the source of both the fake and real photos. They’d done it to force Skye’s hand to take the role in Tony’s movie. They’d also hired the men to talk to her parents, but that truly was just in order to find her after getting Mason’s notes. Jim and Lenny had turned themselves in to a minimum security prison two weeks ago. They were sentenced to serve four months and were now essentially banished from Hollywood.
Skye testified at Mason’s trial with the entire towns of Shadows Landing and Hollywood behind her. Marie Lockend took advantage of the press and announced that Skye would be the lead in her next movie, and just last week, Morgan Davies put out a press release that Skye Jessamine was excited to partner with Hollywood’s newest leading man for the film adaptation of Gemma Davies’s latest book.
To celebrate, Skye talked with Mrs. Cramble about the house. She’d paid the woman more than she was asking and offered to pay all her moving expenses if she could be in by Thanksgiving. Mrs. Cramble had been thrilled and handed her new address to Skye before leaving to spend a couple of days with Mitzy as all her belongings were moved into her new house.
Today was the first day Skye had woken up to her new life in her new house in Shadows Landing. She smiled at the memory of how she’d woken Trent and the way he’d thanked her. Trent still owned his house and they hadn’t talked about moving in together yet, but they were essentially living together anyway. They hadn’t spent a night apart since she’d shown up in Shadows Landing.
Shadows Landing was home to her now. Karri, too. Karri was renting Trent’s house and, after extensive renovations, was almost ready to open her restaurant. She and Peter were very much in love. A few weeks ago, both families had come to Shadows Landing for the big meeting. Karri and Peter had been nervous as this was the first his grandmother was meeting Karri as well as her family.
It turned out they hadn’t needed to worry. Peter’s grandmother and Mrs. Hill had glanced over at each other as the group was getting together and pushed passed the couple to get to each other.
“Sister Hill! You’re Karri’s mother?” Mrs. Castle had gasped as everyone looked around as if they were missing something as the women hugged.
“We are both on the committee for missing and murdered indigenous women,” Mrs. Hill had explained to the rest of them. “The issue of unsolved, and many times under investigated, crimes against our sisters crosses all tribes and will only be fixed when all sisters stand together to demand accountability and equality.”
By the time their weeklong visit was over, they’d met everyone who was important to Karri and Peter. They’d watched Gator wrestle, had adopted Harper, gushed over the Faulkner family, had Kord’s undying love, and even Granger had been nice.
Then, after hearing about the committee Mrs. Hill and Mrs. Castle were on, Olivia had offered pro bono legal services to their cause. Miles and Morgan, who had been visiting one of the nights on their way to the beach, ended their visit with Miles telling them he had contacts in the government who would listen when he told them to. But what Skye would always remember was when Miles dropped his voice and leaned over to Mrs. Hill and Mrs. Castle and had said, “If you need a team of former elite military men to go in and rescue someone the not-so-legal way, I’m also happy to assist.”
Now the Hills and the Castles would be arriving for a visit before setting off on a cruise together. The women had planned to compare family trees. When they got back they’d celebrate the opening of Karri’s restaurant along with the entire town.
A flash of sun off Trent’s pickup caught her attention. Karri wasn’t the only one celebrating. Trent parked by the sunroom in the back and waved when he saw Skye watching. He reached into his car and pulled out what looked to be a shoebox wrapped in brown print gift paper and tied with a twine bow.
Trent walked toward the door and Skye basked in the feeling of complete happiness. She had found her special someone. Her One. She loved him more and more every day and thankfully, the press had afforded them a moderate amount of privacy.
Trent opened the door and walked in with a little shiver. “It’s getting cold