Kathleen glanced at her watch. “That’s not too far away. Are you tired?”
Natalie shook her head. “I had some sleep before the police came to see me.” She studied Gabe’s exhausted face. “Did you get some sleep this morning?”
“A couple of hours. I’ll sleep better tonight knowing you’re okay. Do you mind if I come back in an hour? I need to call my agent and then check that Sherlock is okay.”
“Of course, I don’t mind,” Natalie said quickly. “You’ve been amazing. I don’t know what I would have done without you.”
A sad smile settled on Gabe’s face. “We make a good team. I’ll see you later.”
Kathleen gave Gabe a hug.
After he’d left the room, Natalie’s mom frowned. “Is he okay?” she asked.
“I don’t know. I’m worried about him, too.”
“Maybe he’s still processing everything. It was bad enough when I heard what happened over the phone. But to be here…”—tears filled Kathleen’s eyes— “…I don’t know how Gabe did it.”
Neither did Natalie.
Kathleen smiled. “I brought you a gift.” She opened her suitcase and pulled out a book bound in dark red leather. “I’ve been thinking about Sapphire Bay. Your granddad and grandma had so many wonderful photos and stories about what it used to be like. I wanted to keep those stories alive, so I made you a book.” She handed Natalie the album. “What do you think?”
Natalie opened the album to the first page. “Oh, mom.” She wiped her eyes and took a deep breath. Sitting in the middle of the page was a photo of Natalie with her mom, dad, and grandparents. The caption under the photograph read, ‘Forever in our hearts. With love always to Natalie, our beautiful daughter and granddaughter.’
She turned to the next page. A picture of her granddad standing in front of a steamboat made her sigh. He would have been about twenty years old, single, and from what her grandma had said, the most handsome man in all of Montana.
“Thank you for making this for me.”
Her mom kissed her cheek. “I thought you’d appreciate seeing it now. So many good things have happened in Sapphire Bay. You’ve had a horrible experience. This might help to put everything into perspective.”
Natalie studied the photo of her grandfather. Even in his early twenties, he had the kind of smile that made you feel like were the most important person in the world. Her mouth dropped open when she saw the logo on the boat. “It’s the Hummingbird.”
Her mom nodded. “He used to help maintain the engine. When I was little, he told me it was his dream job.”
“The branch in the forest, the one shaped like a bird. Did granddad make that?”
Kathleen moved closer to the album. “He did. When the steamboat owner was searching for a picture to go on the logo, your granddad showed him a drawing of the sculpture. The owner liked it so much that he used it. Somewhere on the next few pages is a photo of your granddad carving the wood. I’m not sure why, but it was the only sculpture he ever made.”
Natalie found the picture and fresh tears filled her eyes. “When I was running through the forest, I didn’t know where to go. As soon as I saw granddad’s sculpture, I knew the safest place was his hideout.”
Tears welled in her mom’s eyes. “He really was keeping you safe.”
Natalie touched the photo of her granddad. He proudly stood beside the half-finished sculpture, smiling into the camera as if he knew something no one else did.
And perhaps he had.
* * *
Four hoursand thirty-nine minutes later, Natalie stepped out of Gabe’s truck and sighed. She was finally home.
“Don’t move,” Gabe warned. “I’ll help you into the cottage.”
Natalie looked at the short journey from the truck to the back door. Gabe had almost parked on her verandah. “I’ll be okay.”
“No, you won’t.”
He wrapped his arm around her waist while her mom stood beside her, smiling.
“It’s not funny,” Natalie whispered.
