Hidden Talents

you.”
    Caleb glowered at Lloyd but allowed his hand to be shaken. “What are you doing here, Radburn? Thought we'd seen the last of you after you finished your research project.”
    “Just came to pay my respects to the new arrivals,” Lloyd said.
    “Fine. If you don't mind, I'd like to take my family home.”
    “No problem.” Lloyd sauntered toward the door. “See you all later.”
    “Not if I can help it.” When he left, Caleb smiled at Serenity. “Ready?”
    She cradled Gordon Trevor and Emily Crystal close. “We're all ready.”
    “The nurse said she'd be along in a minute with a wheelchair.” Caleb touched his son's tiny hand. Quiet amazement warmed his eyes.
    “I don't need a wheelchair.”
    “They won't let you walk out of here under your own steam.” Caleb grinned as he admired Emily Crystal. “Incredible, aren't they?”
    “Yes, they are. Where's your grandfather?”
    “Waiting outside along with everyone else.”
    “Good grief, everyone's out there in the waiting room?”
    “Just about.”
    “Who's running the store? Who's responding to the new catalog orders that will be in the mail? Who's handling the phones to take complaints and check on order problems?”
    “Relax. We left someone behind to handle the phones,” Caleb said.
    “Who?”
    “Blade.”
    “Oh, no.” Serenity panicked. “We've got to get back to Witt's End immediately. Blade will assume that anyone who calls in to place an order is secretly planning an invasion.”
    “I'm just kidding. Don't worry. The situation's under control. Zone's with him.” Caleb met her eyes. “Before we leave, I want to give you this.” He held out a package he had brought with him.
    “Oh, Caleb. Thank you.”
    Caleb picked up Gordon Trevor and held him while Serenity cradled Emily Crystal in one arm and removed the brown paper from around the gift with her free hand. She found herself looking down at two volumes bound in fading imitation leather.
    “What on earth? High school yearbooks.” Serenity looked up. “I don't understand. Are they yours?”
    “No.” Caleb watched her intently. “They're from your parents' high schools.”
    “My parents .” Serenity could hardly breathe.
    “It took a private investigator several months to trace the schools and then locate yearbooks from the right years. He sent them to me in yesterday's mail. What with one thing and another, I didn't have a chance to give them to you.”
    Serenity's mouth was so dry she could hardly speak. “My parents are in here?”
    “I marked the pages.” Caleb smiled. “Take a look.”
    Serenity slowly opened the first volume. Her gaze went instantly to the face of a young woman. A senior. The photo revealed a gentle-looking creature whose eyes held both wariness and hope.
    Serenity stared at the picture for a long, long time. Her mother .
    “You have her eyes. Take a look at the other one,” Caleb prompted after a minute.
    Serenity's fingers were trembling so badly she could hardly get the second volume open. When she finally managed it, she found herself gazing down at a color photo of a young man, a senior. Trevor Jones . The shadows in his eyes betrayed a cloudy past, but there was resilience, strength, and determination in his face.
    Serenity touched the picture of her father with a sense of wonder. “He had red hair.”
    Caleb looked at the cloud of fiery hair that framed Serenity's features. “You didn't think it came out of nowhere, did you?”
    “Bits and pieces of other people,” Serenity whispered. Her eyes misted over. “Caleb you have given me a wonderful gift.”
    “It's nothing compared to what you've given me,” Caleb said. “I love you, Serenity.”
    She looked up at him and saw the sure and certain knowledge in his eyes. “I always knew you'd be good at that kind of thing.”
    The door opened at that moment. A smiling nurse entered the room with a wheelchair. She looked at Serenity. “Ready to go home?”
    “Yes,” Serenity said. “We are.”
    Caleb paused briefly to glance around the sunlit white room before he followed his family out into the hall. He frowned thoughtfully. “You know, there's something familiar about this place.”
    Serenity laughed. Joy welled up inside her, crystal clear water bubbling forth from a fathomless spring. “I know exactly what you mean.”