IT WASN’T quite a ball, but it might as well have been for the enjoyment she had. Supper at Garrett’s was fun. The whole family made her feel welcome, and although Jenny felt more and more like she was being drawn in out of her depth, there was no way she could not enjoy herself. They were so happy-Lana and her Dylan, big, kindly Garrett and possessive Shelby, who’d checked Jenny out from every angle and decided she’d share this precious brother of hers.
The mood was lighthearted, but there was also the hint of suspense-a suspense that ended when Garrett said over coffee, “Okay, Michael. What have you got for us?”
Michael hauled out his list and showed it to his three astounded siblings.
“Michael,” Shelby breathed, staring at the names on Michael’s list. “You agreed to help?” She gazed at him in total astonishment. “Why?”
“Something Garrett said,” Michael replied baldly, and Garrett nodded. He smiled at Jenny.
“So it’s thanks to you, Jenny,” Shelby said.
“I had nothing to do with it,” Jenny retorted, flushing under their gazes. “What Michael decides has nothing to do with me.”
But it did, and they all knew it. The three siblings took in her flushed appearance and Michael’s scowl, and they all came to the same conclusion.
“You might as well look at the list I’ve made,” Michael said finally, breaking the silence, “instead of sitting there and looking so smug.”
“They all check out,” Lana said, after sifting through the list of names. “I mean, you’ve traced them all except for these.”
Michael had worked on every set of triplets and tried to research the parents’ names, as well. He’d also attempted to find an adult contact from each set.
The one family he’d reached so far had splintered. The mother had gone one way with the girls, the father had gone another with the boy. Michael had managed to locate the son-in prison.
“Ugh, I’m glad that’s not you, Mike,” Shelby breathed. “A mugger. Just what every family needs.”
“I may be driven to it yet,” Michael said. “Lord knows I’ve come close enough with you guys for siblings. Or even murder. Justifiable homicide if ever I saw it.”
He was hit with a cushion for his pains, but Shelby only had half a mind on what she was doing. Her attention was on the list again.
“What about this last one?”
“None of these might fit,” Michael warned. “We could have been brought here from out of state or over the border.”
“There’s not a lot of Mexicans with our coloring,” Shelby retorted. “There’s Irish blood in us somewhere. But you’re right. Another state’s a possibility. Still, our mother had to have known Megan’s reputation to have left us where she did, so chances are she was local.”
“LeeAnn and Gary Larrimore,” Lana read. Michael had duplicates of the list, and she was leaning against Dylan’s shoulder as she read. “Two girls, one boy. Triplets born April twenty-sixth.”
“The date makes it about right.”
“And you can’t find any trace of the adults?”
“No.” Michael frowned. “Now the out-of-state thing comes in. If it is them, if they’re us, then the family must have moved here close to the birth.”
“Why?”
“Because there’s no trace of a Garrett Larrimore registered as born in Texas in the two years before the triplets were born. I assume our mother wouldn’t have registered our births-which explains why there’s no trace of us-but Garrett’s got to be somewhere. So maybe this LeeAnn and Gary had their triplets here and then took their babies home again. To California. To Canada. To anywhere. The hospital records are useless for that sort of information. I’m doing a national search, but it’s not in yet. The only thing is…”
“Yes?” He had the attention of everyone in the room.
“After I found the records of the triplet birth, I did a search for births and deaths of Larrimores for the surrounding few years, looking for Garrett, mostly, but checking anything that came up.”
“And?”
“And a Gary Larrimore, aged twenty-eight, was killed two months before this lot of triplets were born.”
SILENCE.
The Lord children were deathly still, and Dylan and Jen sat on the sidelines and watched them absorb this momentous news. Even baby Greg was quiet.
“You mean…” Lana was the first to gather herself. She lifted Michael’s piece of paper and read, as if she could see something that wasn’t written there. “Our birth father…died?”
“It may not be us. This is all supposition.”
“But that would explain it,” Lana breathed, horrified. “Oh, that poor woman. To have a little boy two years old and to be told you were expecting triplets! And then to have the man you love be killed. Do we know what happened?”
“I found the local coroner’s report,” Michael said. “He was thrown off his motorcycle. The coroner said it was raining and his tires were bald.”
“So he was poor!”
“We’re assuming all sorts of things here,” Garrett said hastily. “We’re jumping to conclusions.” But then he paused and frowned, as if remembering things almost against his will. “You know, that’s one thing I remember. There’s hardly anything, but occasionally-it’s like a shadow, but it’s there. A motorcycle.”
“You remember a bike?” Mike demanded.
Garrett shook his head. “I think I do. As I said, it’s a shadow of a memory, but there was never a motorcycle after we were adopted. I guess… It probably means nothing.”
“But it might mean something. And there’s no trace of LeeAnn Larrimore after she left the clinic,” Michael told them. “She seems to have vanished without trace.”
“So we find her.” Shelby’s eyes filled with tears. “Right?”
Michael put up his hand in warning. “Shelby, we have to eliminate the other names on the list. We can’t just focus on one. We still have contacts to make in four sets, including the Larrimores.”
“You know I’ll help you, Michael,” Shelby said. “I’m due for a vacation and I’d be happy to do some out-of-town legwork.”
Michael nodded. “Just give me a little more time to get as many specifics as I can. But it may take a while, so you’ll all have to be patient.”
“But you’ll keep trying?” Shelby asked.
Michael’s gaze moved to Jenny, and his eyes fell to the gentle swell beneath her gorgeous dress. His mother-whoever she was-had once been like this. So pregnant, and not pregnant with just one babe. Pregnant with three, and with another tiny child dependent on her.
He had no choice.
“Yes. Of course I will.”
“Oh, Michael, you’re wonderful,” Shelby said, immeasurably moved. “He’s wonderful, isn’t he, everybody? Isn’t he, Jenny?”
“I guess he is,” Jenny said in a voice that was none too steady. “Just wonderful.”
AND THEN, individually or in pairs, they made their way to Megan’s party. The night was unusually sultry. A storm was coming, Jenny thought as they drove across town. She hoped it would hold off for the evening. She was tired, aching to go home to bed if the truth be known, and her back hurt, but she wouldn’t keep Michael from his party.
“You okay?” Michael asked as they arrived, worry in his voice, but she smiled her reassurance.
“Come on, Michael Lord. No chickening out now. Your family tells me you’re not the best at socializing. So let’s see you do your worst!”
THE PARTY was in full swing when they arrived. There seemed to be couples everywhere, spilling onto the lawns and dancing inside to the tune of a piano player tinkling in the drawing room. The place looked wonderful, lit up like Christmas.
“Megan’s daughter Anna will have done this. She’s a wedding planner, and parties are her specialty,” Michael told Jenny, taking her hand and leading her into the throng. “Megan’s family seems to have spent the last twelve months matchmaking. Megan’s been through some pretty traumatic times, but now she’s feeling like partying. Anyone you haven’t met yet you’ll be meeting tonight.”