Within two weeks, she found genetic links to a branch of Chapmans, but the only one on the family tree who was still living was a distant cousin.

After a couple of emails back and forth between them, Sully learned the cousin had never met Janie Chapman, didn’t know where she was, or if she was even still alive. All the cousin remembered was hearing her mother talk about the scandal Janie had caused when she got pregnant, and that the last piece of mail the family had received from her was years ago and had been postmarked from somewhere in Texas.

Sully was still thinking about where to go next when he got one last email from the cousin. It was the return address for Janie Chapman that she’d found in one of her mother’s old address books. She apologized for the oversight and wished him well. He typed Grapevine, Texas, into Google search to find the location, then packed a couple of suitcases.

And on a gray and stormy morning, Sullivan Raines drove out of Kansas City, Missouri, driving away from one storm into another that had been fed by a lifetime of lies. He drove straight down I-35, through Oklahoma and into Texas, with steady intensity, stopping only for food and fuel.

* * *

Sunset had long since come and gone by the time Sully reached Grapevine, and then he began looking for a place to stay. After settling on a hotel and getting into a room, he dumped his luggage, cleaned up, and went downstairs to the restaurant to eat. His waiter arrived within a couple of minutes and took his drink order, giving Sully time to scan the menu. The waiter came back with the tall glass of sweet tea and took his order for chicken-fried steak with all the trimmings.

Sully took a long drink and then glanced around the busy dining room, eyeing all the older women with more than curiosity, looking for glimpses of himself in their faces, and not for the first time wished he wasn’t on this journey alone.

His one stab at marriage had lasted eight years before she cheated on him with his best friend. The breakup had been ugly, the divorce even more so. After that, although he’d had a few relationships that went nowhere, he’d never been tempted to try it again.

All of his close friends were guys he knew from work, but now that he was no longer on the job, it was difficult to stay in touch. For a fireman, timing was everything, and the timing in Sully’s life was off-kilter. He needed roots. He might be kidding himself that finding his birth mother would fill the hole in his life, but he had to give it a try.

His food finally came. The chicken-fried steak was crispy on the outside and tender on the inside, and the white gravy studded with peppercorns was as good as the gravy Captain Lawson made at the station.