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He patted Phae’s back and dried her tears with his fingertips. “Let’s go, beautiful. There’s something you need to see.”
She didn’t know what he was getting at, and she wasn’t in a place to try to figure it out. “I can’t, Kent. I need to go to Meg’s and Leon’s and try to do something. Even if it’s too late.”
“It’s not too late,” Kent assured her. “Do you trust me?”
Her instinct was to immediately say yes, but she took a few seconds to think about it, to make sure she’d gotten it right. She had. “I do.”
His face lit up, so handsome and bright it made her heart ache. She didn’t feel worthy of him tonight.
“Then believe me when I say everything is fine. Now let’s go and see what needs to be seen.”
Phae glanced over at James who was eyeing Kent with a speculative expression.
“What’s this about?” James asked.
“It’s a surprise,” Kent said. He gently lifted Phae off his lap and set her on her feet, then he stood himself. “We’ll go in my car. You follow us, James. I promise, you won’t be disappointed.”
Chapter 25
PHAE STOOD ON THE HILL that faced Leon’s and Meg’s property. Kent and James flanked her on either side. She could hardly believe what she saw.
Massive floodlights lit the area below, turning night into brilliant day. Four massive earthmoving machines slowly crept across the landscape, trolling the banks of the river that separated Leon’s property from the Slinkers’ property. Dump trucks and other smaller vehicles dashed around the site like insects in a behemoth’s wake.
“What the hell is happening down there?” James asked.
Kent rocked on his heels, pleased. “They’re moving the river. Well, it’s more like a creek, but a big creek. And they’re going to move it.”
Phae gawked at him. “You’re kidding.”
“Nope.”
“Why the hell are you moving the river, Holmes?” James asked.
“I’m not moving it. They are. Or more accurately, your Great-Great-Great-whatever-Aunt Elfleda is moving it.”
James snorted. “She doesn’t have that kind of money.”
“She may have a benefactor, an anonymous benefactor as far as everyone knows, everyone but us and Elfleda,” Kent said.
Phae immediately saw the brilliance of the scheme. The pieces fell into place and she beamed at Kent. “I get it. You’re brilliant!”
“Oh, I don’t know if I’d go that far.”
James looked at Phae questioningly.
“Elfleda steamrolled over Leon and George Slinker,” Phae said. “I bet she told them she was going to fix the situation and they were going to shut the hell up and get out of her way. The river’s going back to where it was before the flood, isn’t it?”
“That’s my clever lady,” Kent said, wrapping an arm around her shoulders. “The river goes back to where it was and in exchange, George Slinker drops the lawsuits and calls off his sister-in-law.”
“Is that Aunt Elfleda down there?” James asked, pointing at the brightly lit front porch of Leon’s house.
Phae squinted and could barely make out the tiny body ensconced in the big wheelchair, her fluffy white hair a halo around her head. “Yep. That’s her. Up and kicking at this time of night.”
“What about the kids?” James asked. “Where are they?”
“They should be here any minute,” Kent answered. “The message I got at Phae’s house was that they were being bundled up and would be heading home soon.”
James waved an arm at the unprecedented scenario playing out below them. “Couldn’t this construction have waited until morning?”
“That was Elfleda’s idea,” Kent said. “She said having all those big machines behind her when she confronted them would make it more real, intimidate and convince them that she meant business. She was right. I hid nearby in the shadows when the confrontation happened. Slinker agreed quickly, and it’s no wonder. His wife looked outraged enough to leave him when she learned that Leon’s and Meg’s kids had been taken because of her husband and sister-in-law. Truth is, she may have been enough to get Slinker to back down all on her own, without moving the river.”
“Maybe, but who could be sure? You did the smart thing,” Phae said.
“I don’t know,” Kent said. “Elfleda and I planned this together, and we meant it to only be a last ditch plan in case Meg and Leon didn’t straighten up. Neither of us thought it would actually go so far as the children being taken. If we hadn’t waited, we could have saved those kids a lot of fear tonight, and saved all of you a lot of heartache.”
“You’re smart as hell,” James said, “but you’re not a fortune teller. I think everything may have happened exactly the way it should, especially for Meg and Leon. If they aren’t honest, if they don’t put their old fears behind them and help each other heal, then there’s no hope for them as a family. I think this scare with their kids is going to show them what’s really important.”
Phae hoped he was right, and deep inside, she took some of his words to heart for herself. Honesty. Putting her old fears behind her. Healing. Knowing what was important. She realized, she was guilty of the same sins as her aunt and uncle.
Kent squeezed her shoulder. “Look.” He nodded toward Leon’s house.
She watched a car pull in the driveway. Two small figures jumped out of the back seat and ran toward the porch, while two larger figures ran down from the porch to sweep the little ones into their arms. A woman stepped out of the car holding a baby and walked up to the reunited family.
The kids were home where they belonged.
Phae looked up at Kent and saw that he hadn’t been watching the scene down below. He’d been watching her reaction. In the reflected light of the work site below, she easily read the tenderness in his expression.
She felt light, like sweet spring air. She laughed, pulled away from Kent, spread her arms, twirled and waved at the scene below. “You are one crazy, crazy man. I can’t believe you did something this huge, this over-the-top, this amazing. Look down there. It’s nuts and all kinds of wonderful!”
“If I’d known it would make you laugh like this, I’d have done it even bigger and crazier, with helicopters maybe, whatever it took,” he said, laughing with her and catching her up in his arms again.
A tingle spread through her.
Fear. Honesty. Healing.
It was time. Time to stop holding everything in. Time to let go and take a chance.
She wrapped her arms around his neck and he squeezed her around her waist.
She looked deep
ly into his dear eyes and risked everything. “I probably love you, Kent Holmes.”
She knew what he’d say before he said it; it was written on his handsome face.
“I probably love you, too, Phae Jones,” he said, his voice low and edged with powerful emotion.
“You’re going to kiss me, aren’t you?”
“Damned straight I am.”
Phae only halfway heard James speaking from somewhere far away.
“Uh, think I’ll be heading down to the site and make sure everything stays in order down there. See you two … later.”
Phae and Kent remained wrapped in one another, gazing into each other’s eyes.
“I thought he’d never leave,” Kent said.
“Who?”
Kent grinned. “Did I say I love you?”
“Probably. You can say it again if you want.”
“I already did.”
“Shut up and kiss me.”
“Your wish is my command, beautiful,” he said, and his lips descended on hers.
And he stole her breath away.
“KEEP YOUR EYES SHUT,” KENT said, guiding her with an arm around her shoulders.
Phae walked easily on the smooth, level ground, trusting he wouldn’t let her fall. “Where are we going?”
“It’s a surprise.”
“I don’t know if I can take another surprise tonight. My eyes are still dazzled from the lights at Meg’s and Leon’s.”
“Just a few more seconds. It’ll be worth it, I promise.”
“I believe you,” Phae said with a laugh. “I’d be a fool not to. After the surprise can we go back to my apartment and finish what we started with that kiss?”
“Actually, I’d planned to take you home to my place.”
“No way I’m going to Miss Eugenia’s house, Kent. You’ve got to be kidding.”
“I wasn’t talking about Aunt Eugenia’s house. I said I wanted to take you to my place.” He stopped walking and let her go. “You can open your eyes.”
Phae opened her eyes and blinked. They were standing in front of the old Belleterre Mansion. Not far from the old downtown area of Zeke’s Bend, the home had been empty for as long as she could remember. It sat tucked away in the middle of a huge lot, surrounded entirely by wrought iron fences and stone plinths, shielded by dozens upon dozens of trees, many of them century oaks.
