Part 35 (1/2)
I hope he's lost a great deal more. I've learned to hate him as much as I once loved him. I couldn't have lived knowing he'd left me for that woman. So I planned my own death to make it look as though your father murdered me.
I've been very clever about it, getting everyone who had something to gain from my death to tell me what I needed to know without ever letting them know how I intended to use the information. I especially enjoyed arranging the flight to Costa Rica.
But it's no fun being the only one who knows just how clever I've been. So I've left this letter as a legacy for you to find-if you can.
Love and kisses,
Eve
Summer sobbed with relief and heard Ren weeping beside her. ”Will this be enough?” she asked Billy.
”Seems to me your uncle Harry can use it to free your father.”
”Thank G.o.d,” Ren whispered.
”Then I take it we're done here,” Sam said.
”Looks that way,” Billy said.
”Can I give you a ride home, Emma?” Sam said.
”I'll go with my brother,” Emma replied.
”I could use a ride,” Ren said. ”One of the hands dropped me off here.”
”Sure, Mom,” Sam said as he turned to wheel himself out of the parlor.
”Sam,” Summer called after him.
He stopped and glanced at her over his shoulder.
”I don't know how to thank you,” Summer said.
”No need. Creeds take care of each other. And we're all one family now.”
Chapter 20.
SUMMER STOOD IN THE VESTIBULE OF THE FIRST Baptist Church with Emma Coburn, who was dressed in a full-length white silk wedding gown with a heart-shaped neckline and capped sleeves that did nothing to hide her advanced pregnancy. They were waiting for the church organist to arrive.
Flossie Hart was always late. Summer wondered why people didn't just tell her church events began a half hour earlier. But she supposed Flossie saw them posted in the bulletin-as this wedding had been-and came when she felt like showing up.
There was no one in the church other than the bride's and groom's families, because the bulletin had also stated that the couple preferred to have a private ceremony and would entertain guests at a reception following the wedding at the home of the groom's newly married mother.
Because of Flossie's tardiness, there was no music to temper the utter silence that had descended once both families were seated. And with so few people in the high-ceilinged country church, every sound echoed, so no one was inclined to talk, even in whispers. The church radiated with red and gold light from the stained gla.s.s windows that lined both walls, making it feel even warmer than it was.
Dr. Robert Truman, whom everyone called Pastor Rob, stood in his robes at the pulpit, and Luke waited nearby, while Sam, his best man, sat in his wheelchair next to his brother. Dora, the mother of the bride, sat on the aisle in the first pew on the left and kept dabbing her nose with a lace-edged hanky. Billy sat beside her, Will perched on his lap, impatiently shooting glances over his shoulder toward the church door.
Summer smiled at Billy and waved, then mouthed, ”I have no idea why she's so late.”
She knew why Billy was anxious for the ceremony to start. He wanted it over with so he could get away from Blackjack, who was sitting on the aisle opposite him with his new wife, the mother of the groom.
Billy kept shooting furtive glances at his sniffling mother and then glaring at Blackjack. It was an explosive situation, to say the least. If Flossie Hart didn't arrive soon, Summer wasn't sure there wouldn't be fireworks.
Her father turned and glanced back at her, and she smiled and waved at him, too. Summer couldn't believe how quickly and efficiently Harry Blackthorne had gotten Blackjack exonerated once he had her mother's letter in hand.
Her father had been sent home the same night they'd found the letter. And since he'd already married Lauren Creed, they'd moved right into the Castle together. Her father's new wife had done nothing overt to make Summer feel uncomfortable in her own home, but with Ren there and Blackjack back at the helm, Summer felt like a fifth wheel.
And she had nowhere else she belonged. Emma had stayed at the C-Bar for the two weeks until her wedding. When Summer had told Billy about Blackjack and Ren moving in together, and that her father had taken back the reins to Bitter Creek, Billy hadn't said a word about her moving back in with him. So she hadn't, either.
Summer wasn't sure what she was supposed to do now. It had seemed best to let things ride until after Emma's wedding. Once she and Luke were married, they would move into the main house at Three Oaks. That would be the logical time for Summer to move back in with Billy. That is, if Billy wanted her to move back in. Summer still wasn't at all sure about his feelings.
”Summer.”
She turned to Emma, who'd clutched Summer's wrists and dragged her back out of sight in the vestibule. ”What's the matter, Emma?”
”I'm not sure I can go through with this.”
Summer felt like saying, ”Of course you can!” Her own situation would worsen if Emma ended up leaving the church unmarried and moved back in at the C-Bar. But she bit her tongue and asked, ”What's wrong, Emma?”
”I don't know if Luke can ever love me,” Emma said.
”Then why are you marrying him?”
”Because this is his child I'm carrying. And because from the first time I saw Luke, I always dreamed of marrying him.”
”Then I don't understand the problem,” Summer said.
Emma took a deep breath and said, ”I think I might be in love with Sam.” She put a hand to her trembling lips and said, ”I know I am.”
”How does Sam feel about you?” Summer asked.
”He said he loves me. But he thinks this baby-” she slid her hands lovingly around her belly-”should have his father's name.”
”He'd still be a Creed if you married Sam,” Summer pointed out.
Emma laughed through her tears. ”I suppose that's true.”
Summer took both of Emma's hands in hers. ”I can't know what's right for you, Emma. All I can tell you is that my father married my mother when he loved someone else and ended up pining for that lost love forever after. You should marry for love. Everything else will sort itself out.”
Emma gripped her hands and might have said something else, except at that moment, a tremendous swell of organ music filled the church.
Summer let go of Emma's hands and backed up hurriedly to look down the aisle. Flossie Hart must have come in through a back door, because she was sitting at the organ, a flowered hat on her head, performing some Bach piece at a tempo that suggested she was in a hurry to get the music played to make up for being late.