by Shay Savage
“Why not?”
“I wish I could explain it all to you right now,” he says, “but I can’t. I need to leave soon. What time do you work Monday?”
“Noon until six,” I say, not missing his abrupt change of subject. “Melissa says I’ll get more hours starting next week.”
“That works perfectly. How would you feel about meeting me at the county clerk’s office about nine, then?”
“Really?”
“Absolutely. Bring whatever paperwork you have, and we’ll see what we can get done.”
“Thank you so much!” I reach up and wrap my arms around his neck. “You have no idea how much this means to me.”
“It’s my pleasure,” Nate replies softly.
He wraps one arm around my waist, pulling me against him. I barely glance up at him before his mouth is on mine, his other hand tangling in my hair as he pulls me to him. I feel his tongue against my lips and open my mouth to him.
He still tastes like maple syrup, and my whole body feels like it’s vibrating. I’m keenly aware of the length of his body pressed up against mine as his hand slides a little lower, pausing just before he reaches my ass. I angle against him, wanting to encourage him to go ahead and grab it without breaking the kiss.
He pulls away far too quickly, leaving me breathless.
“You taste like syrup,” Nate says with a smile. “So sweet.”
“So do you.” I grin up at him.
He licks his mouth as he stares at me for a long moment, then releases my hair and glances down at his watch. He mashes his lips together, frowning slightly.
“I wish I didn’t have to get to work,” he says.
“Do you always work on Saturdays?”
“I work most days, if I’m to be honest. With Micha gone, it’s all kinda left to me. I need to head to Cincinnati today, and I won’t be back until late tomorrow night.”
“What’s in Cincinnati?” I ask.
“Flying pigs and chili served over spaghetti.” Nate laughs. “Really, I’m just checking out some business ventures down there. Not sure it will be worth the investment, but we’ll see.”
“More real estate?”
“Yes,” he says quickly. “Just storage though.”
“Storage?”
“Not worth getting into,” Nate says, shaking his head. “I’d bore you to death.” He leans forward and brushes his lips over mine once more. “Happy Valentine’s Day, sweet Cherice. I’ll see you Monday.”
“Happy Valentine’s Day, Nate.”
I watch him walk down the stairs before I shut the door to my apartment. I place my fingers over my lips as I slowly walk back to the kitchen.
All thoughts of his overly simplistic explanations seem irrelevant as I revel in the excitement of making some headway in finding my birth parents. His offer made me absolutely ecstatic, and though in the back of my head, I know he’s hiding something from me, I can’t bring myself to worry about it.
I send him a quick thank you for the pancakes, but I don’t hear from him again until much later that night.
Nate O: You are very welcome, Cherice.
My heart beats faster.
How is Cincinnati?
Again, it takes a while for him to respond.
Nate O: Cold and rainy. It has me thinking about more pleasant activities.
Such as?
I bite my lip as I stare intently at the phone until his message comes through.
Nate O: A warm fire in the fireplace, a glass of good bourbon, and your company.
“Oh, wow!” I can see it in my head as well. For some reason, my imagination has Nate wearing a red smoking jacket and me in strappy black heels.
That sounds pretty good to me too
I sit for a few minutes, waiting to see the ellipsis in the app that tells me he’s typing, but nothing happens.
“He did tell you he was working. Maybe you should leave him alone.”
I place the phone on the kitchen table and grab one of the books I saw in the box with Aunt Ginny’s picture. It’s an author I haven’t read before, but the hot, half-naked guy on the cover caught my eye. I settle on the couch and start reading.
I get through the first few chapters before my phone dings again.
Nate O: Sorry. It’s been really busy here. I may not be able to respond very quickly, but please don’t let that deter you. I usually hate being tied to a phone all the time, but I’m finding myself glancing at it more and more just to see if I have a text from you. :)
I can’t help but smile.
I wish I had something more interesting to say!
Nate O: Just tell me what you’ve been doing all weekend.
