“It’s nice to meet you too, Mr. Cottage.”
Walt was a handsome older man, with light brown hair threaded with silver. Clean shaven, he had small light blue eyes that twinkled, and a rather pronounced dimpled chin. He was tall, well built, and smelled of an old-fashioned, but expensive, cologne. Wearing a periwinkle blue sweater and khakis, he looked preppy without trying too hard.
Sitting down beside her, not too close and not too far, he took the third teacup off the table and took a sip.
“This is going to sound ridiculous, considering the situation of you being adopted, but do you know that you and Angelique have the same shaped eyes?”
He gave her an earnest, endearing look. A part of her felt uncomfortable. She chanced a glance at Linda, who sported a smile, as if she, too, were noting this alleged resemblance.
“Well, oddly enough, a few others over the years have told me the same.”
“So,” he placed his cup back down on the table, “dinner should be ready soon according to Curtis, our chef, but we have some time to chat and get to know one another.” Linda nodded in agreement. “I have to tell you that I was excited to receive your message.”
“I’m thankful you responded. It meant a lot to me.”
“Let’s just get the elephant out of the room, okay?” He raised his hands as if in surrender.
“What elephant?”
“I know about the accusations against Angelique.”
Kim was certain all of the blood in her body drained from the top of her head to her feet. And that it showed.
“Oh God.” Her head felt like it was spinning. “Mr. Cottage…” she took a deep breath. “Since you know what’s been going on, it seems I don’t have to beat around the bush and just be forthcoming.”
“Of course. Please do. Your honesty helps both of us.” He crossed his feet and leaned back into the pillow.
“I live in Fairbanks Alaska, not because I was just dying to be here, but because I wanted to get away from Angelique. The press. The police. Everyone. My mother swore this was the one place on Earth she’d never come again because you have a big family, and she despised them and never wanted to return. I’m sorry if that sounds harsh, but—”
“No, no.” He smiled and waved his hand. “I know why she’d say that, and I understand. Continue.”
“Okay, well, Angelique can be a bit overbearing at times, but after all of this happened, everything I enjoyed and planned for my life in general just crashed. I couldn’t go anywhere without people looking at me strangely, or someone calling me for an interview. It was just too much. I wanted out. On a whim, almost like a dare to myself, I packed a few bags and left. I didn’t tell anyone. I purposefully vanished. I’ve done this many times before, just on a smaller scale.”
She couldn’t believe she’d just admitted that to a practical stranger, but she carried on. “Anyway, I got a job soon after I got here, but I had a lot of savings to help get me through for a while. Initially, I thought I’d stay here for a year or two, lie low, but I ended up kind of falling in love with the place.”
Her face warmed as Linda and Walt regarded her with kind eyes.
“It’s beautiful here. Fairbanks is lovely, too. It’s colder where you are, but we love to visit there often, too. Alaska is a stunning state overall. Of course we’re biased, but it truly is,” Linda chirped before taking another sip of her tea.
“You’re right. Stunning is a good word to describe it. I started to make plans and have dreams, like the one about opening up a hotel, and I met people—great people. People who have now become my friends. I was definitely homesick, too, but this felt… clean. Fresh. A new start. As I was here, I began to think about everything that happened back in New York. I had time to think, you know, for a change. Everything is quiet here.”
“It’s peaceful, isn’t it?” Walt said in a peaceful tone. He had a way of luring her in, making her comfortable. He exuded kindness and confidence all at once. No wonder Angelique had fallen so hard for the man and hurt so badly when he’d filed for divorce after only a few months of marriage. “I know all too well how vastly different New York and Alaska are… like night and day.”
“Yes! That’s exactly what it is. Peaceful, and different as night and day. I started to think about my adoption, my biological parents, my deceased father, the boating accident. I got to finally mourn him. In peace.” She took a moment to regroup before continuing. “So… then the controversy started. The questions surrounding my adoption. I had caught my mother in several lies, Mr. Cottage. That was a blow for me because before all this went down, she always seemed pretty forthright and honest with me. I no longer trusted her.”