Caribbean Rescue (Coastal Fury Book 16), Matt Lincoln [best book recommendations .txt] 📗

obviously hiding something and this kid apparently is related to us, but, like, if he’s my family, I wanna meet him.”

Olivia turned to look at her boss. Honestly, she wasn’t sure if she had the authority to make that call.

“Social Service’s ultimate goal is almost always to reunite children with blood family.” Director Evans shrugged. “I’ll make a call and see what they say.”

“Really?” Christina exclaimed, her eyes going wide. “Yes, please do that. Thank you so much.”

He smiled at her before picking up his desk phone to make the call.

“You seem really excited about meeting him,” Olivia remarked quietly to her. She could hear the director speaking on the phone. She didn’t want to speak loudly enough to disturb him, but she didn’t want to make the girl sit in silence, either.

“I just couldn’t stop thinking about him all night,” she confessed. “I was an only child growing up, and I got lonely sometimes. At least I had my mom and dad, though. But then I imagined him all alone, a little kid with no one around him in a big scary police station. It just didn’t feel right to just forget about it when he might actually be my long-lost cousin or something, you know?”

“You’re a sweet girl.” Olivia smiled warmly at her.

“Okay,” Director Evans declared a few moments later as he hung up the phone. “I’ve spoken with Mrs. Abernathy. She’s waiting for both of you now.”

Christina made a sound like an excited yelp and shot up off the couch.

“Let’s go,” she said, a wide grin spread across her face.

“Alright,” Olivia agreed as she stood up after her. “Let’s go.”

Olivia could feel the excitement radiating off of Christina on the drive over to the group home. It was cute, seeing how excited she was to meet Eddy, but it was also a bit concerning. If the kid turned out not to be related to her, then it would only hurt more if she got her hopes up.

“We’re here,” Olivia announced as they pulled up to the unassuming house.

These days, rather than large austere buildings packed to the brim with displaced children, an effort was made to provide temporary homes that were as normal and welcoming as possible.

The door opened wide as they were walking up the driveway, and Mrs. Abernathy stepped out to greet them.

“Good to see you again, Agent Hastings,” she greeted Olivia. “And you must be Christina.”

Olivia noted how her eyes immediately went wide as she took in Christina’s appearance. She must have noticed the similarity as well.

“That’s me,” the young woman replied shyly.

“Well, come on in.” Mrs. Abernathy gestured for them to walk through the door. “Oh, but take your shoes off before you step into the den, won’t you? The little ones tend to crawl around, so I try to keep the floor as clean as possible.”

“Oh, of course.” Christina hurried to slip her sandals off.

“Right this way.” Mrs. Abernathy beckoned us further into the house and into the living room. I spotted the curly mop of blond ringlets right away.

“Eddy,” she called softly. “You’ve got a visitor.”

“Oh my--” Christina gasped as the boy sitting on the couch turned to look in our direction.

It was evident that Mrs. Abernathy had put a lot of love into getting Eddy cleaned up. The rat’s nest he’d been sporting the last time Olivia had seen him was gone, replaced with long, bouncy curls blonder than she’d realized. He’d been so covered in filth that it had looked almost brown.

“Mommy?” Eddy mumbled as he looked up at Christina, the expression on his face just as shocked as hers.

Olivia and Mrs. Abernathy exchanged an alarmed look as Eddy clambered off the couch and waddled toward the girl.

“He looks just like me,” she muttered as she crouched down to get closer to the boy’s eye level.

She was right. Their hair and eye colors were identical. The only big difference was that Eddy’s skin tone was several shades darker and currently mottled red by the burns.

“Mommy,” he mumbled again as he looked up at her, though this time he sounded less sure.

“Oh, honey,” Christina muttered as she looked down at him. She sounded as though she was about to start crying. “I’m not your mom.”

Eddy stared at her for a long moment before lifting his arms up at her. Christina reacted right away and wrapped her arms around him.

Olivia exchanged another concerned glance with the social worker. It was a touching scene, and though there was no doubt in Olivia’s mind that the two were related, it was still a tenuous situation.

“Why don’t we all have a seat on the couch?” Mrs. Abernathy suggested kindly.

“Good idea.” Christina sniffed as she wiped a tear from her eye. She stood up straight and took Eddy’s hand as she moved over to the corduroy-upholstered couch. He clung to her every step of the way.

“He opened up to you quite fast,” Mrs. Abernathy noted a few minutes later after the four of them had spent some time talking. Though it would have been more accurate to say that Agent Olivia and Mrs. Abernathy mostly watched while Christina and Eddy talked. He was still answering in stilted, one-word sentences, but at least he was answering.

“That’s good, right?” Christina smiled as she ran a hand through Eddy’s locks.

“It is.” Mrs. Abernathy nodded cautiously. “Are you absolutely certain there isn’t anything else you can tell us about him? Anything your parents might have mentioned over the years?”

“No.” Christina shook her head helplessly. “I mean, I always suspected there was something my mom was hiding. And then, after the way she freaked out yesterday, I knew something was up, you know? I just can’t imagine why she would hide him from me.”

She looked down at Eddy with absolute adoration.

“Wait,” she suddenly snapped her head up to look at us, her eyes wide with fright. “What’s going to happen to him now? Will he be put up for adoption?”

“Well, it’s still too early to decide anything,” Mrs. Abernathy replied