Cottage on Gooseberry Bay: Charmed Summer by Kathi Daley (big screen ebook reader txt) 📗

high risk for running away again. I get that they were coerced to run the first time, but now that they’ve had a taste of freedom…”

“Yeah. I can see someone like Zane chucking it all and trying again on his own. Kalen too, for that matter.”

Jemma got up and grabbed a couple bottles of water. She handed me one. “So now that you’ve solved Cora’s case by helping to find Zane and you’ve solved Ellery’s case by identifying the woman who most likely owned the charm bracelet, what’s next for you?”

“I actually got a call this morning from a man who wants to track down his daughter. She’s an adult, not a kid, so I’ll need to consider things carefully. I’d hate to put a father and daughter in touch with each other if the daughter doesn’t want to be found.”

“So, what’s this guy’s story?”

“He said that he and his daughter fought when she was just eighteen, and she took off. He never saw or heard from her again, but he’s tracked her to Gooseberry Bay. He doesn’t necessarily think she’s here now, but she was here a year ago, and he’s hoping I can pick up her trail. Like I said, I’m hesitant. This young woman might have a good reason to want to avoid the man. Still, he told me that his wife has been diagnosed with cancer, and while she’s getting treatment and her prognosis is good, having to face a life-and-death situation has made him realize that it’s time for the silly fight with his daughter to end.”

“I guess you can track the girl down and explain things. If she wants to reconnect with her parents, it can be her call.”

I took a sip of my water. “That’s what I was thinking. I’m going to meet with the man in person Thursday. I guess I’ll decide what to do then.”

Jemma and I decided to take a walk. It was a gorgeous day, and it seemed that the dogs were feeling antsy. It was nice to have friends to share the everyday moments of my life with. I didn’t come to Gooseberry Bay looking for friends, but at this point, I didn’t know what I’d do without them.

Chapter 16

It had been two weeks since we’d found Rosalie, and it almost two weeks since we’d figured out how a seemingly innocent video game had led to recruitment for a real-world cult. Adam had called to let me know he was back in town, and we had plans to meet for lunch so I could fill him in on everything he’d missed while he’d been away.

In the meantime, I’d decided to go for a long walk along the waterline with the dogs. Like most days in Gooseberry Bay, the weather was absolutely perfect. I’d let the dogs take a long swim, and we were on our way back to the cottage when Ellery called.

“Ellery. It’s so good to hear your voice. How are things?” I asked.

“Really good. I finally decided to be brave and call Rosalie.”

“And?” I asked.

“I briefly explained the reason for my call, and after a much longer stretch of silence than I was comfortable with, she eventually began to cry. Once we got past that, I explained in detail who I was and why I’d tracked her down. I shared that I had the charm bracelet, and I shared the details of my trip to Gooseberry Bay, looking for answers. When I finally got around to the details of how we’d ended up with her name, she admitted that she had been the one who abandoned a baby in a church north of Seattle.”

“So, are you going to meet?” I asked, hoping that the woman didn’t simply tell her that she was uninterested in a relationship and blow her off.

“We are; next weekend. Rose said that her family doesn’t know about me, so she’s coming to me so we can really talk. She admitted that it is a complicated situation and that she needs to figure out how to handle things, but she very much wants to meet me.”

“That’s wonderful, Ellery. I’m glad it all worked out.”

“We still have some things to figure out, but I feel like a huge gap in my life has been closed. I really can’t thank you enough.”

“No need to thank me. I was happy to help. Did Rosalie tell you why she left you in a church?”

“She told me that her parents were super strict and that her dad tended to rule with an iron fist. He was a preacher by trade, but he was the sort of preacher who was all about penance and punishment. Rose told me that it was her opinion that her father simply ignored all the parts of the Bible that weren’t directly related to those topics. In his world, there was no room for tolerance or forgiveness.”

“That sounds awful,” I said.

“That’s what I thought,” Ellery shared. “Rose told me that she was just seventeen when she got pregnant. She also shared that by the time she found out she was pregnant, the father of the baby, who’d been in the Navy, had shipped out. Rose was all alone and couldn’t go to her family, so she ran away. She wanted the baby to be raised in a kind and loving Christian family, and she wanted to be sure her parents would never know about the baby, so she decided to leave me in a church that she’d attended a few times in the past. Rose told me she loved me and hated to leave me, but she also assured me that if her father had found out about me, he would have forced her to let him raise me in his house of hatred and intolerance, and that was something she’d never allow. She admitted that there might