The Fountain of Infinite Wishes (Dare River Book 5) Read online

  “Depending on how things go and what we find, we’ll be in constant communication. If you need to reach me, I’m pretty much available day or night. Lucky for me, I don’t need much sleep.”

  The thoughts that came into Shelby’s head had nothing to do with Vander working a case to find their daddy. She imagined showing up at his front door in nothing but a trench coat. Goodness gracious, she really needed to stop watching murder mystery romances on TV. When she came back to the conversation, Vander was looking at her with that quiet intensity of his. Her mouth parted, and for a moment, she could have sworn he’d read her mind. Then he shifted his attention back to Sadie.

  “And how much do you charge?” Sadie asked.

  “Two hundred dollars an hour, plus expenses if there are any,” he told them, handing them each a sheet of paper. “Here’s my fee schedule so we’re all on the same page.”

  His presentation was simple and flawless. Shelby felt Sadie waiting for her to make eye contact and knew her sister was worried about the money. Even though Sadie worked at a craft store and lived simply, she’d wanted to contribute to the cause. Shelby had agreed, but would be covering the lion’s share.

  “If you’d like to confer a moment,” Vander said, standing again. “I can give you a few minutes.”

  Shelby suppressed her surprise. He obviously didn’t have anything confidential in his office, or he’d never have offered to leave them alone here. Or maybe he had them pegged for trustworthy people. Most people assumed so, with their mama being a preacher and all. Then again, he might have a camera in his office. He was a P.I., after all. Gracious, she was overthinking things.

  “Thank you for the offer to confer,” Shelby said, knowing Sadie would do better if they chatted. “A moment would be lovely.”

  He gave them that killer smile of his, as if he’d enjoyed every drop of sugar she’d poured into her Southern drawl. “Ladies, would you like anything else to drink?”

  “No thank you, Vander,” Sadie said, smiling at him as he turned and left them alone.

  “I can handle his fees, Sadie,” Shelby told her the moment the door closed.

  “I didn’t expect it to be so expensive,” her sister said. “I guess I should have if Gail and all those politicians and celebrities use him. He’s really nice, don’t you think? I didn’t expect that.”

  For some reason, Shelby hadn’t either. She’d known he was handsome and successful, but Vander Montgomery also knew how to listen and manage client relationships better than many of the professionals she worked with. It only made him more attractive in her eyes.

  “Do you think he can find Daddy?” Sadie asked.

  Shelby took in the restrained power emanating from the room and nodded. “If anyone can, he can. But I think we’re asking the wrong question. I rather hate admitting it, but Vander was right to press us about what we expect to find. Are we really prepared to learn things we’re better off not knowing? I got mad at him, but really I…just got mad, is all. I feel like I’m poking a stick in my own hornet’s nest, you know?”

  “I know exactly what you mean,” Sadie said softly. “I get angry, but it also makes me sad.”

  Suddenly Shelby wasn’t sure what they should do. Vander had dredged up all the anger she’d shoved into a box a long time ago. Their daddy had abandoned their family. Their mama hadn’t really ever explained it satisfactorily. Maybe she couldn’t. But maybe Vander was right. Maybe Mama was being secretive to protect them.

  “We were taught that pursuing the truth is always the best course of action.” Sadie made a face. “Even though we weren’t given that truth.”

  “Maybe Mama doesn’t really know why Daddy left,” Shelby said, as much to convince herself as her younger sister. “Maybe this would help her find closure too.”

  “She must suspect something,” Sadie said, her voice raising. “A good man doesn’t just up and leave his family without a word.”

  “No, you’re right.” That part of the puzzle had never made sense. If Mama had said he’d had a drinking problem or been in trouble with the law, Shelby might have understood. But no excuse had ever been given. He had been there one day, gone the next. That was all they knew.

  “I sure wish Mama would answer our questions,” Sadie said in exasperation. “It would save us a lot of money and heartache.”

  “But Mama hasn’t said a word about him in all these years, even though she knows it’s caused us heartache.” Shelby felt her diaphragm tighten. “I don’t see that changing.”

