A Reluctant Enterprise Page 24

  “Are you going to try to find him?”

  “Yes, I think so. If he’s still married, I can be discreet. I just have so many questions.”

  “Then let’s get the ball rolling and find a good investigator. I don’t think it’ll be terribly difficult, as he was in the service.”

  “All right.” Smiling through tears, Aeron nodded. With Sylvie by her side she was ready to take on any challenge. “Let’s do it.” She remained in Sylvie’s arms for a long while and kept her mother’s diary against her heart. These last few months had been all about the three of them, one way or another. Fate had woven them together in a way that now seemed almost magical, and Aeron vowed to herself from now on to think of Maeve only as Mom.

  Epilogue

  “It’s here. The full report.” Sylvie came up on the porch and waved a thick envelope. “Want me to give you some privacy while you read?”

  Aeron sat up in her deck chair and shook her head emphatically. “No. Are you kidding me? No. You have to be here or I won’t open it. After the private investigator told me my father’s name or, as he put it, ‘the man who with ninety percent certainty is the man who fathered you,’ I’ve debated what I’d do once I got the dossier. Never in a million years did I ponder if you’d be here with me at this exact moment. I’m not doing this alone.”

  “Shh. Calm down.” Sylvie sat on the wide armrest of Aeron’s chair. “All right. Want to open it?”

  “Okay.” Aeron’s fingers trembled as she ripped open the envelope and pulled out a half-inch-thick folder. She opened it and scanned the first page. “As we already knew, his name is Colonel Joshua Scott Baldwin, retired. He’s sixty-one years old and lives in…now, that can’t be right? That’s too much. Too much.” Aeron read the words out loud. “Colonel Baldwin retired six years ago, and after his wife of thirty-one years passed away he settled in his hometown of Albany. Sylvie! Albany.”

  “That’s an amazing coincidence, darling.” Sylvie wrapped her arm around Aeron and pulled her close. “Anything else?”

  “Before, Joshua was married to a Lisa Iverson Baldwin, and she died in 2010. They have two sons, Joshua Scott, Jr. and James. James is married and has a baby girl.” Tears ran down Aeron’s face. “I have brothers. I even have a niece. All this time, I had—I had a family. I know Maeve was protecting him, and I’m sure, herself, but still…am I selfish to wish I’d been included in that family?”

  “Not at all. Actually, I’d say it’s your right to be included. You were the innocent child in all this.”

  “So were Joshua, Jr. and James. They might have hated having a half-sister.”

  “You can’t know that. They might have loved having a sister. Does it say their ages?”

  “Let me see.” Aeron ran her finger down the text. “Yes. Joshua, Jr. is thirty-two and James is…thirty.” Curling into Sylvie’s side, Aeron wept. “Do you think he loved my mom as much as she loved him?” Aeron accepted a tissue from Sylvie and wiped at her eyes and nose.

  “I do. He must have been totally taken with her if even half of what she writes in her diary is true. He seems like a man who got caught up in a whirlwind passion with a girl who claimed she was older than she was. We know from her diary and your birth certificate that she never told him. What branch of the military was he in?”

  “The marines. He flew F-14 Tomcats, it says. Stationed in Norfolk most of his career.” Aeron sobbed mutedly. “And his call sign was Aero.”

  “Oh, darling.” Sylvie pressed her lips against Aeron’s. “Of course it was.”

  “Maeve probably knew that if she told him about the pregnancy and her true age, his career would be over. It might have been the most unselfish thing she ever did, giving him up. Not fair to you, though. And by the way, that’s the first time I’ve heard you refer to Maeve as your mom.” Sylvie kissed the top of Aeron’s head.

  “I did? I guess so.”

  “So, any thoughts what to do?” Sylvie asked gently.

  “I’m going to read this through properly and then we’ll see.”

  *

  Two days later, Sylvie sat on the couch by the fireplace, listening with one earbud tucked in to the latest report from the new CEO in Sweden. Next to her, Aeron sat shifting her cell phone back and forth between her hands. Sylvie knew Aeron needed to take her time and decide on her own how to proceed with all the new information she’d gained.

  Then Aeron pressed a symbol on the smartphone and lifted it to her ear. She twirled a lock of hair between the fingers of her free hand. “Hi. I hope I have the right number. I’m looking for Colonel Joshua Scott Baldwin, who used to be stationed in the marines at Norfolk?”

  The person at the other end said something. Aeron closed her eyes hard.

  “Hello, Colonel Baldwin. My name is Aeron DeForest. I believe you knew my mother, Maeve DeForest, back in 1988?”

  Sylvie took Aeron’s hand and stopped the audio file in her laptop.

  “Thank you, Josh. Please call me Aeron.” Aeron kept her gaze on Sylvie’s and took a deep breath. “I’m glad you remember my mother. The thing is…I was born in April 1989 and have reason to think you’re my father, Josh.” Curling closer to Sylvie, she looked up into her eyes. Sylvie met her gaze unwaveringly and transmitted all the love she felt for the amazing and courageous woman in her arms. Aeron listened to what the man said and didn’t interrupt as he kept talking for several moments.

  And then she melted into Sylvie’s embrace and smiled.

  About the Author

  Gun Brooke resides in the countryside in Sweden with her very patient family. A retired neonatal intensive care nurse, she now writes full time, only rarely taking a break to create websites for herself or others and to do computer graphics. Gun writes both romances and sci-fi.

  Website http://www.gbrooke-fiction.com

  Facebook http://www.facebook.com/gunbach

  Twitter http://twitter.com/redheadgrrl1960

  Tumblr http://gunbrooke.tumblr.com/

  Books Available from Bold Strokes Books

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