Read Patchwork Family for Free Online Page B

oldest brother, Seth, and Cooper Night Hawk, a longtime friend and local deputy, came in.
    “Hi, guys, glad you’re all here,” Seth said. “Don’t leave, Quinn.”
    Quinn frowned. He wasn’t in the mood for a family moment. He had too much on his mind. “What?”
    “Cooper has some news.”
    That got everyone’s attention. A while ago Seth had asked Cooper to find out whatever he could about their mother, Violet Spencer. Now that he was married and had a child on the way, Seth had felt a need to know whatever became of his mother. He’d asked his father if he’d object, but Elias had approved of the search.
    Elias leaned forward. “About your mother?”
    Quinn returned to the table and fell into a chair.
    Everyone’s gaze shifted to Cooper.
    “Yeah, Mr. Spencer. I’m sorry, but she’s…she’s dead.”
    Seth came to stand beside his father, placing a comforting hand on his shoulder. “There’s more, Dad. Brace yourself.”
    “She died in childbirth,” Cooper said, after receiving a nod from Seth. “Over twenty-two years ago.”
    “What?” Brady said, leaping to his feet. “She was pregnant?” He turned to look at his father.
    Elias shrugged his shoulders. “She wasn’t pregnant when she left us. Probably she and—and that man—” It was as if he couldn’t bring himself to even mention the name of her lover. He sighed. “It was a long time ago.”
    Cooper cleared his throat. “Violet had the baby—and passed on—seven months after she left. Ray Benedict, the man she— Her— Anyway, he died recently. I need to know if you want me to find the child, a girl.” Instead of looking at Elias, he let his gaze travel to each of the brothers. “After all, she is your half sister.”
    “I say yes,” Seth said instantly.
    “The baby didn’t die during childbirth?” Brady asked.
    “No.”
    Brady looked at Quinn, and then Seth. “I agree with Seth. I think we should find her.”
    Quinn stared at everyone. They had a sister? A child his mother conceived with another man? Renewed anger filled him at her betrayal. But he couldn’t disagree with his brothers. They needed closure. Maybe this unknown sister would give it to them. He nodded his agreement.
     
    T HE DIFFERENCE IN S ARA in just three days was dramatic. By Monday morning, she was racing up and down the stairs in spite of Molly’s efforts to keep her in bed.
    “I’m all better, Mommy,” Sara assured her.
    “Just to be sure, come have a snack,” Molly tempted, putting a cup of hot chocolate with marshmallows on the kitchen table, along with a muffin.
    “First, I has to get Button,” Sara said, naming her favorite bear, as she ran out of the kitchen.
    Molly sighed. Getting Sara to sit down was like trying to catch lightning in a bottle. Her little girl never seemed to stop. But today Sara would take a nap, Molly decided, her lips tightening, even if she had to sit on the child to keep her in bed.
    After lunch, she convinced Sara to go to her room and let her mother read her a story.
    “But it’s not bedtime.”
    “I know, but Miss Kaitlin has you lie down on your blanket and rest, doesn’t she?” Kaitlin Rodier ran Tyler’s day care center, Kaity’s Kids, a combination preschool and child care facility.
    “Yes,” Sara admitted, her bottom lip pushing out a little further. “I shoulda gone to school today. Jeremy will miss me.”
    “I’m sure he will, sweetie,” Molly agreed, pushing a strand of hair behind Sara’s ear. Jeremy was Sara’s best friend at preschool. “But we have to be sure you’re well. We don’t want to make Jeremy sick, do we?”
    Sara put one little finger at the corner of hermouth, as she always did when she was thinking. Finally she shook her head no. “I don’t want Jeremy to be sick.”
    “Good. You rest and listen to the story. On Wednesday, we’ll go see the doctor and be sure you’re well. Then, if he says it’s all right, you can go back to school.”
    “Okay,” Sara agreed with a