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“How do I tell Margaret that I don’t want to come back? What am I going to do with this place? Just let it go to ruin? Pay them to exist in a house with no owner or tenants?”
“Well, our proposal still stands, and we’ve actually done a little bit more work on it if you’re interested in looking it over,” I said gently.
“No pressure, of course,” Lincoln said, holding up his hands. “If you do not want to sell or you do not want to entertain the thought, just tell us, and we will end it here, and that’s fine.”
She relaxed at that and nodded. “Thank you. I’m willing to listen. You guys have been respectful, and you’ve done me a favor that no one else could have achieved.”
She didn’t know how true that was. Patrick would have harmed any other investigator she could have hired. She chose well when she found us. At least we could see them to fight back.
We all moved to the dining room. I popped into the kitchen to ask about snacks while Lincoln and Ben went over the details.
“Hey, Logan, can we get a tray of snacks out there? Elizabeth is back, and we’re talking over a few things.”
“Sure,” he offered, pulling out the headphones that he always wore. I had a feeling I knew why now.
“I’ve got a little something here I was preparing anyway,” he said with a wink. “I’ll bring it out in a few.”
“Thank you,” I said before I went back to the dining room.
Elizabeth was smiling broadly, which I would say is a good sign.
“These plans are impressive,” she said. “I love that you’re taking the history and the heritage of Bellmore and turning it into a tribute. I genuinely love it, but...”
She paused, as if she was gathering her thoughts. This was a huge thing we were asking of her, and something that would take a lot of consideration. Not one of us expected her to answer us today.
Her hands slid down to her stomach. The way she was rubbing it told me everything I needed to know.
“I don’t want to be here anymore, and I don’t want to raise this baby here, but I don’t want my baby to have nothing in the future. I want them to know our past.”
“Congratulations,” I said with a smile. She returned it, relaxing again.
“How do you feel about a partnership?” she proposed. “I will give you partial ownership, and if we were ever to part ways or change your mind, then I would just simply buy you out of yours. I’d add that into the contract as well.”
“That’s a reasonable request,” Lincoln said and I couldn’t agree more. It was her family that was tied to this house and we would never want her to lose that.
“I could help fund the changes, but you would have to oversee them. I’d also like you to keep my staff on if they want, even if their job changes. If not, I’ll make sure they have a great severance. They’ve been my rocks through all of this.”
“We were thinking the same thing. We would never want to displace anyone,” I promised.
“In that case, you create a proper business plan, and I want it detailed. Everything from how you’re going to staff it, what you plan to do to run it, the changes that you’re proposing to make. Let’s put it all in writing so I can give it to my lawyers. I’ll have them whip up contracts for us, and then we can sign. We’ll even talk about profit margins. Feel free to negotiate, you know I’m very open. I don’t want a huge chunk of the profits that you bring in. This is your brainchild, after all, and you will be doing most of the work. I just want to have partial ownership of this place. I will help fund repairs, renovations, and then just maybe a yearly percentage of the revenue, and you would keep everything else.”
“Then I look forward to doing business with you. We’ll work on it when we get home. Then we’ll tie up loose ends so we can get started as soon as possible,” Lincoln said.
“You could start tomorrow if you wanted,” she promised. “I will not be here. I’m going to go greet Margaret, say my goodbyes, hear her feedback, and then everything else we can communicate in emails or calls.”
“You’re sure about this? You’re okay with changing Bellmore Castle into something that’s shared with the public?” Ben asked one last time.
“More than okay with it,” she promised. “This is not a home to me. I’d love to have a place to bring my baby to visit from time to time, share our heritage, but it’s never going to be home again. Maybe by then, this house won’t feel so cold and lonely. I know you’ll breathe life into it. Bellmore Castle deserves a second chance.”
It may not be her home ever again, but I could see it becoming ours. I always wanted a big family, maybe it now included a few crazy ghosts and a whole lot of work.
Epilogue
Brea
One Year Later
The sound of voices and laughter filled the air as I walked into the main foyer of Bellmore Castle.
