Hadley tucked Brynn into bed, gave the child a kiss, then left the room. David had already pulled a favorite book from the shelf. Though Hadley longed to stay and listen, she knew father and daughter needed this time together to smooth out the recent bump in their relationship.

While David was upstairs, Hadley commandeered the kitchen and assembled ingredients on the spacious granite countertop. She tried to banish all thoughts from her brain of the book Brynn had demolished. The Adventures of Brynn and Hadley had meant so much to her. She hoped that one day Brynn would make her another book, this one filled with even more adventures the two of them had shared.

Opening the oven door, Hadley slid in the tray containing dollops of cookie dough arranged in neat rows, then set the timer. When she didn’t hear any footsteps coming her way, she briefly considered making another batch.

Instead, she cleaned. By the time the oven timer dinged, the kitchen gleamed.

“Something sure smells good.” David leaned against the doorjamb. He sniffed the air, his casual tone at odds with the tense set of his jaw.

Recalling their prior ease with each other, Hadley experienced a pang of regret.

“Chocolate chip cookies with walnuts.” After donning an oven mitt, Hadley lifted the baking sheet from the oven and placed it on a cooling rack. “Would you like one?”

“Chocolate chip cookies? Hot from the oven?” He shot her an amused glance. “Actually, I don’t think one will do it. I’d like several. And I’d like you to join me.”

Hadley hid her surprise. This was as close to a normal conversation as they’d had in days.

“I’ll put the cookies on a plate.” She kept her tone light. “You get the milk.”

“It’s a beautiful evening.” David opened the refrigerator, speaking over his shoulder. “Let’s go wild and crazy and eat on the porch.”

He’d extended an olive branch. Not a big one, but a branch nonetheless. She supposed she could reject it and demand to know what had changed since earlier today when he could barely be bothered to speak two words to her.

“Sounds good.”

The air was warm, and a light breeze kept the bugs away. Hadley sipped her milk and nibbled on a cookie. “You must have read more than a chapter. You were in her room a long time.”

“We read three.” David’s lips tipped up. “I believe I enjoy the reading aloud as much as she does.”

“Is she asleep?”

“Out for the count.” David lifted his glass, but didn’t drink. “It was a busy, somewhat difficult day for her.”

“I should have gone to the party.”

David lowered the glass. “Why didn’t you?”

“I know you’re angry with me. I didn’t know if I could spend several hours pretending it’s all good between us.”

He inclined his head and took a drink of milk.

“I didn’t think of Brynn, didn’t even consider she might be looking forward to seeing me, to climbing the wall together. I thought only of myself. It was a mistake, and hurting her is on me.” Hadley regretted missing the precious time with Brynn. “From now until the end of the month, I’m going to savor all the moments with her I can. Going back to my apartment, to simply being that nice lady at the bake shop, is going to kill me.”

“If the DNA results show you’re Brynn’s birth mother—”

“I am her birth mother.” Hadley spoke in a fierce whisper, even though they were alone on the porch. Alone, that was, except for Ruckus, snoozing at her feet.

“I’ve been thinking.” David slanted a glance at her. “Once the results are back, we should tell everyone.”

Hadley’s heart flip-flopped. She’d wondered about the next step, but hadn’t expected this. “Are you saying we’d tell everyone I’m her birth mother?”

She couldn’t imagine what else he could be talking about revealing, but wanted to be sure.

“Yes. After we tell Brynn.” His gaze searched hers. “I don’t see a reason to keep her connection to you a secret. Unless you have some objection.”

Excitement threatened to engulf her. She tamped it down. “What will everyone think?”

Those smoky gray eyes turned sharp and assessing. “Do you care?”

“I care that they’ll feel betrayed.” Hadley looked him in the eyes. “Just like you feel betrayed.”

“They’ll get over it.”

“Are you over it?” A hard ball formed in the pit of her stomach when he didn’t immediately respond.

“I’m getting there. The cookies help.” The quick smile he shot her had the knot dissolving.

“The results should arrive in my in-box tomorrow.” He lifted a brow at her sharp inhale.

“This will be the start of a new life for me,” Hadley explained.

“The start of a new life for us.” A muscle in his jaw jumped. “One with no secrets.”

Hadley ignored the second comment.

“I’m champing at the bit to get started,” Hadley said, almost to herself, “but I’m also terrified.”

Without warning, David did something she hadn’t expected. He reached over and took her hand.

“No worries.” The look in his eyes was as steady as the clasp of his hand. “You. Brynn. Me. We’ll get through this…together.”

* * *

“I’m sure you’re wondering why I asked to meet with you.” Hadley glanced at the four women gathered around Ami’s dining room table.

Her conversation with David last night on the porch had her realizing she needed to be proactive. There was no reason to wait for the DNA results to hit David’s in-box. Hadley already knew they’d confirm her story.

Rounding up all four Bloom sisters on a busy Monday morning hadn’t been easy, but Ami made it happen. When Hadley had said there was something of vital importance she needed to tell her and her sisters, Ami had asked if it could wait until evening.

