Prelude of Lies by Victoria Smith Page A

attached to the sex. Maybe she was only hot and bothered because it had been so long. Maybe she should screw Graham’s brains out to teach him a lesson.
    Graham leaned against the tree watching Eric and Ron. He caught her assessment and sent her a knowing grin. Damn. Could he read her mind? She hoped not. Otherwise, she was in big trouble.
    Sydney’s light was out by the time Daisy arrived at their cabin. Daisy peeked in on her to make sure she indeed slept. Truthfully, she wanted to make sure she wasn’t holed up somewhere with Marshal having the time of her life.
    Images of Graham, alternating with Tucker, filthy and bare-chested haunted her attempts to sleep. She rolled over and reached under the mattress, grabbing the battered journal her adoptive parents gave her when she turned eighteen. Her birth mother’s flowing script was neat and funky, the i’s dotted with smiley faces or stars.
    None of what her mother wrote before she found out she was pregnant made sense to Daisy. She figured the entries were about the band the woman chose, since most of it was a city name, followed by a brief recap of the evening. Her birth mother had definitely been a groupie for some band no one had ever still ever heard of.
    The part of the journal around the time of Nadine’s pregnancy never mentioned who Daisy’s father might be. Only that “he” would be so pleased. Obviously, he wasn’t or Daisy would know him. She didn’t know what bothered her more—the fact that her mother had been so happy at first and then dumped her, or that her father had not cared that he’d created a child.
    She felt like a garbage baby.
    Her parents—the ones who loved, accepted, and raised her—should be enough, right? They’d chosen to keep her when they could have easily turned her over to social services. Maybe they’d kept her out of a sense of family duty, but Daisy didn’t think so.
    Shortly after the adoption papers were final, she’d had trouble sleeping and had gone downstairs for a drink and a hug only to hear her parents discussing how irresponsible her birth mother was. She’d heard her mom say that no matter what she wouldn’t give Daisy up, that she couldn’t love Daisy more if she’d been her own blood and how she hated her sister for what she’d done.
    The words made Daisy happy, and sadder than she’d ever been. She didn’t remember her birth mother and Daisy couldn’t help but wonder how awful of a child she was for her mother to pawn her off. There had to be a reason. Moms didn’t forget to come back for their babies.
    Maybe someday she’d get the chance to ask. Logically, she knew sometimes there were no answers and that she’d done nothing wrong. The fault had been with the woman who gave birth to her. But the little girl in her would always wonder.
    Daisy didn’t seem to be good enough for anyone. Sure, her parents loved, supported, and were proud of her but she figured they pretty much had to be. Daisy had never been as good as Sydney at anything—school, sports, or friends.
    Sure, she made a great career for herself and she’d continue even if she never left Brookside. She held on to that happy thought, shoving the sadness away. Maybe she’d even open a photography studio at the campground. The possibilities excited her, and she fell asleep rolling ideas around.

CHAPTER 5
    Daisy woke to something poking her. She opened one eye to find Sydney sitting on the edge of the bed, her finger ready to jab her again.
    “Wake up.”
    “No.”
    “Come on. I have something to tell you. I brought you coffee.” Sydney pointed to the steaming cup on the bedside table with a smile.
    “What is so damned important that you have to wake me at the ass-crack of dawn? I’ve only been in bed two hours.” Two stupid, restless hours.
    “For one, Tucker is here and I have gossip for you. Two, we have to meet with the lawyer in an hour, remember? The weekly checks that Vile Violet is making us do?”
    “Damn. That’s