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“Ha ha . . . both!” She turned back to look at Dean. “Soon. Can I meet him soon?”
He reached up and moved a piece of hair behind Mack’s ear. “Let me know when you’re ready and I’ll take you.”
Mack took hold of his hand. “Thank you.” She p
laced a kiss gently on his knuckles. “So, am I your girl?” she asked with a large grin on her face.
“Yes,” he replied without any hesitation. He leaned closer and nuzzled her neck. “You are!”
“Mmm. Good, because you’re my guy!” She reached up and ran her fingers through his hair, sending shivers down his spine. “I think we’d better head back. If there’s an opening in the conversation, I’ll ask Thomas about the April 1st edition of Our Gang. We can see what he did with the photograph. I would love to see a photograph of Rose and Jacob.”
“That would be amazing. We would also know for sure if it’s my grandfather. There are photographs all over the house in Brookline from when he was young so I’ll be able to recognize him straightaway.”
Mack made chicken parmesan with rice and she’d also made two pies, one apple and the other cherry. In fact, she hadn’t stopped cooking and baking since getting back from the beach.
Dean was playing one of Lucas’s Mario Brothers Wii games in the living room, and apart from him coming back and forth for a beer or munchies, or even delicious kisses, he’d pretty much stayed out of the way.
When they’d read the diary, it had really upset her. She had cried all over Dean, for heaven’s sake. Dean hadn’t minded though, he’d just held her and tried to comfort her.
Her thoughts turned back to Rose. She wondered if Thomas had known about Rose’s pregnancy. Did anyone know outside of Jacob? Jacob had known Rose was pregnant so wouldn’t he have wanted to know about the baby? He seemed to be happy at the prospect of becoming a father. She really needed to speak to Jacob.
“Auntie Mack, I’m home. Did you miss me?”
Mack held her arms out and Lucas ran straight into them. “I sure did, buster. Dean’s in there playing Mario.”
“Yes!” Lucas darted out of the kitchen to join Dean.
“Hi, Thomas, come sit. Would you like a drink of lemonade?” Mack asked as he took a seat at the table.
“That would be mighty fine, thank you.”
She poured him a large glass of homemade lemonade. “Can I ask you something?”
He smiled. “You usually do whether I want you to or not.”
She placed his drink in front of him and sat down on the chair beside him. “Thomas, do you have a photograph of Rose and Jacob together?”
He hesitated. “No, I don’t. Never saw one, either.”
Mack was puzzled. “Are you sure? In her diary, she says that when she was leaving the house, she went into your room and left the April 1st edition of Our Gang on your bed. Inside of it, she’d placed a photograph of herself and Jacob with a private message on the back for you only.”
Thomas looked really shaken. “All this time, I’ve had a picture of her with him and I didn’t even know?”
Mack was puzzled. “I don’t understand, Thomas.”
He leaned forward and put his arms on the table with his head in his hands. He sighed. “I knew Rose had bought me the comic, and I found it that night, but I didn’t get a chance to read it then. When I finally went back to bed, we had been told that Rose had gone over the cliffs so getting into bed, I just held the comic and cried. The next morning, I placed it in the box with the others and never opened it. I couldn’t.”
Mack took hold of Thomas’s hand. “Do you still have that comic?”
He nodded his head. “I took it away from Lucas and placed it on my night table. I intended to finally read it. Maybe it’s time. I’ll look through it tonight.”
“If you find a photograph, will you bring it tomorrow? I’d love to see what Rose looked like, and the man she loved.”
He raised his head. “Okay, Mack. I will.”
“Thanks, Thomas. You’re staying to eat, right? I’ve made chicken parmesan and then there’s cherry or apple pie with ice cream.”
“You do know they say that the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach!” He chuckled.
