The Truth About Rachel Read online

  She walked slowly along the sidewalk, praying it wouldn’t rain. Rainy days meant staying inside. It might not be too bad with her father home, but he usually spent his days working on projects in the garage. She doubted he’d have time to play a card or board game. And she never invited friends over to her house. Her mother always found a way to embarrass her in front of her friends. Rachel prayed the sky would clear up soon so she could stay at the park.

  As she turned the corner at the edge of the park, she heard a car drive up alongside her and slow down. Chills ran up Rachel’s spine. She knew never to get into a stranger’s car, and she’d heard terrible stories from her mother about children being kidnapped. She quickened her pace and was about to turn to run into the park when she heard a woman calling her name.

  “Rachel!”

  Rachel stopped and turned, relief flooding through her when she saw it was her aunt and uncle’s station wagon. She hurried to the car, noticing that the back end was packed full, and there was more stuff tied down and covered with a tarp on the top.

  “Are you going somewhere?” Rachel asked her Aunt Julie as she drew closer to the passenger side. Her uncle smiled at her and waved.

  “Didn’t your mother tell you?” Julie asked. “We’re moving across the country. Gordy was offered a new job, and I found one too.”

  “Oh.” Rachel’s heart fell. She’d miss her aunt terribly.

  “Don’t be sad,” Julie said, smiling widely. “We have great news. Your mother agreed to let us have custody of you. You’re going with us.”

  The little girl stared at her aunt, stunned. “I’m going to live with you? And not in this town, but far away?”

  “Yes, sweetie. Isn’t that great? We’re so happy. And I promise we’ll take good care of you.”

  Rachel glanced around. Kids were starting to arrive at the park, as well as a few parents. Leave? Never see my father again? Rachel wasn’t sure how to react. She knew her mother and brother wouldn’t care if she left, but what about her father? Would he give her away so easily?

  “Hop in the car, sweetie,” Julie said sweetly. “We have to get going so we can arrive on time. We’ll be stopping at hotels at night, and we’ll be sure to get ones with a pool so you can swim if you want. It’s going to be so much fun.”

  It did sound like fun to Rachel. “What about my clothes? And my toys. I have to stop at the house for my things.”

  Her aunt seemed to be getting anxious. “Don’t worry about your things. We can buy you new clothes and toys along the way. I promise you can have whatever you want. But we should go now.”

  Rachel looked past her Aunt Julie to her Uncle Gordon. He was smiling and nodding his head. She adored her aunt and uncle, but it all seemed so odd to her. Leaving without even saying goodbye to her parents or friends.

  “You do want to live with us, don’t you, Rachel?” Aunt Julie asked, sounding desperate now. “We love you so much, honey. You know that it’s always been my dream to have you come live with us. Don’t you want to?”

  Rachel did want to live with her aunt and uncle. She was scared of Keith, and she knew her mother didn’t love her. And her father was home so little. Maybe she would be happier if she left with them.

  “Rachel?” her aunt asked.

  “Yes. I want to come with you,” the little girl finally said. She opened the back door and climbed in.

  Her Aunt Julie beamed. “We’re going to have such a great life, the three of us. I’m so happy you’re coming with us.”

  Rachel nodded, still confused as to why she couldn’t at least pack a few things. But new things would be nice. And she did love her aunt and uncle.

  As they drove down the road, past the park, and over the small bridge that crossed the river, Rachel saw Keith entering the woods that followed the river path. At least she’d never have to put up with him scaring her again. She turned her eyes forward and watched the road ahead.

  Chapter Two

  Thirty-five years later

  Rachel Scott Emery was hunched over her computer, creating an advertising graphic for her newest client, Robbin’s Grocery. Jobs like this weren’t as interesting as creating ads and book covers for authors, which was two-thirds of her graphic design business, but it helped pay the bills. And with her daughter, Jules, in her second year at Florida State University in Tallahassee, Rachel needed as much money as she could earn.

