Oven Baked Secrets (Eugeena Patterson Mysteries Book 2) Read Online Free

told me about her past, she told me that she’d let it go. That it wasn’t worth knowing. I see what my mom was trying to tell me now.”
    I shook my head.  I was really trying to understand, but was starting to feel a bit faint myself. It was past time for me to get some food in my system and today’s visit had been a bit too exciting. “Look, honey, that woman in there is one of my best friends. I know when she looked at the photo, she saw something. She was a little emotional, but I think she wanted to connect with you. Why don’t you give me a few days and maybe I can make it happen.”
    Jocelyn sighed and looked over at me. “You’re really kind, Mrs. Patterson. I’m glad we met today, but please don’t worry. I can tell you there are some things from the past that shouldn’t be stirred up. Like I said, I should’ve listened to my mom.” With that Jocelyn pressed the button to raise up the window and placed the car in reverse.
    I stepped away as she started to back out into the parking lot. It was really a shame that Jocelyn wanted to give up because my curiosity had just kicked in. I’d seen regret in Louise’s eyes a while ago. Losing one of my other best friends a few months back taught me a thing or two about regrets and dealing with the past.
    I walked around to my car’s driver’s side, unlocked the door and climbed in.  Before I started the car, I reached into my purse and pulled out some crackers. The crackers would last me until I got a real meal. I munched and digested all that I had heard and seen in the last hour.
    When I finished, I dusted the crumbs from my dress and reached to bring the seatbelt around my hips. I felt something in my pocket. I pulled out the photo that I had grabbed from Louise’s hands before her son entered the room. I looked closely at the woman who was Jocelyn’s mother.
    She had to be Louise’s daughter.
    Jocelyn said she was around sixteen in this picture. Seeing Jocelyn today, I would guess the photo was ten years old. Jocelyn’s mother was probably about a decade behind me.  She shared the same heart-shaped face as Louise, but the bridge of her nose was a bit wider and her lips were full.
Who was the father?
    Louise was married briefly before she married William’s father, William Hopkins, Sr., better known to most people as Bill. She didn’t talk much about her first marriage, but I knew she’d lost a baby and a not too long after that her first husband asked for a divorce and ran off with another woman. I assumed Louise gave this baby up for adoption before she married the first husband.
    How is it that all these years Louise never thought to confide in me? Oh yeah, I was preparing to stir up whatever I could from the past.

Chapter 5
    Jocelyn Miller and her family haunted me all the way home. I felt compelled to see her again. I did have a photo she may want returned. Plus, there were too many questions left unanswered. I consider myself a pretty transparent person. I have shared more details of my life with Louise than I would like to admit, but that’s what friends do, they share their lives. I could imagine the circumstances around the birth of this child led Louise down a road where talking about the situation didn’t help.
    Did it ever occur to Louise that her child or in this case, the grandchild, would come looking for her? Why was Jocelyn doing the search instead of her mother?
    I knew just the person who could help me find her too. If there was some way I could get back in touch with Jocelyn, Amos Jones was my man.
    My man for getting to the bottom of a situation. Not my man.
    I’d been married thirty-seven years and widowed five years. I’m just not interested in going back to being in a romantic relationship. Now I would love to see my two youngest children, Cedric and Leesa married. But me, I’m fine. Been there, done that as they say. Sometimes I felt like I spent way too much time trying to convince myself.
    I drove my car down Sugar