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“Jameson, let’s have a chat.” Drake pointed toward Jameson’s bedroom.
Rory high-fived Jameson on his way. I had a feeling those two were going to be the real trouble buddies in the family.
Patrick walked Rory’s way, sighing and shaking his head.
I thought it best to leave the pair alone. Besides, I had an ornament to find. I hadn’t had a chance to look through another box today.
“I’ll see you later.” I waved to Patrick. “I’m going to head up to the attic.”
“Drake and I have a new lead.” He sounded just like a Hardy Boy. It was adorable. “So I’ll meet you in the suite later.”
“Sounds like a plan.”
Rory gave me an abashed grin. “See you later, Stepmommy dearest.”
“Stay out of trouble,” I said playfully. He was going to be hanging out with the grandpas.
“We’ll see.” He made no promises.
I loved that kid.
“Do you want some help?” Charlotte asked when I grabbed my coat off the rack near the door.
“That’s okay. I’ll see you in the ballroom soon.” There was something about being in the attic alone with my thoughts. And alone time was hard to come by these days.
“Actually, I would like to join you,” Ophelia said, shocking the ever-living daylights out of me.
I froze, knowing I couldn’t tell her no. Well, I could, but that probably wouldn’t go over so well.
Patrick caught my eye and gave me an encouraging smile. Easy for him to be encouraging when his mother adored him.
“Okay,” I squeaked, not even able to look at her. There went my silent night.
OPHELIA DIDN’T SAY A WORDto me as we walked back to the inn, fresh snow falling on us while the old snow crunched beneath our feet. I did notice that she glanced an awful lot at the ring her son had placed on my finger, letting out heavy breaths that swirled in the cold air. Maybe this was going to be a silent night after all. As in, she was planning on silencing me forever.
She continued her silence as we entered the warmth of the inn and started to trudge up the stairs. I finally couldn’t take it and said, “How about them Dodgers?”
She stopped on the step, tilting her head. “You do realize it’s not baseball season?”
Yes, yes, I was well aware. After my joke fell flat, I nervously laughed and kept pushing onward and upward.
By the time we’d made it to the attic, I was jittery. Like, ten cups of coffee jittery. My hand shook as I opened the solid wood door. Once I was able to open it, I stepped in and turned on the lone light bulb hanging in the center of the room. It cast a low glow, but it sufficed for what I was doing. I hoped the Jane Seymour look-alike tagging along didn’t have any nefarious changes of plans for me.
“I always wondered what was up here.” Ophelia looked around and picked up an old Sinatra record, admiring it.
“It’s mostly Daisy’s things.”
“She was a lovely woman. She said Marcus and I were soul mates.”
“Sounds like her.” I shed my coat before picking up an old white lidded box. I sat on the hardwood floor, crisscross-style, ready to look through the contents.
Ophelia was full of surprises and sat down across from me. I was impressed with how limber she was in her seventies. She carefully studied me. “Do you believe you are my son’s soul mate?”
“I’m not entirely sure I believe in soul mates, but I love Patrick.”
“Hmm” was all she said in return.
I lifted the lid off the box and began to take the contents out of it, one by one. First, an old recipe book from the 1950s that I flipped through just for fun. Daisy would have only been a girl when it was printed. I got a little squeamish reading about a ham Jell-O salad.
