Beyond the Garden (Magnolia Series Book 2) Read online

  Julian stood up from the table. “I’m taking your dad’s side this time. You’ve never seen the Angel Oak. It’s quite spectacular.” He kissed the top of her head. “I’ll go get my laptop, so we can book our flights.” He left the table and disappeared inside.

  Ellie stuck her tongue out at Abbott. “You can wipe the smirk off your face. Maybe I’ll paint the Angel Tree.”

  With eyebrows raised, he stared at her over the rim of his sweet tea glass. “If you’re nice to me, I’ll let you have one of my photographs to paint over.”

  “Ha ha. Aren’t you the funny guy?”

  “Come chase us, GoPa,” the twins called from the yard in unison.

  Abbott pushed back from the table abruptly. “You want the big furry monster to chase you, do you? Well, here he comes!” With legs stiff and arms flailing above his head, he went after the twins.

  Ellie sipped her tea while she watched the show.

  Amid the girls’ squeals of delight, he chased them in circles around the small yard, almost catching them three times before finally stumbling and falling. He got to his knees and crawled on all fours. “I’m getting weak. Feed me, please. I need food.” He collapsed on the ground, and they climbed on top of him. “I’ll die if you don’t feed me.”

  Julian returned to the terrace with his computer. “I guess we’d better order some dinner.”

  “Girls, ask the monster what he wants for dinner,” Ellie called.

  “What do you want for dinner, GoPa?”

  “Anything but pizza. We’ve eaten so much pizza since these renovations started, we’re all gonna turn into pepperonis and sausage balls.”

  The twins giggled. “You’re so funny, GoPa!” Bella said.

  He removed the twins from his torso and slowly got up. “I’m getting too old for this, girls. Y’all run along and play and let the poor monster rest for a minute.”

  Julian’s fingers tapped away at the keyboard. “Delta has a flight leaving at seven tomorrow morning. Is that too early?”

  “That depends on Dad,” Ellie said. “But I’d like to get there as soon as possible.”

  “Fine by me,” Abbott said, reclaiming his seat at the table. “I’ll spend the night tonight, so I’ll be here with the twins when you leave in the morning.”

  “Should I book a return now?” Julian asked.

  “Why don’t you keep the return open for now?” Abbott suggested. “Stay as long as you like. You two never got to take a honeymoon. You deserve some time alone together.”

  “I appreciate the offer, but there’s no way Mr. Architect”—she squeezed Julian’s shoulder—“will abandon his project in the final critical stages. The countertops are coming on Tuesday and the sinks on Wednesday.”

  “Oh no, you don’t.” Julian snapped his computer shut and sat back in his chair. “You’re in the driver’s seat on this trip, Ellie. We’ll come back when you’re ready.”

  “I admit the idea of a little fun in the sun is appealing, but now is not the right time for a vacation. My goal is to find Lia, have her sign the papers, and get back home as soon as possible.”

  When a rubber ball whizzed past Ellie’s head, Abbott grabbed it out of the air before it knocked over his tea glass. “Come here, you two,” he called to the girls. They raced to his side. “How would you like for GoPa to stay with you for a few days while Aunt Ellie and Uncle Julian go out of town on business?”

  “Really? Will you?” They bounced up and down on their tippy-toes.

  “Really, I will!” Abbott placed a hand on top of each of their heads, holding them down until they squirmed. “We can stay up late watching TV and eating ice cream!”

  Ellie shot him a death glare. “Don’t you dare!”

  Abbott faked a dejected look. “All right. We’ll abide by the rules. But that doesn’t mean we can’t still have fun.”

  Julian stood and stretched. “Girls, why don’t the three of us go pick up some dinner while GoPa goes home to pack and Aunt Ellie searches for her bikini?”

  “Bikini, hell,” Ellie said under her breath. “I’m traveling light. The only items I’m packing in my suitcase are a pair of shorts, two T-shirts, and the adoption papers.”

