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“I wasn’t living here when you went missing, but I remember hearing the story,” Bree said. “It was a sad thing all around. Annie’s parents wore haunted expressions for as long as I knew them, and they spoke of their search for their missing daughter. That incident never seemed relegated to the past. That should bring you comfort. And you can’t blame Jon for being cautious. He doesn’t want Annie’s hopes dashed if the DNA doesn’t come back with a match.”
“It will match.”
Bree turned her head and locked gazes with Taylor, who put as much confidence in her expression as she could. It had to match. If it didn’t, it meant Sean had lied to her. It meant Taylor was still rudderless and without an anchoring identity. She couldn’t bear that, not when she was certain of who she was. Once she’d seen that picture of herself as a child, she’d had a goal for the first time in her life. And it felt good to have direction.
Bree stood and shouted at the children, “Don’t go out any farther! Come back this way.” When they complied, she dropped back down to the towel. “Do you remember the cabin where Annie lives now?”
That was a sticking point. Taylor didn’t remember much about the inside of the cottage. She remembered the water, the pier where they watched the loons, and a playground. The playground in her memory was different from the one at the marina now, but she’d heard it had been redone a few years back. That had to be the only reason it wasn’t familiar.
“I remember it,” she lied. “Everyone needs to get used to the idea that I’m Sarah.”
“Do you think of yourself as Sarah?”
“Not yet, but I will once a few people have the courage to use the name.”
“I’m sure Annie is hopeful.”
Taylor let out an unladylike snort. “She’d like to deep-six me again. Then she wouldn’t have to share any of the property or money. It would be all hers.”
“Money has never meant much to Annie. She’d gladly give anything she owned to have her sister back.”
Taylor didn’t answer when it was clear she’d never convince Bree of Annie’s part in the kidnapping. Her one vivid memory was of an older sister’s blue eyes in the water as she did nothing to help. That couldn’t be a false memory. It just couldn’t.
But as much as she reassured herself, she realized the imprint could have been a movie she watched as a child. That’s what her mother had always said when she mentioned that specific memory. One thing Taylor knew for certain—the woman who raised her wasn’t her real mother. There were too many holes in Taylor’s early life. Too many missing spots. Like what had happened to her favorite stuffed animal, Cocoa the kitty. Annie’s face had changed when Taylor pulled that name out. She wasn’t exactly sure how she remembered it. She hadn’t consciously thought of it, but the memory sprang from the shadows as soon as Annie asked the question.
But thinking about it now, she remembered that Kylie had an old plushy cat named Cocoa. Was it Sarah’s favorite toy?
Taylor had to cling to the small clues she had to her identity. She had purpose when she came here, and she didn’t intend to lose her focus. Someone had to pay for what had happened to her. While she didn’t want Kylie to suffer, it might be necessary.
Six
The summer festival was in full swing along Rock Harbor’s streets. The booths of vendors hawking homemade candles, essential oils, paintings, and Finnish art lined Houghton Street with offshoots of fewer stands branching out along Pepin Street and Kitchigami Street. Down along Negaunee Street past Bree’s lighthouse, Annie knew she’d find displays of agate jewelry, pottery, copper items, and thimbleberry jam. People dressed in Finnish clothing milled around as they prepared for the parade. The town had been settled by Finns back in the copper-mining days, and it still held the flavor of its residents.
It was a week Kylie looked forward to every year, and Annie had already let her daughter burn off energy at the park bouncy house and playground before they perused the festival offerings. The aroma ofpanukakkuaandpullablending with the rich scent of beef pasties made her mouth water, and even Milo lifted his nose and sniffed at the air.
Kylie had a plea in her blue eyes. “Couldn’t we have panukakkua just this once, Mommy? It’s not like I can’t ever eat gluten for the rest of my life, right?”
“Honey, you have celiac disease. That’s never going to go away. But I’ll get the ingredients and see what I can do about making a gluten-free version, okay?”
Tears flooded Kylie’s eyes, and her mouth went mutinous. “Maybe some Fazer chocolate?”
“That we can do.” Annie steered Kylie toward Nicholls’ Finnish Imports. Anu carried all things Finnish, and the chocolate was one of her hottest-selling items.
Annie glanced down at Milo, who trotted along at Kylie’s heels. “You have a very good puppy. I can’t believe how quickly he’s learning.”
The words were no sooner out of her mouth than the puppy shot forward, yanking the leash from Kylie’s hand. He barked and ran to sniff noses with Samson, who lay at Bree’s feet as she stood outside Nicholls’ talking to Anu Nicholls and Naomi O’Reilly, her best friend. Milo crawled on top of his father with a blissful expression in his dark eyes.
Annie and Kylie ran to retrieve Milo before he took a notion to dart out into the street. “Well, he was doing great until he saw Samson,” Annie said as Kylie chased Milo.
Bree bent and rubbed Milo’s ears. “Good boy,” she crooned. “He’s missed us.” In her thirties, her five-three frame was compact but muscular from her search-and-rescue career.
Pink-cheeked and breathless, Kylie reached Annie and the dogs. “Bad Milo.” The puppy ignored Kylie’s scolding tone and burrowed deeper into Samson’s fur. Kylie scooped him up and held him until he quit struggling to get back to his father. “Oh no, you don’t.”
The puppy subsided against her chest and whined. Anu moved close enough to rub his ears. Milo’s whine grew louder, and he lunged for Anu, who caught him before he could wiggle out of Kylie’s arms.
“What’s gotten into you, little fellow?” Anu tried to hang onto the wiggly body as he tried to move down her chest. Once Milo reached Anu’s belly, his whine grew even louder, and he licked at her stomach. “What on earth has gotten into you?”
Annie took the puppy and cradled him in her arms. “All this excitement. Settle down, Milo.” The puppy continued to try to lunge at Anu. “Maybe I should take him to the park and settle him down.”