  “Neither do I,” Sadie said. “And that scares me. Mama preaches about talking about things so they can heal, and all her silence has done is allow this hurt to fester and grow.”

  Truer words had never been spoken. Shelby didn’t like to think about what it must cost their Mama not to live her values. Or why. In fact, it scared her spitless.

  “What do we do if Susannah asks us about this again?” Sadie looked over her shoulder at the door to see if Vander had returned. “I’m terrible at hiding things.”

  “She’s too happy with Jake to ask,” Shelby said. “Besides, I think she’s going to be an ostrich about this.”

  “But what if we find something?” Sadie asked, tears filling her eyes. “What if we find Daddy? Don’t we have to tell her?”

  Shelby’s heartbeat ramped up, and she pressed her hand to her chest, taking deep breaths to quell its urgency.

  “We’ll tell J.P. first and see what he thinks is the best course of action,” she said when she was able to speak. “Like we agreed.”

  “And Mama?” Sadie asked, wringing her hands now.

  “If we all agree—and I mean even Susannah—we tell Mama we love her, but we needed answers.”

  Sadie got a little more teary-eyed at that. “I’m just going to pray God can soften this whole situation. We don’t need any more hurt coming up from the past.”

  Yet, they both needed to find out the truth—or at least try to—in order to move forward with their lives. “So we hire Vander.”

  Her sister reached for her hand. “Yes. I still want to contribute what I can.”

  “You really don’t need to,” Shelby said, patting her hand. “You know Gail pays me well.”

  “He’s my daddy too,” Sadie said with a stern nod. “I want to contribute something.”

  Since Shelby knew better than to hurt anyone’s pride—especially her sister’s—she smiled. “I’ll take them in baked goods and crafts.”

  “I can make you a quilt!” The corners of her sister’s mouth tipped up.

  “Sadie, you’re always giving your quilts away. You should keep one for yourself.” In fact, her sister usually thought of others before herself, just like Mama had taught them they should.

  “I know you’re right, but there’s always someone who could use a quilt. Besides, the only reason I got good at them was because I made so many for the people at church. Now, I get to sell them at the craft shop. It’s a blessing. Every quilt I make is stitched together with love.”

  Yes, every swatch her sister selected was done with intention. Her quilts were all the more special for it.

  “I can make you peach jam too since we’re just coming up on peach season,” Sadie continued. J.P.’s wedding had been three weeks ago on the first Saturday of June, but because Tammy loved peaches so much, he’d found some early Eastern ones and asked Sadie to make a peach pie for the rehearsal dinner. It had been delicious.

  Out of all of them, Sadie was the homiest. She’d even grown tomatoes for salsa last summer, and as if that hadn’t been effort enough, she’d packaged jars for everyone in the family with hand-written labels and artful bows. She was a good sister to have around.

  “Done,” Shelby said, and they shook on it.

  They hugged each other. The door opened, causing them to break apart.

  Vander stuck his head inside. “Are you finished conferring?”

  “Yes,” Sadie said brightly as he walked toward them.

  He sat o
n the edge of his desk again and gave them that compelling smile. Her reaction to him was completely normal, she decided—the man was a chick magnet. His charm must come in handy with his job. People talked to nice, well-dressed handsome men—especially women.

  “We’d like to hire you,” Shelby said, giving him what she hoped was also a professional smile. “Thank you for letting us talk it through.”

  “This is a big decision. I want you to be one hundred percent sure you want to move forward.”

  “We do,” Sadie said, nodding.

  He gave them a measured look. “Let’s go ahead and sign a service agreement so I can get started. You can tell me your father’s last known address so I can include it at the bottom.”

  Sitting down at his desk, he typed for a minute, prompting Shelby when he needed the address, and then printed off the service agreement. He handed it to her when he was finished. Sure enough, their family’s last address together loomed large at the bottom of the page.