  CHAPTER FOUR

  Ellie

  Ellie spent longer than usual with the girls at bedtime. They wanted extra time in the bathtub, and afterward, selected a large stack of books from the shelves in their playroom adjoining their bedroom for her to read. She hated the idea of leaving them for Florida. She had complete faith in her father’s ability to take care of them, but what if one of them got sick or fell and broke a bone? What if something bad happened to her father during the night and the girls were left all by themselves? What if someone kidnapped them? What if Lia wasn’t in Key West but in Charleston, lurking in the shadows of the live oak trees in the park across the street? Was this how all parents felt when they traveled without their children? Or was her mind conjuring up these irrational fears as a result of the constant threat that Lia would one day show up and take the girls away? How would Ellie cope then? When her parental responsibilities were terminated after seven long months. When Lia whisked the girls off to some unknown place and she never had contact with them again. She would no longer have control over any aspect of their lives. Would she ever be able to let go, or would the worry intensify to the point it drove her completely insane?

  She brewed a cup of chamomile tea and returned to the terrace. She relaxed on the chaise lounge and stared up at the stars. The moonlight beamed down on the magnolia tree in the far back corner of the yard. When she’d lived here as a child, the tree had provided shelter from the abuse she suffered from her grandmother and an escape from the sorrow of watching her mother die. Closing her eyes, she thought back to all the changes that had taken place in her life since she’d inherited the property and moved to Charleston nine months ago. The things Ellie learned from her mother’s journals unleashed memories of traumatic events that her subconscious had held captive since her childhood. The most astonishing of her revelations was the little girl with dark hair and eyes who turned out to be her twin sister.

  Abbott had come to Charleston to help search for Lia and never returned to his home in Washington, DC. Like Ellie, he fell in love with his granddaughters and was enamored with the Lowcountry—the milder climate, friendly folks, and delectable cuisine served at the high-end restaurants and outdoor cafés. He worked remotely for a while before exchanging his position as creative vice president for a part-time consulting position at National Geographic.

  Ellie met Julian during her first week in Charleston. After a whirlwind romance, they got married two days before Christmas while Julian’s daughter was visiting over her winter break. The chapel at Saint Philip’s Church was decked for the holidays in fresh greens and red poinsettias. The small group of attendees, made up mostly of Julian’s friends, admired the elegant bride—dressed in a winter-white suit with her auburn hair styled into a sleek chignon—as the proud father walked her down the aisle. The twins and Katie were her only attendants, three little angels in white velvet dresses with red-satin sashes. Ellie and Julian hosted a wedding brunch, catered by Charleston’s most sought-after caterer, Heidi Butler, for family and friends at Julian’s carriage house on Church Street. The bride and groom opted not to go on a honeymoon but to spend Christmas Day and the week afterward with the girls. The twins idolized Katie and she, in turn, doted on them. Julian and Ellie took their small family on a few outings, but mostly they camped out by the fire, watching holiday movies and roasting marshmallows on wire coat hangers in the fireplace. It was the happiest time of Ellie’s life, and they were sad to see Katie return to her mother in Spartanburg after New Year’s.

  They’d seen Katie only three times since Christmas. While Julian’s custody agreement stipulated twice-a-month visits, Katie’s extracurricular activities—her basketball league games during the winter months and her soccer team tournaments in the spring—had forced her to cancel their sche
duled weekends. Julian was growing tired of being patient, and Ellie had become suspicious of the situation. During her last visit over Easter, Katie had seemed unusually subdued and somewhat hostile toward Ellie. She worried her husband’s ex-wife was filling her daughter’s head with untruths about her father’s new wife. Ellie had encouraged Julian to keep a journal of the missed weekends, unreturned phone messages, and other matters concerning Katie in the event he needed to present them to a judge down the road.

  With Ellie’s biological clock running out of time, she and Julian had agreed to start a family soon after the wedding. They prepared themselves for fertility challenges, but were pleasantly surprised when she got pregnant the second month. Her doctor warned her of the risks associated with first-time pregnancies for women over forty, but Ellie remained cautiously optimistic. Her morning sickness continued throughout the day, which Dr. Gillespie agreed was a positive sign.