  Pushing a strand of her dark, shoulder-length hair behind her ear, Rachel tried to concentrate on the project before her. But the fall day outside her studio office window was gorgeous and distracted her. The leaves had just begun to change color in her lush yard behind the house. The oaks, maples, and dogwoods were tinging red with a yellow backdrop from the aspen and magnolia trees. Rachel sighed. She found great solace in the private yard filled with flowering and fruit trees as well as many other beautiful plants. Her husband had loved gardening and had turned their two-acre lot into a peaceful haven with colorful trees, shrubs, and flowers. He’d added brick pavers as pathways and the circular brick center with the firepit. They’d spent many a summer evening out by the fire in comfortable padded chairs as the moon rose in the Floridian sky.

  How Rachel wished for those days again.

  Her phone buzzed, interrupting her thoughts, and Rachel quickly picked it up. Seeing it was the memory care center in Tallahassee, she answered quickly.

  “Hello, Mrs. Emery. This is Shirley again, from the Magnolia Memory Care Center,” the woman said with a light southern drawl. “I’m so sorry to bother you, dear, but Miss Julie is having another anxious day, and we’re wondering if you could stop by and help calm her down.”

  Rachel frowned at the phone. Her Aunt Julie had been having quite a few agitated days of late. She wondered why she was upset so often. Rachel visited her aunt five times a week, sometimes staying to eat lunch or dinner with her. She loved her Aunt Julie, who’d been more of a mother to her than her own mother had ever been, but today she really needed to finish her work.

  “Why is she agitated today?” she asked Shirley.

  “Darlin, I just don’t know,” Shirley said familiarly, which made Rachel smile. Shirley was one of the sweetest women she’d ever met, and her aunt felt comfortable around her. “She had a nice lunch with the other ladies, but after she went back to her room, she started getting anxious again. She keeps saying she has to tell you something important.”

  “Okay,” Rachel said, already heading out of her studio. “I’ll be there as quickly as I can. Thanks for calling, Shirley.”

  “No problem at all. See you in a few minutes, sweetie,” Shirley said before hanging up.

  Rachel hurried from her small studio down the hallway to the kitchen, grabbed her keys and purse, then walked through the door into the garage. Starting her Honda CRV, she sat back a moment and took a breath. She was wearing a pair of old jeans, a T-shirt, and sneakers. Not exactly what she’d usually wear to visit her aunt, but she didn’t have the time or energy to change. So, Rachel pulled out of the garage, headed down her long, tree-lined driveway, and turned her car toward Tallahassee.

  Twenty minutes later, Rachel parked her car at the memory care center and walked purposefully to the main entrance. The center had several separate units, each like its own house, where up to six residents lived. Each resident had a small apartment of their own, and the main unit held a central kitchen and dining room where they met to eat. They also had a shared living room where the residents could gather to watch television if they wished. Rachel had felt fortunate to find such a lovely place with beautiful outdoor grounds for her aunt to live. When she’d first moved Aunt Julie there in May, she seemed to transition well. But over the past few weeks, Julie had become more anxious and upset, and no one seemed to understand why.

  “Ah, now lookie here,” Shirley said kindly to Julie as Rachel walked into her one-bedroom apartment. “Rachel has come to visit you. Isn’t that nice of her?”

  Rachel smiled at Shirley as she entered and noti
ced immediately how harried her aunt looked. “Hi, Aunt Julie. I hear you’re not doing too well today.”

  Julie had been pacing in a small circle around her living room, mumbling to herself, but stopped suddenly when she heard Rachel’s voice. She looked up quickly, her once vibrant hazel eyes now dull. Her beautiful auburn hair was cut to chin length and had gone completely gray. Julie was only sixty-three, but she looked like a woman twenty years older. Alzheimer’s had taken its toll on her aunt, and it broke Rachel’s heart every time she saw her.

  “There you are. You’re finally here. We have to talk,” Julie said in a rush as she wrung her hands. Her eyes darted to Shirley. “We need to talk in private,” she whispered to Rachel.

  Rachel rubbed her aunt’s back, trying to soothe her. “Of course we can talk, Auntie,” she said.