  They’d lived in that house for only a few more months after their daddy’s abandonment, because Mama hadn’t been able to afford the mortgage on her own. Shelby had been too young when they’d moved to miss the house on Meadow Grove Street, but she’d driven by it multiple times as an adult. It was something she’d never shared with her siblings, but every time she did it, she imagined what their life might have been if they’d remained whole. How she’d imagine Daddy pushing her on the tire swing. Or J.P. playing in a sandbox as a more carefree little boy.

  Shelby wished she had more real memories of that simple white colonial house with the black front door and matching black shutters, but like everything else from that time in her life, she only knew it from pictures and her flights of imagination.

  Sadie rummaged in her purse. “Do you need a photo of Daddy?” she asked, handing him the one of their family taken two months before he’d left.

  Vander took the photo and studied it. “You have his likeness, Shelby.” Then he locked gazes with her. “The eyebrow line is the same. And the mouth. Your bottom lip is…full…like his.”

  “Is it?” she asked, a little breathless. “I mean, do I…look like him?”

  Sadie shot her a look, which she ignored. She needed to pull it together, but since no one ever talked about their daddy or so much as brought out a picture, she’d never been told she resembled him. J.P. resembled him more than the rest of them, not that the McGuiness siblings talked about it much. In fact, this photo was the only one they had of that time. Sadie had snuck it out of a photo album when she was a junior in high school and put it in her bedside stand. If Mama ever knew, she’d never said anything.

  It rattled the heck out of Shelby to hear she looked like Daddy. Besides, Vander was staring at her with such intensity. Talking about her full bottom lip…

  “You do. From this photo, Sadie takes more after your mother.”

  “Yes,” her sister agreed, and Shelby wondered if she was longing to hear if any of her features resembled their daddy too. Those physical attributes were all they had of him—so far.

  “The database I start with doesn’t have any photos,” Vander said. “I’ll just plug in your father’s name and last known address and see where things go from there. Sometimes I can use the local tax office to trace someone, but that’s another step. If I end up needing to do some door-to-door visits at former residences, the photo might come in handy, although he’s older now.”

  How many residences had their daddy had in the last twenty-plus years? There was so much they didn’t know.

  “This is a pretty precious photo, I imagine,” Vander said. “You two have a beautiful family. Would you like to keep it with you until I need it? Copies of photos aren’t as effective in the field as originals. People tend to be more receptive and less suspicious if it’s a real photo.”

  Sadie’s lip trembled, and Shelby reached for her hand. She knew how important that photo was to her sister.

  “You can keep it,” Sadie said softly. “Maybe it will help inspire you…to see what he used to look like. Goodness, I…wonder if he even looks the same. It’s been a long time, hasn’t it?”

  Vander nodded, and despite his polished façade, Shelby could feel the compassion in him. He might be a powerful man, but he had heart. Her interest in him was only building, and she wondered about him, personal things like where he’d gotten that accent, how he’d come to Nashville to be a P.I., and why in the world his parents had named him Vander.

  “I promise I’ll take good care of it, Sadie,” he said, carefully laying the photo down on his desk. “Thank you for entrusting it to me.”

  Her sister gave him a teary smile, and Shelby knew they’d better hustle. Vander didn’t need to see Sadie’s waterworks during their first meeting.

  “I’m happy to sign the agreement,” Shelby said, taking out a pen from her purse.

  When she looked up, Vander was handing Sadie a box of tissues.

  “You go ahead and cry if you need to,” he said quietly, still sitting on the edge of his desk. “Lots of people come into my office with difficult stories. You can’t ruffle me, I promise.”

  The first tear slid down Sadie’s face. Shelby had half a mind to shush her or stop her, but she knew better. When Sadie was like this, it was best if she let it out.

  “You can leave us alone another spell if you’d like,” she told Vander, taking her sister’s hand and squeezing it.

  He only spared her a quick glance. “No need. I told you. It doesn’t bother me.”

  And he seemed to mean it. Vander sat across from Sadie as she let loose a waterfall of tears, and Shelby busied herself with reading and signing the service agreement.

