Chapter 29

Chapter Twenty-Nine

T he next morning was chaos. The kids had no idea what was going on and were excited to be somewhere new—especially on a school day. Uncle Albert told them he'd take them on a tractor ride after breakfast, so they wolfed down their scrambled eggs and bacon, took their plates to the sink, and met Uncle Albert at the barn. Witt said he wanted to see what the fuss was about and insisted on carrying Liam out with him. Liam was thrilled to be outside with everyone else.

Once the house cleared out, Neely Kate and I told Aunt Bessie that we had the kitchen cleanup covered, and she should go relax. She started to protest, then said she'd take her knitting out to the front porch and encouraged us to join her when we finished.

As I started rinsing dishes and putting them into the dishwasher, I realized I hadn't told Neely Kate what I'd learned about the box.

"I think I found out who buried the box."

She stopped in the middle of the kitchen, two plates in one hand and a syrup bottle in the other. Wide-eyed, she asked. "When? How?"

I told her about the call and the suspected identities of J and S.

Her face brightened with excitement. "So we just need to find Sarah."

I grimaced. "There's a problem with that. The woman said Sarah died a while back, and her sister Luna moved to California."

"How'd she die?"

"She didn't know. She'd heard it secondhand. But it sounds like maybe we've hit the end of the road."

She was quiet for a moment. "What about the boy? Jason? Maybe he'd want it back."

"Maybe," I agreed. "But we don't have any last names."

"If they went to school together, we could look up their names in old yearbooks."

"We could," I agreed. "Or we could just let it go. It might be too painful for Jason to get the letters and ring."

"Or maybe she's his long-lost love, and he would like to have a last piece of her."

I set a plate into the dishwasher. "Let's think about it. But I think this proves whoever broke into the office wasn't looking for the box. I mean, the person who broke in could have just told us it was theirs, and we would have willingly handed it over."

Scowling, she mumbled, "Maybe not so willingly, but yeah."

"When this is all done, we can look up the yearbooks," I said, hoping to cheer her up. "If we can figure out who Jason is, then we'll decide where to go from there."

"Okay," she said, sounding a little more encouraged. "Deal."

After we finished the cleanup, we joined Aunt Bessie on the porch. Uncle Albert had pulled his tractor out from behind the barn to give each of the kids a ride, while Witt kept the others corralled.

"Joe gave me a brief run-down of what was going on when he called," Aunt Bessie said as her knitting needles clacked in the quiet. "But I'd like to hear it from you."

I shot a glance at Neely Kate. Aunt Bessie had no idea about my Lady in Black history, so I told her that one of our employees had been murdered and our office had been ransacked. Since we had no idea why, Joe had thought it best if we left the county for a few days.

After I finished, she was silent for several seconds before she glanced up from her knitting and looked me in the eye. "I know there's more you're not telling me."

"Actually," Neely Kate said, "there is."

I shot her a warning look, but she said, "Rose has been having weird visions."

Aunt Bessie looked startled. "Weird visions? How so?"

I told her that two of them had been dreams that I'd been unable to reproduce with anyone. And I also mentioned I'd been completely alone when I'd had one of them.

"How did Rose's grandmother's visions work?" Neely Kate asked.

"Much like Rose's. She had to be with the person in the vision, but…" She paused her knitting and set it in her lap as she turned to face me. "There was one person she didn't have to be with to have a vison of."

Neely Kate leaned forward, her eyes bright with excitement. "Who?"

A troubled look crossed my aunt's face. "Her sister."

I shook my head. "Violet's dead, and I never had a vision of her when she was alive. At least, not one when I wasn't close to her."

"It was a rare thing, and it only happened twice." She paused and held my gaze. "Both times were when her sister was in danger."

Neely Kate gasped. "Oh my stars and garters! The woman in Rose's visions looked like her!"

Aunt Bessie's eyebrows rose.

"But I don't have another sister," I protested. "Or, at least, not a living one."

Neely Kate ignored me, focusing on my aunt. "Rose had a sketch made." She pulled her phone out of her pocket and swiped on the screen. "Look. It's obvious it's not her, but it definitively looks like her." She got out of her chair and reached over to hand the phone to my aunt.

Aunt Bessie took it and stared at the screen. "Rose, how old would you say this woman was?"

My heart sped up. "Do I have a cousin somewhere I don't know about?"

"She looks to be about twenty-five or twenty-six," Aunt Bessie murmured, studying the phone screen and then glancing up at me. "Does that sound about right?"

I swallowed the lump in my throat. "I suppose."

"What was her name?"

I shook my head. "I don't know. The woman I had the vision of was called Selena, and neither she nor the man called the murdered woman by name." Aunt Bessie's gaze dropped to the phone again.

