Chapter 43
Chapter Forty-Three
Three weeks later
Two weeks ago, she buried her sister next to their parents.
Although Emma had been living without being surrounded by family for quite a while, she’d always known—or at least hoped—that Nell was out there somewhere, and that eventually they’d be together again.
Now, Emma was truly alone. She had no remaining family.
No grandparents. No parents. No siblings.
If there was a bright spot in the past month, it was Daphne.
While the little girl had lost her parents, Ashley’s fear of her going into the system had proved groundless.
Ashley’s estranged mother, who’d moved to Florida, eagerly agreed to take Daphne in.
Emma had heard she was doing well in her new home and was seeing a therapist to help her through the tragedies she’d witnessed.
Emma knew she needed to do the same, but she had put off making the phone call. For now.
A voice drifted to her, and she turned to watch Matthias ambling in her direction, his phone to his ear.
He’d driven them here in his new black Jeep.
His old red one had been totaled when he’d used it to stop Nell’s killer.
Emma hadn’t felt any vindication when she learned she’d been right about being followed from Akron, or about the driver that night being Zeke’s brother Levi.
At some point, she’d have to go back to Washington County to testify against him.
Maybe her anger would roil up then. For now, she only felt numb.
Except where Matthias was concerned.
She watched him approach. Wearing an old pair of jeans cut off at the knee, he, too, ignored the chill to stroll barefoot along the beach. He’d known she needed time alone and had left her there with a kiss to her cheek, saying he’d be back.
And he was. If she needed more space, she could wave him off. He would understand. But she realized she didn’t want more alone time. She wanted him beside her.
While it was true that Emma had no blood family left, it was not true that she was alone.
She had Matthias. For how long, she didn’t know.
For now, he was approaching, the wind tossing his dark hair, his blue eyes focused on her.
He remained on his phone, his voice too low for her to tell what he was saying or to whom.
Damn, he was sexy.
Ten feet away, he ended the call and closed the remaining distance between them. “How are you?” He slipped an arm around her waist.
She leaned against him and inhaled the slightly fishy breeze coming across the lake. “Better. I think.”
“I’ve been trying to give you time—”
“I know.”
He shook his head. “I don’t mean about time to grieve. I’ll give you as much of that as you need. I meant time to decide if you’re staying here. In Erie.”
The question hadn’t come up since Nell’s death, although it had flitted around the recesses of Emma’s mind.
“Where else am I gonna go?” she asked, sounding more plaintive than she meant to.
“I mean, I have no reason to go back to the farm. Ever.” She hesitated to tell Matthias what she’d been discussing during covert phone calls but decided now was the time. “I’ve been talking to Eric—”
“How’s he doing?”
“About the same as me, except he’s still there, facing the reality of Nell’s absence.”
“He should come up here for a few weeks. The change of scenery might help.”
“I agree. I’ll mention it. But what I was saying is that I told him to go ahead and put the farm on the market.”
Matthias stared into her eyes. “You sure about that?”
“Yes. Absolutely. The only things left there are memories.” She tapped the side of her head with one finger. “I keep all the good ones up here.”
“Okay,” he said, sounding doubtful. “It’s too bad North Star Developing has closed up shop.”
“True.” Emma had wondered what would become of the three houses under construction on the old Powell farm, but Eric told her those homes would be completed since they’d already been sold. The rest of the property would likely be bought by some other contractor.
“Does Eric have any prospective buyers in mind?”
Emma realized her mind had wandered, and Matthias meant her farm. “Better than that. He’s already had an offer. They’re waiting for the financing to be approved.”
Matthias’s eyes widened. “Another developer?”
“No. A couple who own horses. They’ve been boarding for years, recently came into some money, and decided to build their own house and stables.”
He smiled. “Nice.”
“It is. I mean, the offer is nowhere near what Sonny was dangling at me, but it’s enough to pay my lease at the campground for a good long time.”
* * *
The faint smile on Emma’s lips was the first one Matthias had seen there since before Nell’s death.
He thought—hoped—he caught a hint of a tease in her expression.
While glad she was planning to stick around “for a good long time,” he had to admit to himself that he’d also hoped she wouldn’t be living alone in the seventeen-foot camper where she’d resided all summer.
For the first time in decades, he also hoped he wouldn’t be living alone, either.
The last time he’d proposed to a woman, she’d rejected him and married a lawyer instead.
