Catherine heard muffled voices. Then a woman’s voice, “Please, don’t call again. My parents are dead. I don’t know you.”
Marie sat straighter. Of course she deserved this response. Nonetheless, part of reasoned maybe she could fill a void left by the death of her daughter’s adoptive parents. If nothing else, she could look out for the young woman from afar, as Anton and Nathaniel had done. “I’m sorry, I won’t call you again.”
Resolutely, the young woman swallowed her emotions. “Wait, if you could give me your number, I’ll think about it. Then when I’m ready I can call you.”
Catherine breathed a sigh of relief... this was more than she’d expected. “Yes, of course.”
Derek’s voice came back through the receiver, “You may give me the number. When my wife is ready, if she is ready, she will call you. Please do not call her phone again.”
Catherine heard her daughter’s sobs in the background and gave the number of a disposable phone to her son-in-law. After he repeated the number, he disconnected the line.
Catherine grinned. She’d found her daughter. Her daughter was married – to a man named Burke. She needed more information. That was all right, as before, she had the time. And without a doubt, Catherine was up for a new challenge.