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‘All this time!’
Skye shushed Star as Summer found the lock and retrieved the key. The last time she’d been here was with Theron. He had been so close she had felt—
‘Summer?’
‘Sorry.’ Summer shook the memories from her head and pushed the key and turned, this time gently pressing against a door that swung inward as easily as if it had been used only yesterday. She cast a glance to her sisters and, holding out her hand for Skye, who held out her hand for Star, they made their way through the door.
The torch illuminated a room large enough for them all to stand, albeit slightly hunched. There were shelves on the walls lined with books that Star was instantly drawn to, and Skye’s torch beam passed thoroughly over every inch of the room as if properly inventorying the space. But Summer was drawn to a table beneath a once-white dustsheet and when she gingerly lifted the sheet she saw three velvet-covered boxes on it.
‘Summer?’
She removed the sheet and her sisters huddled around as Summer lifted the first box, the smallest of the three. At her sisters’ encouraging nods she raised the lid and in the torch’s beam three diamonds sparkled so much that she had to blink. Perched between the folds was the most beautiful ring she’d ever seen, pristinely preserved and absolutely breathtaking. All the sisters lost their breath simultaneously. Gingerly, Skye reached for the second box and Star the third, as Summer placed the torch on the floor facing up to illuminate the small space better. Star’s box was deeper and narrow, and when she lifted the lid she gasped at the sight of the large diamond in the centre of an exquisitely detailed diadem. And when Skye opened the box she held to reveal a stunning necklace the rush of air from her lungs drew the gazes of her sisters and they each sighed, as if stunned by the sheer opulence and beauty that Catherine had hidden away.
A longing rose in Summer’s chest, a want that rivalled the way she felt about Theron, but different. Sadder. She would love to have kept these pieces. Not because of their financial value but their emotional one. It was as if each of the sisters was taking a moment, remembering the journeys that had brought them here. All they’d wanted was to fund their mother’s treatment, and now they would be able to do that.
But Summer had sensed a change in her siblings. Their journeys had done more than bring them here. They had changed, and not because of the men they’d met and now loved, but because of the women they had become. Women who were worthy of this inheritance, as Catherine had known they would be. And it was there, in a secret room created by their great-great-great-grandmother, she felt as if something had been righted in the world, felt the sigh of relief that came when something had found its true home.
She allowed that feeling to fill her, even as she knew that within hours, after meeting Mr Beamish, the estate lawyer, she would be arranging for the sale of the estate, and it hurt. A layer added over the ache caused by Theron. Summer knew that it would likely get worse in the weeks to come, that hurt and pain, if he didn’t return to her as she’d hoped. But for the moment she focused on the plan. Even if his voice whispered in her ear.
Plans are not wants. What do you want?
Summer wanted him. She wanted this. She wanted the future that she could see just beyond her reach. And with a hand around the curve of her bump, she wondered if she had the faith to make something magical happen.
CHAPTER TEN
FOURHOURSLATERand the world looked impossibly different. Summer’s head was spinning at the shocking plans she had put into motion. Her sisters looked at her, eyes wide, round but utterly thrilled.
‘Are you sure you want to do this?’
Summer was so tempted to shake her head. She was terrified but also excited, as if she were on a roller coaster and never wanted to get off. So she nodded, quickly and surely. ‘Yes. I am.’
‘You’re crazy,’ Skye whispered in awe. ‘But I love it.’
‘Good. Because I’m going to need Benoit’s help. And lots of it!’
‘Duratra has incredible metalworkers. They made the necklace. I’m sure that they could help too.’
‘I wouldlovethat, Star. I think Catherine would have too,’ Summer said, the press of tears, happy ones for now, against the backs of her eyes.
They were in the office where Skye, Star and Summer’s journey had started just under two months ago. Of all the rooms and corridors Summer had searched, she’d never come back to this one, knowing that the hard-faced portrait of Elias Soames sent shivers down her spine every time she caught sight of it. But somehow, at that moment, it felt poignant,right, that they had come full circle to end where it had all begun.
Summer sat between her sisters as Mr Beamish imperiously scrawled on the paperwork—a witness following his every signature—seemingly thankful that the whole sorry mess of the Elias Soames estate was soon to be behind him. Star peered over her shoulder at the room off to the side, where Mariam Soames and Kyros Agyros had been sequestered for the last hour.
‘Do you think they’re okay?’ Star asked.
‘He’s very handsome, your father,’ Skye said with a smile.
‘They have alotof catching up to do,’ Summer said, her heart warming.
‘Did you see the way she looked at him?’ Skye asked.Fireworks, she mouthed and Star let out a snort.
‘Even though it’s Mum, that’s still a bit—’
The door to the room opened and all three sisters squeaked and turned away as if naughty schoolgirls being caught out. Mariam Soames was blushing like one herself, and the twinkle in Kyros’s eyes was something magical to Summer.
‘And that concludes our business, I believe,’ Mr Beamish announced, calling their attention back to him. ‘The estate, the entail, all yours now that you’ve found the Soames diamonds.’ Summer felt a sigh of relief, no longer expecting someone to magically appear and snatch it all away from them. ‘Congratulations. I hope that—’ he broke off, looking around at the dark, damaged house with barely concealed disgust ‘—you are happy here.’
The girls couldn’t help but laugh as he hightailed it out of the estate with his assistant and the witness as quickly as humanly possible.
