Page 15 of To Have and To Hold

It was a coincidence that Coco knew Ambra and helped her out by hiding her when she needed to disappear from Michael, earning his wrath and landing her in the hot water and her shares in his lap without him having to even try to convince her to help him.

He felt his phone vibrate in his jacket pocket; he paused in the hallway, hearing the sounds of guest conversing and the light sounds of instruments playing in the background as the guests continued to mingle before they were to head outside on the lawn for an outdoor dinner.

He glanced at the number and his stomach tightened; he answered it immediately.

“Jacob? What happened? Is everything okay with Kaitlyn?”

“She’s fine. Resting upstairs in her bedroom.” His brother’s deep baritone sounded tired and worried at the same time.

“Did you get the results?”

“Yes.” His brother’s voice sounding strained.

He knew it wasn’t good. “And?”

“None of you are a match.” He said, sorrow deepening his voice and Colin’s shoulders slumped down. His world wasspinning on its axes. He now felt helpless and knew his brother must be feeling much worse because as her parent, he could not help her. He’d come back negative as a match too.

The whole family was rocked last month when they got the news that Kaitlyn need a bone-marrow donor.

“Tell me everything, what did the doctors say?” He moved and rested his back against the wall. He ignored the curious glances from the staff and men and women who happened to wander into the hallway, focusing on his brother and what he had to say next.

“Just what I told you, that no one on our side of the family is a complete match for her. And they also searched the donor bank to see if anyone else was and so far, it’s come up empty.”

He shut his eyes, and the image of his laughing niece appeared, her smile so beautiful it lit up the whole room and made idiots out of her uncles, who wanted to keep her laughing and smiling around them that they did whatever it took to make her feel happy, safe, and loved.

They’d almost lost her once and wouldn’t let it occur again, but now it looked like the decision was going to be taken out of their hands. Because now it seemed they didn’t have what she needed the most to keep her smiling and laughing. He felt anger and sorrow pour through him. His knuckles struck the wall behind him and he swore.

He missed what his brother said next. “What? Repeat that.” He straightened up.

“They asked me where her mother was and if she was still alive.”

Colin swore, not liking where this was going. “And?”

“I have to try and find her?”

“You haven’t heard from her since she was released from the hospital and signed the papers. It’s been a while since the court was backlogged to the point you had to wait several months until the court finished processing the papers. So, what, it has been a year now?” He questioned, teeth grinding in frustration at this new development.

“No. not a word. She kept her promise to not reach out to me ever again and to forget she had a daughter.” His brother said coldly.

“Could she be dead?”

“No.”

Colin’s eyebrows rose at the quick response. “How do you know?”

“I just do.” His brother gave him a short answer, his voice terse. And Colin knew enough about his brother’s tone to not continue that line of questioning right now.

“Do you know where she went?”

“No, I will have to search for her. ” His brother swore loudly after his comment.

“Have you spoken to the Senator?”

“Yes, he doesn’t know where his daughter is, and he doesn’t care.”

Colin nodded in understanding. Sierra’s father disowned her after the accident; almost losing his granddaughter had been the last straw for him with his only child and her addiction to drinking. “Have you asked him to come in for testing?” Hope burgeoned in Colin’s chest; maybe the Senator would be a match for his granddaughter, and they could leave Sierra out of it.

“Yes, he is going tomorrow to the hospital to be tested, but I have a feeling he won’t be a match. I will have to get hermotherinvolved.” His brother spat out the word like it was poison and, in this case, he was right. Sierra had been nothing but poison to his brother and a selfish mother to Kaitlyn. It wasn’t till the accident that she realized the traumatic and physical destruction she’d caused and thought she could make amends, but by then it was too late, the damage had been done. He and the family had been happy when Jacob finally got her out of his life and the life of their daughter.

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