I showed up on the front porch of the Ames family’s lake house, because some things needed to be said in person. “I didn’t realize that Walker and Victoria were friends” was one of those things.
“Join the club.” Campbell stepped out onto the front porch and closed the door behind her. “Apparently, they’ve been talking.”
I thought of Lily. I’d left her in good hands—Nick’s—but I didn’t trust the lack of emotion she’d displayed. I could buy Lily deciding that she didn’t want to be in a relationship right now, or reaching the conclusion that she and Walker had grown apart, or even that a large part of their relationship had always been based on other people’s expectations.
But I couldn’t buy any of those conclusions not hurting.
“How long has Walker been talking to Victoria?” I asked Campbell. “And what do they have to be talking about?”
“Right now?” Campbell arched an eyebrow at me. “They’re talking about Ana’s baby.”
“I want to meet with Ana.” Victoria’s voice was audible as Campbell and I rounded the side of the house to the back deck. “But she won’t see me unless my father sees her.”
I didn’t wait for them to see me to chime in. “And your father won’t see her?”
Walker, Victoria, and Boone turned toward me, their conversation grinding to a halt.
“You’re looking lovely, devious, and/or vengeful today,” Boone commented. “Whichever you’re most likely to perceive as a compliment.”
Walker recovered his voice before Victoria did. “Don’t take this the wrong way, Sawyer . . .” He softened the words with a trademark smile. “But this really doesn’t concern you.”
I got the feeling that he wasn’t just talking about this conversation. He was talking about his relationship with Lily.
“Irritated in an aesthetically pleasing manner!” Boone tried another compliment on for size.
“To be fair,” Campbell said, “Sawyer’s been ineffectually trying to locate Ana’s baby for weeks.”
Considering that Campbell hadn’t been any more effective than I was, I could have replied to that in any number of ways, but instead, I decided to reply to Walker’s assertion that I had no place here.
“I may be the only person on this deck who’s not related to Ana’s baby,” I said, “but that baby and I have an awful lot in common.”
I thought back to my conversation in the cemetery with Lillian—and everything I hadn’t been able to put into words. I wasn’t sure how many of my secrets Campbell had let slip to Walker, let alone Victoria, but at the moment, I wasn’t sure I cared.
“Right now, the ‘I Owe My Entire Existence to a Stupid Teenage Pregnancy Pact’ Club has a membership of one,” I continued, like I was ripping off a bandage. “If any of you know what it’s like to be the result of a planned, adulterous, underage pregnancy that’s done a total number on your sense of self, parental relationships, and understanding of the universe, I’d be happy to chat. But otherwise . . .” I crossed the deck and took a seat at the table. “I think I have at least as much reason to be here as someone looking for their great-niece or long-lost cousin.”
Victoria didn’t say anything about the great-niece comment, but Boone did try for another compliment, which didn’t bear repeating.
I ignored him in favor of Victoria. “You were saying that Ana wants to see your father?”
“My father has . . .” Victoria considered her words. “. . . favorites. Favorite sons, favorite grandchildren. Back in the day, I’ve gathered that was Ana. Her mother’s a Swedish socialite who’s very good at playing to my father’s ego. I guess Ana was, too.”
“And then she got pregnant,” I said flatly.
“She didn’t come to him for help.” Victoria gave a little shrug. “And she didn’t ask for his forgiveness.”
Why would she? Delving into Gutierrez family dynamics wasn’t my top priority at the moment, but still, the question lingered.
“I might be able to get my father to talk to her,” Victoria said. “But we can’t count on it. It might be easier to find someone else Ana would talk to.”
“Like who?” Campbell asked, coming to sit on top of the wrought-iron table, right between Victoria and her brother.
Walker was the one who replied. “Lily,” he said softly.
I stared at him. “Are you kidding me? You’re actually sitting there considering asking Lily to talk to her father’s mistress?” That was the single worst plan I’d ever heard. “What the hell is wrong with you, Walker?”
Do you not care about her at all?
“She’s the one who broke up with me,” Walker told me quietly. “I’m not the bad guy here.”
Victoria laid her hand on the table, close enough to his that they almost touched. “Neither is she.” She allowed her eyes to meet mine. “Asking Lily to talk to Ana is out. What does that leave us with?”
Not much. That was where we’d been—where I had been—for months. There were questions I wanted answers to—more than I should have, probably—but there was no straight line to answers. This wasn’t the kind of problem that could be solved with determination, elbow grease, and sheer force of will.
We couldn’t make Ana tell us the truth.
“What about,” Boone interjected, “and I’m just throwing this out there: a party.”
“How is a party going to help us find Ana’s baby?” Campbell asked him.
“I don’t know,” Boone replied. “That’s just how things work around here. Fancy shindig, scandalous happenings, murmur murmur, and voilà.”
Walker turned to Victoria. “You did say your mother wanted to host something. Do you think you could talk her into inviting Ana?”
“If my mother gets irritated enough with my father and brothers,” Victoria said, “anything is possible. I can work on a party—that’ll be White Glove convenient anyway—but Ana’s attendance is about as far from guaranteed as something can get.”
The mention of the White Gloves had me flashing back to that night on King’s Island. You’re here because we believe that there’s more to you than meets the eye, we’d been told. You’re here because you have secrets.
I turned that over in my head. “How do the White Gloves identify Candidates?” I asked Victoria.
She clearly wasn’t expecting the question.
“I imagine it involves a lot of research.” Campbell caught my drift with impressive speed. “How exactly does one go about putting together in-depth dossiers on Debutante types in three states?”
I remembered Hope rattling off my bio. Do I want to know how you know that I used to be a mechanic? I’d asked her.
“Do you do your own research?” I asked Victoria. “Or do you hire it out?”
“Does it matter?” Victoria asked pointedly.
“Ana’s baby would be our age. My age, within a couple of months. And if Ana thought that the people who adopted her baby could give her child every advantage . . .”
“Then the baby probably went to a certain kind of family,” Campbell finished.
The kind of family that the White Gloves tended to recruit from.
“I can’t show you those files,” Victoria said, “even if I could get ahold of them without the others noticing. That information is private.”
Walker leaned toward her. “Vee.”
Vee? I was glad Lily wasn’t here. No matter how okay she claimed to be, no matter whose idea breaking up had been—hearing that nickname on Walker’s lips wouldn’t have felt good.
And I wasn’t sure how much more bad Lily could take.
“I’ll look through the dossiers we had our investigator put together when we were looking for Candidates,” Victoria told Walker, “if you and Campbell will double back and ask your grandfather what else he knows.”
The fact that Victoria had brought Davis Ames into this triggered a faint alarm in the back of my head, but I didn’t have time to probe that feeling further, because an instant later, Boone jumped to his feet.
“Sawyer!” he said. “We’ve been summoned. To the Batmobile!”
I stared at him.
“Sadie-Grace just texted me,” he clarified. “She’s parked out front. She needs us.”
“Why?” I asked.
Boone didn’t answer. He started trotting for the side of the house, and then glanced back at me. “Your reluctance to follow my lead is a dagger in my heart! But sadly, we don’t have time to stand around here talking about your obvious cruel streak. Time is of the essence.”
“Why?” I asked again. He didn’t answer. I followed him. “What’s going on?”
He waited until we were out of earshot to reply. “Sadie-Grace’s stepmother just went into labor.”