When We Found Home. Susan Mallery

Keira, a twelve-year-old living in foster care in Los Angeles, had been easily located and moved into the house six weeks before, but an older daughter, Callie, had been more difficult to find. Until now, apparently.

      Malcolm gave in to the inevitable and asked, “Where is she?”

      “Texas. Houston. She’s twenty-six.”

      Eight years younger than him and fourteen years older than Keira.

      “She’s living off the grid, as you young people like to say,” Alberto told him. “That’s why it took so long. The private detective had to trace her from Oklahoma. The lawyer will speak to her and confirm everything using DNA.”

      “Do you want me to go meet her and bring her home?”

      Because like Keira, Callie would be invited to come live with her paternal grandfather. While the twelve-year-old hadn’t had much choice—Alberto and Malcolm were her only living family—Callie was an adult. She could tell her grandfather to go pound sand. Malcolm honestly had no idea what she would do. But the promise of inheriting a piece of Alberto’s Alfresco would be difficult to resist.

      “I’m sending a lawyer,” Alberto said. “That makes it more official.”

      Malcolm wondered if that was the only reason.

      He wasn’t sure how he felt about the sudden influx of siblings. Keira confused him—he knew nothing about twelve-year-old girls. After enrolling her in a quality private school that was conveniently across the street from the office building, he’d asked Carmen, their housekeeper, to keep tabs on her. Every now and then he suffered guilt, wondering if he should be more involved in her life, but how? Take her shopping and listen to teen music? He held in a shudder.

      “I’m hoping she’ll move here,” Alberto told him. “We’ll be a family.”

      Before Malcolm could respond, his grandfather shifted in his seat. The late morning light caught the side of his face, illuminating the deep wrinkles. Alberto wasn’t a young man. Yes, he was in good health, but at his age, anything could happen. Malcolm didn’t want to think about what it would mean to lose him and he sure didn’t want his last years to be unhappy.

      “I hope she does, too,” he said, wondering if he was lying, then telling himself it didn’t much matter. When it came to his grandfather, he would do what Alberto wanted. He owed him that for everything that had happened...and everything he’d done.

       chapter two

      At six thirty on an unexpectedly sunny Saturday morning, the condo building’s impressive gym was practically a ghost town. Santiago Trejo split his attention between the display on his treadmill and the small, built-in TV screen tuned to ESPN and a list of games scheduled for the first Saturday of the year’s baseball season.

      Santiago enjoyed sports as much as the next guy, but the thrill of baseball eluded him. Seriously—could it move slower? Give him a sport where something happened. Even if the score was low in hockey or soccer, the players were always doing something. But in baseball entire innings could pass with literally absolutely no action.

      The show went to commercial just as the treadmill program ended. Timing, he thought with a grin. He gave the machine a quick disinfectant wipe-down before grabbing his towel and water bottle and heading to the elevators.

      His condo was on an upper floor with a view of Puget Sound and the peninsula beyond. He could watch the ferries and cargo ships making their way to port, have a front-row seat to Fourth of July celebrations and admire the storms as they blew through. When the weather was clear—not something that happened all that often in Seattle—he could see the Olympic Mountains. The gorgeous views and accompanying sunsets were very helpful when it came to the ladies—not that he needed props, but a man should have plenty of options in his arsenal.

      After showering and dressing in jeans and a Yale Law School sweatshirt, he went down to his two parking spaces in the underground garage. A sleek, midnight blue Mercedes SL convertible sat next to a massive black Cadillac Escalade.

      “Not today,” he said, patting the Mercedes. “I have the munchkins.” Not only would their mother not approve of them riding in a convertible, there wasn’t any back seat.

      Santiago made his way to his favorite bakery. Unlike the gym, the bakery was jammed with people out on a Saturday morning. He took a small paper number from the machine up front, then waited his turn. When seventy-eight was called, he walked up and grinned at the short, plump woman wearing a hairnet.

      “Good morning, Brandi. Is your mother here? You know how I enjoy saying hello to her.”

      The fiftysomething woman behind the counter rolled her eyes. “You know it’s me, Santiago. No one is fooled by this game you play.”

      He clutched his chest and feigned surprise. “Valia? Is that really you? You’re so beautiful this morning, even more so than usual and I didn’t think that was possible.” He held open his arms. “Come on. You need a hug and so do I.”

      She groaned, as if the imposition was too much, but made her way around the counter. Santiago picked her up and spun her around until she shrieked.

      “Put me down, you fool! You’ll break your back.”

      He set her back on her feet and kissed her cheek. “It would be worth it,” he whispered.

      She laughed and slapped his arm. “You’re incorrigible.”

      “That’s why I’m your favorite.”

      “You’re not my favorite.”

      “Liar.”

      She chuckled. “How’s your mama?”

      “Well. I’m going to see her right now, then take the rug rats to the zoo.” He’d promised them a trip on the first sunny Saturday. Both of them had texted him yesterday with links to the weather report.

      “They’re good children.” She eyed him. “You should be married.”

      “Maybe.”

      “You need a wife.”

      “No one needs a wife.”

      “You do. You’re getting old.”

      “Hey, I’m thirty-four.”

      “Practically an old man. Get married soon or no one will want you.”

      He held his hands palm up and winked. “Really? Because hey, it’s me.”

      Her lips twitched. “You’re not all that.”

      “Now who’s lying?”

      She handed over a box with his name scrawled on the top. He’d placed his pastry order online after hearing from his niece and nephew.

      “My cousin has a daughter,” she began.

      He passed her twenty dollars. “Uh-huh. So you’ve mentioned before. I love you, Valia, but no. I’ll find my own girl.”

      “You keep saying that, but you never do. What’s wrong with you?”

      “Nothing,” he called as he headed for the door. “I’ll know when I know. Of that I’m sure.”

      He crossed the street and got two grande lattes from Starbucks before driving just north of the city to a quiet neighborhood of older homes. Most were either remodeled or in the process of being upgraded, but there were still a few with the original windows and tiny, one-car garages.

      He wove through narrow streets until he reached his destination and pulled into the long driveway.

      The lot was oversize and had two houses on it. The front one was large—about three thousand square feet, including the basement, with a nice backyard and plenty of light. Behind it was a smaller house—with