“I can’t believe you live here,” a disembodied voice finally called. “This house is massive… and so pretty.”
“I don’t live here,” Bel said, trying to pinpoint where the sound was coming from. “This is Eamon’s house.”
“Same thing!” Violet said. “Sorry, I got sidetracked. I wanted to explore.”
“You mean snoop?”
“Me? Snoop? How could you even suggest that—oooooo that’s pretty.”
“Violet, where are you?” Bel froze, her friend’s voice coming from a concerning direction.
“Back here… like way back!”
“Violet…” Bel picked up her pace. “You can’t be back there. It’s too dangerous.” Eamon had explicitly forbidden her and Cerberus from entering the rear section that extended into the right side of the expansive gardens. They were the most damaged rooms of the house, and Eamon didn’t want them falling through rotten floors or being crushed by collapsing ceilings. Most of the estate’s decay was a result of age, but it appeared a storm had ravaged those back rooms. And if Violet was traipsing around on those crumbling floorboards, she could break her ankle when her stilettos sank through the wood.
“Violet, I’m serious. That entire section is unstable.”
“What are you talking about? It’s so nice.”
“What?” Bel’s expression pinched. Death traps weren’t usually described as‘nice.’“Aren’t we going to be late?” she called. “I don’t want to wander back there without Eamon. I won’t be able to lift a fallen beam off you like he could… Violet?”
But it was Cerberus’ bark that answered her.
“Baby beast, you come here now!” Bel stormed after him, suddenly angry at her friend’s blatant disregard for her pet’s safety. It was one thing if she wanted to get herself killed, but Cerberus? That was her son in furry form, and she wasn’t about to let him traipse about the only section of Eamon’s house that was expressly forbidden.
“Cerberus, come!” she called again, her confusion growing when clean hallways and not rotten floorboards greeted her. Violet was telling the truth. It was nice. “Violet? Cerberus?”
The pitbull answered her with an excited bark, and she followed his call until she came face to face with ornately carved double doors… and no dog. He didn’t have opposable thumbs, so Violet must have opened them for him. Bel just hoped there wasn’t a pit on the opposite side that had swallowed her friend and pet alike.
“Are you guys okay?” Bel gripped the handle and twisted the vintage gold doorknob, and the moment she shoved open the doors, her world exploded.
“Surprise!”
“Happy birthday, sweetheart,”Reese’s voice emerged from the chorus of well-wishers, and Bel barely had time to inhale before the crowd swallowed her whole.
“Dad?” She blinked as her father wrapped her in his arms, but she wasn’t hallucinating. Her dad was in Eamon’s house, dressed in his best suit, and he wasn’t the only friendly face rushing to hug her. All five of her older sisters and their families swarmed her with exuberant birthday wishes. Sheriff Griffin and his wife hovered on the familial outskirts, waiting for their turn to wish her well. Ewan Orso didn’t dare interrupt the Emerson girls, but his handsome smile greeted Bel over her sister’s heads. Doctor Frank Victors, Lina Thum, David Kaffe. Everyone she loved stood in the crumbling section of the mansion that wasanything but ruins now. Even Olivia Gold lingered awkwardly on the opposite side of the crowd, and her partner’s presence would’ve surprised Bel if a familiar blonde and two boys hadn’t chosen that moment to swarm her.
“Happy birthday!” Wendy Darling shrieked seconds before she collided with Bel’s chest.
“Yeah, happy birthday,” her brothers John and Michael repeated.
“Wendy?” The room spun around Bel. “What’s going on? How are you here?”
“We’re here for your surprise party.” Wendy practically sang the words in her excitement. “And boy, did we get you. Are you okay?” Her voice sobered. “Your eyes look like they might pop out of your head.”
“I’m fine…” Bel scanned the crowd for Violet. “But what about the wedding? Won’t your friends…?” She trailed off when she saw Violet’s triumphant grin. “There is no wedding, is there?”
“No, there is not.” Violet charged forward and wrapped her in a suffocating hug. “We just needed to keep you away from the mansion today so we could set up.”
“Set up?” Bel released her friend and scanned the massive room that Eamon had convinced her was a death trap. “I’ll say. How… what is this place?”
“Your present,” a deep voice cut through the excitement, and, like Moses parting the Red Sea, the crowd drew back from the guest of honor to create a path to the home’s owner. “Happy Birthday, Isobel.”
“Eamon…” His gravity forced her across the floor, and the towering millionaire captured her in his arms.
“Surprise, Detective.” He kissed her gently.
“I can’t believe you did this,” Bel whispered against his mouth as she sank into his embrace.
