Beach Baby. Joan Kilby

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СКАЧАТЬ meat-packing plant? You mean, as in food?” Perhaps it wasn’t the high-flying career a father might wish for in a son-in-law but it was honest work. “Is that why you broke up with him and moved across the country?”

      “You act like it’s nothing! They slaughter animals and wrap their body parts in plastic.”

      Reid thought of the defrosted chicken thighs sitting in his fridge, ready to be cooked for dinner. “I’m sure he only wanted to support you and Beebee.”

      “Well, yes, but he’s a vegetarian just like I am,” Amy cried. “So what if the job pays well? Where are his principles?”

      “Jobs are tight and you two probably need the money,” Reid argued.

      “I was working part-time at the grocery store. He could have looked around for something better.” Amy dug a purple stuffed rhinoceros out of her duffel bag to distract Beebee, who was again eyeing the doors longingly. “Oh, you don’t understand.”

      “No, I don’t.” Reid couldn’t help feeling sorry for Ian whose main crime seemed to be a sense of responsibility and a desire to take care of his family. There had to be more to their break up than simply Ian’s choice of work. “What are you going to do?”

      “I’ve come to Vancouver to work in the movie industry,” Amy said, brightening. “I’m going to be an actress. It’s what I’ve always wanted ever since I was a little girl.”

      “Amy, be sensible,” he said, filled with dismay.

      “Don’t you start in on me. You’re not my father.”

      Reid bit his tongue. Now that Amy knew she was adopted, was the promise he’d made to the Hockings still binding? He’d never agreed with their decision not to tell her even though Elaine had strong reasons but he’d better not say anything until he spoke to them. “Toronto has a film industry,” he pointed out. “Why didn’t you go there? It’s not as far to travel.”

      “I don’t know anyone in Toronto,” Amy said. “I wanted to get as far away as possible from Jim and Elaine. And Ian. Besides, you’re here.” Amy’s eyes grew large as she kneaded her fingers into the soft fabric of her skirt. “Could Beebee and I stay with you awhile? Just until I get a job. We won’t be any trouble, I promise. I’ll help with housework and stuff.”

      Reid had wanted to be a father to Amy ever since the too-brief moment when he’d seen her puckered newborn face and felt her tiny hand curl around his finger. His heart leaped at the thought of her and Beebee living in his house. But he had a book deadline—how would he ever finish with the two of them around? And what about Tara? Although Carol had known Amy was his daughter, Tara didn’t. How would she take to having Amy and her young child, virtual strangers to Tara, sharing their home, interrupting their quiet lives?

      “You should call Jim and Elaine, let them know where you are and that you’re safe,” he said, stalling. “They must be worried to death.”

      “If I do that, can I stay?”

      She looked so desperate Reid wondered if she’d used her last dime to pay for the bus ticket out west. “Of course,” he relented. “You’re welcome in my house for as long as you want.”

      “Thank you, Reid. This is going to be so cool.” Amy jumped up and hugged him. “There’s another reason I came out west.”

      “What’s that?” he asked.

      “Elaine told me I was born in Vancouver and given to them in a private adoption,” Amy replied. “She wouldn’t tell me who my biological parents are but I’m going to find them. I’m going to find my mother and father.”

      God help him, Reid thought. He ought to tell her the truth right now. That he, who’d followed her progress from hand puppets to art-house productions, was the father she was seeking. He ached to tell her. But she wouldn’t see the truth his way. She would run from him, too, if she found out he’d also lied to her all her life. Where would she and Beebee go with no money and no friends or family to stay with? On the street, in a shelter?

      Later, he’d tell her, when she’d settled in, when she wasn’t so fragile and hurt. He just hoped he found the right time before she discovered who he was.

      And before she found Nina.

      “NINA, HONEY, THERE’S something I have to tell you.” Dora Kennerly wiped her sudsy hands on a tea towel and sat opposite Nina at the kitchen table. Her tired hazel eyes appeared anxious but a hopeful smile played about her lips.

      “Good news?” Nina took off her suit jacket, having gone from her air-conditioned BMW to the sweltering heat of her parents’ tiny bungalow on Vancouver’s east side. Today the temperature had climbed into the nineties—almost unheard of in Vancouver.

      “I think so.” Dora wore a cheap cotton housedress and thin leather sandals, and dyed her graying auburn hair herself yet she had a serenity and an optimism that decades of low income couldn’t extinguish. “I mean yes, it’s wonderful news.”

      Nina produced her weekly gift of a box of her mother’s favorite chocolates and handed it across the table. “Have one of these to celebrate.”

      Dora peeled the cellophane off and lifted the lid. Eyes closed, she breathed in the rich chocolate aroma then gave Nina a beatific smile. “You spoil me.”

      “You deserve it,” Nina said. Her mother and father had a hard life with few luxuries. They wouldn’t accept Nina’s offers of trips or clothes or a new car, so she gave them small treats like Belgian chocolates and Cuban cigars, specialty teas and subscriptions to magazines. Without asking, she’d had their old water heater replaced and paid to have the house painted. They’d made sacrifices to give her an education and she wanted to repay them now that she was able to.

      Dora chose a chocolate and popped it whole into her mouth, then pushed the box across the table.

      Reluctantly, Nina waved it away. “I’m on a diet.”

      “You’re already thin,” Dora scolded, her voice thick with chocolate. “I don’t know when you eat. While other people are having dinner, you’re in the studio. Would you like me to heat up some cabbage rolls?”

      “No, thanks,” Nina said. “You know I can’t stomach food before I go on air.” She picked up a drugstore flyer to fan her face, lifting wisps of blond hair away from her damp skin and made a mental note to have an air conditioner delivered. “You were about to tell me something important.”

      Dora reached across the table to take Nina’s hands in her cool dry fingers. “It’s about your baby. Can you believe it’s been nineteen years?” She shook her head. “Time goes so fast.”

      Nina tugged away and rose to go to the cupboard for a glass. Memories flooded back—a scrunched face, tiny fingers, a weightless warmth against her breast. For a few minutes she’d known pure joy…then the nurse had taken her baby away and Nina had signed the adoption papers with tears blurring her vision. Now she ran the water till it was cool, then filled the tumbler and drank. When she was sure her voice wouldn’t shake she said, “What about her?”

      “She’s living forty miles south of Vancouver in Beach Grove,” Dora said softly.

      Nina lost her grip and the glass СКАЧАТЬ