"Aunt Bessie. This is crazy. I don't have another sister."

She took a deep breath and held out the phone to Neely Kate, who got up from her seat and took it. We both stared at my aunt in anticipation of her response.

Aunt Bessie reached for her glass of water and took a big swig before setting it down. "You might."

My head grew fuzzy, and I took a deep breath, hoping to clear it. "What are you talking about? This woman looked like she's younger than me."

Aunt Bessie nodded with a grave expression. "And she would be younger. By about three years."

I couldn't believe what I was hearing. "What? Daddy left Momma a second time?"

"No," she said, slowly shaking her head. "He didn't leave, but he stepped out on her when you were about two. Your momma never figured it out, but the woman he was seeing was crazier than a barn cat high on diesel fumes. She told your daddy she was pregnant, and if he didn't leave your mother and marry her, she was leavin' town, and he'd never see his child."

"So what happened?" Neely Kate asked.

Aunt Bessie sighed as she shrugged. "He stayed with Agnes, and the woman made good on her word and left town. Your father thought she was makin' the whole pregnancy story up, but about a year later, she sent a card with a photo of a baby that she claimed was his daughter. Your father came to me for advice. I told him he needed to man up and accept his responsibility in the matter. Although he wasn't happy with Agnes, he knew he didn't want to be with the momma of his third child. So in the end, he convinced himself the woman was lying and said it could be a picture of anyone's baby." Aunt Bessie's voice was shaking. "But I saw the resemblance to you and Violet. When I pointed that out, he got angry and said all children look alike and accused me of being unsupportive."

"What did the woman want?" I asked, finally finding my voice. "The mother of the baby?"

Aunt Bessie's eyes teared up. "She told him she was gonna give the baby up if he didn't send her five thousand dollars. And since he'd convinced himself she was lying, he ignored the letter."

"She gave the baby up for adoption?" Neely Kate asked in dismay.

Aunt Bessie shook her head. "I have no idea. We never heard from her again. Or, at least, if he did, he never told me."

"Did Momma ever find out?" I asked.

"No, your father was terrified she would and swore me to secrecy. I've never told another living soul—your uncle included—until now."

I couldn't believe what I was hearing. I'd been in shock at the news, but now I was overcome with anger. "Daddy knew he had another child, and he didn't care ?"

"He said he didn't believe her, although I'm not sure if his denial was because he truly thought it was a lie or because he couldn't muster the strength to step forward."

I took a moment to let her news sink in. "So my father was a serial cheater, and he abandoned his child." Then again, he'd very nearly abandoned me after my birth mother had died. He couldn't handle his grief and had brought me to Aunt Bessie and Uncle Albert. The only reason I hadn't been raised by them was because Momma had convinced him to take her back, partly by swearing she'd raise me as her own. She'd lied, but then he hadn't seemed to care and had ignored her abuse.

Then a new thought hit me. "Did he cheat with other women?"

"I don't think so, but after my reaction to his dismissal of your younger sister, I doubt he would have come to me again to tell me about others." She sighed. "He only told me about this instance because she told him she was pregnant."

"Did the guy never hear about condoms?" Neely Kate muttered under her breath.

She had a point.

I suddenly realized what this meant. "So the woman I've seen murdered is my sister ?" I asked in horror. "How do I save her? Do you remember her mother's name?"

"I only remember her first name—Stacy—and that the card came from Austin, Texas."

Texas? My panic began to swell, but I reminded myself that Texas was a huge state, and it was probably just a coincidence. "No last name?"

Aunt Bessie made a face. "Honestly, I don't know it. If it was on the card, I've since forgotten. I'm sorry."

"What about the baby's name?" Neely Kate asked.

"I think it was a flower name, but I've forgotten that too."

"So how do I save her, Aunt Bessie?" I asked, my voice breaking.

"Maybe you already did," she said. "Maybe that's why you haven't had any more visions."

"Or she's already dead." Because I hadn't done anything that could have saved her. I'd been looking for her in Fenton County, but she could be anywhere .

I'd just learned about my sister and possibly lost her at the same time.

"We don't know for sure that the woman in your visions is your sister," Neely Kate said. "This could be a total coincidence."

Sorrow overcame me as I turned to her and asked in disbelief, "You don't really believe that, do you?'

She made a face. "You truly believe you have a sister you never knew about?"

" You had a sister and a brother you didn't know anything about until a few years ago," I countered. "Why does this seem so far-fetched? How do you explain my visions?"

She sat back in her seat. "I don't know."

I didn't know either, and that was the problem.

"Have a vision," Neely Kate said, holding out her hand to me. "See if I ever meet her."

" I may never meet her, even if she's still alive," I said through my tears.

"You won't know unless you try. If you don't see anything, it won't mean she's dead, and if you do see something…" She smiled at me.