I frown a little but type my response out anyway.
My extraordinary day has been filled with grocery shopping and a romance novel.
Since he said he wanted more texts, I tell him a little about the book I’m reading. I thank him for the pancakes once again as well as his willingness to help me out on Monday. At this point, it’s late in the evening. I’ve run out of interesting things to say, and he still hasn’t responded.
The next morning, I wake to find a text from Nate, surprised the phone didn’t wake me in the night.
Nate O: I know it’s late, and I hope I don’t wake you. Sounds like you are enjoying your book. I can’t remember the last time I actually read for pleasure. I’m glad you liked the pancakes. Maybe I’ll be encouraged to try cooking more often. ;) It has been a grueling day here, followed by far too many drinks. The property is more promising than I thought, so that’s good news. Should close the deal first thing tomorrow and be back tomorrow night. I likely won’t be in contact until then, but I look forward to seeing you again in person Monday morning. I know this sounds…weird…it’s probably way too soon for me to say it, but I want you to know how much I’ve enjoyed seeing you. I’m sitting here in my hotel room wishing I’d thought to just bring you along with me. Maybe it sounds crazy to say that I find myself missing you, but I do. I spoke with my sister this afternoon, and she’s anxious to meet you. I hope you are seriously considering coming to dinner Wednesday night. Don’t think I haven’t noticed your lack of an answer there! ;) Well, I better go to bed. Sorry again for the late and rather long text. I hope your Sunday is a peaceful one! I want to hear how the book ends!
I stare at the words, reading them over and over again. My initial thought is to respond with a simple “I miss you, too!” but that isn’t adequate. I can’t come up with any reply that fits. Am I imagining more meaning than he’s spelling out? I read the whole thing again.
He wishes I’d gone with him.
He’s talking about me to his sister.
He’s interested in the book I’m reading.
This is all new territory, and I don’t know what to make of it.
*****
Monday morning, I wake up late and have to hurry to get ready to meet Nate at the county clerk’s office. In my rush, I manage to knock over my coffee and then smack my chin on the counter while trying to grab the cup in midair.
“Ow!” I rub my chin and stare at the broken shards on the floor. “Fuck me!”
I don’t have time to clean the mess up, so I just leave it on the floor and head out to the car, wishing I had managed to drink more coffee before spilling it. I sit in the driver’s seat, breathing slowly for a minute before I take off. Driving while agitated isn’t a good idea.
I look around carefully before pulling out into the street, having to crane my neck a bit to see around a black sedan with tinted windows. It’s parked in front of a fire hydrant, which annoys me to no end. Sure, the chances of a fire breaking out right at this moment are slim, but I still think it’s a dick move. Maybe it’s not quite as bad as parking in a handicapped spot when you don’t need it, but it’s still bad.
When I get to the office, I look around but can’t find Nate anywhere. The same bug-eyed clerk I’ve attempted to talk to multiple times is at the desk. She’s wearing a ton of make
up, complete with long, fake eyelashes, which I find ridiculous for a county office. Her hair sticks up in short, overly highlighted spikes that I presume she views as stylish.
I walk up to the counter, looking around for Nate.
“Can I help you?” The clerk stares at me for a moment, then rolls her eyes. “Oh, it’s you again.”
“Yes, it’s me.” I give her a big, fake smile.
“I think we’ve already been through all of this.” She glances over my shoulder, then smirks at me. “I’m afraid I have important people to deal with today. You’ll have to come back another time.” She cranes her head to look around me, smiling broadly and fluttering her lashes. “Hello, Mr. Orso! What can I do for you?”
I startle slightly as Nate walks up next to me, placing his arm around my shoulders. He leans in and places a quick kiss on the side of my mouth.
“Hey there,” he says softly. He smiles at me before turning to the clerk, his smile vanishing and his tone turning harsh. “Hello, Denise. What you can do for me is find the records Miss Bay is looking for.”
