“Brazil,” Sara whispered. “Renata. Cal’s mother. She cooked for him.”
“You stupid woman! They were lovers. Callum Wyatt was James Lachlan’s son.”
For a moment, Sara was so shocked, she forgot the circumstances they were in. With her many years of plotting novels, she could follow that bit of information from the past to the present. “If Cal was the son, then...” Turning, she looked at Jack. “By James Lachlan’s will, that would make Jack the owner of this property.”
She looked back at Reid. They needed to get back to Derek Oliver. “He said thatyouowned the place, then he took it away from you.”
When Reid gave a curt nod, Sara looked at him with genuine sympathy. She knew about wanting something with all your heart, then losing it. “That night when he told you, you lost sight of the world,” she said softly. “Your soul left your body. There were no thoughts, no conscience. You floated above yourself and watched what someone else did.” She took a tiny step forward.
“Yes,” he said.
“You hit him but it wasn’t enough. He’d taken everything from you. Your toolbox was there and he was lying on that silly rug with the turtles on it. It’s where your sister played.” Sara took another step. “She got so much, didn’t she? Your grandmother loved her very much. You took from the man who’d stolen from you, but you knew you’d be the one blamed. Misjudged as your grandfather was.”
“And Kate.” His upper lip went into a sneer as he looked at her tied to the chair.
Sara blocked his view with what seemed to be a natural movement. Not fast, not abrupt. “Kate’s hedgehog. It filled the gap. Pesky little animal. Too much attention was given to a mere child. What had she done to earn it?”
Reid gave a curt nod.
“I bet you were tired by then. It wasn’t as thoughyouhad done something bad. So you rolled up the rug and took the...the debris away. To your grandmother. She’d fix it. She’s always taken care of things, hasn’t she? Greer’s accidents. What happened to her at school. Grans fixed it all.”
“For her,” Reid said. “Never for me.”
Sara stepped an inch closer. “And she did. You gave her the rug and Derek Oliver disappeared. It never happened, did it? And Greer was sent away. You had your grandmother to yourself.”
Reid was looking at the floor, then suddenly, he stood upright. “But I got nothing. This house belongs tohim.” He pointed the gun at Jack, who was unmoving on the stone coffin.
Sara, now only a foot from Reid, put her head down and rammed him in the stomach. Years of boxing and weight training had made her strong.
Knocked off-balance, Reid fell back against the wall, the gun went off, with the bullet hitting the ceiling. He brought the grip of the gun down onto Sara’s head and she collapsed to the floor.
In the next second, Gil threw the door of the mausoleum open. Lenny and Sheriff Flynn were behind him.
Sara said, “Jack,” then passed out.
Epilogue
Everything changed.
Both Jack and Sara spent some time at the excellent Broward Health while they recovered. They were quiet patients as they thought about their futures and what they wanted to happen.
Jack had trouble getting over his anger. He had accepted what appeared to be a sealed bottle of water from Reid. It was laced with something that made Jack pass out. When he woke up, Sara was strapped to a gurney and Kate... He didn’t like hearing what had been done to her.
Reid had been taken away in handcuffs. He was saying he was innocent.
By the time Jack and Sara were released from the hospital, they knew what they were going to do.
Jack didn’t feel right inheriting Lachlan House by himself so he paid his half sister, Ivy, and his half brother, Troy, each a third share of the appraised value of the house.
Jack and Kate asked Sara to move in with them. It seemed right as they’d always lived together. She thanked them, but said no. She added that she’d love to rent the cottage from them. She said she had an idea for a time travel fantasy featuring a young librarian, and Sara wanted to write it.
Lea had no desire to go back to a state with brutal winters. She and Randal moved into the guesthouse.
They received word from Arthur and Everett that they liked the dry heat of Arizona and wanted to stay there. Kate happily sold the big Southwest Ranches house, and Lenny and Dora—who had become a couple—moved into the apartment over the garage at Lachlan House.
Gil, Greer, and Quinn spent a glorious summer in Scotland meeting all of Greer’s relatives. Quinn wore a kilt the whole time they were there. When they returned to the US, Gil bought one of the places near Lachlan House. He and Greer had their wedding reception in the ballroom. By then, she was six months pregnant and they wanted to be near what had become their family.
Troy and Sheriff Flynn hit it off well. When Troy told his mother he wasn’t returning to California, she protested. But Troy stayed firm. So Kate did the deal of selling Sara’s house, fully furnished, to Barbara Adair. She kept Kate’s apartment for when she visited her son—which was often.
