8....

Julia didn't know what to do. Drew had made her swear that she wouldn't tell her mother

where he was living, and she hadn't. Did the same apply to Colin Delaney? Was she

sworn to secrecy when it came to him, too?

She tried to call Drew as soon as she got home, but he didn't pick up. That was no

surprise—he'd been accepting her calls less and less frequently. What if she reached him,

and he didn't give her permission to pass on his contact information to Colin Delaney?

And what if he did?

Either way, this wasn't something she wanted to handle over the phone. She needed

to see him face to face, to talk to him about what she knew and how it was affecting him.

She needed to find a way to get her brother back.

At home on a cold Tuesday afternoon, she sat at her kitchen table with her laptop,

checking her bank balance, investigating available flights, and considering her options.

She could just show up on his doorstep, the way Colin Delaney had showed up on

hers. But what if he didn't want to talk to her? What if he didn't even let her in? Their

telephone conversations had been awkward and perfunctory since he'd left, and the

unfairness of that pissed her off. She wasn't the one who'd lied to him his entire life. She

wasn't the one who had dropped a bombshell on him when he'd been mourning the loss

of the man he'd thought was his father.

He should have been able to turn to Julia for support when he'd been struggling to

deal with the truth about his life. But instead, he'd somehow lumped her in with their

mother, as though Julia and Isabelle were an inseparable unit.

Julia was being unfairly blamed for something she'd had nothing to do with,

something she'd had no knowledge of. Part of her wanted to react by turning her back on

both Drew and Isabelle. She was angry and hurt, and if Drew didn't want her in his life

despite her innocence in all of this, then he didn't deserve her. But a bigger part of her

felt compassion for all he must have been going through these past years, without anyone

to talk to about it.

She wondered if he'd talked to Tessa about it, back when it had first happened. Back

when they'd still been married. She wondered if he'd shut her out, too, and if that had

anything to do with the breakup of their marriage.

God, this was all such a mess.

She could fly out to see Drew today, if she decided to go that route. She'd be harder

to push away if she were standing right there, a real person instead of a voice on the other

end of the phone or a name on the other end of a text message.

Then she could decide what to do about Colin Delaney.

Isabelle had said Delaney was planning to contact Julia again in the next day or so,

once she'd heard the truth from her mother. He'd passed his business card on to Isabelle,

and she'd given it to Julia.

Julia looked at the card, which sat on the table next to her laptop.

She figured it wouldn't hurt to be fully armed with all of the information before she

went flying off to confront her brother.

She picked up the card, felt its texture between her fingers.

At least five times since she'd talked to Isabelle, Julia had picked up her cell phone

and started to dial before stopping herself. She couldn't shake the feeling that she'd be

betraying her brother, going behind his back to talk to a stranger about the most sensitive

secrets of Drew's life.

But he was already blaming her for a betrayal she hadn't committed. It seemed like

calling Colin Delaney to get the rest of the story could hardly be any worse.

Somehow, she didn't want him in her house. Him, and the turmoil he represented.

She knew she was likely doing the same thing to him that her brother had done to her—

blaming an innocent bystander for someone else's misdeeds. Still, she felt the way she

felt.

They decided to meet at a diner—a place with wood paneling and mounted fish on

the walls, where you could get a cinnamon roll as big as your head. Julia sat at a Formica

table across from Colin, each of them with a thick, white ceramic mug of coffee in front

of them. The place smelled like hamburger grease and damp shoes.

Julia shoved the laminated menu aside and looked at the man across from her.

Chiseled jaw, a clean shave, an expensive haircut. And his well-cut clothing—just

slightly inappropriate for the weather conditions—reflected the fact that he came from a

warmer climate and an environment that was considerably less rugged than this one. She

thought about what it would be like to sit across a restaurant table from him under other

circumstances, but then pushed those thoughts aside. The idea of dating someone this rich

and this gorgeous was absurd, especially for her. Because Colin Delaney looked the way

he looked, and Julia looked … well. Like herself.

More absurd than that thought was the fact that she was even thinking that way at

all. She needed to be thinking about Drew. And thinking about Drew was pretty damned

uncomfortable at the moment.

In contrast to her own intense feelings of awkwardness, Colin appeared to be at ease.

She supposed that in his line of work, he had plenty of experience talking to people about

things they might prefer not to talk about.

"Your mother told you why I'm here," he said, cutting into her musings. His hands

were wrapped around his coffee mug, either to give them something to do, or for the

warmth of the mug. They were strong-looking hands.

"She did." Julia could feel the tension in her mouth, around her eyes.

