Finding Madelyn Read online

  Finding Madelyn

  Also from Suzette Vaughn

  Badeaux Knights

  Mortals, Gods, and a Muse

  Try Me

  Life of a Breeze

  Finding

  Madelyn

  By

  Suzette Vaughn

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, locations and events are either a product of the author’s imagination, fictitious or use fictitiously. Any resemblance to any event, locale or person, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

  Copyright  2011 by Stacy Castanedo

  All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or part in any format.

  First edition published January 2011.

  All production design are trademarks of Suzette Vaughn.

  For information regarding bulk purchases of this book, digital purchase and special discounts, please contact the author at [email protected]

  Cover design by Stacy Castanedo

  Manufactured in the United States of America

  I dedicated this to my grandmothers and grandfathers. For a generation of men and women of whom I stand in awe of what they’ve seen change over their lifetimes. A generation who knew what it was to be an American. For those that stood with dignity and grace. Who knew what is was to be young and still responsible.

  ~Suzette Vaughn

  One

  February 1947…

  They found her. Galen Langley boarded the twin-engine airplane with her picture in his pocket. His brother, Harland, had called the plane ‘The Silver Bullet’ with a smirk on his face. Galen hoped he would calm down once inside the belly of the beast, hoping it would be different to be in one rather than having them fly overhead. Still his stomach was doing flips.

  The best thing he had to focus on was finding the girl in the photo. He didn’t need the visual confirmation. Madelyn was one girl no one could forget. Especially in his family. Especially him.

  Which was probably how they’d found her. Some bent guy must have heard they were still looking for her. Someone she wouldn’t look at twice. Someone she had refused to dance with and, being put off, he provided them with a picture and a town. Madelyn Murphy was good at causing trouble and he was sure the coast of Maine was no different from Washington.

  One propeller of the Boeing aircraft started around while the other side seemed to be having problems.

  Harland had warned him of such before he left. “Just sit back and enjoy the ride.”

  Easy enough for him to say. Harland’s heart wasn’t pulling him in different directions.

  Even with his brother’s advice, he wanted to run off the plane as he pushed his glasses onto his nose. His brain wasn’t far behind with the order to exit the plane when the second propeller caught. The only thing that got him on the plane was his father’s threats.

  “When I get my hands on that girl she’ll wish she were dead.” His dad’s hand had struck the desk in his study, the vein in his head pulsed.

  Galen still looked him straight in the eye, realizing how much he had grown to match him physically, perhaps even surpassing him. His eyes were those of his mother, the rest was pure Fredric Langley.

  He ran a trembling hand through his military-cut light brown hair. Fredric was not someone you crossed. He and Madelyn were living proof of that, though maybe not living for long. For three years, his father had been searching the country for her, with the pay off coming last week; the man was well paid for the picture in Galen’s pocket.

  In the picture, her hair curled in loose locks, her eyes smiling at the man sitting at the counter of the restaurant. That was an issue in itself. Insult added to the injury, of the name Langley, spread across the coast and now across the country. No one would leave the family to be a “self-made-woman”, more words of his father’s. Even with so many women stepping up to fill in the working class since the war started, he didn’t embrace the change.

  Galen’s stomach lurched as the plane left the earth. There was no looking back. Find Madelyn, bring her home and his reward was simple.

  He stepped off the bus, buttoning his coat up tight and securing his hat from the costal winds. He would have to find a better way to travel when he left. Possibly have a car sent for him. Sitting on a dirty bus with dirty people was not his ideal way to travel. He’d take the plane over that, but he’d left Washington so quickly that he wasn’t able to plan better. He’d been filthy long enough in this life and didn’t want to go back. Wouldn’t go back.

  North Perry, Maine sat just off the water, a fishing community much like home. Madelyn loved the water. It made sense that they found her here. The question was, would she still be here? If she were smart, she would be long gone. There was no doubt she was smart. Her stubborn side might cause her more problems in this case.

  The town’s main drag was little more than one street. It shouldn’t be hard to find the diner. It was just after six, with the sun coming up. The diner should be the only thing open.

  He walked down Main Street noticing how much the little town mirrored home, smaller but still the same basic fiber. Brick buildings lined either side. Trucks and rusting jalopies were parked along the edge of the street, all belonging to the working class. He personally liked Fredric’s choices of automobiles, that was one thing they kept in common as he grew up.

  He was right. Light poured out of a huge double window on the corner, with music and voices filling the street as a lady went in the door. Not sure if he should go in, he stared through the window. Red gingham curtains were pulled tight in the lower part of each pane. Two waitresses in red and white striped knee-high skirts worked the tables. Each of them wore a red kerchief on her head to keep her hair back. Neither of them was Madelyn.

  The silver stools at the counter were covered in red vinyl, the booths upholstered in the same style. The same kitchen window as in the picture on the side wall bolstered his spirits. Almost every seat was full of patrons pushing down toast, eggs, bacon, and sausage. His stomach protested at looking though the window any longer.