  Ellie heard the french door open behind her and the scratching of the dogs’ nails as they scrambled across the bluestone terrace. Julian nudged Ellie to move over and snuggled up beside her on the lounge chair. “I noticed you ate a lot of dinner. You must be feeling better today.”

  “I am feeling better, and Mexican was a pleasant change from pizza. Just as the doctors promised would happen at the beginning of the second trimester.” She nestled into him. “I can’t wait to tell Dad about the baby. He’ll be ecstatic.”

  “Why not tell him tonight?”

  “He’s already gone to bed. I’ll tell him when we get back from Florida. He’s worried enough about us making this trip. He doesn’t need to fret about my high-risk pregnancy.”

  Julian pressed his hand against her still-flat tummy. “And how’s the little one today?”

  “He’s fine.” For Julian’s sake, because he was already surrounded by females, Ellie was hoping for a boy. “But you can guess again if you think I’m putting this bloated body in a bikini.”

  He nibbled at her neck. “I’ll settle for the one-piece, as long as it’s the sexy pink number that’s cut way down in the back.”

  She elbowed him in the ribs. “This is not a pleasure trip, Julian. We’re going to Key West for one thing and one thing only.”

  “You heard your father. We never got our honeymoon. Surely we can make time for at least one moonlit swim.”

  She envisioned their bodies entwined in a secluded swimming pool with palm trees swaying overhead. “Well . . . maybe just one.”

  “Hmm.” His hand moved from her belly to her breast. “I can feel the tropical breeze already.”

  She swatted his hand away. “This is serious, Julian. What if we don’t find Lia? What happens then?”

  “We’ll put pressure on Tyler to expedite the legal guardianship so we can move forward with adoption proceedings.” Tyler Burke was the attorney they’d hired to consult with them about their case.

  Ellie sighed. “I know it’s unrealistic of me to want Lia’s blessing on the adoption.”

  “She already gave you her blessing. In writing, no less.”

  “That may be true, but I’m not convinced her letter will hold up in court if she gets herself a good attorney. He’ll make the case that she was going through a difficult time. And she was. She was under a great deal of stress. Her husband had gambled away all their money and left her to deal with the fallout from his bad decisions. She had plenty of reason to freak out. I would’ve too, under those circumstances. But Bella and Mya are her daughters. I think it’s only fair to give her another chance before we move forward. I would want someone to do the same for me if the situation were reversed. If, on the other hand, we find Lia and she’s strung out on crack cocaine . . . well, then that’s a different scenario entirely.”

  “Are you prepared for her to take the girls back?”

  Ellie craned her neck so she could see his face. “No more than you are. But if it’s going to happen, I’d rather it be now, when I’m anticipating it to happen, than out of the blue ten years from now.”

  He rolled onto his back and placed his hand behind his head. “I hear what you’re saying, and I’m willing to play it your way for now. But if we don’t find Lia in Key West, I’m going to insist we petition the court for custody. We have Lia’s letter as evidence. If you ask me, the petition is simply a formality. The tone and wording of the letter implies she won’t be coming back anytime soon. She admits that she’s not mentally stable and is a dangerous threat to her children. She talks about how Abbott will be a supportive presence in the girls’ lives, and she tells you not to try and find her. We have all this in Lia’s handwriting. We’ll wrap the case up so tight she won’t be able to reclaim those children if and when she ever resurfaces.”

  “I wish I felt as confident as you sound.” She pushed herself to a sitting position and swung her legs over the side of the chair. “I’m going to bed. We have a long day ahead of us tomorrow.”

  CHAPTER FIVE

  Ellie

  The plane trip from Charleston to Key West via Atlanta was uneventful. Ellie and Julian took a taxi from the airport directly to the Buena Vista Resort in the heart of downtown, arriving hours too early for check-in. They left their bags with the front desk clerk, who promised to have them delivered to their room as soon as one became available.