Denise looks quickly between us, turns bright red, and starts to stammer.
“Oh, I, uh…” She shakes her head like an Etch A Sketch and blinks about twenty times. “Those are, uh, sealed. We’d need a court—”
“Did someone here request a court order?” The tall, muscular man from the club sidles up next to Nate and grins over at me. He slams a piece of paper on the counter, and Denise stares at it, wide-eyed.
“Cutting it close there, aren’t you, Antony?”
“Sorry, boss. I had to wake up Judge Willis.”
Nate laughs. As Denise fiddles with the paper Antony handed her, Nate takes a step back and looks at me, smiling.
“Antony, this is Cherry,” Nate says.
“Good to meet you.” Antony reaches out to shake my hand. “Or rather, officially meet you.”
I stare at them both, not sure what to think of any of this. I didn’t really know what to expect, but Antony’s walking up with a court order wasn’t it.
“Do you work here?” I blurt out.
“Well, sometimes.” Antony grins.
“Antony is the family attorney,” Nate says. “He’s going to see what we can do to get those records unsealed for you.”
“You are?” I can’t hide the shock in my voice.
“I’ve got a degree on the office wall and everything,” he replies with a smirk.
“Oh! I’m sorry! I just thought…”
“Thought what?”
“Well…” I have no idea how to say what’s on my mind. “I thought you worked at that club,” I finally say, “like, as a bouncer or something.”
“I got the look, don’t I?” Antony grins and flexes his biceps. “I got my law degree on a boxing scholarship. Punched my professor until he gave me an A.”
My eyes go wide.
“He’s fucking with you,” Nate says softly, his lips up against my ear. “Don’t believe half of what he says, especially if he says anything about me.”
“That’s hardly fair,” Antony grumbles. “I might not have punched a professor, but I have taken on the bouncer role on occasion.”
“He pitches in where it’s needed.” Nate glances over to Antony, shaking his head slowly. He turns back to Denise. “Now, let’s see what we can figure out, shall we?”
“I’ll help her locate the right files,” Antony says. “Do you want to wait out here?”
“Yeah,” Nate says. “We’ll hang out on the benches.”
We sit, and Nate looks over at me with concern.
“What happened to you?” he asks, his fingers lightly touching my chin.
“I had a fight with my kitchen counter this morning,” I say. “I lost.”
“Does it hurt?”
“No, I’m fine, really. Didn’t even realize it had left a mark. My coffee mug broke, though. I’m pissed about that.”
“I’m sorry about your mug”—Nate grins and touches my chin again—“and your mug.”
“Very funny!” I roll my eyes at him, but I can’t stop my mouth from turning up at the bad joke.
He leans in, places his lips lightly on my chin, and then backs away again.
“Better now?”
“Almost.”
He looks into my eyes, then moves forward again, his mouth covering mine. I feel his hand move up my arm, and he pulls me closer. I’m very much aware of our touching thighs as his tongue slips between my lips, and he kisses me much harder than I anticipate. It feels hungry and desperate, or maybe that’s how I’m feeling.
He turns, breaking this kiss off momentarily before coming at me again from a different angle. My eyes open briefly, and in my peripheral vision, I see one of the office workers staring at us, and I quickly push Nate away, blushing.
“That’s probably enough PDA for now.”
“Not as far as I’m concerned,” Nate says darkly, “but as the lady wishes.” He takes my hand in his and holds it in his lap. “Is this all right?”
“Yes,” I say, blushing, “it’s fine.”
“Good.”
An hour later, Antony comes back, looking grim. He leads us to a small room furnished only with a table and chairs. Nate and I sit on one side, and Antony sits on the other. He places a legal-sized manila envelope on the table in front of us.
“What is it?” Nate asks.
