Read Finding Me for Free Online

during tourist season. He blamed it on hating crowds—which was true enough—but was the fact that he was in hiding a bigger part of the reason? He was afraid he’d see someone from his old life and they would recognize him? My own father, my best friend for all of my life, constantly looked over his shoulder, and I never suspected a thing.”
    “These pictures, then—they are of your mother and your sister and brother?” Jones looked up from where he’d been methodically going through a stack, one photo at a time.
    “That’s my assumption. It’s the first time I’ve ever seen any of them.”
    “You’re kidding. Your father didn’t have any pictures of them around the house?”
    “Not a one—not that I knew of, anyway. I’d always been told that all the old pictures burned in the fire, and there was absolutely nothing left.”
    “But I mean, online. Didn’t you ever try to look them up?”
    “Sure. Lots of times. But I was always looking for Maria and Preston and Kaitlin Huddleston in Louisiana. Apparently I should have been looking for Alison and Max and Beth Waters in either South Carolina or Tennessee. I’m still not clear where they actually lived. I’ve spent my entire life wondering what my family looked like, and he had these pictures all the time.”
    Kelli moved to the chair beside Jones and traced the photo with her hand. “Why wouldn’t he have shown these to me? He stillcould have told me they died, but why would he be that cruel, to have these pictures and not share them with me, knowing that I wanted to know?”
    “I can answer that question for you, without even thinking about it,” Denice said from across the table. “Mimi.”
    Even as she started to deny it, Kelli knew it was the truth. Knew it beyond a doubt. “You’re right. Had to be.”
    Jones looked up. “Why Mimi? Wouldn’t she have wanted you to have a picture of your family?”
    Kelli shook her head. “Mimi took the word jealous to a whole new level. Any time Dad even spoke to another woman, she’d pitch a fit, and if the woman was pretty, well . . .”
    “Which is ironic, considering she’s the one who caroused around all night. I always wondered why your father just took it when she was out at some club, why he never got mad. Seeing all this, it’s obvious.” He flipped to the next picture.
    “Really? What’s obvious? Because quite frankly none of this makes sense to me.” Between the new information, and partial information, Kelli now possessed, none of it added up to answers for anything.
    “It was guilt. Your father must have felt so guilty about what he’d done—to his kids at least, if not to his own wife, that it must have eaten him up. He deserved what he got, and he knew it. Then, he looked at you, the only remaining child he hadn’t betrayed and abandoned, and the last thing he wanted to do was get a divorce. Besides, he was probably afraid Mimi would get mad and tell his secret—surely she knew it.”
    “Why wouldn’t he just have divorced Kelli’s mother back at the start of all this?” Denice asked. “That’s what doesn’t make sense.”
    “There would be custody issues, financial settlements. This way, he got Kelli free and clear.”
    “But why would he take only me?”
    “Your siblings were older, right? Too old to believe some cock-eyed story, and even if they did, they were definitely too old to change their names without eventually spilling the beans to someone.” Jones stroked his beard, nodding thoughtfully.
    Kelli had to agree that the pieces seemed to fall into place just a little. “You may be right. Maybe knowing all this is what drove Mimi to drink as much as she did.”
    “Makes you wonder, doesn’t it.” Jones was looking at a picture of Alison. “If your dad put up with Mimi all these years without a bit of fuss, it makes me think your mother must be a real piece of work. I mean, your dad is a pretty docile guy, so there has to be a reason he was desperate