Page 64 of Buried Secrets

“Dr. Whitacker was the one who talked to me about it initially. He confirmed the pregnancy. Very kind, very understanding. He told me he’d helped tons of other girls in similar situations.”

Matt made another note. An administrator and physician team running illegal adoptions could explain a lot about what had happened at the mansion. “Did you ever see any official paperwork? Documentation about the adoption agency?”

“No. They said most of it was handled by lawyers in England.” Marissa shrugged. “I was young and scared. I didn’t know what questions to ask.”

“What happened after?”

“Mr. Holloway let me keep working in the kitchen while I figured out what to do next. Really by that time it was just cooking dinners for him and Dr. Whitaker, so I took another job at the Harbor Inn kitchen.” She trailed off. “I used the money to buy the bakery. After that I met my husband, and we had Ryan a year later. I wanted a child quickly. I missed… I wanted…”

Matt looked up from his notes. “Mrs. Lane, do you remember the researcher who came to interview you? The British woman?”

Marissa became more alert. “Kaitlin.”

Matt opened the folder again, revealing Kaitlin’s information from the genetic report. “According to the DNA analysis, she’s Ryan’s half sibling.”

The silence was absolute except for the rain and the soft murmur of the television. Marissa stared at the papers, her face cycling through disbelief, recognition, and finally, overwhelming emotion.

“My daughter,” she whispered.

“She’s been searching for you her entire life,” Matt said quietly. “That’s why she came to the island.”

“I knew.” Marissa’s voice was thick with tears. “The moment I saw her. Those eyes. She has my eyes. Ryan’s eyes.” She looked up at Matt. “Does she… does she know about me?”

“I told her tonight.”

“What did she say?”

Matt remembered Kaitlin’s face, the way she’d crumpled. “She was overwhelmed.”

“Does she hate me?” The question came out small, broken.

Matt considered his response carefully. Despite his anger at Kaitlin’s lies, he couldn’t ignore the pain in Marissa’s voice. “She’s spent her whole life wondering why you gave her up. I think she just wants answers.”

“I think about her every day,” Marissa whispered. “Especially after I had Ryan. Every milestone he reached, I wondered if she was doing the same things. Her first steps, her first day of school, everything.”

“Ryan knows about her?”

“I told him a few days after I met Kaitlin. Something about seeing her made me realize I couldn’t keep that secret anymore.” Marissa smiled through her tears. “He was excited. He’s always wanted a sister.”

Matt closed the folder. “I think Kaitlin would very much like to meet you. When she’s ready.”

“Do you really think so?”

Matt thought about the hope he’d seen in Kaitlin’s eyes. “Yes.”

Kaitlin had lied to him, and that betrayal still burned and would for a while. But sitting in Marissa Lane’s modest living room, listening to a mother’s guilt and grief, he was beginning to understand the desperation that had driven those lies.

The rain was still falling when he stepped back outside, washing the island clean for another day.

Chapter 18

The rain hadn’t stopped since Matt left. Kaitlin stood at her kitchen window, watching droplets race down the glass like tears she couldn’t seem to stop shedding. Sleep was impossible. Every time she closed her eyes, she saw Marissa Lane’s face from their interview—those searching green eyes that matched her own.

The way she’d looked at her. She had to have realized who she was.

And finally, Kaitlin felt she had someone to blame. To blame for her adoptive parents dying, for her life in London fraying into shambles, for Matt tossing her aside when they’d finally found something between them. Kaitlin could finally point her finger and say it’s her fault.

The cottage felt suffocating suddenly. Before she could talk herself out of it, Kaitlin grabbed her keys and headed for the door. The rain soaked through her jacket immediately, but she barely noticed as she climbed into her rental car.