That might have been too late. At the moment, David planned to tell his family at the dinner party his mother was throwing tomorrow night, an intimate affair that would include the Bloom family. But plans could change, and David might get a wild hair to tell his mother sooner. Perhaps the second he received the results.

If that happened, Lynn would tell Steve, and soon everyone in the two families would know. Hadley owed her friends better. They needed to hear the news from her. First.

The Bloom sisters had welcomed her into their family, introduced her to their friends and helped her become a part of the community. How had she repaid their kindness? By lying to them. Not overtly, though each time she’d pretended to have no connection to David or Brynn, she’d deceived them.

Fin glanced at her phone. “I don’t want to be rude, but will this take long? Next weekend is Founder’s Day, and I have a zillion things on my plate.”

“We know the big celebration is next week, Fin.” Marigold rolled her eyes and reached for one of the chocolates scattered atop the table. “We’re all busy. But Ami says this is important.”

“I shouldn’t eat chocolate.” Prim’s hand hovered over a truffle, her daughter asleep on her chest.

“Indulge, Primrose.” Ami’s blessing was all it took for Prim to grab the candy.

“Something tells me this is serious stuff.” Marigold studied Hadley as she unwrapped her chocolate.

“I’ll get to the point.” Hadley took a breath and plunged ahead. “I didn’t just happen to come to Good Hope three years ago. I had a purpose, a mission.”

Clearly intrigued, Fin quit scrolling and put down her phone. She widened her eyes and spoke in a conspiratorial whisper. “Is this your way of telling us you’re a spy?”

“You behave.” Ami punched her sister in the arm, then cast Hadley an apologetic look. “Sorry.”

Though Ami and Fin might look nearly identical, when Hadley had first met Delphinium, she hadn’t liked her much. Ami was soft and nurturing, while Fin seemed to be all sharp edges.

Her feelings had changed when Fin returned to Good Hope last summer and they’d become better acquainted. Hadley had discovered that lurking beneath the woman’s somewhat crunchy outer shell was a soft, gooey center.

Not that Hadley witnessed the gooey center all that much. The only time she was guaranteed a glimpse was when Fin looked at her husband…or her sisters. There was no doubt the woman knew how to love and love deeply.

There had also been Fin’s kindness to Mindy, a little girl battling terminal cancer. Instead of insisting her wedding to the town’s mayor be picture perfect, Fin had allowed the child to live out her dream of wearing a flower girl dress with a princess skirt and feathers.

Thinking of Mindy’s death brought tears to Hadley’s eyes. What if she lost Brynn? What if David changed his mind and cut off all access to her daughter?

“Hadley.” Ami’s hand was on her shoulder.

Hadley blinked away the moisture and met Ami’s concerned green eyes.

“I don’t want to rush you. I can see whatever you have to tell us is difficult. But”—Ami gestured to the women around the circle—“our time is limited.”

Heart hammering, Hadley took a breath. “I’m Brynn Chapin’s birth mother.”

Someone, Marigold maybe, inhaled sharply. Otherwise, for several heartbeats, there was only silence.

“David said it was a closed adoption.” Marigold’s blond brows pulled together in puzzlement. “Did he contact you?”

“He didn’t contact her.” Fin’s green eyes were cool. “If he had, there would have been no reason for her to lie.”

Lie.

The word hung unchallenged in the air.

“Marigold is correct. It was a closed adoption. Five years ago, I hired a private detective to find my daughter.” Hadley kept her breathing steady. “He located her in Good Hope.”

“Why then?” Fin’s eyes turned sharp and assessing. “What changed?”

Keep it simple, Hadley told herself.

“My mother left when I was in grade school. My dad was a police officer. Five years ago, he was killed in the line of duty.” The fact that she could recite the facts as if giving a report might come across as cold, but Hadley had to keep a tight control on her emotions or she’d break. “His loss hit me hard. I felt alone in the world. I started worrying, wondering if my child was happy. I used my father’s life insurance money to hire a detective.”

Ami’s brow furrowed in confusion. “You mention being alone in the world, but don’t you have relatives in North Dakota?”

A cold chill traveled up Hadley’s spine. One slip of a tongue, made years ago, tied her back to North Dakota. “My grandparents are old and frail.”

“I’m sorry about your dad.” Sympathy filled Ami’s eyes. “We know how hard it is to lose a parent.”

The other sisters nodded.

“Why didn’t you tell me any of this?” Tears filled Ami’s eyes, but she hurriedly wiped them away with the pads of her fingers. “Forgive me. I cry at the drop of a hat when I’m pregnant.”

“Doesn’t change the fact it’s a valid question.” Fin spoke softly to her eldest sister before pinning Hadley with a take-no-prisoners gaze. “I can understand not telling the rest of us. What’s your excuse for lying to Ami?”

Hadley absorbed the impact of the punch and flushed. “It’s a small town. I didn’t want David to find out.”

“You expect us to believe you thought Ami would tell someone?” Fin’s voice grew frosty. “Everyone knows she’s completely trustworthy.”

“Fin, stop.” Ami shot her sister a warning glance. “When Hadley arrived, she and I were strangers.”

“She’s been here three years, Am.” Fin’s green eyes flashed. “She should have told you.”

