Chapter Thirty

Staying Is Easier Than Leaving

Ten days later:

After all the unwelcome turmoil and mayhem, we'd been forced to endure in Santa Fe through Ian Bridges' corrupt behaviour, it was a huge relief to return to the calm and serenity of Montecito finally. The elegant old house welcomed us with its quiet solitude.

It was bittersweet for me to remember that I would be leaving again at the end of next week. Despite my reservations, I didn't want to go, but I had a life in Boston I needed to get back to living.

Maria had been quickly moved into her apartment in Gull Cottage and it was as if she had always lived there. We'd been glad to leave the Santa Fe house in the capable hands of the estate agent I had engaged, and I'd taken care of all the paperwork pertinent to a speedy sale.

My mother said she didn't care what price she got for the house, as long as it was a reasonable offer without any strings attached. She wanted quick and clean because she was done with it and Ian Bridges, finally and for good.

I agreed I would fly back from Boston to appear in court at his trial and give my witness statement. No one else from our Gull Cottage family needed to give the man another thought. That chapter of our lives was closed for good. I knew Mum now breathed a lot easier. The haunted look was gone from her eyes.

As I walked slowly down the curving driveway in the late afternoon sunshine, I ran my fingers through my hair at the back of my neck. It had grown longer during my vacation with my parents and somehow it felt right to leave it like that.

"Not a chance." I smiled with wry amusement, knowing Nancy, my forthright secretary, would not approve and not hesitate to say so. She liked her lawyers to be court-presentable at all times. She would order me to see the barber the very moment I showed my face back in the office.

"If only she could see me now…" I glanced down at my faded jeans and a T-shirt that had seen better days.

My suits hung forgotten in my bedroom closet. I didn't give them a single thought now.

"Blast…" Again, that distracting sense of not wanting to leave rolled through me.

I felt a growing feeling of belonging here, that I had never felt anywhere else. Not even when I'd lived out my childhood with my family in Santa Fe. I had always been restless and unable to settle in one place for any length of time.

Living and studying in Boston had meant employment with an excellent firm and I had grabbed the opportunity the moment I left university. But it had never felt like home either. I had begun to feel very much alone and I detested the thought.

"But I'm too old to start again and take the time it would need to build a new practice…" I muttered, shifting my shoulders against the nagging desire to stay.

I stopped walking to frown at the neat rows of flowering shrubs that had been planted down either side of the driveway. They were there when I'd pulled up in the U-Haul two days ago.

But there had been no sign of Kat or her truck on the property. And she'd left no word of when she might be returning. This morning, I'd quickly checked my mother's diary where it lay open beside the kitchen telephone.

"Blast…" I said again with feeling.

I felt a deep stab of disappointment and wondered if Kat had any intention of reappearing before I left for Boston. I badly wanted to see her again but I wouldn't go running after her. I ran my fingers through my hair once more and silently cursed Ian Bridges for his unwarranted interference in all our lives which had eaten up most of my vacation time.

※※※※※

Michael hitched his hip onto the corner of my desk and raised his brows at me. "So, you're suggesting that Edward should become our new lawyer?"

He gave a low whistle. "I think it's a great idea. But do you think he'd even want to go for it? I mean, I'm all for it, if you could get him to agree. But he's made it with a junior partnership in his law firm back in Boston. That's a lot to ask him to give up."

He narrowed his eyes. "From what I've seen of him, he can handle himself in a sticky situation. I'll admit that could be very useful if he ever gets called out into the field."

"He's my son," I replied simply, with a certain amount of pride.

"Oh, yeah?" Michael grinned at me. "I don't see much of a resemblance."

I shook my head at him as I pushed aside the ledgers I'd been working on and accepted the mug of coffee he held out. I leaned back in my office chair, sipping the scolding hot brew cautiously.

Through the sheers at the open window, I could see Edward walking slowly down the front driveway of the house with his hands shoved into the pockets of his jeans. He paused to stare at the flowering shrubs that Kat must have planted along either side of the drive while we were away.

As I watched, my son's shoulders slumped. He looked defeated and the very picture of a man who was at war within himself. I could almost hear what he was thinking.

Instinctively, I knew he was unhappy to be leaving us again so soon. We'd bonded over a shared traumatic experience and I knew Boston would now seem very tame after all we had been through recently. But he had said he was still intending to leave next week. Our time together had been short. I knew I wanted more and so did he. I didn't think it would take much to tip the scales in our favour.

