Chapter 1 - THE BOY BEHIND THE PLANTER
Daria Kincaid swung the broom into Catherine’s side.
Catherine stumbled down one stone step and curled inward, protecting herself.
Victor lunged beside his mother and shoved her backward.
“GET THE HELL OFF MY PROPERTY!”
Catherine shook her head violently.
She could not answer.
She had never been able to speak.
Her dark hair hung in tangled strands over a bruised, exhausted face. Her white blouse was torn at one shoulder and gray with dirt.
Daria jabbed the broom toward her again.
“Leave.”
Catherine dropped to her knees.
She clasped both hands together.
Then reached toward the mansion doors.
Victor kicked dust toward her worn shoes.
“GET OUT OF MY HOUSE!”
The front door opened.
Samuel Kincaid stepped outside in a black suit.
“What’s going on here?”
Daria lowered the broom instantly.
Victor stepped back.
Catherine looked up.
The desperation in her face changed.
She crawled the last foot toward Samuel, grabbed his pant leg, and pointed frantically toward the stone planter beside the steps.
Samuel frowned.
Daria said:
“She’s some crazy beggar.”
Catherine shook her head so hard tears flew from her cheeks.
Then she reached behind the planter.
A small boy emerged.
Thin.
Frightened.
Dark hair.
Five years old, maybe.
He clung to Catherine’s torn blouse.
Then looked up at Samuel.
Samuel stopped breathing.
The shape of the child’s eyes.
The small notch in his left eyebrow.
The way one side of his mouth tightened when he was scared.
Samuel took one step closer.
“Why does he look exactly like my son who died?”
Catherine burst into tears.
She nodded.
Again.
Again.
Daria went completely still.
Victor’s face lost all color.
The boy stared at Samuel.
Then his hand moved toward his own chest.
He whispered:
“Caleb.”
Samuel’s knees almost gave out.
Caleb was the name of the son he had lost two years earlier.
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And no one outside the family had ever known about the tiny scar behind Caleb’s left ear.
The boy had one.
