Total pages in book: 84
Estimated words: 80940 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 405(@200wpm)___ 324(@250wpm)___ 270(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 80940 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 405(@200wpm)___ 324(@250wpm)___ 270(@300wpm)
He took a few steps forward and reached out a hand. The woman took it and blushed when Liam greeted her.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, ma’am. Liam Sanders.”
“Well, welcome, Mr. Sanders. I’m Joyce Ryans. I own this fine establishment.”
Liam looked around. “And fine it is.”
When she focused back to me, her smile faded. Probably because I hadn’t moved a muscle. “Mallory, are you okay, honey?”
Liam and I had already decided not to tell anyone about the kidnapping, and just say I’d been in an accident instead. “Actually, I’m not okay, Joyce. I woke up after a recent accident, and I had amnesia. I didn’t remember who I was or where I was from. Liam’s cousin is a police officer, and he was able to match my fingerprints, from when I worked at—”
“The courthouse. You were a young thing, maybe sixteen or so. Mallory, this is terrible! Do you remember anything at all?”
I shook my head. “Nothing. The woman at the…um…courthouse said I sold my grandmother’s house, put some items in storage and moved to Chicago.”
“You did! Yes. Here.” Joyce quickly grabbed a set of keys. “You wanted to pay for the unit, but I told you not until you got on your feet in Chicago.”
“Did I have a job lined up?” I asked, while Liam and I followed Joyce through a door beside the desk and down a long hall. It was spotless and smelled like pine trees.
“No. I thought it was so brave of you to just up and move to the big city. You did have some interviews set up, though. I do know that much.”
Liam and I glanced at each other.
“Here, this is your unit. You didn’t have a whole lot, but you said there were some things you just couldn’t part with. Mostly it was antique furniture of your grandmother’s, family photos, things like that.”
When Joyce opened the door to the unit, all I could do was stare. There were maybe a dozen boxes on one side, piled neatly. A beautiful desk that looked old but sturdy in the very back. On the other side, it looked like an antique bed, along with a dresser, two nightstands, and a long chair that almost looked like a small bed itself.
“The bedroom set was your grandmother’s. It was her grandmother who brought it over from Scotland.”
“Scotland?” I asked.
She nodded. “Your mother was full Scottish, but your daddy was adopted, so we don’t know much about his heritage.”
A feeling of sadness swept over me as I stared at the contents of the unit. These were my possessions. A small eight-by-ten storage unit with a few boxes and even fewer pieces of furniture. It appeared I didn’t have much.
I swayed slightly, and Liam slid his arm around my waist. “Are you okay?”
Nodding, I wiped a tear away.
Joyce placed her hand on my shoulder. “Do you remember any of this?”
“No,” I whispered, as I made my way into the unit.
I heard Joyce speak to Liam. “Here’s the key. You lock it up when she’s done. Also, here’s my phone number if you need anything. I’ll do whatever I can to help Mallory.”
Sinking down to the floor, I pulled a box toward me.
“Do you know if she has any friends we could talk to, who might have information about where she was staying in Chicago?”
Joyce cleared her throat and attempted to whisper…and failed.
“Oh, Mallory kept to herself. Her only friend, Laura, moved away about, oh, let’s see…four years ago now? According to Mallory, they lost touch shortly after. She had no one after her grandmother passed. It was one of the reasons why she left for the big city. She was ready to start a new life.”
“Thank you, Joyce,” Liam said softly.
I blinked rapidly to keep my tears at bay, but lost the battle when I felt him sit behind me. “I didn’t even have any friends.”
He exhaled. “So, if you kept low-key, didn’t have friends, maybe the person who took you was following you? Knew no one would be looking for you.”
Glancing back at him, I asked, “And he took me to Montana? How?”
“That part I haven’t figured out yet. And we still don’t know if you went to Montana on your own.”
I opened the box in front of me and discovered it was filled with recipe books, what looked like journals, and some reading books. Pushing it to the side, I opened the next one and let out a sob. “Pictures.”
Liam moved next to me, reaching in and pulling out a small box. He opened it and smiled. “Look, this must be you as a baby.”
He held out a photo of a woman who looked like me, holding a baby girl. Behind her, a man with dark hair peered over her shoulder, looking down at the baby.
I wiped my tears away. “Why can’t I remember them, Liam? Why?”