I frowned as I returned my attention to my business partner. "I think I could talk him around to our way of thinking. He's young enough to start again. And I'm sure he will find our work a lot more exciting than the inside of a Boston courtroom that he's seen a thousand times. The cases he's been dealing with are starting to get to him."

"I'm sure I can promise him excitement." Michael nodded as he drank his coffee. "Life is never dull around Knight Investigations. And we're getting busier all the time. RC, Bonnie and I are run off our feet. Stevie's starting to forget what I look like and my daughter looks at me sometimes like I'm a stranger."

He shrugged. "It would be great to have some of the legal burden lifted off our shoulders. It would ease up things for all of us."

"Then leave it with me," I assured him. "I wanted to run it by you first before I asked him if he was willing to consider the move. I'll talk to him before dinner. I know Carolyn will be very happy when we tell her."

"What will I be very happy about?" my wife asked from the open doorway. "I just came in to ask Michael if he was staying for dinner. Maria is setting the table."

"I wish I could…" Michael held up a denying hand. "I can smell Maria's cooking from here and my mouth's watering. But Stevie will slay me if I don't show my face at home now and then."

He stood up and stretched. "Another time, though. We would love that. It's been too long since we all got together as a family again."

Carolyn smiled as she accepted his empty mug from him. "Of course. I'll talk to Stevie and make a date for you all to come over. You've been working too hard."

She laid a caring hand on his forearm. "You look worn out."

Then she turned back to me. "And you haven't answered my question, Mr Miles. What will I be very happy about?"

I smiled as I rose from my chair and walked around to her side. I leaned close to kiss her temple. "I'll tell you over dinner. First, I need time to ask a man a very serious question."

"I see…" Carolyn pulled back to frown up at me. "Very well. But you're both being very mysterious." She shrugged. "Dinner's almost ready."

Michael nodded as he walked toward the door. "I'll get out of your way, then. Phone me when you have an answer. And the right one, I hope." He waved as he walked away down the hall to the front door.

※※※※※

I stood back as Kitt drove past me with Michael in the driver's seat. He grinned at me and gave me a thumbs-up through the car's open window before he gunned it down the driveway with rock music blaring.

"Okay…" I frowned after the Trans Am, not sure what that friendly gesture was all about.

I'd seen Kitt parked at the back of the house and I knew Michael had been in a private meeting with my father. I turned to find Devon walking out of the house toward me. He looked pensive as if he had a thorny issue on his mind.

"Do you want to share whatever it is that you're thinking about?" I asked. I was glad to help and it would take my mind off my leaving all this behind.

I waited until he walked up next to me and together we stood looking at the sunset and the vastness of the Pacific Ocean below us. The restless surf rolled in and retreated, endlessly whispering on the gravelly beach.

The air was clear and filled with the sharp tang of clean ozone. Overhead, gulls swooped and cried. Nothing of this scene reminded me of Boston and I felt a fresh stab of discontent that I would soon be leaving it all behind.

"Michael and I have been talking…" Devon indicated the rustic wooden seat behind us set on the edge of the back lawn. "We've been settling a few thorny details about the business."

"You said you had a meeting with him," I replied as we sat down. "I figured it was about Knight Investigations. Is everything going all right?"

"It is and it was," my father acknowledged. "We have to expand again. I had a suggestion I wanted to run by him first. Before I spoke to you."

"I see…" I replied slowly, waiting for him to broach whatever it was he'd been chewing over in his mind.

He shook his head. "The lawyer who currently handles our legal matters is no longer young and he's finding it harder and harder to keep up with the pace of all the work we have coming in. We're going to have to let him go. But first, we need to find a suitable replacement. Someone younger and more up to the workload."

"I don't know much about the lawyers out here on the West Coast if you're asking me to recommend someone. But I can ask around as soon as I get back to Boston. How soon do you need the information?"

"Oh, I think we've already found a suitable replacement," Devon assured me with a slight smile. "It's just a matter of asking him and hoping he can see his way clear to agree to make the move."

"The move…" I repeated slowly. "The move from where?"

I wasn't so obtuse that I didn't realise what my father was alluding to. He had caught me unawares, that was all. I needed some time to think about it.

I had convinced myself I was too old now to begin again with building a new practice on the West Coast. But to have the opportunity to take over already existing work, was a whole new matter entirely.

The restless itch in the back of my mind returned. I frowned into the middle distance, trying to see the path and my way forward.