  “That’s my cue, darlin,” Shirley said, turning her bulky frame to leave. She winked at Rachel with her warm brown eyes. “You call me if you need me, hon,” she said.

  Rachel nodded. She was so thankful her aunt had Shirley to care for her.

  Julie continued pacing, so Rachel tried to maneuver her over to the sofa. “Let’s sit,” she suggested.

  Julie did as her niece asked, but she looked tense and harried. “We must talk. I have to tell you something important.”

  “Okay. We can talk,” Rachel said soothingly as she reached for one of her aunt’s hands and held it in hers. Julie had been wringing her hands for so long, they were turning red and bruised.

  Julie looked up at Rachel, her eyes fearful. “You may hate me when I tell you. I should have told you years ago. I’m so sorry. I just couldn’t.”

  Rachel was puzzled. What could her aunt tell her that would make her angry? “You can tell me anything, Auntie,” she said. “Is it this place? Aren’t you happy here?”

  Julie shook her head vigorously. “No. No. It’s not this place,” she shrieked.

  “Okay. Calm down. Just tell me what you need to say,” Rachel said.

  Julie turned her head from side to side as if to make sure they were alone. She moved in closer to Rachel and whispered, “It’s your brother.”

  Rachel pulled back, shocked. That was the last thing she’d expected her aunt to say. “My brother?”

  Julie shushed her. “Don’t tell anyone. No one can know you had a brother. We have to keep it quiet. But you need to know.”

  “Know what?” Rachel insisted.

  Julie slouched lower on the sofa. “It wasn’t our fault. We were only doing what was best for you,” she whispered. “We didn’t know.” Her eyes met Rachel’s. “I’m sorry. I’m so, so sorry.”

  Rachel saw fear in Julie’s eyes. She had no idea what her aunt was talking about—it all sounded like nonsense—but she nodded as if she understood. “It’s fine, Auntie. I understand. I’ll keep it quiet. No one will ever know.”

  Julie nodded and slowly began to calm down. Rachel started talking about Jules and how she was meeting her for dinner later that night. This made Julie happy. She adored Jules—her namesake.

  After a while, Julie seemed lost in her own world again. She asked Rachel how her husband, Carter, was doing and if he was on the road. Rachel didn’t have the strength to remind her aunt that Carter had died in a car accident four years earlier. It would only upset her all over again. An hour after she’d arrived, Rachel kissed Julie on the cheek and told her she’d visit again soon.

  Shirley was in the hallway when Rachel left her aunt in front of the television, watching a talk show.

  “Is she doing any better, hon?” Shirley asked.

  “She’s calmer. I don’t understand what had upset her, but she’s forgotten already,” Rachel told her.

  Shirley shook her head, her tight black curls bobbing. “Such a shame. Maybe she doesn’t even know what upset her. I’ll go in and check on her.”

  “Thanks, Shirley.” Rachel waved and headed to her car.

  As she drove home, Rachel wondered why her aunt had brought up her brother. Rachel hadn’t thought of Keith in years—decades even. The day she and her aunt and uncle drove away from the small town in California, little was ever mentioned again about her parents or her brother. Rachel remembered asking if she could write to her father a few times, and Julie had let her, but she’d never received a reply. That had hurt the little girl deeply because she’d loved her father, but as time went on, and they’d moved from one state to the next, she’d stopped thinking about her old family. Her Aunt Julie and Uncle Gordon had been such kind and loving parents to her that Rachel hadn’t missed her real parents. And she hadn’t missed Keith at all.

  “So why did she bring him up today?” Rachel asked aloud.

  Shaking the past away, Rachel drove home to work a while longer and then get ready to meet Jules for dinner.

  ***

  Later that evening, Rachel met her daughter at a small restaurant just north of Tallahassee. The two embraced and sat at a corner table in the back where they could talk privately.

  “How is your first month of college?” Rachel asked Jules.

