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“You moved down there anyway.”
She sighed. “Even though they asked me not to. New Orleans is too wild, they said. My mother begged me to stay home, or to go to some other Southern city, but anyone who is anyone in the barbecue business does a stint in New Orleans. And I was stubborn.”
Drew’s grunt indicated he understood that part well enough. Of course, he was married to a Gallagher, so he had firsthand experience.
“I was there for over two years with no problems, and learning all kinds of things. I got a chance to work with Big Bobby and Tuck Fletcher and Cajun Mary, so I learned from the best. And then this guy shows up—he starts flirting with me and it’s all in fun.” She frowned and gripped her knees tighter. “He seemed so normal, and I’d let my radar down because I’d been on the straight-and-narrow path for a long time. I’d forgotten how slick some guys can be. He was going to meet me for dinner, but then he called and said his car stalled near the parking lot of my apartment complex and it would be a while for them to tow it. Could he come up and wait? I said sure.” She bit her lip, remembering. “He slipped something into my glass of tea. When I woke up the next morning, he was gone.”
Drew didn’t just look mad. He looked furious. “Why didn’t you call it in? The guy’s a criminal.”
If Josie could have tucked her chin any deeper into her shirt, she would have, but it was impossible. “I couldn’t face those inquiries. And if they caught him and brought him to trial, then I’d have to face how stupid I was in college. They bring up everything, you know. They’d have brought up my past, and made it public knowledge. They shouldn’t, but they do.” She raised her eyes and faced Drew candidly. “I couldn’t go through all that again. I’d come so far. I just wanted to put it behind me. For the whole stupid thing to be over.”
“But it wasn’t.”
A tear slipped down her cheek. She dashed it away, but not before another one joined the first. “Three weeks later, I discovered I was pregnant.”
Drew had been jotting things down. He stopped.
“I had a little girl no one knows about. Her name is Addie. Adeline,” she added. “I worked with a very nice agency down there. I was determined that my child would have the best possible chance at life. I wanted her to grow up untarnished by the circumstances surrounding her creation. No child deserves to have that kind of baggage weighing them down, do they?”
“No. Of course not. The agency arranged everything?”
She nodded. “I wanted a closed adoption so I wouldn’t be tempted to check up on things, but I said I could be contacted for life-and-death situations. Two and a half years later, I was contacted by the adoptive mother, Ginger O’Neill. Addie had tumors on her liver. She needed a transplant and they couldn’t find a good match. They tested me and I was a match. I pretended I was taking a winter vacation from the restaurant. I flew to Emory, had the procedure done and saved Addie’s life.”
“All with no one knowing what was going on. That must have been incredibly difficult to go through alone.” Drew sat back. “You’re an amazing woman, Josie.”
She held up her hands, palms out, to stop him from saying more. “I did what any mother would do. But here’s the problem, Drew. The project manager for the Carrington Hotel going up next door? He has my daughter with him.”
“Here?”
Josie nodded, grimly “He came over here today to offer advice, and Addie climbed out of his car.”
“A lot of kids look alike, Josie.”
She handed over her phone with the obituary page highlighted. “Her mother died. Her adoptive father is out of the picture, but I don’t know how or why. This uncle, Jacob Weatherly, has my daughter with him and I need to know what’s going on because a child isn’t like a piece of real estate. They’re not a commodity to be bargained with or handed around. They’re people, and the deal I struck with the adoption agency and the O’Neills has been broken.”
“Don’t get ahead of yourself, here.”
She stuck out her chin, stubborn as ever.