“It’s kinda weird, boss.” Antony takes a square piece of paper from the folder and places it on the table. “This is the original birth certificate from the hospital. As you can see, it’s issued from the Cascade Falls Regional Hospital, and the name is clearly Cherice Marie Bay, but the parental identifying information has been blacked out.”
“How is that even possible?” I ask, staring at the black marks across a certificate I’ve never seen before. It doesn’t even look like the one I found in Aunt Ginny’s documents. “I mean, someone has to have a copy with the actual names on it. How else is it even legal?”
“Legal is a matter of perspective,” Antony says, grinning again. “Regardless of legality, it’s what we have. Someone went to a lot of trouble to completely black out the names. The ink used completely saturated the paper below it, so I don’t even think we can scan it and try to see what names are underneath. I’ll try, but I’m not hopeful there.”
“Is that your birthday, as far as you know?” Nate asks.
“December fifteenth, yes.”
“Just ten days after your birthday, cousin.” Antony grins at Nate.
Nate glances at me with a slight smile, and I feel myself blush. Something about having our birthdays close together is rather nice.
“See the date on the bottom?” Antony says. “The part that says, ‘date on which given name added’? It’s three days after the birth date.”
“That matches my adoption date.”
“Yes, it does.”
“So, does that mean Aunt Ginny named me?”
“Could be.”
“Thoughts?” Nate asks Antony.
“Cross-check for women being admitted into the hospital on that date. If we can find someone with a relationship to Virginia Bay, we might get our answer.”
Nate looks at me, and I nod.
“Let’s get on that, then.”
“It could take some time,” Antony says. “A lot of the hospital records from that far back aren’t digitized. I’ll have to look by hand, get the list of names, and then search for relationships.”
“Did you find anything on the adoption records?” I ask.
“What I found,” Antony says, “is their absence. Can I see your copy again?”
I hand it over, and Antony looks at it closely.
“Well?” Nate asks after a couple of minutes.
“I think this is the original,” Antony says. “The county of record is wrong, though. If it’s accurate, the adoption was done on the west side, not east. If I can get access to those—which ain’t easy—I have the feeling I’m going to find no
thing. The question then is how did it end up in your aunt’s records and not at the county office? I see the names are blacked out in the same way as the birth certificate.”
“So the same person doctored up both of them.”
“Very possibly.”
“How do you get the original out of the county office?” I ask.
“There’s only one way to do that,” Antony says as he displays that crazy grin once more. “You’d have to steal it.”
“Someone broke into the clerk’s office to steal adoption records and black out a birth certificate?” Nate asks. “Not just here, but on the west side, too? That seems like going to a lot of trouble. Why?”
“I can’t answer you there, boss.”
I don’t miss the two of them exchanging glances, and I’m about to open my mouth and ask why the west side clerk wouldn’t even look at me, but Nate speaks first.
“Let me know what you find with the hospital records,” Nate finally says.
Antony nods, picks up the folder, and leaves the small room. Nate takes my hand and leads me out to my car. I still want to ask him about the town’s division but first things first.
“You have no idea how much this means to me,” I say softly. “I’ve been in this office three times, and no one would help me at all!”
“I’ve taken care of that,” Nate says. “I’m sure if you need to come back, they’ll be a little more helpful now. Either way, I can always accompany you—Antony as well, if needed.”
“I don’t know how to thank you for all of this, really, Nate. I was about to give up hope.”
“Thanking me would be easy,” Nate says with a smile. He cups my face with his warm hands, kissing me briefly. “Come to dinner at my house Wednesday. That would be plenty thanks as far as I’m concerned.”
Thoughts of a west side and an east side are completely forgotten.
I glance away from him and try to swallow past the lump in my throat. I honestly don’t know if I want to meet Nate’s whole family at this point, and everyone at once! I don’t think I can handle it. I don’t know how to behave around rich people, and I’m sure to make a total fool out of myself, and then he won’t want to see me anymore.
“Maybe I could meet them one at a time,” I say. “I’m not sure I’m ready to meet your whole family.”