  Her daughter shrugged, her long, auburn ponytail swinging as she moved. Rachel was always amazed at Jules's close resemblance to her Aunt Julie, from the reddish hair to her clear hazel eyes. The only difference was that Jules had inherited her father’s height and had long legs that went on forever.

  “The first couple of weeks are always boring until we start getting into our studies,” Jules said. She suddenly gave her mother a full-lipped smile. “But Amber and I are loving the apartment at the off-campus complex. There are so many cute guys living there.”

  Rachel laughed. Jules and her long-time best friend, Amber Johnston, had moved into an apartment this year—with Rachel’s financial help—and were enjoying their independence. Rachel didn’t mind helping them out. She wanted the girls to enjoy their college experience. It was a big difference from her own college days—she’d lived at home while attending. Aunt Julie and Uncle Gordy had felt it wasn’t safe for her to live off-campus. It wasn’t until her last year, after she’d married Carter, that she’d finally been free of living at home.

  “Just make sure you study your schoolwork, not the guys at the pool,” Rachel said, then laughed.

  Jules rolled her eyes. “I know. I know. I promise I won’t be married by senior year like you and dad were.” Her tone grew softer. “But that didn’t turn out so bad, did it, Mom?”

  Rachel shook her head. “No, it turned out pretty good. But we should have waited that extra year. It was tough paying rent and finishing school.” Now, since her husband had passed, Rachel was thankful they’d married when they had. She wouldn’t have missed out on that extra year with Carter for anything in the world.

  The two women ordered their food—a grilled chicken salad for Rachel and a burger and fries for Jules—and continued talking. Rachel loved spending time with her daughter. Their relationship had grown from mother-daughter to friends. Rachel was thankful her daughter shared everything with her, unlike some women she knew whose daughters barely spoke to them.

  “How is Aunt Julie? Have you seen her lately?” Jules asked.

  Rachel sighed. “I was there this afternoon. She was agitated again, and Shirley had called me.”

  “Oh, no. Did you find out why?”

  Rachel hesitated before answering. She had always been honest with her daughter about everything—everything except her past. Jules knew nothing about how she’d left her own family to live with her aunt and uncle. At first, Rachel hadn’t seen any reason to mention her family in California when Jules was younger. After all, Julie and Gordon had legally adopted her, and Rachel used their last name while growing up. But when Jules was a young teen, she’d asked her why she’d grown up with her aunt and uncle instead of her parents. Rachel had just said they’d adopted her and hadn’t given a reason why. Now, it seemed silly to keep it a secret. Secrets could be harmful if kept hidden too long.

  “Mom?” Jules asked, looking concerned.


  The waiter delivered their food, giving Rachel another moment to think. But once the waiter left, Rachel had already decided what she had to do.

  “Dear. Remember when you asked me why I lived with my aunt and uncle?” Rachel asked.

  Jules looked up from pouring ketchup on her plate. “Yeah. I think so. You never really gave me an answer, though.”

  Rachel took a breath. “That’s because it had been a secret for so long, I didn’t know how to answer you. But you’re an adult now, and it’s time you knew the truth.”

  The food forgotten, she now had Jules's full attention.

  “Aunt Julie and Uncle Gordon adopted me. I have the birth certificate to prove it. But I did have a mother and a father. And a brother.”

  “Really? Are they still alive?” Jules asked, looking stunned.

  Rachel shrugged. “I don’t know. I was only eight when I left town with Julie and Gordon. My mother wasn’t a nice woman. She ignored me most of the time. And my father was always working. He drove a truck and was gone several days a week. And then, there was my brother, Keith.” Rachel shivered when she said his name. She was still affected by how much he’d terrorized her as a child. “I don’t know what became of them. After we left, I did write to my father a few times because I was closest to him, but he never answered. Then we moved several times and finally landed in Tallahassee. By then, I’d pretty much put my family out of my mind. Aunt Julie and Uncle Gordon were wonderful to me. I didn’t need the people in California.”

  Jules started eating her fries, the shock of her mother’s confession wearing off. “That’s incredible. Why did they take you, though?”