Epilogue

S ome people loved mountains.

Jeannette loved them, too.

But there was nothing like an amazing beach. And as she heard the waiter approach their lounge chairs, she smiled because she'd been practicing. "Vorrei una Coca-Cola con una cannuccia, per piacere," she said, which caused Daniel at her side to smile.

"Me, too, Coke with a straw, please," he said.

"Gotcha," the young Italian waiter said. He started to walk away but he paused and turned back, "Oh, great accent in the right places!" he told Jeannette.

"You can't assume people speak English when you're in their country," she told Daniel.

He grinned. "No, I agree. But I spoke to him when you were in the water. His dad is Italian and his mother is American. He spent most of his years growing up in Kansas."

"Oh."

"But your Italian is coming along nicely."

"Thanks. And yours—"

"My French is still better. And, you know... I've been told that we Scots speak English—kind of!"

She grinned at that. "You don't have that much of an accent."

"Too many years working in too many places," he said dryly. "Oh, wait. You're lying! But...hang on!"

He answered his phone. She felt hers vibrating—somewhere. It was in the bag she had brought down from their room at the hotel on the Italian Riviera. She started to rise, but he shook his head. Whatever he was learning, they weren't being summoned for anything.

They had remained in France for several days following the strange showdown at the cabin. Before leaving, Jeannette had decided that if she was able to do anything at all on her own time, she wanted to go to the American Cemetery and Memorial in Normandy.

And they went, all six members of Blackbird—along with the ghost of Jake Clayton.

She knew that sometimes when human souls believed they had accomplished what they had stayed to do, they felt it was time to move on. And light seemed to burst from nowhere, warm and beautiful and glittering, enveloping the soul and moving it onward to a higher plane.

And she had thought that maybe Jake...

But he had shown them his grave; they had prayed for soldiers lost. And when she looked at Jake, he had just grinned at her.

"Not sure what else, but I'm not ready yet!"

"Then maybe I'll return to see you!" she told him. But then she got it into her head to introduce him to Henriette and returning to Paris, she did so.

She thought Jake might be taking up a new residence in Paris because he didn't want to "hitchhike" anywhere else.

Then Mason had told Jeannette that Adam had made reservations for them. He and the others could tie things up in France and perhaps join them.

Daniel ended his call in just a few minutes and smiled at her.

"That was Mason."

"I got that. And what—"

"He just called to tell us the wrap is over for all of us. Gervais is still dealing with the French legal system on how many people are going to be charged and what the charges are going to be." He winced. "He told me he sometimes wishes they hadn't abolished the death penalty. He thinks it would be truly fitting for Leticia and George. As it is..."

"They'll get life?"

"We can hope. And for a woman like her...maybe that kind of existence will be worse than death. Oh! And a couple more things."

"Oh?"

"The missing Aristide Broussard has been found. He'd been hiding in Norway. When he heard that Leticia has finally been stopped, he came home. He's going to testify against them."

"That's great! He is alive! Wonderful. And?"

"And Delphine Matisse says we have an open invitation anytime we want to come. We're welcome to the house or to stay with her at the mansion. And..."

"And?"

"Jules needs a new assistant. He thinks you'd be great."

She laughed. "Well, if I fail at Blackbird—"

Daniel laughed. "Mason said you're an amazing addition, so... I don't think you should give up the day job for the magic show."

She smiled at that.

"I think I'm happy right where I am," she told him.

She meant those words in so many ways.

And, of course, he knew her smile.

"Think we could take those Cokes we ordered up to the room?"

"Oooh, yeah. Shower off the sand..."

"Aye, showers are good...and...it is still early but..."

"We may just order in."

She grinned.

"I like that idea," she told him.

They did order in.

And later, much later that night, she curled into his arms.

"What are you thinking about?" he asked her.

She grinned and shrugged her shoulders, then looked into his eyes before leaning down against his chest.

"Blackbird soaring!" she told him.

And so, it was.