"Think about it…" Devon said, getting to his feet. "I know your mother would be thrilled if you agreed to stay here in LA instead of going back to live in Boston. But you need to do what's right for you."

He jerked one thumb at the house. "Come on in for dinner and then afterwards, you can give me your answer when you're ready. No pressure. We'll respect whatever you decide."

He considered me closely. "Of course, we will make it worth your while to move out here. And we can promise you, your life with us will never be dull and you'll be among family. We'll always have your back."

His blue eyes filled with a deepened awareness. "I think that's very important to you. And you haven't always had that in Boston."

"Thanks…" I exhaled roughly. "I'd already figured that part out. And once my mother finds out what you two have been planning…"

I shook my head as I stood up to follow him inside. Privately, I could admit that the idea of my staying would be a great deal easier than leaving. What was waiting for me back in Boston? Nothing and no one except Nancy.

Rachel had left me after she said I worked too hard. She accused me of being married to my profession which left no time for anything or anyone else. I'd been shocked into denying her accusation. But deep down in my gut, I knew she was right.

Of course, she was. Even Nancy could see it and had tried to warn me to wake up before it was too late.

All I had left to return to now was a soulless apartment that I hardly used, and my work. It was past time I stood back and smelled the flowers. Shed my workaholic image like I took off my three-piece suits at the end of another long day and hung them up.

I looked back at the flowering plants lining the driveway and shrugged. Why should I leave when everything I'd been missing in these last couple of months was right here in front of me, just waiting for me to get up the courage to reach out and grab everything with both hands.

※※※※※

My breathing hitched as I stared up at Captain Greig's portrait where it hung above the fireplace. His painted blue eyes regarded me with calm indifference but I still had that odd sense he was watching me. That same intuitive feeling I'd had back in Santa Fe when I was so sure I'd seen a vision of him in the basement alongside Edward Grainger.

I lifted one denying shoulder. I blamed the fanciful notion on the lateness of the hour and too much of Maria's delicious food. I'd also consumed a glass or two of wine more than my usual over dinner and now I held another filled with Madeira in my hand.

But, truly, could my life now be more perfect?

Maria had gone to bed and the three of us had retired to the living room to talk over the evening's stunning revelations. I shook my head and drew a shuddering sigh.

I couldn't quite grasp what my wonderful son had just told me, but his words had already made my heart leap with joy. Edward stood beneath the painting, watching me as well. Devon sat beside me waiting for my response.

I felt all three sets of blue eyes – two human and one painted - considering my breathless reaction with warmth and humour.

I pressed the flat of one hand to my chest. "You just said you're thinking of staying here? With us? For good. Oh, Edward, that would be so wonderful if you could make it happen…"

I swallowed tightly as I felt the sting of unshed tears pricking at the backs of my eyes. After all, we had been through recently with my ex-husband, the inadvertent consequence of all that turmoil was Edward was now thinking of not leaving Montecito after all. I wondered if he would have considered Devon's offer if we hadn't been dragged away to Santa Fe to settle with his stepfather, once and for all. If we hadn't worked together as a team.

"I would love that very much indeed…" I sighed happily as I allowed his words to sink into my mind. I turned them over and studied them from all angles.

I wanted to jump up from the couch and hug him tightly. I settled for holding up my wine glass in salute of him instead. "If only Lucy and Danny would consider moving to LA, as well. Then we could all be together again."

"So, you think it's a good idea, then?" Devon teased, putting his arm around my shoulders to pull me close to his side. "I had to go for the hard sell to convince him to stay. It wasn't easy. I had to promise him a substantial raise and all sorts of side benefits."

"Your new life will certainly not be dull," I added quickly, with a shade of concern in my tone.

"That was another promise Dad made," he replied with a wry smile. "After what happened in Santa Fe, I think we can handle it."

"To think that Ian's dreadful behaviour caused all of this." I shook my head. "He would hate it if he knew."

"He won't find out," Edward promised. "After his trial, he'll be locked up for quite some time. He deserves nothing less. And he'll have his creditors to face when he gets out. They won't go easy on him. He won't have any time to think about us."

"When can you make the move out here?" Devon asked. "You can choose where you set up your office."

"All right. I'll fly back to Boston the day after tomorrow and start tidying up all the loose ends," Edward promised. "I'll see if I can persuade Nancy, my secretary, to come back out west with me. She'll be a valuable asset to us and she knows how I like to work. It shouldn't be too hard to convince her. Like me, she has no ties to keep her back in Boston. But it will take some time to set everything straight. I want to leave it all in good hands."

