“Oh, well, there’s father-of-the-year material,” Maddie muttered.
Nick slid his hand so it rested on top of her bare knee under the table. “He works as a downsizing consultant. Do you know what that is?”
“He goes around to those big companies that need to lay off a bunch of people,” Maddie replied, nodding. “That must make him popular.”
“He’s apparently good at his job and from what Dale dug up, he manages to save as many jobs as he can when he’s hired by a company,” Nick said. “He doesn’t own a home, although he’s resided in several apartments over the years. He bounces from place to place because he’s always traveling.”
“Okay, well, that’s not too bad. Are you ready for cake?”
Nick ignored the question and opted to delve deeper into the information. “He didn’t marry again after your mother. There are no dependents listed on any of his paperwork, which seems to indicate you’re still an only child. He gives to numerous charities, including a children’s cancer charity in Detroit.”
“Even evil people do occasional good deeds,” Maddie interjected.
“He has been in the family court system twice,” Nick said, getting to the heart of the matter.
“You just said he didn’t have any other kids,” Maddie protested.
“He doesn’t.” Nick’s tone was gentle. “When you were six, he filed to have visitation amended because he wanted to see you. Your mother came up with a lengthy rebuttal and the judge decided in her favor since your father ceded custody of you years before.”
“I … really?” Maddie wasn’t sure what to make of that.
Nick nodded. “In the first custody case, the judge told him to wait until you were a teenager to try again. When you were older, the judge reasoned, you would be able to make the decision yourself.”
“So … ?”
“So when you were thirteen years old – the day you turned thirteen, in fact – George Hunter filed another appeal for visitation,” Nick said, his heart rolling when he saw the way Maddie’s features twisted. “He was turned down again, but this time it was because of the document he signed before you were born. It was a different judge and he held firm to the original custody agreement.”
“But he tried to see me?” Maddie’s eyes swam with tears.
“He did, Mad.” Nick moved his hand so it rested on top of hers on the tabletop. “I am not making excuses for him – and only he can explain what happened before you were born – but he at least tried to get to know you at some point.”
“That doesn’t excuse him for leaving my mother.”
“No, but unless I’m mistaken, your mother never bothered to tell you that he wanted to be a part of your life,” Nick prodded. “I love Olivia as much as you do, but that wasn’t right. You deserved to know.”
“I … .” Maddie broke off, shifting her eyes to the window and fixating on the darkness outside. “I don’t want to know any more right now. I … need to think.”
“Okay.” Nick leaned over and pressed his lips to her cheek. “I’m sorry if this upset you, but it made me feel a heck of a lot better about George Hunter. He’s not a saint, but I don’t think your mother was innocent in all of this either. I know that hurts to hear but … just give it some time to sink in.”
“Uh-huh.” Maddie took a moment to swipe at her cheeks before forcing a smile. “Are you ready for your cake?”
Nick shook his head. “No. I’m stuffed from dinner. Why don’t we read a book together in the window seat and have the cake in a little bit? How does that sound?”
Maddie didn’t have the energy to muster even a tiny bit of fight. “Sure. You can pick the book.”
16
Sixteen
“How are you feeling?”
Nick didn’t want to push Maddie to the point of no return, but he was worried about leaving her alone with nothing but her thoughts for an entire day while he returned to the investigation. She’d been quiet for the bulk of the previous evening as he read from a saucy romance novel. They usually switched off, sometimes doing voices and almost always letting things turn romantic when they were done laughing at some of the cheesy dialogue. That didn’t happen the previous night, though. No, Nick didn’t even realize Maddie had checked out for the evening until he found her dozing on his chest.
Maddie flashed a warm smile for his benefit, and even though the expression didn’t make it all the way to her eyes, Nick felt marginally better about abandoning her. That’s how it felt … as if he was about to abandon her.
“I’m okay, Nicky. You don’t have to worry about me.”
“Mad, I love you more than anything. I’m always going to worry about you.” Nick drained the rest of his coffee and then shuffled closer, stroking the back of her hair. “You could come with me.” He offered on impulse, knowing it was largely a bad idea but refusing to take back the invitation.
“I didn’t realize it was Take Your Girlfriend to Work Day,” Maddie teased, rolling her eyes.
“That doesn’t exist,” Nick pointed out. “Take Your Future Wife to Work Day is a real thing, though. I know because I invented it … just now … and women everywhere are going to adore me for it.”
Maddie snorted and this time the mirth encompassed her entire face. “You’re handsome and charming. How did I get so lucky?”
“We both got lucky.” Nick pressed a kiss to Maddie’s forehead. “I’m worried about leaving you here alone.” He wasn’t keen on admitting that but figured now wasn’t the time to start lying.
“What do you think I’m going to do?” Maddie asked, more than a hint of challenge in her voice. “Do you think I’m going to hunt him down and use Granny’s hammer to make him talk?”
“The thought never entered my mind.” Nick was telling the truth. “I’m more worried about you sitting here alone all day and obsessing about what was in that file. I don’t want you making yourself sick over this.”
