“Don’t keep me in suspense.”
“I’m thinking that a onetime fling may have been the fantasy that originally brought Hattie and Samuel together. He was younger, married and had a child. The Brightmans found out that the two of them originally met at the library. And maybe it happened for them, the same way it happened for us. Just like that.”
“And the onetime fling fantasy was so tempting. They couldn’t resist it,” Brie said.
“Exactly. But once they’d made love, they couldn’t resist the temptation of doing it again.”
“And again,” Brie said as she rolled on top of him.
He lifted her hips, entered her. “For keeps, Brie.”
They began to move then, slowly. Until they became so lost in each other that they didn’t see how the mirror behind them glowed.
Epilogue
3:00 p.m. Saturday—Singles Weekend, Day 2
AVERY TAPPED A SPOON against a glass to get the attention of the small group that had gathered in the bar. Singles Weekend outdoor activities were in full swing, leaving the hotel relatively quiet.
“I want to propose a toast,” Avery said. “To Hattie’s fantasy box.” He raised his glass of champagne. The old-fashioned linen covered hat box sat in a prominent place on the bar. Everyone joined in the toast.“May the fantasies live on,” Cody added. But it was Brie’s eyes he met before he drank. Out of the corner of his eye, he noted that the other men who sat at the bar—Dane and Ian MacFarland and Mac Davies—also toasted their respective women. The MacFarland brothers, along with Naomi and Jillian, had reached Haworth House earlier in the day.
“For a lifetime,” Reese added.
“And beyond,” Brie added.
“Good point,” Jillian said. “I believe that Hattie and Samuel are still enjoying their fantasies.”
“May we all be as lucky as they are,” Naomi said.
Everyone raised their glasses again.
Brie sat with the Brightman sisters in a nearby booth. Naomi and Jillian were determined to get all the firsthand details of the adventures from Reese and Brie. Cody assumed that the MacFarland brothers had invited Mac and him to join them at the bar for the same reason. Cody hadn’t had a chance to talk to Ian yet, though he soon would. He knew his friend was a stickler for details.
To postpone the interrogation, he turned to the men and lifted his glass again. “I want to propose a toast to Avery Cooper. Long may he be the keeper of the hat box.”
“I’ll second that.” Mac turned to Avery. “If you hadn’t come up with the idea of this Singles Weekend, I might never have met Reese. I’d put a lot of effort into avoiding that. And I’d purposely scheduled my visit here at a time when she was supposed to be in L.A.”
“I owe Ian for my first visit to Haworth House,” Cody said. “If I hadn’t seen Samuel and felt almost compelled to return, I might never have brought Brie here. And if it weren’t for the Singles Weekend, she might never have drawn out her fantasy.”
Avery patted the top of the hat box. “Hattie works in mysterious ways.”
“Not to take any credit away from Hattie, but I think we also should toast Avery for the job he’s done getting this room back into shape,” Dane said. “Of course, I got my information third-hand through Naomi from Reese, but I don’t see much evidence that the big shoot-out Ian and I missed even occurred.”
Dane was right. Somehow Avery had managed to get the place cleaned and the mirrors replaced—on a Saturday morning. The bar at Haworth House would be ready to open for business at five o’clock that evening.
“There’s just the bullet hole in the Steinway,” Mac said. “But I checked it out last night. The damage is cosmetic. A talented carpenter can repair it, and the piano still plays in perfect tune. I tried it out.”
“You play the piano?” Cody asked.
Mac shrugged. “My adoptive parents had money, enough to afford ten years of piano lessons. They wanted me to be well-rounded.”
Cody turned to Ian and Dane. “I figure you have to have some questions other than how Avery was able to get the bar back in running order.”
Ian looked at Dane. “We don’t have any questions at the moment.”
“I paid Nate a visit shortly after I arrived,” Dane explained. “He wasn’t happy to be disturbed, but he gave me all the information he has to date.” He turned to Mac and added, “Chantal Dutoit’s attorney is trying to work out a plea with the D.A. The L.A. police are also interested in talking to her. Interested enough to send someone here to the hospital on the mainland where she’s being held. It seems she may have tried to help her brother out on other occasions. They want to talk to Charles, too.”
