“Why would you?” Carmine asks.
“She was my mother,” Elena says. “Then again, I never felt a connection to her, so I guess I wouldn’t have known. My father was evil. She did the world a favor by having him killed, but my God, Uncle Carlo, an innocent man has been in prison for years for something he didn’t do.”
“I already have his release in motion,” Pop says. “He’ll be set free soon.”
“How did you manage that so quickly?” Shane asks. But Pop just winks at my brother.
“I have connections, son.” He turns back to Elena. “And Danvers will be taken care of for the rest of his life. That’s a wrong that we can correct.”
“Good. That’s good.” Elena looks out at the storm and then back at Pop. “She killed Gram?”
“Yes, honey.”
“I thought Gram died of natural causes?” Carmine asks. “I sat at her bedside. It wasn’t a quick death.”
“Poison,” Shane says shortly. “She made Gram suffer.”
“I want to kill that bitch all over again,” I say and push my hand through my hair. “She lived too long. She was happy for far too long.”
“I won’t disagree,” Elena says. “I also can’t believe that I had a half-brother from the time I was five. That’s unbelievable.”
“I think all of this is pretty unbelievable,” Archer says. “It’s like something from one of Luke’s movies.”
“I wish it was fiction,” I reply. “I wish you’d known our grandmother. She would have liked you.”
“Are we going to bury Claudia?” Elena asks, not referring to the woman as her mother.
“No,” Pop says. “Absolutely not. We left her for the cleanup crew. The entire house was burned to the ground with her and that little piece of garbage son she loved so much inside. She doesn’t deserve to be buried alongside my parents. I won’t mourn for her a second time.”
“You absolutely shouldn’t,” Elena says. “I have to say, I’m relieved that the apple fell quite far from that particular tree in this case. I’m nothing like her.”
“You’re one of us,” I reply. “You’ll always be ours.”
“And mine,” Archer says with a smile.
“So, it’s good that Gram hid me away.” Elena sits and hangs her head in her hands. “I always wondered if it was necessary, or if Gram was overreacting. She didn’t tell me who she was hiding me from, you know? Just that someone had killed my parents, and she was afraid they’d come for me, too.”
Elena’s head shoots up, and her eyes go wide.
“Oh, God. Did Gram know that Claudia was behind it all? That Claudia was alive?”
“We don’t think so,” Shane says. “I thought of that on the plane. We’ve been through every piece of paper that pertains to the case. More than once. We can’t ask her to be certain, but she never mentions in any of her notes that she knew about Claudia. She hired many investigators over the years. If she knew about Claudia, she wouldn’t have needed to do that.”
“Good.” Elena swallows hard as tears fill her beautiful, bi-colored eyes. “Because that would have just tortured her all those years.”
“This chapter is now closed,” Pop says and reaches for Elena’s hand. “There’s no need for you to look over your shoulder anymore, Elena. You can truly put it all behind you and live your life as you wish.”
“I’m glad. It’s a relief. Because I have news, too.” She grabs Archer’s hand again with her free one. “We’re going to have a baby. And it’s going to be born into peace. And love.”
“Ah, little one.” Pop gathers Elena close and kisses the top of her head. “This might be the most loved baby to ever be conceived. I can’t wait to meet him or her.”
“Can they call you Papa?” Elena asks. “You’re the only father I’ve ever known.”
For the first time in my life, I see my father’s eyes fill with tears. “It would be my honor.”
“Do you hear that?” Annika asks, making me stop on the path that runs through my grandmother’s estate.
I stop and listen. “No. What?”
“Quiet.” She smiles and tips her face up to the sunshine. “It’s so quiet. And the air is light, like a huge weight has been lifted.”
“Because it has.” I kiss her hand, and we begin walking again, headed toward the pond where I spent summers splashing and swimming. Making mischief.
It’s here, in this special place, that I want to do what I’m about to do.
I’m not even nervous.
Okay, I’m a little nervous.
When we reach the bench by the water and Annika sits down, I lower myself to one knee and smile up at the most beautiful woman in the world.
Every time I look at her, my breath catches.
“Rafe.”
“Annika.” I grin and reach into my pocket for the ring. No box, just a ring. When I take her hand in mine, I’m surprised to find it shaking. “I’m supposed to be the nervous one.”
She just laughs and swipes at a tear on her cheek.
“I feel like this is millennia in the making. It seems like I’ve wanted to ask you this question for all of my adult life. And I know that there were reasons before why it wasn’t possible for us to be together.
“Those reasons are gone now. And I know that if I don’t ask you to be mine, as soon as humanly possible, I’ll regret it. I don’t want to waste any more time, Annika. You’re my soul mate. I need to be with you the way I need air. And I know what you’re going to say.”
She just laughs and swipes at more tears.
“You’re going to say that we’re together. And we are. It’s awesome. But I want more. I want everything. I want to make it legal. I want to give you my name. I want the whole package.”
“You want a lot.”
I sigh and lean in to kiss her cheek. “Yeah. I want a lot. But I’ll give you back just as much, if not more.”
“I know you will.”
“Is that a yes?”
“You didn’t actually ask me anything yet.”
“Oh. Right.” I clear my throat. “Will you marry me?”
“Of course.” She flings her arms around my shoulders and buries that sweet face in my neck. “Of course, I will, Rafe. There’s nothing in the world that I want more.”
“Thank God.” I ease back so I can slip the ring onto her finger.
“Oh, this is stunning. And so unique.”
“Yeah.” I kiss the ring on her finger and then slide up onto the bench with her. “The big diamond in the middle was my gram’s. Not from her wedding ring. My mom has that. But it was from a ring that my grandfather gave her on their twenty-fifth anniversary. She loved it very much. The green stone is from my mom.”
Her blue eyes fly to mine in surprise.
“Yeah, I asked her for help on this because I didn’t want to screw it up. Anyway, the emerald is from a necklace my father gave her for a birthday gift. The ruby is from your mom.”