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She had cut the cake, and Lainey handed Caroline to Holt so she could help Carly serve it. Carly heard her gasp, and Lainey grabbed her arm in a tight grip as she stared toward the side yard. Carly turned and spotted Ivan Bury and an elderly woman making their way slowly across the grass. The woman’s white hair curled around her smiling face, and she wore a touch of pink lipstick. Her sleeveless pink-and-white dress was enhanced by a strand of pearls. She was tiny and frail, barely five-two. She clung to Bury’s arm, and her bright blue eyes behind her glasses stayed fixed on Gram and Aunt Elizabeth.
Could it be?
A lump formed in Carly’s throat, and she couldn’t have spoken even if she’d tried. Guests began to notice her fixed gaze on Bury and the woman, and Gram finally noticed too.
Her grandmother turned toward the couple, and she reached out and grabbed Aunt Elizabeth’s hand. “Beth,” she said in a hushed whisper. Aunt Elizabeth turned and put her hand up to clutch her pearl necklace.
Bury reached them and smiled. “Another guest would like to add her birthday wishes to both of you. I’d like you to meet your birth mother, Sofia Balandin Kostin.”
Kostin?
No charges had been filed against Charlie Kostin, and they’d heard he’d returned to New York. He hadn’t been involved with the mob at all. Now it was clear why he’d come to town.
“My girls,” Sofia said with a slight accent. Her voice was strong and assured. “Both so beautiful. Never did I think to see you again this side of heaven. May I hug you?”
She opened her arms, and Bury kept his arm on her waist to steady her as her two daughters approached and nearly fell into her arms. The three of them were crying, and so were Carly, her sisters, and Lainey. Carly smiled so hard through her tears that she thought her face would crack.
She looked up at Lucas and found a shimmer of moisture in his eyes too. None of them had thought Ivan Bury would find Sofia alive. They’d assumed he’d take them to a graveyard somewhere.
Gram led Sofia to a nearby chair and both sisters sat close to her. Carly caught only bits and pieces of their conversation and knew they were telling each other about the past seventy years. So much to catch up on, and it was for their ears only. She moved away with Lucas and found a lawn chair where she could recover her composure.
Bury followed them. “I believe I have fulfilled my promise.”
“I can’t thank you enough,” Carly said, her eyes brimming again. “Look at them.”
He turned and his smile broadened. “I wish you had seenSofia when I told her I’d found her daughters and they wanted to see her.”
“Where was she?” Lucas snatched his cake away before Noah could plunge his chubby hands into it.
“In New York. She is Charles Kostin’s grandmother. She told him a few months ago about the egg and the surprise she’d split between her daughters, and he’d promised to try to find them.”
“So he wasn’t trying to find the egg—only the twins?”
“I cannot say he wasn’t interested in locating the treasure. He was most disappointed to hear I’d purchased it. He wished to know how much I’d paid, but I did not reveal that, of course.
“Sofia didn’t think the egg and surprise were worth all that much back when the twins were born. The market was glutted with Romanov art at the time, and Sofia thought it was merely a trinket she passed along to her daughters. She married a few years after your grandmother and aunt were born and had one more child. When the junk dealer found the egg in 2014, Sofia realized the value of what she’d given them and remarked to her family that she hoped it had given them a good start in life. That set Kostin on a search, though he didn’t mention the hunt to Sofia.”
“What a fascinating story. Thank you.” Carly’s mind spun. Shouldn’t some of that side of the family share in the wealth? “How many of my cousins are still alive?”
“Kostin is the last.”
It would be easy enough to talk her family into sharing with one more person. Bury had been more than generous. After the surprise was reunited with the egg, the new appraisal was forty million, and he’d given them fifty million. Life-changingwealth for the entire family had shifted a few things. Gram no longer wanted a bed-and-breakfast, so Ryan was simply updating the home per Emily’s specifications. Amelia had painted it a pale tan with the traditional “haint” blue on the porch ceiling. Black shutters added the final touch. Another month and they’d be able to move back in.
“Thank you for that,” Carly said. “And for everything.”
“My pleasure.” He smiled again and wandered back to stand near Sofia.
Carly watched him go. “What a crazy two months it’s been.”
“The best months of my life.” Lucas handed her the baby. “Can you hold him a minute? I have something I need to do.”
She settled Noah on her lap and immediately had to rescue her necklace from his grasp. Her fingers clutched her necklace when she realized Lucas had slipped to his knees and was pulling a velvet box from his pocket.
His hazel eyes were smiling yet quietly confident. “I was going to wait until we were alone, but I think your family would like to share this moment with us. After all, they’ve shared everything else we’ve gone through together. Is that okay with you?”
She couldn’t talk so she nodded.
He opened the box to reveal a large ruby ring studded with diamonds around the band. “Have we taken enough time for you to know you want to marry me? I know without a doubt I don’t ever want to lose you. Will you marry me, Carly?” He pointed to his shirt. “The sagas of our lives are about to converge if you’re willing.”
