Man's Best Friend (The Dogmothers #5) - Roxanne St. Claire Page 0,43
small jewelers box in both hands. “What do you think? A ring? Brooch? Empty?”
Easing down next to her, he couldn’t help but be more captivated by her beautiful expression than the treasure she’d found. “Oh, I hope not empty.” Because he didn’t want to see that glimmer in her eyes disappear. In fact, he wanted to see it all the damn time.
“Here goes.” She lifted the lid and gasped softly at the shiny gold heart-shaped necklace inside. “It’s a locket!” she exclaimed, gently taking the necklace from the box and giving him an excited look. “I bet there are pictures inside.”
“Oh yeah. My grandmother had one of those and gave it to my mom.”
She rubbed her thumb over the engraving on the front, her touch slow and reverent, then slowly turned it over with a soft gasp. “Gloriana and Evangeline, 1910.” She gave a little shiver, chills on her arms.
“So, Evangeline’s your great-grandmother?”
“Yes, Glory’s younger sister.” She slid her fingernail into a crack in the heart, then popped it open like a book. “Look.” She held it out so they could both see that each side of the heart held a sepia-toned picture of a baby. They were so similar he could never have told them apart.
“These are their baby portraits,” she said. “So, this necklace must have belonged to Amelia Bushrod.”
“Okay, wait.” He closed his eyes to see the family tree. “Great-great?”
She nodded. “The wife of Thaddeus Jr. and daughter-in-law of Big Bad Thad himself. The woman who built Gloriana House and named it for…” She tapped one side of the locket. “This little lady right here. Her first-born.”
“Wow. That’s something.”
Leaning back, she sighed, pressing the locket to her chest. “Oh, Dec.”
He tried to read her expression, surprised to see it so sad after such a great find. “What’s wrong?”
“I can’t sell this house,” she whispered. “There’s so much history and so many treasures. Who knows what else is hidden in the walls?”
“All kinds of pieces of your family.”
She nodded, her mouth turned down. “My mother never really cared or connected, you know? It was Grandmama’s house, and my mom and my dad lived here because…” She gave a soft laugh. “I don’t even know why. Convenience and habit and because it’s huge.”
“And your dad really doesn’t want to keep it, if only for posterity?”
“He only wants to make my mother happy, and she wants to live on a boat and paint sunsets. When I talked to her this morning, she couldn’t have been more overjoyed by the prospect of a multimillion-dollar payout and no giant house to maintain.”
She stared at the locket for a long time, her chest rising and falling with slow breaths. “But this family is so special,” she whispered, her voice cracking. “And this house…”
“Is special, also.”
She glanced up at him, looking a little surprised he would say that. “It’s such a shame to…”
“Sell the house?” he guessed.
She looked up from the locket into his eyes, a storm brewing. “Would you really…” She took another breath, searching his face.
“Would I what?”
“Would you…”
He closed his hand over hers when she didn’t finish. What did she want? Some work on the house or…something more permanent? Something that he woke up ten times in the middle of the night thinking about?
He took a breath and added some pressure on her hand. “Look, I know it might be hard to believe because a lot of time has passed, but, Evie, ask me what you want me to do. I can’t ever say no to you.”
She looked down at their joined hands. “You told me that once, you know.”
He knew. He remembered. Declan’s promise. A list of promises he smashed to kingdom come literally less than an hour after he made it.
“So go ahead, ask me.”
A vein pulsed in her throat as her chest rose and fell with another breath.
“Would you…” She popped off the stairs and pointed to the chandelier. “Go up to the attic and find the winch to lower that so I can clean that monster?” she asked, rushing the question as if she couldn’t get it out fast enough.
That was what was causing her so much visible stress? Somehow, he doubted it. “Sure.”
“And will you really fix the window sashes and also nail down the floorboards and maybe help me paint?” Again, she asked quickly, like she didn’t want time to change her mind.
“That’s why I’m here.” One of the reasons, anyway. “Are you trying to drive the price up even further?”