Finding Out Dad’s Secret

“What did you say?” I leaned forward toward the mahogany desk stacked with folders of papers. It was the first time I’d been in a lawyer’s office, and this one was as intimidating as the ones I’d seen on TV. Maybe I hadn’t heard him right.

Mr. Bergman cleared his throat. “Your father left everything – his house, stocks, savings, insurance – to be divided between you and your sister.”

“WHAT sister?” I blurted. “I’m an only child!”

He fingered his tie, and picked up his black coffee mug engraved, “World’s Best Dad.”

“This is very awkward, Izzie. He told me he was going to tell you,” Bergman said, taking a sip of coffee that must by now be cold. He didn’t look me in the eye. “I thought you knew.”

“I know nothing,” I declared. “I grew up without any brothers or sisters, and, now that Dad’s gotten himself killed in a car accident, now I find out I have a mysterious sister somewhere in the world?”

“As it is, yes. That’s about it,” he agreed.

“Where is she? Who is she?” I demanded. “Does she know about me?”

“I only know her name and address. I’ll write to her, of course, to tell her what I’m telling you today.”

My chest felt tight. Mom died nine years ago, when I was fourteen. Now in one week I’d also lost my father, but somehow gained a sister. “Dad traveled a lot on business. Did he have two families? Two wives?” I might as well hear the whole story.

“I believe your mother was his second wife,” Bergman explained. His bald head was sweating. “Your sister is probably older than you are. You’re sure he never mentioned another marriage?”

“Positive,” I declared. “You think I’d forget something like that?” I slumped back in the uncomfortable leather chair. “Why didn’t he tell me?”

“I don’t know, Izzie. You can see this puts me in an awkward position, having to tell you myself.”

“Puts YOU in an awkward position? How do you think it makes ME feel?”

We sat and stared at each other. It was a standoff.

“Can you tell me who she is?”

He looked down at the papers on his desk. “Her name is Anna Winslow. She lives in – or maybe on – Quarry Island, Maine.”

“Maine! I don’t remember Dad ever mentioning Maine.”

“Well, assuming he knows who his daughters are, at one time he must have lived there, or Anna’s mother lived somewhere else,” he pointed out.

“Her last name isn’t Jordan, like his and mine.”

“She may have married,” he suggested. “If she’s older than you, that’s possible.”

“Write down her name and address for me,” I asked. “I want to meet her.” If I really had a sister, then I had a family. I wasn’t alone.

He nodded, and wrote Anna’s name and address on the back of his business card and handed it to me.

“Can you wait to contact her until after I have?” I asked. Hearing from a lawyer about your father’s death was a horrible way to find out. Maybe I could protect her a little.

“I can wait a week or two, Izzie,” he agreed. “I don’t see that would make any difference. But keep in touch with me. And tell your sister she can call with any questions she has.”

My sister.

I’d always wanted a sister.

But who knew what this Anna from some island in Maine would be like? Did she know about me? Did she know our dad had died?

“I’m going to write to her today,” I told Mr. Bergman. “Then I’m going to Maine. If this Anna is my sister, we have a lot to talk about.”

You can read more about Izzie in Death And A Pot Of Chowder, the first book in the NEW “Maine Murder mystery series.

Maine’s Quarry Island has a tight-knit community that’s built on a rock-solid foundation of family, tradition and hard work. But even on this small island, where everyone knows their neighbors, there are secrets that no one would dare to whisper.

Anna Winslow, her husband Burt and their teenage son have deep roots on Quarry Island. Burt and his brother, Carl, are lobstermen, just like their father and grandfather before them. And while some things on the island never seem to change, Anna’s life is about to take some drastically unexpected turns. First, Anna discovers that she has a younger sister, Izzie Jordan. Then, on the day she drives to Portland to meet Izzie for the first time, Carl’s lobster boat is found abandoned and adrift. Later that evening, his corpse is discovered—but he didn’t drown.

Whether it was an accident or murder, Carl’s sudden death has plunged Anna’s existence into deadly waters. Despite barely knowing one another and coming from very different backgrounds, Anna and Izzie unite to find the killer. With their family in crisis, the sisters strive to uncover the secrets hidden in Quarry Island—and, perhaps, the ones buried within their own hearts.

Sure to be an intoxicating read for fans of Sarah Graves and Leslie Meier, Death and a Pot of Chowder is the first Maine Murder mystery by Cornelia Kidd.

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About the author
Cornelia Kidd is the pseudonym of USA Today best-selling author Lea Wait, who lives on the coast of Maine. (But not on an island.) She also writes the Mainely Needlepoint and Shadows Antique Print Mystery series. Death And A Pot Of Chowder: A Maine Murder Mystery is her first book by Cornelia Kidd. Lea writes, “When I was single, I was an adoption advocate and adopted four daughters. Now I write mysteries and historical novels about people searching for love, acceptance, and a place to call home.” She invites you to like her Lea Wait/Cornelia Kidd page on Facebook, to check her website at leawait.com, and to read the blog she contributes to Maine Crime Writers.

All comments are welcomed.