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Mary paused, heaving a harsh sigh. “She didn’t have to. When I arrived at the extension office I discovered it was already closed for the day, so I went to Vanna’s private apartment in the back and knocked on the door.” She grimaced. “There was no answer, but I could hear voices inside. I knocked again, and Vanna finally pulled open the door far enough to tell me to go away. She was wrapped in a sheet and her hair was a mess. It didn’t take a genius to know there was a man in there with her.”
Kaden jerked, his lips parting at his sheer stupidity. Why the hell hadn’t he considered the possibility that Vanna was in a romantic relationship during her time in Pike?
“A boyfriend?” Lia asked, sounding equally startled.
Mary held up her hands, as if warning them not to jump to conclusions.
“I’m not sure it was a traditional boyfriend,” she told them. “At the time I was concerned because Vanna never had an interest in relationships. At least not the sort of relationships most girls her age enjoyed.”
Kaden waited for the soft words to continue. When she remained silent, he sent her an impatient frown. “What does that mean?”
“She preferred picking up guys in bars, or better yet, having affairs with married men.” Mary grimaced. “There were one or two incidents at the college that had to be covered up.”
Kaden nodded, not bothering to probe for details. It was obvious that discussing Vanna’s poor choices was painful for the older woman.
“Did she give you the name of the man in her apartment?”
“She didn’t say anything. She slammed the door in my face.”
Frustration flared through Kaden. Trying to discover the truth of what happened to Vanna was always one step forward and two step back.
“I don’t suppose you ever discovered who it was?”
“No.” There was a tense pause before Mary cleared her throat. “But I know what happened to the relationship.”
Lia leaned forward. “What?”
The older woman surged to her feet, as if she couldn’t sit still a second longer. Then, pacing toward the nearest window, she gazed absently at the waving Santa next to her driveway.
“I’ve never told anyone what I’m about to share with you. Vanna swore me to secrecy, and I honored that promise. Even after she disappeared.” Slowly, she turned back to face them. “Now that I know she can no longer be hurt . . .”
“It might be important,” Kaden assured her.
Mary slowly nodded in agreement. “Vanna unexpectedly showed up in my office two weeks before her internship was scheduled to end. She said she was done and refused to go back to Pike.”
“Did something happen?” Kaden asked.
“It took a while for me to convince her to tell me what was wrong, but she finally admitted the truth.” Mary gripped her hands together, her face flushed. “She was pregnant.”
* * *
Lia’s breath hissed through her clenched teeth, as if the air was being squeezed from her lungs. At the same time, the earth seemed to shift beneath her feet.
It wasn’t just shock. It was the realization that they had been so focused on Vanna’s work as an EPA inspector and her nasty habit of making extra income with blackmail, it hadn’t occurred to her that her connection to Pike might be far more intimate.
“Pregnant,” she breathed, her gaze locked on Mary’s tense expression. “Did she have the baby?”
“She did. Honestly, I was shocked,” Mary confessed. “It was obvious the relationship with the child’s father was over, and Vanna had always been compulsively obsessed with her career. I couldn’t believe she would be willing to risk her future with a baby she didn’t want.”
Lia couldn’t believe it either. Raising a baby alone when you were still a college student would be a daunting task. And everything she’d heard about Vanna Zimmerman indicated she didn’t have a nurturing bone in her body. Not to mention the fact that no one seemed to know about the child. Not even her fiancé.
There was only one potential explanation.
“Did she give the baby up for adoption?” Lia asked.
Mary hesitated, her jaw tightening as if she was struggling against her instinctive urge to protect Vanna, who’d obviously been more than just another student to her.
“That’s what she told me,” Mary finally conceded.
