Mrs. Pierre placed her hand on her cheek. It was weathered from time and hard work, but no less precious. “I forgive you. Now forgive yourself.”
She blinked. Then blinked again. Only it was no use. The tears came, the sobs welled up, and flooded from the depth of her heart. It was time to let God’s grace do its job.
GUY STARED AT HIS PHONE. Today was the first day Michelle hadn’t texted, pleading for him to respond. He wasn’t sure how he felt about it. On one hand, he was relieved. He couldn’t sort through his emotions with her constantly begging for them ‘to talk’. On the other hand...
He stared at the phone, the picture of her filling his contact screen. I miss her. He had tried to ignore the feeling. Had stuffed it down with every fiber of his being. Yet it constantly rose back up like a balloon refusing to be dragged under.
He missed the sound of her voice. The sassy way she antagonized him, just to get him to laugh. The way she looked his girls in the eye and made sure to give them her undivided attention. The way she smelled. Her cooking. If he closed his eyes, her image filled his mind. If he opened them, the memory of her lingered in the air. As much as he hurt, as much as anger gripped him, Guy couldn’t deny the feelings that welled up inside him at the thought of never speaking to her again.
Today wasn’t the day to give in. He had to remember what she did. How she betrayed him. He looked up at the sound of the knock. “Come in.”
Holly opened the door. “Hey, Sheriff. I’ve got a visitor for you.”
He frowned. “Who is it?”
“She says her name is Jamie Davenport.”
Jamie Davenport. He didn’t know a person by that name, but something niggled in the back of his mind. “Okay, send her in.”
Guy stood up when a young woman walked in. She was small and petite, almost delicate looking in her features. She kind of reminded him of a real live version of Snow White. And why did he get the feeling that he knew her?
He held out his hand. “I’m Sheriff Pierre.”
“Hello, Sheriff. I’m Jamie Davenport. Nice to meet you.”
He nodded. “You can have a seat,” he stated, gesturing to the chair in front of his desk. She sat down across from him. Who was she? “How can I be of service?”
She looked at her hands, which were neatly folded in her lap. Silence filled the air as he wondered what her issue could be. He was on the verge of repeating his question when she met his gaze. “I was wondering if you knew a way for me to reach my sister?”
That was an odd request. “Is she missing or something?”
“Or something.” She ran a hand through her black hair. “I just found out I have a half-sister. Or rather it’s possible I have one. I mean...I eavesdropped on a conversation, so I could be way off base, but I thought the first step would be to come here and ask for assistance.”
He leaned back. Yep, this ran right up there with the most bizarre requests he’d ever heard. “I’m not sure I really follow, Ms. Davenport.” He blinked. Wait Davenport. How could he have been so blind? “Wait a minute. How did you find this out again?”
She gripped the edge of his desk. “My father received a strange phone call. Naturally, I eavesdropped. The man actually has a land line, I mean who owns one nowadays? Anyway, I heard him say there was no way she could be his daughter and she needed to stay in Freedom Lake.”
She took a visible breath before continuing. “Well, we’ve never been to Freedom Lake even though dad’s from here. I mean he has his old yearbooks and what not. And I know my grandparents live here, but they don’t have a great relationship, so...” she rubbed lip gloss on her lips before continuing. “So, I came here hoping you would be able to tell me who it was and how I can reach her.”
She opened her purse. “I have the number. ‘Cause you know, caller id and all. I did one of those reverse look ups, but it just said the person resided somewhere in Freedom Lake. So here I am.”
He watched in amazement. She had a few similar traits to Chloe and her eyes reminded him of hers, but that was it. “Ms. Davenport, I don’t feel comfortable giving out any personal information.” He paused as the light in her eyes went out. “However—”
“Yes?”
“If I did know whose phone number that was, I could let said person know of your interest and perhaps where you’re staying.”
She grinned, and he almost laughed at the likeness. “Thank you so much, Sheriff. I’m staying at the Carter B&B.”
Of course. Evan’s parents owned the only B&B in town.
“Okay, thank you. Can I get your cell number?”
“Sure, thing.” She rattled it off as he wrote it on a sticky note.
She rose to leave and thanked him for his time.
Chloe was going to faint. He sighed. Maybe he should tell Michelle so Chloe had a friend around when he gave her the information. Before he could change his mind, he headed out to Michelle’s office.
When he opened the door to her office, his stomach jumped like it was filled with locust. He paused as Tanya looked up from her desk.
“Good morning, Sheriff. May I help you?”
“Is Michelle in?”
“Yes, I’ll inform her that you’re here.”
He watched nervously as she dialed her office. Would she be happy to see him? Would she think he’d forgiven her?
“I’m here on business,” he blurted out.
Tanya eyed him strangely but relayed the information. She set the phone on the cradle. “You can head back there,
