“Yeah. Yeah, I’m here,” he said. “Can I call you back? I’m heading into court.”
“Um, sure,” Tamryn said, ignoring the tremor of unease that traveled down her spine. “I’ll, uh, talk to you later.”
On her way back to Gauthier, she called Victoria, needing to share her news with somebody. This was too monumental to keep bottled up inside. She was relieved when Victoria answered the phone and expressed nearly as much enthusiasm as Tamryn had. They talked so long that Tamryn had to remind Victoria that she had a class of students waiting.
She ended the call, smiling at the excitement she’d heard in her coworker’s voice. Maybe it was something only a fellow history buff could get excited about.
But Matt knew how important this was to her. He knew how hard she had been working to find this missing link to her grandmother’s past.
“He was going into court,” Tamryn reminded herself. What had she expected him to do? Drop everything and run to her side so they could pop open a bottle of champagne?
She drove to Belle Maison so that she could shower and change into one of her more comfortable sundresses, and found Phylicia and Mya out under the gazebo, enjoying iced tea. Both women were thrilled about the document Tamryn had found. Mya called her husband, who, in addition to coaching the baseball team, taught American history at the high school.
If Matt had exhibited even a tenth of the enthusiasm Corey Anderson did, Tamryn surmised that she wouldn’t have the uncomfortable feeling in her gut that she hadn’t been able to shake since her abbreviated call with Matt.
She left Phylicia and Mya outside and went up to her room, dillydallying around for another two hours before, finally, she couldn’t take it anymore. She headed for the Gauthier mansion, hoping she’d given Matt enough time to get home.
Her shoulders drooped in relief when she drove around the back of the house and spotted his car parked in its usual spot under the portico just off the entrance to the kitchen. Tamryn gave two sharp taps on the door, and seconds later, Matt opened it.
“Hi,” she answered with a smile she couldn’t contain.
“Hello,” he said.
His subdued expression caught her off guard. He walked over to the kitchen island, where a highball glass filled halfway with amber liquid sat next to a parcel of mail.
Tamryn’s steps slowed as she rounded the kitchen island. “Are you okay?”
He nodded. “You?”
“I’m more than okay. I’m perfect.” That smile was back again, bigger than ever. She’d smiled so much this afternoon her cheeks hurt. “I found it,” she said. “I found proof that Adeline West and Nicolette Gauthier opened a school for free Blacks and slave children.”
Tamryn wasn’t sure what she expected, but it was definitely not the apathetic nod he gave her.
“Matt, did you hear what I said? I found my proof.”
He took a sip of his whiskey, then put the glass down and reached for her hands. “I’m happy for you,” he said. “I know how much this means for your career, and for you personally.”
Disquiet slithered down Tamryn’s spine. She cleared her throat before she spoke. “Call me crazy, but it doesn’t sound as if you’re all that happy for me. I’m not really sure what’s going on, but—”
“Come with me,” Matt said, but then he stopped, holding up a finger. “Wait one minute.” He picked up the glass and drained the rest of the whiskey. “There. That’s better.”
The uneasy feeling traveling through her intensified. She had never seen him this way before.
“Matt, is something wrong?” she asked.
“Yes.” He huffed out a humorless laugh, shaking his head. “Something has been wrong for a very long time.”
He wrapped his fingers around her wrist and gently urged her to follow him.
They walked to the family library on the left side of the house. Tamryn had only been in the room once, during her first visit to the mansion. She stood just beyond the threshold of the door while Matt walked over to a portrait of Micah Gauthier. He grasped the gilded frame and unhooked the portrait from the wall, revealing a safe.
As he turned the knob on the combination lock, Tamryn noticed that his fingers were shaking.
“What are you doing?”
His chin dropped to his chest as he braced his left hand on the wall. “Coming clean,” he said.
He opened the safe and rifled around inside for a moment. She couldn’t tell what he retrieved, but her blood pulsed with a mixture of excitement and dread in anticipation of it. When he turned, Tamryn’s stomach dropped at the sight of the worn, leather-bound book.
