"Come in," she said, waving her inside. Despite her mother's unhappy expression, she had to admit that her mom looked healthier and younger than her fifty-nine years. She wore dark jeans today with a soft-blue sweater under a white and gray striped coat. Stylish black boots completed the look. Her blonde hair was styled, her skin was clear, and her green-eyed gaze was sharp. She was slender but not as thin as she used to be when she had made booze the center of any meal. Looking at her now it wasn't easy to see the drunk she'd once been. Hopefully, she'd never see that woman again.
"What was so important that it couldn't wait, Hannah?" her mother asked. "I have so many things to do before the carnival tonight, and I would think you do, too. Isn't the hospital in charge of Santa's Workshop and the entire North Pole set?"
"Yes, and I will be heading down there later today, but I need to talk to you, Mom. It's about the tenant who called yesterday."
"Are we still on that? I don't have any additional information."
"I know, but I do. Let's go into the living room. You should sit down."
At her words, her mother gave her a wary look. "Really? I need to sit down?"
"Yes." She waved her mom into the living room.
"It's such a happy time of the year. Do I want to hear this?" her mom asked, as she took a seat on the couch. She'd always been one to prefer denial over awareness.
"You may not want to, but you need to. When I got to the cabin last night, I found a little boy. He's four years old and his name is Brett. He'd been left at the cabin by his mother, and the hot water complaint was just a ruse to get me or you up to the cabin."
"What are you talking about?" her mother asked, surprise and confusion flitting through her eyes.
"There was a note. It said Brett was in danger and needed someone to watch out for him. With the note was a necklace." She paused, waiting for her mother's gaze to meet hers. "It had a unicorn charm on the end of it. It was Kelly's necklace, Mom, the one I gave her for her birthday." She wished she still had the note and the necklace, but she'd given them both to Adam.
Her mother paled at her words. "No. That's impossible."
"Brett is Kelly's son. She's the one who rented the cabin. She's the one who left the text message. She's the one who wanted us to find her son and take care of him."
"Maybe you're wrong—"
She cut her mom off. "I'm not wrong. Kelly may have booked the reservation in a fake name, but she is Brett's mother. He confirmed his mom's name is Kelly. And he knew about our dog—Tiger. Plus, he looks just like Tyler did when he was small."
"Kelly has a son?" her mom murmured in bemusement. "But she left him alone? That doesn't make sense. But then, Kelly did a lot of things that didn't make sense. It sounds like she's still irresponsible and impulsive."
"I can't argue with that. I brought Brett home. He's taking a nap upstairs."
"He's here?" her mom asked in surprise.
"Yes. He's my nephew. He's your grandson. I couldn't let him go to anyone else. I did call Adam Cole. He's going to try to find Kelly. If we don't hear from her or he hasn't located her by Monday, then child welfare services may need to get involved. But I have no intention of giving Brett up. He's ours. He's family."
"Your sister left our family a long time ago."
"Brett didn't. He's an innocent child. He's very sweet—a little angel."
Her mother stared back at her with pain in her eyes. "Kelly was a sweet child, too. But then she got older, and she lost that angelic quality. She was sassy, always talking back and thinking she knew better. She was reckless, impulsive, and very self-centered. By the time she was a teenager, it was all about her, all the time. Never mind that I had two other kids to raise, Kelly seemed to need more and more and more. Whatever I gave her was never enough. And your father felt the same way."
"Really?" She couldn't help but interrupt her mother's rant. "I always thought Kelly was Dad's favorite. Even when she was getting into trouble, she could make him laugh. They'd be fighting and then suddenly they were smiling at each other, and he couldn't remember what she'd done wrong."
"She did have the ability to get her way with him." Her mom drew in a shaky breath. "He adored her; that's why he went out to find her that night."
"But it was an accident, Mom. It was raining hard. Visibility was low. I know you blame Kelly because he went to look for her, but the car crash wasn't her fault. I just don't understand why you had to pin it all on her."
"I know it was an accident, but she was the reason he was in that storm, and that's a fact," her mother argued. "If she'd come home on time, we wouldn't have lost him."
She gave her mom a long, pointed look. "You have to find a way to forgive her. Not just for her sake, but for yours. It's important for your recovery."
Pain filled her mother's eyes. "You're right."
"I am?"
"Yes. It's difficult for me to admit that I took my grief out on Kelly. But I didn't kick her out of the house. She left. I tried to find her, and I couldn't."
She was glad to see her mom taking some responsibility, but there was still a lot of defensiveness in her answer. "You didn't try that hard to find her. You couldn't, because you were drinking all the time. You fell apart after she left. You
