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Harley reached into his suit coat breast pocket and pulled out a check. He handed it over to her. “Whatever you want. I’ve got my payment from St. Francis Hospital burning a hole in my pocket.”
Jade’s eyes grew wide when she saw the digits on the check. Even more so, she was excited about what the check meant. If the hospital had paid Harley, the job he had been originally hired for—to find out who switched Jade with another child at St. Francis—was done at last. “It’s over?”
“It’s over, baby.”
Jade stood up and leaped into Harley’s arms. “Tell me everything!”
He hugged her tight, then led her over to the couch. “After we arrested Greg Crowley for the bombing, he was anxious to cut a deal. He spilled on everything, from the baby switch, to the kidnapping, to finally the bombing. The maternity nurse was his sister, Nancy, and when she committed suicide, she did so without telling Greg and her boyfriend, Buster, where the Steeles’ daughter ended up. They didn’t know where you were until you went on the news almost thirty years later. They decided that was their chance to get their payoff, and it worked.”
“So why did Greg turn around and blow up the Steele mansion? I would’ve taken the ten million and disappeared.”
“He was angry. Buster screwed him and took all the money, disappearing. Greg was out for revenge and targeted the Steele family because he decided they were the cause of all his troubles. Thanks to some superior detective work on my team’s part, we were able to track Buster down to Honduras. He was extradited back to the US on Wednesday and is being held without bail until his trial.”
“Wow.” Jade sat back against the soft couch cushions and tried to absorb everything he’d told her. It had been over six months since she’d first gotten her DNA results and the world had been turned on its ear. To know the truth finally, and for the men responsible to be in jail where they belonged, was a huge weight off her shoulders.
“When they found Buster, they also found his stash of money. The idiot was keeping all that cash in the same duffel bag I used to leave the ransom money. He’d only spent about fifty grand, so Trevor and I got most of it back.”
Jade let out an audible sigh of relief. She’d never said anything to Harley or Trevor, but she’d felt horribly guilty about the money they’d paid for her ransom. When the cops failed to catch them, it was like ten million dollars had vanished into thin air. Getting it back was almost as big of a relief as the men being arrested.
“So I was thinking...since I got all that money back, we should do something good with it. Not just for your birthday, but maybe we could look into some real estate here. Like a house.”
“A house here?” She perked up in surprise. They’d been so focused on the investigation that they’d never really discussed what they would do after it was done. She’d presumed they would go to DC eventually, but any talks about where they would live, when they would marry... It had all been pushed to the future. Apparently, the future had arrived without warning and she wasn’t at all prepared.
“Yes, here. You love it in Charleston. I really can’t see you living anywhere else.”
“I do like it here, but I can work anywhere. Your business is based out of DC. That’s more important.”
“And it’s run perfectly fine the last six months with me here. Isaiah has managed, but if we stay here, I’ll get someone to run the business for me full time. I’ve never enjoyed that part of the work. And maybe I’ll get a small plane I can use to fly back and forth when I need to.”
Jade couldn’t keep her jaw from dropping. She didn’t really want to move away from her family, old and new, but she was willing to do whatever she had to for Harley. She had never expected him to be willing to do the same for her. “Really?”
Harley moved closer and pulled Jade into his arms. “Anything you want, my love. With all this behind us, we can start our lives together without the shadow hanging over our heads. No one is ever going to hurt you again, and I’m going to spend every day of my life making you smile.”
* * *
River looked down at the ring the jeweler held out to him. It had taken three days to get it ready, but it was finally done. The jeweler probably thought he was crazy, having two round flawless pink diamonds added to such a cheap diamond ring. It was ten-karat gold plated with a diamond that would require a magnifying glass to see if not for the thick mounting making it look larger. It was all his twenty-one-year-old self had been able to afford.
Morgan had never looked at the ring with anything less than beaming enthusiasm. She’d told him that she was rich and could have all the diamonds she could want, but one given to her by River was more special than anything else.
He’d kept that thought in mind after Trevor left that afternoon. A lot had gone through his mind as he tried to process everything he’d just been told. By the time he lay down in bed that night, he realized that he’d been too harsh on Morgan. In the moment, it had felt like the ultimate betrayal, and maybe it was, but he had to understand her side of the story, too.
Married or not, they had been just kids. And to find herself pregnant and scared—believing only the worst about River—she’d done what she had to do and kept it a secret from him. Then she had to go through a scary delivery and the loss of their daughter alone. He couldn’t imagine what that had to have been like for her. She lost her love and her child, and was put in a position by her family not to be able to talk about it to anyone.
The thought made River’s stomach ache. But by morning, he knew what he had to do to put everything right. That meant going to Morgan and winning her over for good. Not dating, not just some fling, but a real relationship. Another chance at their marriage.
He’d considered buying another engagement ring. It wouldn’t be hard to find a nicer, flashier one with a fat, flawless diamond set in platinum. He could afford it now. But there was something about this old one that seemed special enough to keep, so he’d dug it out of his sock drawer and taken it to the jeweler for some upgrades.
With the work finished, he admired the ring and wrapped up the transaction. River accepted the tiny gift bag from the jeweler and walked out of the shop with nervous anticipation. He wasn’t unfamiliar with the concept of proposing to a woman. He’d done it once, and successfully. He’d even proposed to the same woman. But this time was very different.
That Morgan had been head over heels for him and hadn’t had a worry in the world. Love was everything she needed. That young naïve girl would learn soon after her engagement how hard life could be on her heart. The Morgan he was heading to see now had lived ten more years. She’d experienced more heartbreak and loss than someone her age should. Some of that was his fault. And that was why he wasn’t so sure how this was going to go. Her father seemed positive that she cared for him, but would she opt for self-preservation over her feelings? He wouldn’t blame her if she did.
Climbing into his truck, he set the ring on the passenger seat and started driving to Mount Pleasant. Whether or not he would be successful, it had to be tonight. Trevor had called that morning to tell him that the legal matters had been handled more quickly than he’d expected and Morgan was driving back to DC in the morning. He also mentioned that he and his wife would be out to dinner after six o’clock with Morgan alone at the house.
It wasn’t subtle, but River appreciated what the man was trying to do. Tonight was the night. And if he failed, she was gone tomorrow.
True, Washington, DC, wasn’t the other side of the world, but it wasn’t Savannah, either, and her ties to Charleston grew more tenuous as time went on. She had told him about how she’d quit her job at Steele Tools. He wasn’t sure what she intended to do now, but if she took a job somewhere else, she could be on the west coast before he could try to change her mind.
After everything that had happened over the last few weeks, he got the feeling that Morgan wouldn’t be coming back to Charleston for a very long time.
