Chapter Eighteen
Life was good. There really wasn’t any other way to say it. Autumn was in a clothing boutique across from Grandma Martha’s bakery. She was going to meet Joel for lunch. Today, he was on duty as a medic, but he could meet her for a quick date. Since they’d spent that first night together, they’d spent several more over the last couple of weeks, and each time was even better. They were like two high school kids who couldn’t keep their hands off one another.
Getting to see him today was a bonus. She hadn’t expected it since the medic team was down a guy while one of them was on vacation, so Joel had to work several double shifts. Autumn offered to watch Oscar, and that seemed to be the perfect opening for Joel to stop by her home where she learned Joel was good at many things.
She held up a pink dress in a mirror and decided she was going to get it. Autumn couldn’t believe how many cute clothing stores they had in Silver Ridge. She assumed it was to lure in all the tourists, but it was a definite bonus for the residents.
Autumn let out a happy sigh as she made her way to the register where an older woman was crocheting. There was so much going on at the house today that she was grateful for a reason not to be there with all the pounding and nailing blasting through the air.
When the saleswoman looked up, her eyes widened and a look of horror darted across her face.
“Do I know you?” she asked, standing up and walking to the counter.
“I just moved here this spring.” Autumn laid the dress on the counter, and the woman shook her head.
“No, I think I know you from somewhere.” And then her expression changed. “You’re that Tucker woman.” She pointed at Autumn, who nodded in agreement.
“My uncle was Fred Tucker. I inherited the B&B.”
She shook her head. “No. You look like the Tucker woman who disappeared.”
Her words sent a chill down Autumn’s spine.
“Oh, I don’t know about that.” She shook her head and swallowed down the lump in her throat. She hated knowing so little about everything.
“It was awful. I can’t remember her name.” She rang up Autumn’s dress and crinkled her nose. “I hate when my memory fails me, but you know who I mean. You must.”
Autumn grimaced and shook her head. “Can’t say that I do. My dad wasn’t very close with this side of the family.”
The woman bagged her dress and handed it to Autumn. “That’s a shame.”
“It really is.” But Autumn couldn’t help but wonder what missing woman the salesclerk was talking about.
Was it the woman she’d seen in her uncle’s photos? She’d never gotten to show Joel and ask him about her, and in fact, the photos were still in her purse. A sick feeling sank to the bottom of Autumn’s belly and didn’t seem to have any plan on leaving.
“Well, welcome to Silver Ridge.” The woman was looking oddly at Autumn now, making her feel extremely uncomfortable. Or maybe she wasn’t, and Autumn was just being paranoid considering how little she seemed to know about her family.
Autumn clutched the bag and left the store a lot quicker than she’d entered. She glanced across the street at the bakery and saw Abigail sitting outside talking on her phone, probably to her boyfriend.
She saw Grandma Martha open the door and wave Abigail inside and the awful pit in her stomach lessened. There was something about being around the Norths that made her happy. They were such a close-knit family, regardless of the ups and downs of infidelity and divorce.
Autumn walked over to the crosswalk and pushed the button for the flashing lights to alert the world that she was making her trek over to get a slice of pecan pie.
She saw Joel’s Honcho already parked down the road and a shot of excitement pulsed through her. It didn’t matter how many times she bumped into Joel or met him for a date. It was never enough, and she loved that sensation.
Autumn thought back to Ronald and cringed. She’d had enough of him the first time they’d met, yet she forced herself to keep it going when it should have died within seconds. There was no spark, no happiness from being near one another, no excitement—only dread. The idea of love with Ronald was not only sad, but the emotion would have been impossible.
Love?
Yes. She was definitely falling in love with Joel North. The mere thought put an extra spring in her step as she made her way to the bakery.
When she opened the door, she found Joel already sitting at their table by the window. She loved that it had become their table. In fact, they’d even wait for it to open up when it was occupied, which gave them an excuse to walk outside and spend more time together.
That was what she noticed about being with Joel. They both looked for opportunities to run toward one another and spend time together rather than run apart.
Joel sprang up from the chair and held out his arms, which she immediately dove into. Autumn drew in a breath, loving everything about being in Joel’s arms. He was her protector, and she never thought in those terms before, but she also knew she would shelter him as much as she could as well. This love wasn’t one-sided.
“God, it’s so good to see you,” he whispered, his lips pressed to the top of her hair.
“You too.” She took a step back, and he smiled as if he hadn’t seen her for months.
And then the earlier incident came crashing into his mind.
“What’s wrong?” Joel asked as they both took a seat. “You look like you saw a ghost.”
Autumn let out a sigh. “Well, I didn’t, necessarily, but the saleswoman across the street apparently felt like she did.”
Joel’s brows pulled together and he shook his head. “What do you mean?”
Autumn slid her bag under the table and sat back in the chair.
“She said I looked like someone she recognized, and after she’d thought about it, she remembered it was a missing woman.”
Joel slid his hands across his face and let out a deep breath. “I can’t believe I didn’t think to remember that.”
“Remember what?” Autumn asked, feeling a slight panic set in.
“I can’t believe I never made the connection.” He shook his head. “I was so young when it went down. I was actually in college and only briefly heard about it when I came to town for the holidays.” Joel pressed his lips together as his grandmother brought over their favorite sandwiches. He waited for her to leave before he started again. “I just . . .”
“What is it?” Autumn’s skin was crawling with apprehension.
“I didn’t move into my home until it was only Fred and his wife there, so I never really knew the girl. She was a few years younger so I wouldn’t have known her through school either. I can’t believe I didn’t make the connection.”
