She was straightening up the living room when her doorbell rang. She gave the sofa pillows one last pat, then went to the door.

“Hi, Sully. Come in,” Melissa said, and stepped aside.

Sully walked in with a small bouquet of flowers.

“A little something cheery for your day,” he said.

Melissa beamed. “Dutch irises are one of my favorites. Walk with me. We’ll have coffee in the kitchen, if that’s okay with you.”

“Absolutely,” Sully said, and watched when she stopped in the dining room to get a vase.

“I’m going to put these in water. Have a seat,” Melissa said, then went about filling the vase and arranging the irises before carrying them back to the dining table.

“I love these flowers. They remind me of perfect little orchids. I can’t remember the last time anyone gave me flowers,” she said, and then went to the kitchen.

“I gave you a corsage before the Winter Ball.”

She looked back at him and grinned. “I remember that! My dress was black, and the carnations were white with a silver bow. I felt so stylish.”

Sully grinned. “I remember thinking how it suddenly made you look like an older woman, which probably scared the crap out of me.”

Melissa laughed. “And now I am an older woman.”

“You’re the same age as me, so that doesn’t count. And you need to sit down,” Sully added. “I didn’t come here just so you had to wait on me. Is there anything I can do to help?”

“You can pour the coffee if you’d like. I set out two mugs. Cream and sugar is already on the table. Would you like a piece of pecan pie with it, or is it too close to lunch for you?”

Sully shook his head. “Nothing ruins my appetite, but if it did, I’d gladly sacrifice one lunch for pecan pie.”

Melissa was surprised at how easy it felt to be with him. And she’d been so nervous.

“Then I’m going to set the pie on the table, in case you feel the need to have seconds.”

“Which saves me the embarrassment of having to ask,” he said.

Melissa smiled to herself as they sat, and for the first few seconds, each went about doctoring their coffee to suit them before cutting into the pie.

“I asked you at the hospital if you were just passing through. Are you married?” Melissa asked.

“Divorced years ago,” he said. “I had an impromptu dinner last night with two people you know. Peanut and Ruby Butterman. Peanut told me you’d been a widow a long time.”

“A bit over twenty years,” Melissa said. “You told me your reason for being in Blessings was a long story. Wanna elaborate on that?”

“Sure. The more people who know why I’m here, the better chance I have for getting answers.”

“So why are you here?” Melissa asked.

“I’m one of those people that you see on TV. The ones who never knew until their parents had passed that they were adopted. I recently found that out about myself, and I’m looking for a woman named Janie. She was my birth mother.”