While part of her struggled through the realization that she was truly alone in the world—or at least had no family to speak of—the other part of her felt the need to find some clue as to who her real father was. And why had her mother kept it a secret? To give herself the illusion she wasn’t behaving obsessively or erratically, she told herself that she was simply putting her mother’s affairs in order—ripping off the Band-Aid before she even had a chance to heal.

With an intensity that would make her fiancé, Ethan, proud, Quinn sorted through years of hospital bills and treatment summaries. Lists of medications and books filled with fantasies of alternative medicines.

Receipts. So many receipts. At the end, her mother had made sure to leave no bills behind for Quinn to have to deal with. No unpaid mortgage or car loans. No outstanding medical bills. All of it prepaid, even with a cushion in case she dragged on longer than the doctors predicted.

How strange that she would receive a credit on the cost of her mother’s death. That was something she couldn’t even begin to process.

After all the medical and business papers were dealt with and organized, she started on the boxes stashed under her mother’s bed, sure that there she’d find a clue. Instead she found box after box of old pictures, school papers, and crafts. Her mother had kept everything. It took hours, but Quinn looked through stacks of photos of her life from kindergarten until college graduation, many of them of her and Maggie, her best friend from childhood.

She picked up one and smiled. In the shot the sun shone down on Maggie’s hair, making it almost seem to be on fire, a red that flamed bright in her younger years before it began to lighten. The contrast between the two of them was evident—Quinn’s golden brown, native Hawaiian skin a startling contrast to Maggie’s pale, freckled face.

Putting the photo aside, she dug deeper through brittle corsages and ticket stubs from the many events they’d attended together. So many memories, but nothing from her mother’s earlier past.

Quinn persisted.

She started on her mother’s jewelry box next, separating out the costume pieces to see if there was anything of value. She found a diamond stud earring but couldn’t find the match to it. Finally, she emptied the box and turned it over, and when she saw that one of the corners had come loose at the bottom, she pulled it and realized it was a false bottom.

Underneath was a single photograph.