Lost & Found
Page 5

“I know.” She cut him off and sat down on the bed. “I’m fine, Daddy. I want to make this work.”
She heard his disapproving growl again.
“Why did you have to leave Kentucky? There are lots of jobs here, too.”
She wondered if he was really on to her. He was quick like that, but he hadn’t said a word—yet.
“I just feel like this is where I need to be. Listen, I’ll call you tomorrow with the address.”
“Do you need some money?”
She smiled. He was always practical, that was for sure.
“Well…since you asked.”
Eduardo had given her the key to the apartment and told her that anytime she wanted to bring her stuff over she could. He’d have his uncle do a run through on everything and make sure the apartment was in perfect working order. He assured her they’d sign the lease in the morning.
She had to admit, the moment she laid eyes on Eduardo Keller, despite his very sexy charm, his dark eyes, and that low mesmerizing voice, she’d hated him.
He’d nearly ruined everything she was trying to do.
But as she looked around the basement apartment, she realized fate had a funny way of presenting itself. If only finding her birth mother would be as easy.
She was on her own there. She couldn’t afford anymore investigators. She’d have to use what information she had, and at least she knew she’d landed in the right spot. If she got in good enough with Eduardo Keller, she’d soon enough meet whomever she was supposed to meet who would lead her to her mother.
Then it occurred to her that maybe the path didn’t lead to her mother, but maybe to her father.
She felt her shoulders tense. That hadn’t crossed her mind, and she wondered why it hadn’t. It had all been about a birth mother. She hadn’t really given too much thought on her birth father—but there had to be one.
Darcy turned as she heard steps on the stairs, and she realized she’d left the door open so she could bring in her few bags.
An older gentleman stood at the door looking in.
“You Darcy?”
“I am.”
“John Forrester, Ed’s uncle.”
She had to process for a moment and then realized that Eduardo would be called Ed by his family.
“Nice to meet you. Come in.”
“Place still looks the same,” he said as he untied his boots and slipped them off by the door, then laid his jacket atop them. “Ed wants me to just check and make sure it’s all in order for you.”
“Thank you.”
John started with the windows and making sure the seals were good. He double checked the door in the kitchen that would go up to the house, she figured. He ran water in the kitchen and bathroom. Everything that he could possibly look at, he’d done.
“I think you’re set,” he said.
“So you’re the uncle who lived here and fixed up the apartment?”
“I am.”
“Eduardo has mentioned his family a lot already. It seems you are all very important to him.”
John slipped his feet into his boots and then knelt down to tie them.
“The Keller family is a very tight-knit family. We fill two rooms with tables come Thanksgiving.” He chuckled and stood back up. “My wife and I are the only two without children, but her sister and brothers made up for that.” He slipped on his jacket.
“Do you all live in Tennessee?”
“For now. I’m sure Christian,” he pointed up, “will have to leave to play major league someday. Clara, she’s almost too talented to stay here, but then again,” he shrugged, “she’s a singer and this is Nashville. Avery has citizenship in France, too. You never know where she’ll land. And someday, I assume Tyler and Spencer will take over the empire.”
“What empire?”
“Benson, Benson, and Hart.”
“Oh!” Things were quickly falling into place. She hadn’t realized that Eduardo was family—nepotism was an interesting thing. When he’d said his uncle had started him working on the sites, she didn’t think that uncle had anything to do with Benson, Benson, and Hart.
A ruined blouse and a spilled coffee might have landed her in just the right spot. The nephew to the owner was her boss. Surely he could help her find out anything and everything about the people who worked for the company.
John looked around. “Can I help you move anything in?”
Darcy wrinkled up her nose. “I don’t have anything.”
“I beg your pardon? What are you going to sleep on?”
She shrugged. “The floor, I guess. Things moved a bit faster than I thought.” She wrung her hands together. “My father is sending some money to help me get settled. So for a few days I’ll be fine.”
John grumbled. “Are you sticking around for a few hours?”
She smiled. “I’ll be home all night.”
“I’ll be back,” he said as he turned and walked away.
Darcy shut the door behind her. What did that mean?
Two hours later, Darcy found out what John Forrester had meant when she opened the door and found him and Ed standing just beyond it with a mattress.
“What’s this?” she asked as she stepped back.
John shook his head. “You can’t sleep on the floor. That has never flown with me.”
He moved past her carrying one end of the mattress and Eduardo had the other. They walked through the living room and straight to the bedroom.
“Hi,” another voice said from the door as the men passed through. “I’m Arianna, John’s wife and Ed’s aunt.”
“Darcy.”
“Nice to meet you.” Arianna looked at her with that same familiar glint in her eye as Christian had, but then continued, “I hope you don’t mind us barging in. John is a bit of a caretaker. He said you didn’t have anything, so he rounded up some items to get you settled. These are for you.” She handed her a bag of groceries and a set of sheets.
“I can’t believe you’d all do this for me.”
“The Keller family stands by each other. Ed hired you and must think enough to do so. So consider yourself one of us.”
That stuck in her chest. Someone considered her part of their family after only a few hours?
She didn’t want to cry, but it was coming.