Family Mystery

Hi y’all! Virginia Vaughan here!

When I was growing up, I was sure I had to be adopted! I was so different from my brothers and sister. I was the shy, introverted, preferring to read and make up stories in my head as my siblings and cousins raced around like mad men type. I definitely did not fit in. My parents assured me again and again (yes, I was persistent in my belief) that it was not true and I finally had no choice but to believe them. After all, they had all those cute stories about my birth and the photos to back them up.

*Sigh*

So, imagine my surprise when, as a naïve eleven-year-old, I finally learned the big dark family secret. No, I wasn’t adopted…but my father was.

My dad holding my youngest

I used my best Nancy Drew investigative skills (and a little math) to piece together the truth about this mystery after seeing a sign on my grandparent’s front door that read, “The Williamsons since 1943”. Even at that young age, I knew my father had been born in the year 1941.

I had my very own mystery to solve!

My grandmother was the one to finally fill me in on the big family secret. She’d been married before and her first husband was my dad’s biological father. This first husband left her soon after my dad was born and she then married the man I know as my grandfather. He adopted my dad and they became a family. End of story.

Yet my curious mind wouldn’t let it go. Who was this mysterious man who had bailed on my dad? I pondered this mystery for years (hey, it was pre-internet so what else was I going to do), wondering about this man every so often and if he had other kids and grand kids that might be like me on those continuing times when I realized I was the odd one out in my family. It wasn’t until I was an adult that I talked to my father about this mystery man. To my surprise, he’d never wanted to meet him, never felt the need to look him up and demand answers. Instead, he’d lived his life the best he could believing that if that person wanted to know him, he would have tried.

I put that part of our family history to rest. I was adult by then with kids of my own and family responsibilities. 

But when I started writing my upcoming release, Cold Case Cover-Up, I couldn't help but think of him again. You see, my heroine, Dana Lang, learns about her adoption when her mom dies. Her job as an investigative journalist spurs her to start searching for answers about her true family…only to learn that they’d been murdered thirty years prior…and so was she. 

Determined to uncover the truth about this unsolved cold case, her only ally is Quinn Dawson, the grandson of the man she believes faked her death. But when it becomes clear someone in town wants this story to remain hidden, she starts to believe Quinn’s grandfather rescued her from the hands of a killer who got away with murder.

This story releases in August 2018 and kicks off my brand new LIS series titled Covert Operatives.

Pre-order your copy here

But while you’re waiting for Cold Case Cover-Up to arrive, have you checked out my Rangers Under Fire series? You can find out more about the first book in the series, Yuletide Abduction here, or check out my Amazon Author Page.

Maybe one day, I’ll learn the truth about what happened to this mystery grandfather I never knew. Truthfully, it’s not a priority in my life but more like a fun fact. 

So how about you? Have you ever found a long-lost father/mother/sibling? And was it the joyous family reunion you hoped for? I’m giving away a copy of Cold Case Cover-Up before it releases to one lucky person who comments. **GIVEAWAY CLOSED**

Virginia

Find out more about my life, my family and my upcoming releases by signing up for my email list at www.virginiavaughanonline.com. I’m giving away an Amazon gift card each month to one of my subscribers!  Or follow me at Facebook , Twitter, and Instagram.