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“Should we tell the love birds we’re going?” I asked.
“Nah,” Lucas replied. “Let them have their fun.”
My house wasn’t far from the park that we’d decided to go to when Kristin had failed to return with any fireworks. Lucas took my hand in his and we fell into conversation as we started to walk home.
“Do you ever get scared?” he asked me.
“I get scared all the time, but are you talking about something specific?”
He chuckled. “The baby. The closer we get, the more scared I’m getting. What if she comes out talking?”
I let out a burst of laughter. “She’s not going to.”
“That vision or dream or whatever it was felt so real, Hollie. It really freaked me out.”
“I know it did. There’s a reason it happened, though, and maybe it all had to do with Matt showing up in town?”
“Maybe, but I don’t think so.”
We kept walking as the fireworks behind us sped up into the finale before slowly stopping. Soon, all I could hear were crickets.
“Hollie?”
“Yeah?” I asked, looking up at the stars in the sky while we walked.
“Look where we are.”
Dropping my head, I stared at the dig site before me.
“Mr. Payton, what brings you by so late?” asked the police officer who was standing guard at the archaeological site.
“We were just out for a walk, and I wanted to make sure all was well,” Lucas stated.
The officer nodded and unlocked the gate to the fence that had been put up around the entire site.
Lucas took my hand, and we started toward the house.
“Lucas, why are we here?” I asked.
“I’m not sure,” he said as he guided me closer to the rock foundation of the house. “Watch your step, Hollie.”
My eyes widened as I stared at the site before me. It was Charlotte’s house. The home where she’d lived and died.
Placing my hand over my stomach, I wondered what had brought us here. It wasn’t a mere coincidence we’d ended up walking here instead of going straight home.
“Come on, let me show you where we found the doll,” Lucas said before he went back to ask the officer if he could borrow his flashlight.
We walked over to where the team had clearly been focusing on digging. Lucas stopped and stared down at the ground.
“What is it?” I asked.
“Did she suffer?” he whispered. “Charlotte. When she was in this house and it was on fire. I pray she didn’t suffer.”
I glanced around, longing to bend down and touch one of the old stones. But I knew I couldn’t since it was a sensitive area.
Then suddenly it felt like I was on a ride, dipping and spinning as my heart dropped to the ground.
Lucas and I were standing in an old house that wasn’t very large. There was a fire going in the hearth and I could hear what sounded like a chair rocking back and forth. Dropping Lucas’s hand, I turned and gasped. A little girl sat in rocking chair, holding a baby doll.