Ian turned to Cody. “The only update Nate had on the Maxine Norville case was that the suits have left his office. Dane and I have a contact in New York City who’ll keep his ear to the ground. But Brie’s definitely clear of the whole mess.”
“That’s excellent news,” Cody said. “But I thought for sure Avery called us together for a debriefing.”
Avery shrugged. “It was Mac and Reese who asked me to call everyone together.”
“My idea really,” Mac said. “I wanted a chance to hear Brie sing again. I have a theory I wanted to test out. It’s a bit of a wild one. But the more I think about it, the more right it feels. So I talked it over with Reese, and she said we should make it a family gathering.”
Family? He and Brie weren’t strictly family. Cody glanced over to see Reese sliding out of the booth, and the other women followed. As they reached the bar, each one of them joined their man.
With Reese at his side, Mac turned to Brie. “When you sang last night, I was sure I’d heard your voice before. I just couldn’t place it. I’m hoping if you sing for me again, I’ll figure it out.”
“Sure,” Brie said. “Anything special you want me to try?”
“Yes, there is,” Mac said as he led her to the piano and lifted her on top of it. Then he sat at the keyboard and ran his fingers over the keys. “I want you to sing the song you heard Hattie singing—‘When You Wish Upon a Star.’”
“Got it,” Brie said. She waited for Mac to play a little introduction before she came in.
No one said a word as Brie’s voice filled the room. There was a wistfulness, a longing in the sound that tightened something around Cody’s heart. And he wasn’t the only one who was affected. He was sitting close enough to Ian to note when his friend gripped Dane’s arm. And what he glimpsed on the two brothers’ faces mimicked what he’d seen on Mac’s face when he’d first heard Brie the night before. A mix of surprise and…recognition?
Ian leaned over to whisper something to his brother, but Cody couldn’t catch it because at that moment, he was sure he heard another voice blend with Brie’s. His attention shifted immediately to the piano. For just an instant, he saw Hattie sitting next to Brie in chanteuse position.
Then the last note died away, and Brie was once more alone. Everyone applauded. But Mac moved first, rising from the piano bench to take Brie’s hands in his.
When Ian and Dane slid off their stools to move to the edge of the stage, Cody followed. So did the others.
“I talked with Reese,” Mac said glancing down at Ian and Dane. “But I didn’t want to say anything to you until I was sure. Now I am.” Then he turned to Brie. “Your voice reminds me of my mother’s. I remember her singing that song all the time. Cody says you’re adopted. I’m wondering if you might be my sister.”
“Your sister?” Brie asked.
“I was four when my mom died and our family split up,” Mac continued. “But I do remember that I had a little sister and two older brothers.” He turned to face Ian and Dane. “Reese told me that you were both separated from your family, too. And if I can trust my four-year-old self’s memory, my brothers’ names were Ian and Dane. Everything here has happened so fast. I didn’t put the possibilities together until Reese and I had a chance to talk last night—after all the excitement.”
Reese turned to Ian and Dane. “Mac wanted to hear Brie sing again, just to be sure. Is there a way you two can find out for sure if the four of you are related?”
Dane spoke first. “Our little sister’s name was Briana.”
“Our little brother’s name was Caleb,” Ian said.
“That was my name,” Mac said. “My parents chose to call me Mac. I always thought it was my middle name. I called them this morning to check for sure. They said Mac is short for MacFarland, which was my last name when they adopted me.”
Dane held out his hand to Mac. “Now that we know who your adoptive parents are, Ian can probably access those records.”
“And I have a good chance of getting access to Briana MacFarland’s adoption records when I go to court tomorrow afternoon,” Naomi said.
“But I don’t think we’ll need them. Dane and I remember the voice, too. And the song. You sound just like her.” Ian climbed onto the stage and drew Brie into his arms for a hug. “Hi, sis.”