“Amen.” Brooke could barely get the word out.
Maddie was supposed to be home planning a wedding. Instead, their new reality was something they would have to accept. Maddie was living with her biological family, grieving the loss of a sister she’d never met and planning for a surgery to give one of her kidneys to Louise Quinn.
No wonder she had called. She’d had a great deal to say. On top of that she wouldn’t be home for a very long time. She’d made that clear, too. But right now Brooke’s greatest heartache wasn’t what she’d said. It was the words Maddie didn’t say.
She didn’t say she loved them.
CONNOR FLANIGAN BOUGHTthe ticket to Portland late that night. He’d only heard from Maddie every other day, and their conversations were getting more strained all the time. She spent most of the time asking about him. Mainly about his new job as communications director for Luke Baxter’s law firm in Indianapolis.
Maddie was well aware of how badly Connor had wanted the position. He’d been waiting tables in Bloomington, hoping for the job to open up. Luke had told him it was coming, and that there would be a number of qualified applicants.
Three rounds of interviews later, just last Friday, Connor had been hired.
It was as much a dream position for him as the zoo was for Maddie. So these days should’ve been spent celebrating their new careers and their upcoming wedding. Instead, Connor was barely connecting with his fiancée, and because her parents hadn’t told her the truth, she had all but moved to Portland.
Their conversation that Friday felt like something he might share with a stranger.
“I got the job at Luke’s law firm.”
“Wow, that’s great. When do you start?”
“Not for another week. And what about you? Are you working?”
“Some. I’m picking up shifts at London Coffee, where my sister worked before the accident.”
“That’s nice.”
“It is nice.”
And on it went. Sickeningly shallow with none of the heart they’d shared just a month ago.
So Connor had made up his mind. He would board a plane tomorrow—while he still had time before his jobstarted. Whatever was going on in Portland, Connor was sure of one thing. He was about to lose Maddie. He’d talked about his concerns with his parents, and they agreed. Maddie wasn’t the girl he had known before. Her life was upside down and there was a good chance she wasn’t coming home.
Connor was terrified of the possibility. He loved Maddie West with all his heart, even now. When things were so strained between them. Seeing her in person was the only option, the only chance he had to connect with her again. His early flight would get him there by eleven in the morning with the time change. His return flight was late that same day. Just long enough to see if what they once shared could be salvaged.
The plan was simple. He would land in Portland, rent a car, drive to London Coffee and find his fiancée. Then he would take her somewhere quiet where they could talk. Where he could look her in the eyes and ask what was happening to them.
And maybe … just maybe he could talk her into coming home.
21
The sadness in Maddie’s heart wouldn’t let up, not since her phone call with her parents. Yes, she was still angry at them. Still outraged that they would let her go her entire life without telling her the truth about her adoption. But Dawson was right.
They were still her parents.
A full day had passed since she called them, and even now as she wiped down tables at London Coffee, Maddie could hear the ache in her parents’ voices. The sound had stayed with her and made her feel terrible about herself. But one thing among many Maddie had learned in her ordeal was this.
Forgiveness was hard.
Maddie ran the warm, soapy rag over the old wood table near the window, the one where she and Dawson had shared a dozen coffees in the last three weeks. None of this was fair. That was the problem. She had the right to know much earlier the truth about who she was, where she had come from.
That much would never change.
Forgiveness meant looking past the truth, letting it fade to the background. Choosing love because that’s what God wanted for His people. Those were truths Dawson had talked with her about, and she could hardly wait till later today when they would talk again.
“Maddie.” Louise was at the register. She smiled and motioned for Maddie to join her.
A rush of people had just arrived. Maddie dropped the rag into the bucket. “Coming.” She hurried to the other register and after ten minutes the line was gone. “We definitely need another location.” Maddie realized how easily she had included herself in the ownership. As if she’d worked here with her biological mother forever. Maddie grinned. “You’ve done such a great job with this one.”