“Fin is right.” Hadley expelled a ragged breath and offered Ami an apologetic look. “I should never have kept such a secret from you.”

“It’s okay,” Ami assured her, though Hadley heard hurt beneath the reassurance.

“We’ve all kept secrets.” Prim’s hazel eyes, so like her father’s, held none of Fin’s reproach. “I believe everyone here can attest that, while bringing truth out into the light is difficult, total honesty is always best.”

“David and I plan to tell Brynn tonight.” Hadley spread her hands, hoping to get quickly through the rest of it. “Tomorrow, before the dinner party at his mother’s house, David will tell his family. I-I think of you as family, so I wanted you to know first.”

Hadley felt a stirring of hope when Ami reached over to take her hand.

“How did David take the news when you told him? It had to be a shock.” Marigold popped a chocolate into her mouth.

“It was a shock.” Hadley licked her dry lips. “And a difficult conversation.”

Ami squeezed her hand. “He’s a good man.”

“David is a wonderful man. I couldn’t have picked a better father for Brynn.” Hadley froze, immediately realizing her faux pas. Before this meeting, she had been determined to do everything possible to keep from mentioning the word father.

All she could hope was her gaffe wasn’t enough to jar anyone’s curiosity.

The gleam in Fin’s eyes told Hadley she wasn’t that lucky.

“Speaking of fathers, where is Brynn’s baby daddy?” With precise movements, Fin carefully unwrapped a chocolate, but made no move to pop it into her mouth.

“Fin,” Ami huffed. “I don’t see that that’s any of our business.”

“She opened the door,” Fin pointed out. “I’m walking through it.”

“It’s okay.” Hadley spoke through frozen lips. “I don’t know where he is. We’re not in contact.”

“Where do you go from here?” Marigold asked. “I mean, once everyone is told?”

“David has indicated he’ll let me be a part of Brynn’s life.” Hadley spread her hands in front of her, gazed down at her unadorned nails. “That’s something I want very much.”

“What about Whitney?” If Ami had thought to silence her sister with a few pointed glances, it hadn’t worked. Fin pointed a candy at Hadley. “What does she think of this latest development?”

“David has sole custody of Brynn.”

Like a dog with a bone, Fin refused to let go. “That doesn’t answer my question.”

“She is Brynn’s mother,” Marigold interjected, with a note of apology.

Hadley could argue the point, could remind them how Whitney had distanced herself from Brynn, even while living under the same roof. All that aside, Whitney was the only mother Brynn had known. “It’s up to David to contact her.”

Prim worried her lower lip. “He might want to do it sooner than later. Once word gets out, she’ll hear.”

“She’s in Florida.”

Fin shot her a pitying glance. “Two words. Open Door. Once the news makes the e-newsletter’s gossip section, everyone will know, including Whitney.”

Hadley’s breath caught in her throat. Why hadn’t she thought of this before? If her name and the fact she had a nine-year-old daughter showed up online, anyone searching the internet could bring up the story.

Justin might connect the dots.

For several seconds, a squeezing pressure filled Hadley’s chest, making breathing difficult.

“David wouldn’t want Whitney to read it in the newsletter.” Hadley forced a calm she didn’t feel. As soon as the family was notified, she would seek out Katie Ruth and beg her not to mention her name in an article. “I’m sure he’ll contact her personally.”

To stave off more questions, Hadley pushed to her feet. “Thanks for coming. Again, I’m very sorry for not saying anything sooner.”

Ami rose and enfolded her in a hug. “We’re good.”

After releasing Hadley, Ami stepped back to let Marigold and Prim embrace her. Fin remained seated, chair pushed back from the table, one long leg crossed over the other.

Ami glanced curiously at her sister. “I thought you were in a hurry.”

“You go ahead. I’ll lock up.” Fin waved a perfectly manicured hand. “I have a few Founder’s Day questions for Hadley. There’s no need for you to wait around for that discussion.”

Fighting a shiver of unease, Hadley watched the three other sisters leave.

“You had questions about Founder’s Day?” Hadley wasn’t sure what Fin would need to ask her.

“I need several more volunteers to serve as greeters.”

Fin’s direct gaze had Hadley shifting from one foot to the other. She tried to make the gesture casual, but Fin missed nothing. “What would be involved?”

“An hour shift on Saturday.”

“What would I need to do?”

“Stand in one corner of the square and greet people. Thank them for coming.” As if reading minds was another one of her talents, Fin added, “David and Brynn could help.”

“Text me the specifics. I’m happy to help.”

“Excellent.” When Fin leaned over to pick up her bag, Hadley expelled a sigh of relief.

“Oh, and Hadley.” Fin rose, slinging the designer purse over her shoulder. “Discovering someone withheld vital information while professing to come clean can be almost worse than keeping the initial secret.”

Hadley’s smile froze on her lips. Her heart gave one solid knock against her ribs. “I don’t understand what you mean.”

“I think you do.” Fin’s eyes softened to a deep bottle green. “I went down that path and nearly lost everything that mattered to me. David Chapin is a good man. Trust him with all your secrets. Otherwise, you could lose him forever.”