For the next half hour Mac told Parker all about his search for Callie and his decision to try and track her down, along with Mrs. Worther. He explained that during a trip to Boston he’d been given a number for her that was no longer valid. Although he knew Parker must have been surprised by some of the information flowing out of his mouth, his cousin managed to maintain a calm façade.
“So, you see, I’m starting at square one,” Mac said with a sigh.
“Yeah,” Parker said, scratching his jaw. “Finding Beatrice Worther won’t be difficult, I imagine. Up until recently she was employed in Boston with the foster care agency, and, after such a lengthy career, she should have professional ties in the city. It might be easy for me to just run her name through the database here in Massachusetts. Then, if necessary, we can broaden the search in the event that she’s moved out of state.”
“And Callie?” Her name almost got lodged in Mac’s throat. After all this time it still felt emotional to be talking about the sister he had lost.
“That might be tough, Mac. For all intents and purposes she was most likely adopted or taken in by a foster care family. It could be that her paperwork got mixed up with another child or she was quickly taken out of the system by an adoptive family.” He shifted his gaze away from Mac. “But there’s also the possibility of something darker.”
Mac leaned forward in his chair. “What? Don’t hold back on me.”
“If there really has been such a cover-up, maybe something happened to her all those years ago. Maybe she’s deceased.”
“No!” Mac cried, his voice echoing in the stillness of the room. He could hear the pain ringing out in his tone. “She’s alive! I would know it if she wasn’t in this world anymore. Trust me, I’d know it.”
Parker viewed him with a shuttered expression. “You may be right, but I have to prepare you for the possibilities. It’s not pleasant talk, but I have to keep it real with you. Twenty years is a long time. Keep in mind that anything might have happened to her. Another stumbling point is that we have no idea as to whether her name is still Callie. Most likely her last name has changed. Her geography has most likely changed. From the sounds of it, you don’t even have a picture of her, do you? Or any ties to any members of your birth family who might have a photo, a record. Anything.”
“No,” he admitted. “I never even had a picture. We didn’t have pictures taken of us. We weren’t even in school. No school portraits for us or nice photos hanging on the fridge. I left that house with the clothes on my back. The only thing I wanted to keep was Callie. And it was just my birth mother and my stepfather. No one else.”
“Mac, I’m so sorry. You’ve been through so much.” Parker ran a hand over his face. He looked shell shocked. “I don’t even remember hearing about you having a sister when we were kids,” Parker admitted.
“It’s okay. There are lots of layers to my story. Mom and Pops were being told that Callie might be a result of the trauma I suffered.”
“Like an imaginary friend?”
“Yeah. I don’t blame them or anything. Remember. No records. No picture. Even our neighbors wouldn’t have known about Callie or myself since we were kept inside all the time and we moved from place to place. My adoptive parents did the best they could with the information they had. They were shooting in the dark and trying their best to deal with all my anger issues.”
“They had no idea that the loss of Callie was at the root of those anger issues, I’m guessing.”
Mac shook his head. His life would have been so much easier if there had been a way to prove Callie’s existence. “Not a clue. After a while I had to pack her away like a box of memories. Something just woke up inside me recently. Maybe with all of my brothers settling down and getting married I started thinking about the past and how there was a big hole there.”
“Are you getting any local help?”
“Sarah’s sister, Delilah, works for social services.” Mac shrugged. He didn’t want to get his hopes up, but having a local “in” felt huge. As far as he was concerned, the more people aiding him in the search for Callie the better. Somehow he’d never imagined that Delilah would be one of the people aiding him in his mission.
Parker raised an eyebrow. “Hmm. Delilah, huh? I remember her from Blue’s wedding.” He let out a whistle. “She’s all kinds of gorgeous from what I recall.”
Gorgeous? Hmm. Delilah was extremely attractive. With her light red hair, cornflower blue eyes and wide, high cheekbones, she would make any man do a double take. He’d never really thought about her that way. She’d always been sociable and friendly, way too outgoing to be a possibility for him though. Delilah had always been a part of the social whirl in Breeze Point. He seemed to recall her dating Tim Sutton a few years ago. He’d been one of the jocks Wyatt had played baseball with in high school. A big-headed athlete who had been under the belief that he was God’s gift to women. Mac had never liked him. If he was being honest with himself, he’d judged Delilah for dating a jerk like Tim. What kind of woman, he’d asked himself, would date an obnoxious know-it-all?