Matthias didn’t believe Emma would do the same.
She’d been at his side while he did his job.
Not only hadn’t it scared her away, she’d leaned into it.
After all they’d been through these past few months, he knew what he wanted.
He’d even wandered into a downtown jewelry store a few days ago.
He knew he couldn’t pose that kind of question to her only weeks after losing her sister. But soon.
In the meantime, he had another proposition for her. “Speaking of the campground, you only have another month before they close for the season.”
“I know.”
He held up his phone. “I was talking to Cassie. She has a friend who owns a house a few miles west of here. Nice house. Not fancy, but in a good neighborhood. Anyhow, this friend also has a place down in Florida where she spends the winter. She’s been looking for someone to housesit while she’s away and asked Cassie for a recommendation.
Free rent. Fully furnished. All she wants is someone she can trust.” He tipped his head toward Emma.
“Cassie told her about you. If you’re interested, the place is yours through April. ”
Emma inhaled. “Really?”
“Really. Just say the word.”
Her eyes shifted, came back. “Would I be allowed to have male company?” she asked, bumping his shoulder with hers.
“No,” he replied deadpan. When she looked shocked, he chuckled. “Hell, I don’t know. Does it matter? We have my place. Unless you have other male company in mind.”
This brought a full-out laugh. “No. You’re the only man I want to keep company with.”
His relief was short-lived when her smile faded to a scowl. “What’s wrong?” he asked.
She slid her hand into his while turning to face him, eye-to-eye. “Who’s Wendy?”
The question stopped him cold. While he hadn’t been sure if Emma had overheard that part of his phone conversation with Fergusson, he’d suspected she had. When the subject never came up again, he’d convinced himself he was in the clear.
Now he knew he wasn’t.
He started slow. “Wendy Seager. About fifteen years ago, when I was still in uniform, my partner and I responded to a homicide. Wendy was at the scene crying. Inconsolable. The victim was her stepdad, and she’d walked in and found the body.
Fergusson was on the case, too, as a detective with Erie PD.
He was convinced Wendy was guilty, even without any real evidence.
She…” Matthias pondered how to explain the situation.
“She saw me as someone who could protect her. I saw her as a young woman who’d had a rough life and needed a break. I bought her lunch. Then dinner.”
“You got involved with her,” Emma said softly.
“Yeah.”
“What happened?”
“Turned out Fergusson was right. She’d killed her stepfather and saw me as a sucker.”
“You’re not a sucker.”
Matthias choked. “I was back then.”
“Did she go to jail?”
“No. Fergusson and his partner found the evidence proving she’d done it, and when they came to arrest her, she’d gotten her hands on my gun. Fergusson shot her.”
Emma’s eyes widened. “Dead?”
“Very.”
“Wow.” She looked out over the lake for a few moments before her gaze came back to his. “I’m sorry.”
“It was a lesson I needed to learn. I hate that she lost her life in the process.”
Emma didn’t press him further, for which Matthias was grateful. She didn’t ask how Wendy had gotten her hands on his gun. If she had, he’d have told her, but he was glad he didn’t have to.
He couldn’t meet Emma’s eyes, gazing instead out across the lake to the horizon and a distant sailboat.
Minutes passed as they stood side by side.
The gentle whoosh whoosh of each wave carried away the tension he hadn’t realized he’d carried for fifteen years.
He’d blocked his memories of Wendy for a very long time.
Now he allowed them to wash over him. He’d thought he loved her.
Believed it in his soul. Her death had left him devastated on so many levels.
She’d broken his heart a second time. First Melissa turned down his proposal, then Wendy played him for a fool.
He’d lost his trust in women, leaving him convinced that love was not worth the aggravation.
The incident with Wendy had also shattered something deeper in him: his ability to trust his own instincts about people in general.
He’d gradually regained that, thanks to some exceptional partners who’d had his back.
Now, the sweet ache in his chest told him he might finally be regaining another lost piece of his soul. Emma was giving it back to him.
“Word,” she said, breaking the silence.
“What?”
She again faced him and rested her palms on his chest. “You told me if I wanted to accept Cassie’s friend’s offer, to just say the word. So, word. With one stipulation.”
“Which is?”
“If it turns out I’m required to spend every night there, you darned well better be allowed to keep me company.”
He smiled. “I’m sure Cassie would be happy to negotiate those terms.”