Free Lost and Found by Bernadette Marie Page A

rolled his eyes. “But, at least if this
goes good, I can drag her to that fundraising event tomorrow
night—unless you’ve reconsidered and would rather go with me than
my brother.”
    Darcy laughed. “I’m just using him to
climb the corporate ladder.”
    This time, Christian laughed. “I think
you’re already doing that. You got permanent employee status, not
temp status.”
    Hadn’t she already found that
odd?
    She gave him a wave. “Have a good
night.”
    Christian held up his hand and crossed
his fingers. Then he gave her a wave and backed out of the driveway
and headed down the street.
    The package Christian had said was by
her door was waiting for her. She recognized her father’s
handwriting immediately.
    The anticipation of opening it
reminded her of Christmas morning. How her mother would make her
hold all her gifts on her lap while she took a picture.
    She held the package to her
chest.
    She missed her mother.
    Darcy opened the door to her apartment
and walked inside. She sat down on the couch and held tight to the
box. She’d been mad for so long over finding out she was adopted
and then over her mother’s quick illness and death. But having met
some of the Kellers had made her miss what she’d had. And, though
it had been small, it had been her family.
    Darcy opened the package and pulled
out the contents. Her father had added family pictures, college
transcripts, and important papers—such as her birth
certificate.
    She let out a slow, steady breath.
She’d asked her father for the items before she’d secured the job
with Benson, Benson, and Hart. The pictures had been a bonus and
would look wonderful on her walls.
    As she held the birth certificate in
her fingers, she thought about what a lie it was.
    Her parents’ names were on that piece
of paper, but they hadn’t given birth to her. Someone else did, and
she wanted to know who.
    She ran her hands over her face. Why
was she obsessing over this? Her parents loved her, and that should
be enough. But didn’t every adopted child want to know who and why
they were given up?
    How would she know? She was the only
person she’d ever known who was adopted. And wouldn’t that have
been nice to have known as she was growing up.
    Darcy ran her fingers over the print
on the official document. Born at Nashville General
Hospital.
    She sat back on the couch. She’d come
full circle to where her life started. Now the man she had feelings
for was imbedded in the company that her investigator had sent her
to because someone there had something to do with her.
    She squeezed her eyes shut.
    Were there two people at Benson,
Benson, and Hart who held a secret—her secret?
     
    Time had slipped away, again, and Ed
sat in his office staring out over the river as the sun went
down.
    The build in Georgia was going to be
extensive. The proposal they’d worked on all day would be right
there in Nashville. And he had to admit, to himself, that it was
going to be a delight to have Darcy there. In the week they’d
worked together, she had organized everything.
    Of course, there was the obvious as
well…she’d done a job on him.
    Ed loosened his tie and pulled it off.
He laid it on the desk. He looked up when he heard a tapping on the
door. Zach stood there, his own tie loose around his neck and his
suit coat draped over his arm.
    “ Your aunt would like to
invite you to dinner.”
    “ Is she
cooking?”
    Zach laughed. “She hasn’t done much of
that since the boys moved away from home. Either she’s living large
or is in denial.”
    Ed smiled. “I think that would be
nice.”
    “ Darcy already left for the
night?”
    “ Yes. She’ll be sleeping at
her desk soon enough, especially with the Georgia and Nashville
builds.”
    “ You know,” he smiled,
“your aunt and I did a lot of late nights and trips away from the
office.”
    Ed bit down on the inside of her
cheek. “You assume I hired Darcy for something other than her
ability to run my