sit on the bed, his skin drained in color.

“I don't know. But it wasn't until Anna saw your article that she started to think about how you guys looked so much alike. She started to press her parents, and that's when they told her about you. But she's still so confused by it, and I don't blame her. But I had some unsettling feelings too.”

Layne's head arched up, his face soft. “What did you feel?”

Pacing in front of him, I told him all the things I had noticed, my hands wildly flailing around with every word. I told him how they didn't have any baby pictures of Anna, and how they didn't look like the Galloway's at all. I let it all spill out like a faucet I couldn't shut off.