He’d also given his daughter several of her physical characteristics, including the shape of her mouth and her smile. But her dimples were a Ridgeway legacy. Erin thought she and Christie moved the same way, and her daughter had the same habit of tilting her head to one side. Of course those traits could have been learned, not inherited.

The road narrowed and Erin concentrated on her driving. Parker Hamilton lived several miles outside of town. The turnoff for the private road was sudden and not well marked. From there she had a two-mile drive to the house itself. She wouldn’t want to try to find it in the dark, or during a storm. At first she’d wondered why anyone would live in such isolation, but after seeing the house, she knew why.

Hawkin’s Point was the most beautiful place she’d ever seen. The old-fashioned three-story home rose out of the grass, trees and bright flowers as if it were a magical castle. Peaked roofs topped wide windows and long balconies. The wooden structure blended with the environment, yet had enough fantasy in its design that her first thought had been she could blink and it would be gone.

Stacey had mentioned falling in love with the house in her diary and Erin understood completely. Hawkin’s Point was the kind of place the sisters had dreamed of when they’d been young and were shuffled back and forth between relatives.

“Does my daddy have other little girls?” Christie asked.

The question startled Erin. “I don’t know. I didn’t ask.” She thought for a moment. She didn’t remember seeing any toys around.

She knew he wasn’t married. As soon as she’d found his name in Stacey’s diary, she’d started investigating Parker Hamilton. He’d been a big shot in the computer world and the magazine article index in the library had given her a place to begin. She’d read about the start-up of his company while he was still in college. She knew about his rise to the top of his field, that he’d sold his company for a huge but undisclosed sum and that he continued to work on software.