  After they finished with the paperwork, Ellie asked to speak with the hotel manager. “I have a personal issue I need to discuss. Is he or she around?”

  “I believe so. Let me check.” The young Hispanic woman disappeared into the back office and returned with a heavyset bald man who introduced himself as Fred Porter.

  Ellie extended her hand. “I’m looking for my sister, Lia, Mr. Porter. Her husband, Ricky Bertram, was murdered in your hotel two nights ago.”

  A pained expression crossed his face as he glanced around to see if any hotel guests were listening. “Why don’t we step down here, where we can speak in private?” The desk clerk motioned them to the end of the check-in counter. “I’m not sure how I can help, Mrs. Hagood. I already told the detectives everything I know.”

  “My sister and her husband were having marital problems, Mr. Porter. I know the woman you described to the police matches Lia’s description, but you can understand why I need to make certain it was her.” Ellie removed her cell phone from her bag and accessed the photograph of Lia her father had taken during their brief time together the previous fall. “She wears turtlenecks most of the time, to cover a burn scar on her neck.”

  Porter took the phone from Ellie and studied the picture carefully. He jabbed his finger at the screen and shook his head. “This is not the same woman. They are similar in looks, with dark hair and eyes, but the woman staying here with Mr. Bertram wore tight-fitting clothing that showed off her figure. And she had a figure, too, if you know what I mean. She paraded through the lobby several times in her bathing suit, a tiny little bikini that . . .” He shook his head as he remembered the sight of the woman in the bikini. “Wow.”

  “How long did they stay here?” Julian asked.

  “Two weeks and three days,” Porter said. “I know this, because the police asked the same question.”

  Ellie’s mouth fell open. “I find that hard to believe, since my brother-in-law was broke,” she said, even though that tidbit of information was none of Porter’s business. “What’s the nightly rate?”

  “Four hundred and fifty dollars,” Porter said. “Perhaps his girlfriend was footing the bill.”

  “Did you not think that unusual?” Ellie asked. “Most honeymoons only last a week.”

  “This is Key West, Mrs. Hagood. Nothing that happens here surprises me.”

  She tapped on the phone with her fingernail. “Have you ever seen this woman?”

  He glanced once more at the picture and then handed Ellie her phone. “If I have, I don’t remember. A lot of people come in and out of this hotel every day.”

  She dropped her phone in her bag. “Is there anything else you can tell me about the woman st
aying here with Ricky, other than the shape of her body and the color of her hair? She may know something of my sister’s whereabouts.”

  “Actually . . .” He held up his index finger. “Wait one minute.” He disappeared into the back office and returned with a computer printout bearing the image of a striking brunette. “This photograph was taken from our security surveillance video. The image is kinda grainy, but you can get a general idea of what she looks like. I hope you find her, although I suspect she’s long gone from here by now. The police are hot on her trail.”

  Ellie looked down at the woman, who bore a striking resemblance to her sister. “How did the couple seem when they were together? Did you or any of your guests witness anything out of the ordinary?”

  He thought about it a minute before responding, “Nope.”

  “No one reported loud arguing coming from their room?”

  He shook his head. “Sorry. They seemed very much in love, like normal honeymooners, which is why I didn’t question their extended stay.”

  #

  “What now?” Julian asked as they stood outside the entrance to the hotel.

  “First, we eat. I’m starving.” Ellie took off down the hotel’s driveway toward Duval Street.

  Julian caught up with her and stepped in line beside her. “Do you have any idea where you’re going?”

  “Not really. I figured we’d wing it with a little help from Yelp.” She retrieved the phone from her bag and accessed the app. “What’re you in the mood for: seafood or burgers?”

  “Is that a serious question? We can’t come to Key West and not eat seafood.” He took her phone and after a brief perusal of Yelp said, “Let’s hit DJ’s Clam Shack. Reviews are good, and it’s right up the road a couple of blocks.” He handed the phone back to her.

  “After we eat, before we go to the police station, I’d like to stop in at some of the bed-and-breakfasts around here and show them Lia’s photograph on the off chance she’s in the area.”