“I’m not sure you have much choice in the matter,” Maddie pointed out. “I love you, Nicky, but you honestly can’t understand how this makes me feel. You grew up with two parents who were always there. They never once thought of abandoning you.”
“To be fair, my father claims that he often thought about driving John and me into the woods and leaving us there to find our way home just so he could get a good night’s sleep.”
“He never did it, though.”
“That doesn’t mean he didn’t want to do it,” Nick said. “As for the rest, no, I don’t know what that’s like. We were tight as kids, though, Mad. We always talked about stuff like this and I knew what you were feeling. I knew how upset you were when they had that stupid daddy-daughter dance and Marla made fun of you because you didn’t have anyone to take you.”
“I kind of forgot about that,” Maddie admitted, rolling her neck. “Maybe I blocked it out.”
“Do you remember what happened that night?”
Maddie’s lips curved at the second part of the memory. “Your dad took us to that old drive-in theater on the other side of Central Lake. He bought us a mountain of candy and pop and we watched Jaws on a big screen. That was after he offered to take me to the dance.”
“Exactly.” Nick bobbed his head. “Do you know why he didn’t take you to that dance?”
“Because I was embarrassed that I didn’t have a father and didn’t want him to go out of his way for me.”
Nick stilled. “Is that true? Is that why you told him no?”
“Pretty much.”
A bolt of anger coursed through Nick, but he managed to tamp it down. “Well, that kind of makes me want to take you dancing, but we’ll save that for Valentine’s Day. He was going to pick you up for the dance anyway, even though you turned him down, but I talked him out of it.”
“You did? Why?”
“Because I told him you were my woman and I didn’t want him moving in on my territory.”
Maddie pressed her lips together, her sea-blue eyes widening to comical
proportions. “You did not. We were ten.”
“That didn’t mean I wanted you dating my father,” Nick pointed out, grinning when he saw the mirth in her eyes. “Mad, you were always mine. As for the other stuff, you can’t go back in time and undo what’s been done. You can make a choice to move forward, though. Do you want to move forward?”
“I … don’t … know.” It was the truth. Maddie had no idea what to feel. Part of her was angry, but not solely with George Hunter. “I kind of want to talk to my mother.”
“Oh.” Realization dawned. “You’re hoping your mother shows up today, aren’t you?”
“She disappeared when I tried to talk to her about George the other day and I think she’s hiding now,” Maddie admitted. “I need to know if what that file said is true.”
“Mad, it is true,” Nick supplied. “There are court records to back it up. Now, I don’t know what propelled George to want to do that at that exact point in time, but he did try to get closer to you at least twice. I’m also going to guess that he approached your mother before he ever took it to court and she shot him down.”
The supposition caused Maddie’s heart to twist. “What makes you say that?”
“Common sense, love,” Nick replied without hesitation. “A man doesn’t drop money on an attorney before he tries the free route. He had to approach your mother and be turned away for him to take the steps that he did.”
“Huh. I hadn’t even considered that.” Maddie rubbed her bottom lip with her thumb. “I need to talk to her. I don’t understand why she’s hiding like this. It’s not fair. It makes things worse.”
“I think she knows that.” Nick slipped his arms around Maddie’s waist and held her as close as possible for a few seconds, pressing a sweet kiss to her lips before releasing her. “That’s why she’ll come. If you need me today … .”
Maddie’s smile was rueful. “I know where to find you.”
“Don’t forget.” Because he could – and desperately felt the need – Nick graced Maddie with one more kiss. “Even if she did something wrong all of those years ago, that doesn’t change the fact that she was a great mother.”
Maddie blinked back tears, surprised at the emotion threatening to boil over. “Nothing could ever change that.”
MADDIE SPENT the bulk of the morning alone, taking advantage of the quiet time to dust and rearrange some shelves. For some reason, although she wasn’t fond of cleaning, Maddie found organizing shelves and counting inventory to be relaxing. That’s what she focused on until shortly before lunch, when a familiar presence wafted into the room.
“I know you’re there.” Maddie didn’t bother turning away from the books she was arranging. “Did you think you could sneak in, get a look at me, and then sneak back out again?”
Olivia considered doing just that but love for her only child wouldn’t allow it. “No.”
“Have you been around? Have you been listening?”
“Which answer will freak you out less?”
“I don’t think you can give me an answer that doesn’t come with a certain amount of heartbreak,” Maddie admitted, dusting her hands off on the seat of her jeans as she stood. “I think we need to have a long discussion, Mom.”
“I think you’re probably right.” Olivia heaved out a sigh. “Where is Mom? Perhaps she should be around for this.”
“She’s been keeping herself scarce for the past few days,” Maddie replied. “I think she’s afraid to let something slip – something that she thinks you wouldn’t want me to know – so she’s been hanging around with the Pink Ladies instead of me.”
“Does that upset you?” Olivia followed Maddie toward the kitchen, knowing her daughter well enough to realize only herbal tea would settle her roiling stomach.
“Does it upset me that Granny can’t come home because she’s afraid? Yes.”