  He set his hat on the counter and his suitcase by the wall. Glances passed his way but none lingered. It would be impossible for someone to come into a small town like this and not be noticed. If Madelyn had skipped out before he got here, someone would know she passed through. Someone would probably know which direction she went.

  “Hey Maddy, where’s my bacon?”

  The man’s deep voice yelled toward the kitchen window from his seat at the counter. His hand engulfed the small glass as he took a drink of orange juice. This was a mammoth of a man, but the name he said was the reason Galen couldn’t turn away.

  Maddy. No one at home had called her that since she matured.

  “Now Hollis,” the door next to the kitchen window swung open, “how am I supposed to hear Glenn Miller playing to me with you yelling like that?”

  The big man, Hollis, laughed as she slid the plate of bacon on the counter. Then she moved down the line, sliding more plates in front of customers.

  “If you’d bring my bacon out with everything else, I wouldn’t have to yell. Now would I?” He took a big bite of the pork in question.

  “And if you didn’t order so much food, it’d all come out at the same time. If you don’t like the service, go home.” Smiling, she pulled out the coffee pot and filled the older man’s coffee cup next to Hollis.

  “Come now, no one likes the service.” He chuckled back.

  Maddy walked his way. Red trousers instead of the skirt the other girls wore. The same red striped shirt and kerchief, with her soft deep brown curls falling out around the edges framing her face. Her lipstick matched the outfit, the upholstery and looked damn good on her. She looked better than he remembered,
and far better than the picture portrayed.

  She set the menu on the counter without looking at him. He ignored it. She hadn’t changed. The clothes maybe. The hair style, sure. And maybe she was smiling just a little more.

  “What can I do for you?” Her coffee brown eyes finally connected with his, the smile dropping. “Go home, Galen.”

  “Can’t do that, Madelyn.” He made his voice as strong as he could while she spun away, back through the kitchen door.

  Nothing took the girl by surprise but somehow, him sitting there had. How had she not known he would be coming? If not him, then someone else would have. The person who took the photo must have been more than bent.

  The door was still swinging when he glanced around the counter. Two of the men, one being Hollis, had put down their forks and were trying to stare him down. If his father’s voice wasn’t ringing in his ears, it might have worked. Instead, he looked to the menu.

  One of the girls in a skirt picked up an order from the window and nodded through. Just because he looked like he was studying the menu, didn’t mean he wasn’t watching. The others had picked up their forks but were paying as much attention to him as he was to the kitchen.

  She couldn’t stay back there forever.

  “Did you decide what you would like?” A waitress was now blocking his view. Her name tag was in his face.

  “Everything looks so good, Darla. I’ll take whatever Maddy cares to send out.”

  Darla didn’t like that answer as her eyes rolled with her body back toward the kitchen. More whispering through the window ensued. Darla didn’t let on to the other side of the conversation other than a shrug, followed by a cup of coffee placed on the counter before him.

  “Thank you,” he sipped, ignoring the reminder of the color.

  A booth emptied and filled. A lanky man came in and sat next to Hollis, whispers exchanged, looks glanced his way. The only thing he could do was return a smile, hoping the natives were tame.

  Coffee was refilled for all but him. He almost laughed, knowing Maddy wasn’t coming back out of the kitchen while he sat there, but she could at least send him food.

  He finished the coffee and put his hat back on, tossed a few coins on the counter before heading for the door.

  Turning back around, “Can anyone tell me where the inn is?”

  The question was met with silence, not even a look from a customer.

  

  The diner kitchen was little more than a duel sink, stove, oven, and ice chests. Maddy was always comfortable in the small space, but for once, it felt like the walls were closing in around her. Even if she’d had a back door, she couldn’t slip out of it and leave her customers with no cook.

  Instead, she stood over the griddle, holding tight to the counter on either side. There was no way she could stay in the kitchen until Galen gave up and went home. Even if she could, Fredric would just send someone else. The thought sent a cold chill to her bones.

  For three years, she dreamt of it almost nightly, someone showing up and dragging her back to Washington. Galen was the last one she expected, though there had to be some reason it was him. Perhaps he’d grown a backbone. But if he had, he wouldn’t be here in the first place. He’d have told his daddy no.

  She waited a full two minutes after he’d gone out the door before sticking her head over the window, only to come eye to deep brown eye with Frank.

  “Are you gonna come tell us what that was about?”

  Self-involved as she was, she hadn’t noticed him sit down. How was she supposed to tell them she was fine? Her heart hadn’t stopped pounding since she saw Galen and it wouldn’t until he was gone. It might even take a full ocean between them, again, to stop the ache she was feeling. How was she supposed to stay here and not end up with Galen as a bobbing ice cube in the Atlantic?

  The kitchen door felt like it was full of sand as she pushed through it.

  “Morning, Frank.” She leaned on the counter to kiss his cheek.

  He pulled away. “None of that now.”

