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Long after the evening meal was finished, dirty dishes done and Tessa and Thad were asleep in their beds, Sheriff Matt Turner sat deep in thought by the fireplace in the parlor.
    He was a man in his early sixties, with broad shoulders, a kind face, and a strong air of authority. He was bronzed from spending hours in the sun and the color of his skin accentuated the deep brown eyes. As he aged, his once thick dark hair had changed into an attractive salt and pepper gray.
    A big man, he was too large to be comfortable in the tiny, elegant rocker he was occupying at the edge of the smoldering hearth. Yet, Matt was unconscious of his physical comfort. He was wrestling with a problem that he was afraid that he wouldn't be able to solve without hurting his wife. If he obeyed the law, he might break his wife's heart or cause serious damage to his family. However, Matt was too honorable to act outside the law in order to protect his loved ones.
    During his recent trip to the county seat, a man had recognized Matthew as the sheriff of Mineral Springs and approached him on the street. The fellow wanted to know if a gentleman by the name of Jacob Tigwell still resided in Mineral Springs. The stranger was not as interested in Mr. Tigwell as much as he was with a young boy who might have been traveling with him at one time in the past.
    ’I've been searching several years now for the boy.” The man had become agitated by the news that Jacob wasn't’t a citizen of Mineral Springs any longer. “Three years ago, I traced the two of them from a small town in North Carolina, where I live, to north of Boston but lost them from there.”
    Matt listened with a frown, wondering what the man’s connection was to his stepson, Lonnie and why he was hunting him.
    “I am sorry to bother you with this,” the stranger continued, “but last night the bartender at the tavern where I had supper mentioned Jacob Tigwell by name. The bartender was gossiping about an Irish lady that got the best of Mr. Tigwell several years ago in a land dispute over in your town. However, neither the bartender nor anyone else in the establishment knew of Jacob’s present whereabouts or if the boy, who should be nearly grown by now, was with him.”
    Matt could have told the stranger that the boy had stayed behind in Mineral Springs after Jacob departed town in disgrace. Yet, until he knew why the stranger was asking questions about Lonnie, Matt didn't feel as though he had to divulge that information. He wrote down the individual’s name, where he could be reached, and told him nothing.
    Sitting at the fireside in his parlor tonight, Matt knew that he couldn't keep the fact from Lonnie much longer that someone was searching for him. What was the story behind this sstranger’s search? Was Lonnie truly Jacob’s son or had Jacob abducted Lonnie while he was still too young to have memories of his real family? If relatives from the past started surfacing, how would that affect the life that Lonnie had today? Not only with his wife Rose, and their new daughter, but with his younger brother, Thad, and Tessa, who loved him as a son ?
    Sighing deeply, fearing that misery lay ahead for the family, Matt wearily climbed the stairs to join Tessa in bed.