  “Sadie,” she said as she handed the signed agreement to Vander. “Let’s let this poor man get on with his day and find you a cup of tea.”

  The look Vander shot her rooted her in her chair. His aquamarine eyes didn’t look like calm waters now. There was heat—the kind that would scorch.

  “Take all the time you need, Sadie,” he said gently. Don’t listen to your sister, Shelby all but heard him say, and if that didn’t shame her…

  “No, Shelby’s right,” her sister said, rising from her seat and handing him the box of tissues, which he set aside. “I’m sorry for that display.”

  “Pay it no mind,” Vander said. “If you need to express your emotions at any time during this process, you just go right ahead. I have a broad shoulder. Sadie, I’d like you to sign our agreement too. Seems only right.”

  He shot Shelby a look that served as a silent message.

  “But Shelby is…ah…paying for things,” Sadie said.

  “Payment is different,” Vander said. “You’re both my clients. He’s your father too.”

  Sadie gave him a tremulous smile and signed it.

  “When I have any news about your father,” Vander said, setting the agreement aside, “I’ll give you a call.”

  “I’ll be your main point of contact,” Shelby said, deciding it would be more efficient.

  Sadie glanced her way, and there was hurt in her eyes.

  Vander didn’t respond immediately. “How about I text you both, and if you’re able, we can set up a face-to-face? Once I confirm whether this is going to be easy or a little more challenging, we’ll need to agree on next steps. I’ll ask for your sign-off before I move ahead. Both of you.”

  He’d done it again. Impressed her with his ability to manage his clients. Everything he did and said was carefully calibrated to ensure neither of them felt left out. Then she wondered if two people in the same family might develop different opinions during a process like this. That thought made her tummy burn. Surely she and Sadie would stay on the same page?

  “That’s fine,” Shelby said, putting her arm around Sadie’s shoulders to ensure he knew she cared about her sister.

  “You’ve been wonderful, Vander,” her sister said. “I’m…grateful.”

  “It’s been a pleasure, Sadie,” Vander said with
that smile of his. “Shelby, it was good to meet you as well. I’ll be in touch.”

  He gave her his total focus as he shook her hand, and she was firmer in her shake than she normally would have been. He didn’t blink once, as if daring her to soften. She left his office quickly, determined not to quail.

  Her sister hurried to keep up with her, and in the elevator, she didn’t say a word. When they reached the parking lot, Sadie turned to her. “I know you’re attracted to him.”

  Shelby didn’t bother to deny it.

  “I won’t tell you what to do,” her sister said, unlocking her older Honda. “I can’t tell if he likes you or not. But he strikes me as a professional. I know you are too. Let’s not make him…uncomfortable. We want him to find Daddy.”

  That hot anger rose up again, and Shelby took a moment before responding. Otherwise, she’d spew flames, and that wouldn’t help anyone. “I won’t make him uncomfortable. Besides, I got the distinct impression he didn’t much like me.”

  It didn’t matter, though.

  She knew he wasn’t the kind of man who would let anything affect his work.

  Chapter 2

  Vander Montgomery walked to the window after closing the door behind his new clients. The view of the Cumberland River didn’t calm him. Neither did the reminder that he’d earned this killer view of Nashville.

  Every time a client hired him to find their father, he got all stirred up.

  It didn’t matter that he was thirty-five, and his father had been murdered twenty-five years ago this August. Part of what haunted him was that the crime remained unsolved after everything he’d done to find out who had murdered his father, Nashville detective Jed Montgomery. It didn’t help that he was now the same age his father had been when he was murdered. He had no model for how a man was supposed to live past this age, and it bothered him. Acutely.

  He shrugged out of his suit jacket, feeling constricted.

  Vander had poured everything he had and was into finding his father’s killer, until he’d been forced to face the conclusion there was nothing more he could do to find the man. After that, he’d poured himself into creating his detective agency and helping the people his father had served. That was something he’d succeeded at, excelled at. But it was no longer a challenge.