  He was set on that, the clear line on his forehead showing he wanted answers. It’d taken a year for her to agree to go out on a date, but they’d learned about each other quick. Not too much, but she understood his facial expressions loud and clear.

  She picked up the coffee pot. “That was an old…friend from back home, which I didn’t expect to see.”

  “An old beau?” His brows rose.

  She shook her head filling his cup. “Not exactly.”

  “Then what is it, exactly? You kill a man and not tell us?” He joked.

  She laughed. “Murder is not one of my crimes.” She took a deep breath putting the coffee pot back. “His daddy says I stole twenty-five thousand dollars…or so.”

  Two

  Galen walked into the inn only two doors down from the diner. He hadn’t needed to ask where it was, he’d passed it on his way to the diner. The question was to see if anyone would possibly answer him. She had them all under her spell. Not that he could blame a single soul for that. He’d been there once or twice himself.

  The inn’s lobby was a small room just big enough for a few chairs and the person standing at the desk. Another far cry from what he was used to.

  “How can I help you?” Whistled from between a few missing teeth of the old man behind the desk.

  “Well, I guess I need a room and maybe something from room service.” Galen set his suitcase on the floor and his hat on the counter.

  “Rooms are plenty, haven’t got a guest in . . . about a month. Room service we don’t have, but the diner on the corner is mighty good.” He ran his tongue across his remaining teeth trying to lick his lips.

  “No room service.” Galen nodded his head. Figures that the only place he could eat wouldn’t serve him. “The rooms don’t have a kitchen either?”

  “I got a hot plate I can rent ya.”

  Galen sucked in his lips trying not to cuss. “I’ll take the room, please.”

  “Three dollars, son.”

  He started to object, but was smarter than that as he tossed down the money and took the key. If he objected to the price of the only inn in town, either the price would go up or he would be shut out...she’ll wish she were dead, echoed through.

  The room wasn’t much and definitely wasn’t worth the three bucks he paid for it. The view however, was worth more than money as nothing blocked his sight of the diner entrance.

  

  “Twen-ty-five . . .” Hollis whistled.

  Frank’s brow furrowed further, “Why in the world would anyone think you stole that kind of money?”

  “It’s just an excuse to get me back there.” She brushed off the question, shaking her head and trying to find something to wipe down.

  “Then why do they want you back there? ‘Cause I’ve never seen you skirt a question like this.”

  “‘Cause… I don’t want to talk about it.” But she sure was thinking about it as she grabbed the phone.

  After two rings, she heard, “ ’ello?”

  “Stan, did a guy just check in?”

  “Why, yes he did.” Stan was proud to have a guest.

  “No calls in or out and lunch is on me.”

  “Sounds good. What’s the special?”

  “Meatloaf with a side of me if he gets a call out.”

  “I’ll take the meatloaf, you can keep the side.”

  “Thanks, Stan.” She hung up, still twisting the phone cord in knots.

  “Maddy?” Frank was becoming irritated.

  “Shush. I have to think.”

  She couldn’t have Galen run out of town, Fredric would send someone else after her. William, her heart jumped to her throat with the thought. Fredric could easily send his brother, Will, after her. There might already be someone on a plane with Galen being the first round of an entire army.

  “You’re gonna wear a hole in the floor if you keep going back and forth like that.”

  “Frank! If I
explain will you all go away?” she barked.

  Slowly he and his brother, Hollis, nodded.

  “I walked out of an engagement.”

  Frank laughed. “Is that all?”

  “That was enough.” She whined and ran her fingers over her head where the ache was starting. “You don’t understand these people. I made them look bad because I didn’t want to marry him.”

  “You were engaged to the twerp?”

  “No, Galen was in . . . Britain I think at the time.” She rested her elbows on the counter, keeping her head in one.

  “He was in the war? Can’t be much older than you.”

  “Left the week after his birthday because his daddy told him it was best for his future.”

  “Now I’m going to feel bad when I beat him.”

  “You won’t have to Frank.” She bordered on shouting. “I’m not going anywhere and I don’t need you making this harder, either.”

  “What do you expect me to do?” he bellowed back.

  “Nothing Frank.” She lowered her voice, staring straight at him, “That is what I expect and that is what I will have.” She turned to Paula, the only waitress other than Darla. “I need to give my order to Roy before it’s too late. Will you watch the place?”

  “Of course.” Darla tried to pretend she hadn’t been listening in.

  

  Galen picked up the phone in his room, watching the street as people began to mill about. The grocery was across the way, he would see what they had when he got off the phone. He glanced at his watch knowing it was far too early to call Washington State but they were expecting the call.

  “Switchboard.” He recognized the voice from the front desk with piercing whistling s’s.

  “Yes sir, I’d like to place a call.”

  “Where to?”

  “Washington . . .”

  “Only local calls, son.”

  “Collect is fine.”

  “Only local calls . . .”

  “All right, can you tell me where I can place a call from?”