Kate's needles clicked, Lexy stared. As color crept up his throat, Sam stared into his beer.
me to mark this down on my Year-at-a-Glance calendar."
"Sarcastic woman's the reason I keep my mouth shut in the first place," he muttered, and Kate's laugh tinkled out.
them.
That's what Jo saw when she came in. Her father, her cousin, and her sister sharing a moment together while Kate's laughter rang out.
Her heart sank. It was an image she'd never expected to see, one she hadn't known could be so precious to her. Now she, and the man who stood behind her, could destroy it.
Nathan, her idea of what Jo had wanted the family to hear took on the hint of orange blossoms and bridal lace. Fluttering, she set her knitting aside. "We were just having some wine. Maybe we should make it champagne instead, just for fun."
"No, wine's fing." Her nerves scramble, Jo hurried in. "Don't get up, Kate, I'll get it."
"I hope this won't take long, Jo. I've got plans."
"I'm sorry, Lexy." Jo clinked glasses together in her hurry to have it done.
"Sit down," Kate hissed, rolling her eyes, wiggling her brows to try to give Lexy a hint. "Make yourself comfortable, Nathan. I'm sure Brian will be right along. Oh, here he is now. Brian, turn up the fan a little, will you? This heat's just wilting. Must be cooler at your place by the river, Nathan."
"Some." He sat, knowing he had to let Jo set the pace. But he looked at Sam. They'd spend twenty minutes together that evening, outlining plans, discussing structure and form. And all the while Nathan had tasted the bitter tang of deceit.
It was time to open it up, spread it out, and accept the consequences. "I'm sorry?" he said, realizing abruptly that Kate was speaking to him.
"I was just asking if you're finding it as easy to work here as you do in New York."
"It's a nice change." His eyes met Jo's as she brought him a of wine. Get it done, he asked her silently. Get it finished.
"Would you sit down, Brian?" she murmured.
"Hmm." she'd interrupted his daydream about wandering to Kirby's shortly and waking her up in a very specific and interesting",, manner. "Sure."
He settled into a chair and decided he'd never been more relaxed or content in his life. He even gave Lexy a quick wink when she sat on the arm beside him.
"I don't know how to begin, how to tell you." Jo took a bracing breath. "I wish I could take the chance and let sleeping dogs lie." she caught Brian's eye, saw the flicker of confusion in his. "But I can't. Whether it's the best thing or not, I have to believe it's the right thing. Daddy." she walked over, sat on the coffee table so that her eyes were on a level with Sam's. "It's about Mama."
she saw his mouth harden and, though he didn't move, felt him pull back from her. "There's no point in stirring up old waters, Jo Ellen. Your mother's been gong long enough for you to deal with her going."
"she's dead, Daddy. she's been dead for twenty years." As if to anchor them both, she closed a hand over his. "she didn't leave you, or us. she didn't walk away from Sanctuary. she was murdered."
"How can you say such a thing?" Lexy surged to her feet. "How can you say that, Jo?"
"Alexa." Sam kept his eyes on Jo's. "Hush." He had to give himself a moment to stand up to the blow she'd delivered. He wanted to dismiss it, slide over or around it. But there was no evading that steady and sorrowful look in her eyes. "You've got a reason for saying that.
For believing it."
"Yes."
she told him calmly, clearly, about the photograph that had been sent to her. The shock of recognition, the undeniable certainty that it was Annabelle.
"I worked it out a hundred different ways in my head," she continued. "That it had been taken years later, that it was just a trick of the camera, just a horrible joke. That I'd imagined it altogether. But none of those were true, Daddy. It was Mama, and it was taken right here on the island on the night we thought she left."
"Where's the picture?" he demanded. "Where is it?"
"It's gone. Whoever sent it came back and took it while I was in the hospital. But it was there, I swear it. It was Mama."
"How do you know? How can you be sure of that?"
she opened her mouth, but Nathan stepped forward. "Because I've seen the photograph. Because my father took it, after he killed her."
With a storm raging in his head, Sam got slowly to his feet. "You're going to stand there and tell me your father killed Belle. Killed a woman who'd done him no harm, and then took pictures of it. He took pictures of her when he'd done with her, and showed them to you."