"I'm sure it's got to be a shock, if you didn't already know about your mother and

Redmond."

"It's fair to say I was surprised."

His blue eyes focused on her with an intensity that made her even more

uncomfortable. "I can imagine."

"So … where do we go from here?" She hoped he had some ideas, because she

certainly didn't. "When you first showed up to talk to me, I thought you were a debt

collector. But now …"

"Now you know I'm not."

She nodded. "Now I know you're not, but I still don't know what to do."

He spread his hands, and she found herself focusing on them. They were smooth,

uncallused. The hands of a man who worked with his mind.

"I have to talk to him," Colin said. "Your mother says she doesn't know where he is,

but you do."

She looked at the tabletop to avoid his gaze. "He made me promise I'd respect his

privacy. And I always have. If you show up …" She left the thought unfinished.

"I'm not here to make trouble for him. He's got an inheritance coming, and he can't

receive it if we can't locate him. It's a significant inheritance. And if you thought I was a

debt collector, I'm guessing he could use this kind of news right about now."

Considering what she'd learned about the Delaney family, she wondered what

exactly he meant by significant. She couldn't bring herself to ask, partly because it wasn't

her business, and partly because she thought she might not want to know.

"I tried to call him, but he's not picking up," Julia said. "And it didn't seem like the

kind of thing I should tell him about in a voice mail message."

"You're his sister, and he doesn't take your calls?"

Julia lifted one shoulder in a reluctant shrug. "Our relationship has been …

complicated … for the past few years. Ever since he found out our father is not his father.

Of course, I didn't know that was the reason until I talked to my mother."

"That had to have been a shock." Colin was looking at her intently, and she thought

she saw concern in his eyes.

She nodded—it had been a shock, all right. "But at least now I know what's going

on. All this time I knew there was some kind of secret between the two of them—Drew

and my mom—and that it had driven everyone apart. But I didn't know what it was. It's

better to know." She nodded decisively. "I think it's always better to know."

Colin thought it was better to know, too. That was why he had to meet Drew and get

to know him, learn about who he was and what that meant for Colin's family. Also, the

more he learned about the situation, the more he thought it would be better for Drew to

know all there was to know—about the Delaneys, about Redmond, about his biological

father's relationship to his mother, and about how he fit into everything in the aftermath.

He could imagine what all of these revelations must have done to Drew, but that's all

it would ever be—Colin's imagination. He couldn't truly know how something like that

felt. But he had to think if it were him—if Orin turned out not to be his father—he'd need

to know everything he could learn about the truth. While that wouldn't heal things,

couldn't reverse the damage, it could be a step in that direction.

And as someone who'd never really seemed to fit in himself, Colin felt that any step

forward for Drew would probably be a good one.

"Please tell me how to get in touch with him, Julia. It's time to get things out in the

open, don't you think?"

"I suppose it is." An expression crossed her face that he couldn't quite place.

Contemplation, reluctance, pain. "But I'm not just going to tell you and have you show

up there and drop this bomb on him." She seemed to consider something, and then

nodded. "I'm going out there to tell him in person."

Colin cocked his head slightly. "Where is 'out there'?"

"Canada. Drew is on Salt Spring Island."

"Huh. I've never been there, but there's no time like the present."

Julia looked at him with alarm. "I didn't mean—"

"Relax," Colin said with a half grin. "I'm a pretty good travel companion. At least, I

haven't had any complaints yet." He raised a finger to get their server's attention, and the

waitress, whose hair seemed to be sprayed into an immovable mass atop her head,

reached into her apron pocket for their check and headed his way.

"We're not going together," Julia said, exasperated.

"Well, I'm going and you're going," Colin said amiably. "It would just be friendlier

to go together, don't you think?"

Of course, meeting Drew was his first motivation. But if he were being honest, he'd

have to admit that the idea of spending more time with Julia—getting to know her a little

—would be a bonus. She wasn't at all the type of woman he was usually attracted to, and

yet there was something about her that drew his attention and made him want to know

more. There was something vulnerable in her face, something honest and intriguing.

Sitting next to her on an airplane for a few hours would give him an opportunity to find

out just what that was.

Two birds, one stone.

He paid the check, gathered up his coat, and waited patiently for her as she gaped up

at him from her seat at the table.

"I'll make the travel arrangements and call you later today with the details," he said.

"Thanks for agreeing to meet with me. Drive safely. The roads are icy."

He turned and walked out of the diner, feeling her gaze on his back. He nodded to

himself. As a real estate lawyer, one thing he knew how to do was close a deal..