Hey everybody, I hope you enjoy this story. The prequel to it is called Family Blessings. I would recommend reading that first. :) This story takes place four years after Family Blessings ends.

Thank you to God for giving me the ability to write, to my beta, and my family.

Disclaimer: I don't own Nancy Drew or any of the characters you recognize.

I always put my character descriptions separate from my stories, so here we go:

Nancy Elizabeth Nickerson: twenty nine, 5'7", and slender, with slightly wavy titian hair and round blueberry blue eyes. She has a creamy skin tone, freckles, dimples, and an oval shaped face. She has lived in Chicago all her life, and is now, after stopping her detective work, a stay-at-home wife and mother.

Ned William Nickerson: thirty one, 5'11½", and muscular, with wavy brown hair and warm brown eyes. He has a slightly tan complexion, dimples, and an oval shaped face. He has lived in Chicago all his life, and works as a sales consultant for a local car dealership.

Abigail Louise Nickerson: four, 3' 3", tiny and petite, with wavy brown hair and soft brown eyes a shade lighter than her daddy's. She has a light complexion, freckles on her nose, a dimple in one cheek, and an oval shaped face. She loves learning her numbers, coloring, and learning her ABCs. She also loves to laugh, eat, and sleep.

Matthew Ned Nickerson: nine months, 29", tiny and lean, with wavy brown hair and bright blue eyes. He has a slightly tan complexion, freckles, dimples, and an oval shaped face. He loves to play, role on the floor, eat, and watch his big sis do her work.

Chapter 1

Nancy Nickerson readjusted Matthew on her hip as she watched Abigail play on the floor with her dolls. She had never imagined that she would have such a wonderful family; Ned was moving up in his company and was now a manager, Abby had recently turned four and was now in pre-school, and her little son, Matthew, was the most adorable nine-month-old she had ever seen.

Nancy sighed softly as she set her son in his playpen, making sure that he had enough toys, and made her way into the kitchen. She loved her family beyond words, but she missed the hustle and bustle of her detective work; she still had a hard time believing that it had been a little over five years since she stopped being a detective.

As if reminding Nancy for her reason to stop, her little boy cried for her from his playpen and Abby called for her as well.

She smiled as she walked into the living room. "Alright baby, Mama's right here." She picked up her son and turned to her daughter. "What is it, Abby?"

"Look what I drew, Mommy." Her daughter handed her a picture that she had drawn of her family, smiling at the work she had done. She stood up with her small arms behind her back and a little grin on her face, a grin that reminded Nancy so much of Ned.

"It's beautiful, baby—you did a great job." She gave her daughter a one armed hug, and then went to hang the picture on the refrigerator.

Just after five, while Nancy was finishing nursing Matthew, the front door opened and her husband stepped into the house. Abby immediately jumped off the couch and ran to her daddy, her brown waves bouncing behind her.

Nancy's heart skipped a beat at the sight of Ned and their little girl: Ned had his arms wrapped around her as he gave her a big hug. "Hey sweet girl; have you been good for Mommy today?"

Abby placed her hands on his face as she said in a serious voice, "I'm always a good girl, Daddy." She turned to look at her Mom. "Right, Mommy?"

Nancy stood up with Matthew, his head resting on her shoulder, and came over towards them. "She was a very good girl today." She kissed her husband hello, wrapping one arm around his neck. He kissed her back and held her close; they loved each other so much.

As they pulled apart but kept their arms around each other, Ned was vaguely aware of their four-year-old making a disgusted sound about her parents kissing before she ran out of the room. He laughed and kissed Nancy on the forehead.

"Dada!" Their little boy reached for his father and Ned took him into his arms.

"Hey little fella. How are you doing?" He kissed him on the head and momentarily forgot about his very hectic and stressful day.

Nancy kissed him one more time as she slipped out of his embrace. "How was work, dear?" Nancy asked as she took her husband's coat, reminding him of what he wanted to talk to her about.

He sighed as he sat down on the couch with their son and motioned for her to join them. "You remember how a couple of weeks ago I told you that some money had gone missing at work, and that things weren't adding up?" She nodded her head, a worried expression on her face. "Well, more money has gone missing. Only now they're pointing fingers at someone: all evidence is pointing towards Jim."

Nancy could hardly believe it. Jim Cavanaugh was their best friend, had been for years. There was no way he could embezzle money. Ned had known him since they were children, he had been the best man at their wedding, and he was Abby's Godfather. "How on earth can they accuse him of doing something like that? He's been with the company longer than you have."

Ned shook his head, holding their little son closer. "I don't know. They just said that it was because he is in charge of all the money: he's the accountant, so he pays the bills. They said that until evidence proves otherwise, he is their main suspect." His friend was completely torn up about the whole thing.

"How much has been taken?" She figured that it was probably a lot if the CEOs of the car company were already pointing fingers.

Ned ran his free hand through his hair, as he said softly, "At least six thousand dollars has been taken."

Nancy was in total shock. How on earth was Jim going to prove his innocence?

Authors Note. Well, I hope that you all liked this first chapter. :) This is my first time writing a mystery, so I hope it all goes well. I will update this once a week.

A million thanks to my beta reader. :)