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“Thank you,” I repeated and watched him leave.
I was still on break, so I locked the door behind him and sank back into the chair. For a long moment, I stared at the thick manila envelope in the center of the chipped white table.
I’d wanted change. I’d thought, maybe, it would be getting a dog, splurging on a new wardrobe or partying it up at a club on Friday nights. Not this. Holy crap. Who could have even imagined news like what had just been delivered. Honestly, I was immobilized by the shock of it.
My breathing sped up as my numbness wore off, and I realized I was shaking, my chest tight as each of those rapid breaths wracked over me. My hands tremoring, I reached for the information Mr. Reed had left with me, material that would forever change everything I’d thought I’d known for the first twenty-five years of my life.
I’d said I’d wait, but I couldn’t. Curiosity that had always gotten me in trouble refused to be put on hold. My parents punished for that, too. I was a girl. I wasn’t allowed tothink. My mother and father… Even with what I now knew, I couldn’tstopcalling them my parents. They’d raised me. For all I knew, they’d adopted me in good faith.
This explained so much of why I looked entirely different from them, my aunts and uncles and cousins.
I was different. I was like the ugly duckling raised by those who weren’t my own.
Biting my lip, I flicked open the brad holding shut the envelope’s flap then ran my finger under the edge to break the glue seal. When I dumped the contents into a pile on the table, my gaze focused on the picture on the top.
It was me. Only…itwasn’tme. It so, so wasn’t. This was the glamorous woman I’d always wanted to be—beautiful and exciting. Put together and confident. The person staring out at me didn’t look bookish. She didn’t have an ounce of proverbial librarian in her. I glanced down at my brown pants and cream button-down with tiny, widely spaced brown stripes. I might as well shop at the Librarians R Us store.
I mean…Iwasa librarian, but did I have to be such a stereotype?
No. No, I did not.
Setting my jaw, I reached for the square white envelope beneath the photo. My first name, Sariah, was scrolled on the front, but it wasn’t my last name, Smythe, next to it.
This was addressed to a different Sariah. The Sariah I could be: Sariah McPherson.
McPherson? Well, that might explain the red in my hair. This pile of information might explain everything I’d question for so long.
You are invited to the wedding of
Tanya McPherson
to
Ivan Daniels
In Sizzle Beach, GA
I scanned over the dates. Next week. I wasn’t sure how I’d make it happen, butSizzle Beach, here I come.
A knock at the door jerked my head upright, and I looked over at the window. My boss, Hadrian, stood there tapping at his watch and scowling at me. Yeah, yeah, my break was over. He hadn’t been thrilled when Mr. Reed had shown up and insisted on meeting with me. Now, he’d decided my break time was over. He was always in my business. Hastily, I shoved the contents of the envelope back inside and stood. I tucked the packet securely under my arm after I fastened it. Hadrian wouldn’t be shoving his nose intothisbusiness, especially since I wasn’t sure howIeven felt about it.
All I did know was, next week, I wouldn’t be sitting at my desk in the library. I’d have my toes buried in the sand, a drink in hand, while I got to know these people, my family—my new, exciting family.
Huh. I guess dreams really could come true, no matter howout therethey were.
Chapter Two
~ Sariah ~
Hadrian didn’t take my vacation request well. To say he interrogated me would be an understatement. I’d told him as little as possible, trying to keep him out of my business.
“Who was that guy?” he demanded, on my heels as I headed back to my desk in the children’s area of the library. He followed me into the elevator that would take me to the third floor, and I rolled my eyes in frustration.
“A detective.”
“A detective?” he echoed. “Did you witness a crime or something? You didn’t get hit by some cyber-hacking or identity theft, did you? Are you okay?”
“No, none of that,” I replied. Hadrian was as high-strung as they got. And since I’d started working here, he’d appointed himself as my personal protector—more so than a boss should ever be. “He was just bringing me some info. I have a wedding to attend in Georgia. I know it’s short notice, but I need next week off.”