Olivia chuckled despite the serious situation. “I don’t think it’s quite that dire, Sunshine. If Mom wanted to come home, she would. If she’s staying away, it’s because she’s up to something.”
“You know what? On a normal day I would probably agree with you.” Maddie grabbed a tea bag from the cupboard and placed it in a mug before adding hot water. “This hasn’t been a normal week, though, let alone a normal day.”
“So what do you think she’s doing?”
“Making sure she doesn’t tell me a secret that you wouldn’t want me to know.”
“And what secret is that?”
Maddie tugged on her limited patience, reminding herself that screaming at her mother wouldn’t solve the problem. Olivia could come and go as she pleased and when she retreated, it was to a place Maddie couldn’t follow. So if Maddie lost her temper and Olivia decided she didn’t want to put up with the attitude, there was literally nothing Maddie could do to force her to remain on this plane of existence.
Instead of immediately answering, Maddie retrieved the folder Nick brought home the previous night from the corner of the counter. She flipped it open, stared at the top page, and rubbed her forehead wearily as she debated how to begin.
“Dale Kreskin ran a background check on George Hunter for Nick,” Maddie offered, her eyes remaining on the file in case she saw something in her mother’s expression that she didn’t want to bear witness to. “He came home with the information last night.”
“I see.” Olivia’s voice was cool and remote. “And what did you find in the file?”
“A lot of things I don’t care about, like the fact that he pays all of his parking tickets.”
Olivia chuckled. “George isn’t the type to risk nonpayment of parking tickets. I’m going to guess that George isn’t the type to risk parking tickets, but it’s been a long time since we talked so … I really have no idea if that’s true.”
“He works as one of those hatchet men who goes into a big company and helps them downsize,” Maddie continued. “It’s a deplorable job, but he’s actually got a good reputation in that field. Apparently he tries to save as many jobs as possible.”
“That sounds like George.”
“Does it?” Maddie finally lifted her chin and met her mother’s steady gaze. “I don’t know enough about him to know if that’s true. In fact, I don’t know anything about him.”
“What would you like to know?”
“Well, for starters, did he really try to modify your custody agreement when I was six … and then again when I was thirteen?” Maddie kept her voice even, but it took everything she had because something inside of her screamed for release.
Olivia was a ghost so her appearance was fixed, but Maddie was almost certain the spirit paled as she floated on the other side of the counter.
“It’s true, isn’t it?” Maddie tugged a hand through her hair, devastated. “I don’t understand why you kept me from him. If he wanted to see me … .”
“It wasn’t just that he wanted to see you, and I can tell by the look on your face that you think I did it out of spite,” Olivia argued. “I didn’t. I did what I thought was best for you at the time.”
“You thought never knowing my father was best for me?” Maddie was understandably dubious. “How does that work?”
“We were too young to get married,” Olivia explained, ghostly fingertips moving through the file even though she lacked the strength to flip the pages. “I don’t blame George for that. I don’t blame myself either. When you’re young you think that love will last forever. You don’t think to look down the road because you can’t fathom the idea that it will fork and you both won’t take the same trail.”
“That doesn’t explain why you wouldn’t let him see me.”
“George wanted to see the world, go on constant adventures,” Olivia explained. “I thought that sounded fabulous, a great idea. I was all for it … until I turned up pregnant.”
“I’m sorry I ruined things for you,” Maddie said dryly.
“You didn’t ruin anything for me,” Olivia clarified. “Don’t say that. You gave me the pe
rfect life, and that’s what I wanted to do for you. When I told George I was pregnant, initially he was thrilled. He started going on and on about life on the road with a baby. I explained to him that a baby needs stability – which he didn’t like – but he agreed that we should find a home base before your birth.
“About that time I had a vision of a missing child and it became big news,” she continued. “We were in Ohio at the time. I was in several newspapers because I found the child, which allowed the police to find the kidnapper. That’s when George realized I was really psychic and he began to look at me differently.”
“He didn’t know before then?”
Olivia shook her head. “I told him, but he only heard what he wanted to hear. I think he thought I was making it up as part of some fortuneteller shtick. When he realized it was true … well … he didn’t like it.
“Things spiraled pretty quickly after that,” she continued. “We fought all of the time. I found this house. He didn’t like the area. We were not compatible and I refused to stay married simply because I was having a baby. I did not want you growing up in a house where people were always fighting.”
“So you broke up with him?”
“We both knew the marriage was doomed,” Olivia clarified. “He took a new job – I guess it was a precursor to the job he does now – and said he hoped to arrange it to stop in and visit you every six months. I wasn’t okay with that. I wanted you to have a full-time father – or at least someone who could be trusted to make regular visits – and I told him that.
“You have to understand that he was already weirded out about the fact that I was psychic,” she continued. “He needed some space, maybe some time. I wasn’t willing to give it. He also didn’t want to pay alimony and worried I would gouge him on child support. We came to an understanding of sorts.”
“I know all about the understanding,” Maddie said. “He signed away custody and you promised to never go after him for child support.”
“And I kept up my end of that bargain.”
Grave Haunting (A Maddie Graves Mystery Book 10) Page 14