Autumn unzipped her purse and slapped the photographs down on the table.
“I found these in the library at my uncle’s house, and it freaked me out. Now, hearing what the saleswoman said and what you’re trying to say, it’s causing me to panic.”
Joel slid the photos toward him and studied them, looking up at Autumn every couple of seconds.
“The family resemblance is impossible to miss.” He put the photos back down on the table. “Do you know who she is?”
“I was hoping you might.”
He shook his head. “If my memory serves me right, she did live with your uncle and aunt, but I never got the impression she was their child. He looked after her, which was why when she went missing, it wasn’t really treated as a missing persons case. They thought she just left.”
“So they looked after her from how old?”
Joel shook his head. “I don’t know.”
They took a few bites of their meal when Joel’s eyes flashed to hers. “The resort. I feel like I saw her at the resort. We can ask my mom. I’m sure she remembers.”
“You think she might have worked for your family?”
“A lot of residents have at one time or another.” He nodded. “I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised.”
Autumn’s pulse quickened at the thought of finding another relative. She had some cousins on her mom’s side, but they weren’t particularly close. But why wouldn’t this woman have inherited the B&B?
“I’ll call my mom and see if she can remember anything.” Joel pulled out his cell and glanced around the café. They were the only ones in it since it was a Monday at two o’clock in the afternoon. He dialed his mom and it rang a couple of times before she answered.
“Hey, it’s Joel,” he spoke into the speaker.
“I can see that.” His mom laughed. “You do know we have caller ID nowadays.”
“I’ve got Autumn here and—”
“Hi, honey.”
“Hi,” Autumn responded. She’d met her one time a couple of days ago. It was a brief encounter, but she knew immediately where Joel got his warmth from. “Sorry to bother you.”
“You’re never a bother.”
“Autumn found several photos of a woman who’s probably about her age, and when she was shopping across the street, the woman there thought Autumn was the girl who went missing years ago. I wasn’t really in town during that time, but I thought you might know something.”
His mom let out a slow sigh. “Would you mind taking me off speaker?”
Joel’s eyes flashed to Autumn’s and her chest tightened.
“Do you mind?” he asked Autumn, and she shook her head, anxiety pulsing through her.
Grandma Martha must have caught wind of the conversation because she wandered over and slid a chair to the table and sat down.
Autumn watched Joel intently as he listened to his mom on the other end of the phone. She tried to read his expression, but he wasn’t giving anything away.
After a couple of minutes, he finally told his mom thank you and then he hung up. He glanced at Grandma Martha and let out a slow sigh.
Autumn knew that whatever he had to tell her, she probably didn’t want to hear. Grandma Martha reached for Autumn’s hand and squeezed it lightly. She knew too.
“If I had known any of this, I would have told you immediately.” His expression remained void of any emotion. “I want you to understand that I didn’t know anything. I wouldn’t have kept this from you.”
His eyes softened as Autumn’s stayed connected with his.
“What’s going on?” she asked, glancing at Grandma Martha, who wasn’t letting go of Autumn’s hand.
“I swear I would have told you had I known.” Joel took a deep breath and rubbed his temples. “My mother confirmed there was a girl who grew up with Fred and his wife. She did work for our family in the hospitality department when she was in her early twenties.”
“It was for a couple of years,” Grandma Martha added.
The world around Autumn felt very surreal, like all the pieces to a puzzle were floating around her within an arm’s reach, and she wasn’t sure she wanted any of the pieces to lock together. Her cheeks were warming as Joel studied her carefully.
She could see kindness, sympathy, and sorrow mix through his gaze, and she knew whatever he was about to tell her would change her life forever.
“I’m not ready,” Autumn said softly. “I don’t want to know.”
Joel straightened his shoulders and took her other hand in his. “You need to know. You’ve gone long enough without knowing the truth.”
Grandma Martha nodded, adding. “I had no idea you didn’t know or I would have said something long ago.”
Autumn felt tears prick her lids, but she stayed focused on Joel.
“Your aunt and uncle raised a little girl almost from birth. They took her in as their own and always made sure she knew she was loved,” Joel began.
Autumn nodded and she saw his jaw clench.
“You uncle never really offered any information about her or where she came from, and being that this is such a small town, people made up their own stories. Some were close and others were just ridiculous. When she got older, she went to college for a year or so and dropped out before coming back to Silver Ridge, where she worked at the resort. My mom had to let her go because she’d started using drugs. She wasn’t showing up for shifts or she’d come in not in her right mind.”
Autumn felt hollow and like her world was slowly crushing her.
“Who was she?” Autumn asked, her throat dry with apprehension. She wasn’t ready for the truth, even though she could feel it burning and nipping at her soul. In her heart, she already knew.
Joel shut his eyes and drew in a long, steady breath. “She was your sister. Your father had an affair. To save your family, he left Silver Ridge behind and your uncle raised her.”
Autumn gasped, ripping her hands away from them to cover her tears. She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. It made no sense, even though the information fit perfectly into the puzzle.
“That’s impossible.” She shook her head, and the images of the woman flashed in her head. They looked like sisters. “Is she alive?”
Autumn blinked her eyes open to see Joel’s shoulders sink as Grandma Martha got up to hug her.
“She passed away from a heroin overdose,” Joel said softly, “on October fifth.”
Autumn’s world stood still as her mind flashed to that date. It was the same date her parents had died in a car crash.
Joel had taken the place of Grandma Martha and was holding her tightly as Autumn’s sobs filled the café.