Nodding, I reached over and took her hand, asking the universe if I would ever meet my sister.

The vision was hazy, but I could see my face lit up with joy. "I found her, Neely Kate! I found her!"

Then I was back on the front porch, blurting out, "I found her" before I broke down into tears.

I had a sister, and she hadn't been killed. I had to trust that meant something had changed, and someday I would meet her.

Uncle Albert and Witt kept the kids busy until lunch. They poured into the kitchen, filthy and happy. Even Ashley was having fun, and I was grateful she wasn't stewing over missing school and falling behind on her assignments. I assured her that I'd contacted the principal about her absence. He'd told me that Mrs. Pritchard was on leave until further notice, and the substitute would send Monday's assignments in an email later that day.

The kids had lunch, and we convinced the younger ones to take a short rest. Neely Kate was upstairs taking a nap, and Witt was doing who knew what with Uncle Albert outside. I felt like Ashley needed a little alone time with me and asked if she'd like to make bread with me in the kitchen, to which she eagerly agreed.

"Where did you learn to make bread, Aunt Rose?" Ashley asked as we added the ingredients together.

"Aunt Bessie taught me."

"Did she teach Momma too?"

"She did, but your momma wasn't terribly interested in baking bread. She much preferred making sweet things, like cookies and cake."

Ashley grew quiet as we took turns kneading the dough. Had I upset her by talking about Violet?

"Are you okay, Ash?" I finally asked as I stepped away from the dough to let her knead for a couple of minutes.

"Yeah." But she kept her gaze on the task in front of her.

"I know you're worried about missing school, but is there anything else you're worried about?" I paused. "Like the reason we came to visit Aunt Bessie and Uncle Albert?"

She glanced up at me with wide eyes.

I gave her a warm smile. "You're a smart girl. You would know this isn't an ordinary situation." When she didn't respond, I asked, "Do you have any questions about what's goin' on?"

She shrugged, her gaze still on the dough. "I know that some men were murdered and that one of them worked for you and Mr. Bruce Wayne. Uncle Joe thinks they might break into our house since they broke into your office, so that's why we're here."

She understood more than I'd expected, but again, she was an observant girl, and we hadn't been careful about some of it. "Yes. Uncle Joe thinks the bad men were lookin' for something, and for some reason, they think Neely Kate and I might have it. So Joe and Uncle Jed thought it would be better for us to stay at Aunt Bessie's until they catch the bad guys."

"Have they caught them yet?"

"No, but they're working really hard to do just that."

She was silent for a moment before she asked in a hushed voice. "Did my dad work for those bad men?"

My heart caught in my throat. I hated that she had to worry about that. "No, Ash. He worked for someone else, and those people are in prison too. I don't think they'll ever get out."

"But my daddy will."

"Yes. If he continues to be a model prisoner, there's a chance he might get out a year before you graduate from high school."

She was quiet again, the only sound the dough slapping against the counter. She looked up at me with tear-filled eyes. "Do Mikey and me have to live with him when he gets out?"

My jaw dropped, and I wasn't sure how to respond. Finally, I came to my senses. "You don't want to live with him?"

She slowly shook her head. "He scares me."

"Oh, Ash," I said, covering her hand with my own. "Your daddy would never, ever hurt you." I nearly told her that part of the reason he'd done what he'd done was to protect her and her brother, but she didn't need that burden.

"I just want to live with you and Uncle Joe."

"You and Mikey can live with us however long you want." I smiled through my tears. "You can live with us until you're forty-two, if you like."

Her nose wrinkled. "That's old."

"Not as old as you think," I said with a laugh. "But I want you and your brother to know that you are as important to us as Hope and Liam, and your home is with us for however long you want it to be. You may be my niece, but you're just like a daughter to me. I will never, ever take your momma's place, and I don't want to try, but I love you all the same."

She nodded slowly. "Do you think Momma would be mad if I called you Mom?"

My eyes and throat burned.

She hastily added. "It's weird that me and Mikey call you Aunt Rose and Uncle Joe, but Hope and Liam call you Momma and Daddy." She shrugged, trying to play it off. "It might be easier to say you're my mom instead of telling people I live with my aunt."

"I would be honored for you to call me Mom. And Joe would be thrilled for you to call him Dad. But just because you call us that doesn't mean your Momma isn't your Momma, and the same with your dad. Some people are lucky enough to have two moms and two dads."

She nodded. We finished kneading the dough, then placed it in an oiled bowl and covered it with a tea towel. After Ashley washed the flour and dough off her hands, she wrapped her arms around me and said, "I love you, Mom."

I choked back a sob and croaked out, "I love you too, Ash."

Then she hurried out of the room, carrying a piece of my heart with her.