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"I'm okay," Dani said, as she got up from the wheelchair and sat down next to me. "The baby is fine. I have a bump on my head, but it's not serious. My blood pressure is going down. Steve will be here in about forty-five minutes. What about you, Brynn?"
"I'm also fine. Rachel is in surgery, and Max is dead," I added. "The other guy is in jail."
"Good." Dani said. "I know that I was there for everything, all the shocking revelations, but I feel like I missed some stuff. My fear was so great I think I was blacking out even though my eyes were open."
"It's okay. I can fill you in when you're ready. I don't know everything, though. That's going to involve Mom."
"I knew you were going to say that," she said with a sigh.
"I can talk to her on my own. I just might need a minute before I do that."
"You don't have to rush it," Kade said. "Why don't we all go back to Laura's house? It will be more comfortable waiting for your husband there than here."
"I like the sound of that," I said. "Dani?"
She hesitated, then nodded. "I'll call Steve and tell him to meet us there."
* * *
When we got back to Laura's house, it was after seven. Dani and I curled up on the couch in the family room while Kade went out to pick up food for all of us. Steve arrived before Kade returned, and the happy, joyous relief that flowed between Dani and her husband filled me with emotion. I would not have been able to face Steve if anything had happened to Dani.
Dani had already asked me not to go into detail with Steve about what had happened at the church, and while I didn't completely agree, I understood that not only did she not want Steve to realize how close he'd come to losing her, she also didn't want to relive it. I didn't want to relive it, either.
When Kade arrived with pizzas, salads, beer, and wine, Steve and Dani decided to stay the night. We all agreed that we would talk to Laura in the morning. Hopefully, Rachel would be recovered enough to join us, because we really needed them both to be in the same room and the same conversation.
While we ate, we kept the conversation light. Kade asked Steve and Dani questions about their lives, their businesses, the baby. He was very good at distracting them from the horror of the day, and I was grateful to him again.
As we finished eating, Dani said, "I know we're not talking about what happened earlier, but I'm aware that you suffered some trauma tonight, too, Kade. And I just wanted to say again how grateful I am that you came when you did and that you didn't let me run you off days ago with my big mouth."
Kade smiled. "You were just looking out for your sister."
"I didn't appreciate that you were looking out for her, too. I thought you had an agenda, but I was wrong. I'm sorry."
"No need to apologize," he said.
"Have you spoken to your mom?" I asked.
"Not yet. I want to hear what Rachel and Laura have to say first."
"Wait a second," Dani interrupted. "I just remembered something, Brynn. You told Max that you found the stolen items, the jewelry, and the cash. Where is it? Do the police have it?"
"They have the box that the guy got from this house," Kade said. "I don't know exactly what was inside."
"I do," I said. "And the jewels weren't in the box. There were photos of me and Dani as kids, a weird stack of blank postcards, and about ten-thousand dollars in cash."
"So the jewels weren't there?" Dani asked.
"Nope." I unzipped my jacket and then pulled out the ring from the inside pocket and set it on the table. "But here's one of the pieces of jewelry that was stolen from James Holden."
Dani gasped at the shimmering stone as it caught the light. "Oh, my God," she said. "That's beautiful and enormous."
"I know. Hold on one second." I got up from the table and ran up the stairs. The pouch was right where I'd hidden it in the wall. I took it back to the kitchen table and dumped the contents out.
"Whoa," Kade said. "That's a lot of diamonds."
"I've never seen anything like it," Dani muttered. "Mom had these all this time?"
"Yes. I don't know if there were more. Maybe they sold off some stones over the years."
