“I don’t care. I know this will be one of the most unbelievable moments of my entire life. It’s something I’ve dreamed about since I first started researching Adeline West’s past. I truly cannot think of a single thing you could have done that could mean more to me than this.”
Matt could. He could turn this car around, drive to the Gauthier Mansion, and hand her the leather-bound diary hidden in that safe.
He brought her hand to his lips and kissed the back of it. They continued the drive in relative quiet, with Tamryn making a few comments here and there about sights they passed. When they pulled up to the closed gates of Rosemead Plantation, Matt spotted a white SUV parked on the other side of it. A slim woman with a thick silver braid draped over her left shoulder walked up to the gate and opened one side. She waved them in.
Matt drove through and stopped a couple of yards inside the gate. The curator came up to his car and leaned forward to speak into the window he’d just lowered. “Continue on to the house. I’ll be there in a few minutes.”
By the time they parked in front of the large, two-story, French Creole–style house, Matt could practically feel the excitement emanating from Tamryn.
“Will you be able to hold it together?” he asked her.
She shook her head. “Not a chance in hell.”
He chuckled as they exited the car. The curator pulled up next to his car, introduced herself as Peggy Dauphine, and started them on their private tour.
Matt held himself a few feet back as the curator pointed out the classic architecture and features unique to Rosemead. They toured nearly every room of the huge house, and several of the surrounding buildings on the grounds.
They approached the small rectangular structures toward the back of the property. Tamryn’s steps slowed. As she studied the tiny buildings crudely constructed out of centuries-old mud bricks, Matt studied her. Her fingers trembled as she raised them to her mouth, and a small gasp escaped her lips.
Matt was quickly at her side. He captured her upper arms and gave them a squeeze.
“It’s okay if you lose it,” he whispered into her ear.
“I won’t,” she said, shaking her head slightly. “It’s just…this is where she was born. The slave quarters at Rosemead is where Adeline and her brother Adler were both born. It’s where her father, my great-great-great-great-grandfather, is buried.” She turned to him. “It’s so much to process. I’m not sure if I even can.”
He took her into his arms and held on for untold moments. He looked over Tamryn’s shoulders to find Peggy smiling, tears glistening in her own eyes.
They spent another half-hour walking the grounds of Rosemead. Despite orders from the home’s owner that photographs were not to be taken, Peggy allowed Tamryn to snap several shots of various structures.
As they drove out of the gate and back onto the road, Matt once again took Tamryn’s hand in his. He craved physical contact with her at all times.
“I will never be able to thank you enough,” she whispered.
“You don’t have to thank me at all,” he said. “You have no idea how much it meant to me to be able to do that for you.”
She looked at him, gratitude and what Matt could only describe as love on her face.
“You are such a good man.”
Her words caused his stomach to turn in on itself. “Don’t give me more credit than I deserve,” he said. “All I did was call in a couple of favors.”
“But you did that for me when you didn’t have to.”
“I wanted to.” He kissed the backs of her fingers. “And the night isn’t over.” He released her hand just long enough to flip on his turn signal.
“What’s this?” Tamryn asked as they pulled up to The Guesthouse at Hemingbough.
“This is where you put aside all of the worries over your job and your research, and you allow yourself to be pampered.”
“Oh, Matthew,” she whispered.
He leaned over the center console and pressed his lips to hers. “I don’t want you to worry about anything tonight. I just want you to enjoy it. Can you do that for me?”
A tremulous smile drew across her lips. “I don’t think that will be very hard.”
Tamryn reclined on the silk-covered chaise, sipping the champagne Matt had handed her before he began the decadent foot rub she was now being treated to.
“Do you know I have never had anyone rub my feet before?” she said.
