Return to Summerhouse (The Summerhouse 2)

“He didn’t just die,” Zoë said as she reached for Faith’s hand. “He was murdered about fifteen years ago.”

“How?” Faith whispered.

“A blunt instrument,” Zoë said. “Maybe a…a rock.”

Faith got up from the chair and walked to the far end of the room. “That’s why Ty never came back,” she said. “After we had our fight I never saw him again. We all thought he left town. The money he made from the sale of the land was given to his mother. I talked to her once and she also thought he’d run off. I always thought it was because of me, because of our argument. And because I married Eddie soon afterward.”

When Faith looked back at them there were tears in her eyes. She put her hand to her mouth. “But he didn’t leave me.”

“Is that better than death?” Zoë asked.

“Yes. I mean, no.” Faith sat back down. “I…He didn’t leave me.”

Zoë looked at Amy.

“Someone murdered him,” Amy said. “It was a long time ago, so I doubt if they’ll ever find out who did it, but—”

“My mother,” Faith said. “She killed Ty.”

“What?”

“I didn’t understand it until now, but on her deathbed she told me she’d killed him. I thought she meant she’d killed the love that Ty and I had. It looks like she meant she actually killed Ty. She so wanted me to marry Eddie that she killed to attain it.”

Amy raised her eyebrows to Zoë.

“I can go back,” Faith said. “Just like you went back to change your past, I can go back and change my life with Ty. When he climbs in my window, I’m going to be packed and ready to leave with him. We’re going to live in that old farmhouse and I’m going to have a ten-acre herb garden. If I could figure out a way to take Beth’s seeds back with me, I might make some of her products.”

“Put them in your hair like Amy’s ribbon,” Zoë said, and Faith’s eyes widened as she remembered that the ribbon Amy had been wearing was still in her hair when they arrived in the eighteenth century.

“What a great idea,” Faith said. “I could—”

“Would you two mind if we talked about why we’re here?” Amy said. “We have three days left and I’m worried about Tristan being killed.”

“I’m sorry, Amy,” Faith said, “but I have to leave now and think about all this. This is a big change in my life and…” She didn’t say anything else as she seemed to float out of the room.

“Wow,” Zoë said. “I thought she’d be angry to hear that her old boyfriend had been murdered.”

“Better dead than to have dumped her,” Amy said. “I think we just released the source of Faith’s lifelong depression.”

“Let’s send Jeanne a whopping great bill,” Zoë said.

“Let’s talk about what we need to do to keep Tristan alive.”

“When you saw him dead in your dream wasn’t he in his bedroom in this house?”

“Yes,” Amy said.

“So why don’t you move him to that greenhouse Faith lives in and let lots of people sleep around him?”

“I don’t think Tristan would agree to that. He has a real stubborn streak in him.”

“Then get Faith to drug him. Or tell him you’ll sleep with him if he’ll do it.” She raised her eyebrows at Amy’s look. “We all have to make sacrifices.”

For the first time, Amy smiled. “This meeting has not gone as well as I hoped it would, but it has certainly been interesting. I think you’re right and I’ll do everything short of sex or murder to get Tristan out of this house.”

“Good,” Zoë said, standing up. “Then we’re done. I’m—”

“Everyone in this village, and probably for about three over, know what you’re going to do today and have been doing since you arrived here.”