No one wanted the story more than Katie. Despite the problems and distractions in her life—a new mishmash of a family of half-sisters and brothers-in-law, Josh’s attitude toward her, Dave’s death, and her fascination with Luke Gates—she was still anxious to solve the Isaac Wells mystery and get the byline.

She forced herself to finish an article on the change in the school district’s curriculum, then accessed the Internet and, through cyberspace, found the obituary on David Sorenson of Dallas, Texas. So it was true. Her shoulders sagged a bit. She hadn’t doubted Luke’s word, but seeing Dave’s short life in an even shorter article was strangely sad.

“Great,” she muttered under her breath. It was bad enough that she’d been forced to tell Josh about his father’s death, but now she was trying to get him to call his newfound grandparents and her negotiations with her son on the subject weren’t going well. Josh was interested, but wary. Tonight, if he didn’t do the deed himself, Katie would call them. She had to. The Sorensons deserved to know their grandson.

She was grateful for the end of the day. At home, she started dinner and turned on the radio. Josh had a ride home from soccer practice, so she threw together potato salad and baked pieces of chicken in herbs. She wasn’t used to the thermostat in the new oven, so she was doubly careful, and as she unpacked what seemed to be an endless number of boxes, she kept an eye on her meal.

The phone jangled just as Bliss, with Mason’s daughter, Dee Dee, pulled into the drive. “Hello?” Katie answered, waving Bliss and the girl inside. Holding the phone to her ear with one hand, she kicked open the screen door.

“Ms. Kinkaid?” a gravelly voice asked.

“Speaking.”

“This is Ralph Sorenson.”

Her heart dropped to the floor and she leaned against the cupboards for support. As much as she’d tried to bolster her own confidence and had told herself that she wanted to talk to Dave’s parents, now that she was down to it, she was apprehensive. She felt as if all the blood had drained from her body in that one instant. “Hello,” she said, trying to sound calm when she knew that her life was about to shred.

“I don’t know how to say this but straight out. So here goes. I know about the boy. That he’s David’s.”

“I see,” she replied tonelessly as Bliss and Dee Dee rushed into the room.

“This is very awkward for me.”

“Me, too,” Katie said and met the worry in Bliss’s eyes.

“I did try to call you once, but when I didn’t get through I’d hoped I could call another time, when Josh was home. . . .”