"I wouldn't expect anything less from my son. And when you get back, you can get on with employing all the staff you think you'll need," Devon replied, getting up to refill all our glasses. "We'll have more than enough work to keep them occupied. And the firm is growing all the time. I'm just glad you can join us." He lifted his glass in salute.

"We still have a lot of catching up to do," Edward replied with a nod of thanks. "I'll look forward to all of that as soon as I finally get back."

He placed his hand on his father's shoulder and Devon returned the gesture. It was a telling movement that said and promised so much without the need for a single word. I watched them smile at each other and my heart swelled with love.

"We'll need to throw a welcome to Montecito party when you return," I added quickly. "In the meantime, I have that new manuscript about the captain I do need to start outlining. I'm beginning to wonder where Kat has got to. She promised to come back. I'd better telephone her in the morning. I want to hear more of her story."

I smiled happily at my son where he was standing beside my husband, and then glanced up at the painting behind them. The Captain's painted eyes still appeared to be watching me. I shook my head in bemusement as I thought I glimpsed tiny twin flames of devilment that now seemed to be dancing within his blue gaze...

※※※※※

I eased my truck slowly up the back driveway to Gull Cottage. I checked quickly, but there was no sign of Edward Bridges' hired car. So he had gone back to Boston, after all. I breathed a cautious sigh of relief mixed with chagrin.

It had been three days since Carolyn telephoned me to invite me over to the house to tell her more of Mrs Greig's story. It had been an unexpected call. I knew my sharp inhalation of hesitation had been audible to her down the phone line.

"I, um… I'm a bit too busy with work to drive over right away." I searched my mind for other suitable excuses and came up empty. "Ah, maybe I could manage a couple of hours in a few days…" I left the comment hanging and held my breath.

"I see…" Carolyn accepted my hasty rebuff without complaint. "Well, I can be ready any time you've got time to visit. I was very pleased with the work you did with the front driveway. Devon has photographed it all and the magazine article on the gardens is coming along nicely."

"Thank you…" I breathed, pleased with her praise and I felt a sudden twinge of guilt. 'Damn…'

"Of course, you'll be here as my guest and not our gardener," she added after a short pause. "I do have a truckload of questions that need answers. And I want to get started on the outline of the book. To do that, I need you."

She paused again and I could hear the smile in her voice. "When you feel you're ready to talk. By the way, Edward has gone back to Boston and Devon will be too busy with his own work. We can have some time alone to transcribe what I want to know. And I have a tale of my own to tell you."

"Very well, then…" I conceded slowly, knowing she was trying to pique my interest.

Well, it was working. I sensed she was aware of why I'd initially hesitated and had tried to put my mind at ease by telling me about her son's absence. "I can… come over on Sunday morning around nine o'clock. I have some free time."

"Excellent. Nine o'clock, it is. I'll look forward to seeing you then. We can sit outside in the sunshine and have some lunch afterwards. Goodbye…" Carolyn hung up before I could think of another excuse or say I'd changed my mind.

"Goodbye…" I'd replaced the receiver into its cradle and sat at my dining table looking out at the dark restlessness of the vast Pacific that exactly matched my distracted mood. I tried to convince myself it was for the best.

I didn't know if I was glad or sad that Edward Bridges would not be at the house when I visited. But I knew it was foolish to miss the company of a man I hardly knew and had no intention of getting to know any better at any point in the future.

I got slowly down out of my truck and shook out the creases from the skirt of my sleeveless floral summer dress. Since I was now a guest, at the very last minute, I decided to wear the dress instead of my usual jeans and top. I slipped my feet into a pair of neutral-coloured wedge sandals instead of my flats. They gave me some much-needed height and a measure of renewed confidence.

I smiled as I stood for a moment, looking up at the old house. It smiled back at me in the soft morning sunshine, all its windows sparkling.

I knew it still held many secrets and that there were more tales to tell. I debated within myself if I should finally come clean with the whole truth or give Carolyn only the edited version of the house's story. I had no idea which would finally satisfy her writer's curiosity and allow me to finally escape from her close questioning.

"I guess I won't find that out by standing here…" I shook my head as I crossed the drive to the back door that led into the kitchen. I knocked on the painted wood and waited to be admitted into the house.

※※※※※