Understanding immediately, Charlie quickly slipped it off and tucked it into her purse in the top desk drawer. Jane gave her a quick smile, then composed her face and opened the door.
“Hi,” Jane said brightly. “Sorry, Charlie was justchanging her shirt. She spilled some of the appetizers Isabella made on herself.”
She turned and gave Charlie a cheeky grin.
Charlie smiled and watched the two young people. They were obviously falling for each other, she thought warmly. Maybe this inn really was magical. First, she had found the love of her life, then Christopher and Isabella, and now Gabe and Jane seemed to be finding each other. Oh, and Holly. She had found a new start, too, despite the complications with Simon and Jack’s suspicions.
“Hey, Aunt Charlie,” Gabe waved at her from the doorway.
“Hi, honey,” Charlie called back. “How’s the leg?”
“Not healing fast enough,” Gabe said, looking past Jane to answer.
“Jane got some good news,” Charlie told him, her eyes meeting Jane’s. “Why don’t you take him and get your dad together to tell them? I have an important call to make.”
Jane smiled, understanding her meaning. “Come on,” she said, grabbing Gabe’s hand and leading him away.
Charlie heard Gabe asking as they walked down the hallway, “What is it? What’s the good news?”
“I’ll tell you when we’re all together,” Jane insisted, her voice fading as she closed the door behind them.
Charlie immediately tried to call Angus back, but it went straight to voicemail. She left a message, then sent him a text: “Angus, call me when you can.”
While she waited, Charlie took her engagement ring from her purse and slipped it back on her finger. She held her hand up, watching the diamond catch the afternoon light filtering through the library windows.
She was getting married. At fifty-three years old, after dedicating her entire life to her career and convincing herself she was perfectly happy alone, she was getting married to a wonderful man who made her laugh, challenged her mind, and treated her like the most important person in his world.
Charlie smiled, thinking about Logan’s face when she had said yes. The joy and relief and love all mixed together. They were not spring chickens, as he had said. They did not have time to waste playing games or being cautious.
Life was too short. She had seen that proven over and over in her legal career, watching clients deal with the aftermath of waiting too long to do what they wanted.
She would not make that mistake. She would marry Logan, be happy, and not apologize for finding love later in life than most people did.
Charlie’s phone buzzed with a text. It was Logan: “Still smiling. Can’t wait to spend the rest of my life with you.”
She texted back: “Me too. Now go help Jack before he wonders where you disappeared to.”
Another text came through, this time from her secretary at thelaw firm: “The Anderson case settled. They accepted our terms. You can cross it off your list.”
Good news all around, Charlie thought. Jane’s test results were negative. The Anderson case was settled. And she was engaged to the love of her life.
Now she just needed Angus to call back so she could find out what Pamela was really after and why she had gone to such elaborate lengths to manipulate Jane with a fake hereditary disease scare.
Because Charlie’s legal instincts were screaming that this was about money. It was always about money. And if Richard Sullivan had died three months ago with a fortune to his name but had not left Pamela anything, then someone else had inherited that money.
The question was: who?
And what did it have to do with Jane? Or was this about the inn? Another thought struck her, making her brow furrow.
Charlie stared at her engagement ring, her mind already working through possibilities. Pamela was married to Victor Martin. Jack’s old enemy, the man who had destroyed Jack’s business. Could they have found out that the inn was in trouble and were somehow trying to trick Jane into signing it over to them? She shook her head.No, Pamela would have to get Jack to do that.
But the more she thought about it, the more Charlie began tofeel it was all connected somehow. All these threads were weaving together into a pattern she could not quite see yet.
But she would figure it out. She always did.
Charlie picked up her phone and tried Angus one more time. Still voicemail.
She would wait. And in the meantime, she would keep digging through the corporate filings and property records, looking for the connection that would tie everything together.
