The Letter(18)

He reluctantly pulled away from their kiss. They couldn’t just kiss for hours on end like high school kids, could they?

She moved closer and tucked herself up against his side, taking his lonely hand back in hers. Much better.

He should really leave. It was obvious that she was tired. But the selfish part of him wanted to stay just a little longer. So he did.





CHAPTER SEVEN





Madeline woke up early to the smell of bacon and coffee. She was pretty sure there was no better aroma to wake up to. She hurried to get dressed, grabbing black slacks and a gray sweater from her suitcase. She snatched a bright red scarf and tied it around her neck for a splash of color. She couldn’t wait to continue with their search for Paul, but first things first. That coffee was calling her name.

She entered the dining room just moments later.

Rebecca greeted her. “Hi, Madeline. You were gone for a long time yesterday.”

“I’m sorry. Did I wake you when I came in?”

“Oh, no. We were up. I saw that Gil dropped you off.”

A man at the end of the table glanced up at her. “Gil? Bella’s brother?”

Madeline looked over at the smartly dressed man with the Wall Street Journal in his hands. “I think he has a sister named Izzy?”

The man smiled. “Bella, Izzy, Isabella. The woman of many names.”

Rebecca nodded her head towards the man at the table. “Madeline, this is Owen. Owen, Madeline. Owen here and Bella are dating.”

“Nice to meet you, Owen.”

“Nice to meet you, too. You and Gil are friends?”

“I just met him, but he’s helping me look for an old beau of his great-aunt’s. It’s all kind of a mystery right now, but we’re trying to sort it all out. We went to Bay St. Louis to visit Gil’s great-aunt. She was the Josephine in the letter I found hidden in my grandmother’s desk.”

“Really? Did you get it all sorted out?” Owen asked.

“Not really.” Madeline dropped into one of the chairs. “The letter was for her, but she’d never seen it before. We have no idea how it ended up in the desk. It was from her high school boyfriend. They’d planned to run away together because Josephine’s father had forbidden her to see him. But he just disappeared one day and she never could find him.”

“That’s strange.” Rebecca rested her hand on the back of Madeline’s chair.

“I know. Josephine was so sad when she saw the letter. I don’t think she ever got over loving him. Anyway, Gil and I have decided to see if we can find Paul. Figure out what happened to him. Maybe then we’ll find out how the letter got in my desk.”

“That sounds like a good plan. Where are you going to start?” Rebecca asked.

“I’m going to go over to the Feed and Seed, and we’re going to start with an internet search now that we know his name. We’ll see if we can go from there.”

“Well, let me get you some breakfast first. Cheesy omelette, bacon, and some fresh bagels. Sound good?”

“Sounds wonderful.”

“And I’m still trying to remember how I know your grandmother’s name. It will come to me.” Rebecca walked out of the room, her eyes crinkled in thought.

“Good luck with your search today.” Owen smiled at her and went back to reading his paper.

“Thanks.” Madeline sat quietly sipping her coffee, not wanting to disturb his reading. She waited for the assuredly large breakfast that Rebecca was soon to deliver to her, which sounded wonderful, but at this rate she wasn’t going to be able to fasten her pants in another day or so.

~ * ~

Madeline pushed through the well-worn wooden door to the Feed and Seed. She looked up at the old-fashioned bell that jangled as she stepped through the doorway. It was like stepping back in time. She could imagine it was a simpler time. A slower moving time when everyone wasn’t always rushing around, missing the moments rolling by, attached to their cell phones.

“Hey, Maddy. I got you all set up with my laptop back there on the table by the soda machine. Pad of paper if you need to write anything down,” Gil called from behind the counter. “I’ll be with you soon.”

Maddy? Had he called her Maddy? No one had called her that since she was a child. It was always the formal version of her name.

“Thanks.” She headed to the table, slipped off her jacket and dropped it onto a chair. She was so anxious to get started. Bits and pieces of the puzzle kept rambling around her brain. She wanted to fit the pieces all together. Solve the mystery. Find out what happened to Paul so she could tell Josephine.

She sat in front of the laptop, pulled up the search engine, and typed in Paul Clark. To her utter regret it brought up pages and pages of results. If only they had some other lead. She clicked on the first result and started her search.