Echoes of Titanic (59 page)

“I guess we may never know where Gloria hid the real bonds,” Kelsey said sadly.

“Don't be so sure about that,” Cole replied. Eyes twinkling, he added, “I have an idea, anyway.”

Rising, he led Kelsey and the detective back out into the reception area. Things were a mess there, the items she had pulled from the case at gunpoint exactly where she'd left them. Only now they were marked with little plastic numbers, which the detective explained had been added by the crime scene photographers.

“May I?” Cole asked, looking to the detective as he gestured toward one of the items on the floor.

“Go ahead.”

Carefully, Cole picked up the white fur hand muff that had once belonged to Adele. Kelsey's heart sank.

“The bonds aren't in there,” she said. “I already looked.”

“Maybe so,” Cole replied, “or maybe I know something you don't.”

“Oh?”

“When you walked out of my place earlier, you accidentally left the diary behind,” he explained. “I saw it on the couch once you were gone and took a quick look inside. Mostly, I was just interested in reading the part about the sinking of
Titanic
before I returned it to you.”

“I hadn't reached that part yet,” Kelsey admitted. “What did it say?”

“It told how, once the ship hit the iceberg and Adele's uncle realized it would sink—and that only women and children were being allowed onto the lifeboats—he gave the bonds to Adele and told her to hide them in a safe
place. I didn't think much more about it until just a little while ago, when you were explaining to the detective about Gloria's change of heart after reading the diary. I realized that maybe, just maybe, when Gloria started looking for a hiding place for the bonds, she took a cue from Adele.”

With that, Cole turned the hand muff on its side and felt around on the inner silk lining until his thumb slid under an open seam. Pulling that seam wider revealed the perfect hiding place for a woman's valuables. There, tucked inside the muff under the fabric of the liner, were six of the most beautiful papers Kelsey had ever seen.

The bonds.

Another half hour passed before they were finally finished and free to go, the bonds securely given over to Mr. Hu, who had come the moment they had called, accompanied by Thriller and Flash. First thing Monday morning, London time, Mr. Hu would initiate the necessary steps to cash in the bonds on B & T's behalf.

While they were there, Kelsey thanked all of them for their efforts. “I haven't forgotten about that finder's fee I promised.”

“Neither have we,” Thriller replied with a wink and a smile. “We can discuss the terms next week.”

Once they were gone, the detective offered Kelsey and Cole a ride to wherever they wanted. They thankfully declined, knowing they had some business of their own to settle and preferred to walk.

When they stepped outside, they realized it was even colder than before. Cole insisted on placing his jacket around Kelsey's shoulders. They were trying to make their way through the gauntlet of reporters clustered near the entrance when a taxi pulled to a halt at the curb and out jumped Matt and his girlfriend, Tiffany.

Matt explained that as soon as they had heard on the radio what happened, they had grabbed a cab to head straight over. The four of them talked for a few minutes, and then Matt offered to go from there to their parents' house to give them the full story so they wouldn't worry when they saw it on the news. Kelsey thanked him gratefully.

“But before you go,” she added, pulling him over to the side and lowering her voice so the reporters couldn't hear, “you have to explain your part in all this. Why were you and Gloria talking so much on the phone lately?”

“Aw, man, I knew you were going to bring that up,” he replied, his face
turning beet red. “Mostly, we were playing phone tag. Why do you always have to be so pushy anyway?”

“Answer the question, little brother. Why were you trying to reach Gloria?”

Swallowing hard, he leaned close and whispered, “Because I needed her advice.”

“Advice?”

Without another word, Matt reached into his jacket pocket and discreetly pulled out a small velvet box, which he popped open with his thumb to show to Kelsey. Inside was a beautiful diamond ring, the telltale logo of Gloria's sister's jewelry store embossed in the satin lid.

“What is that?” Tiffany asked, stepping toward them.

With a heavy sigh, Matt turned toward his girlfriend and slowly lowered himself to one knee right there on the sidewalk. Holding up the box, he said, “This isn't exactly how I planned for this to go, but, Tiffany, will you marry me?”

Instantly, the throng of reporters and photographers raced their way, snapping pictures and milking the moment for all it was worth. Kelsey was thrilled, especially when Tiffany responded with an enthusiastic “Yes!” After a few minutes, Cole suggested to Kelsey that this might be a good chance for them to slip off. With a final hug for her brother and her future sister-in-law, Kelsey moved in step with Cole and they continued on their way alone, side by side, leaving the happy couple and the reporters behind.

They both seemed to have the same destination in mind, Battery Park, just a few blocks ahead. They were quiet as they walked, and as they reached the Promenade, Kelsey could feel her phone vibrating in her pocket. She glanced at the screen, surprised to see Walter's name there.

“Sorry, I need to take this,” she said to Cole, and then she answered.

She and Walter talked for several minutes. The man sounded weary but assured her he was doing well. He thanked her numerous times for what she'd done to save the company and his life. She thanked him in return for his own efforts on B & T's behalf, not adding that she hoped the days of banning her from that company were a thing of the past.

“We can discuss the details later,” he told her as they were wrapping up the call, “but before we hang up, I thought you'd like to hear some good news. Between the efforts of you, your grandfather, and myself, we were able to secure enough votes to gain control of the company and avoid Pamela's takeover attempt. As soon as Lou showed up today, I was going to tell him that
we would be turning down his offer. My mistake was in letting him come upstairs with me before I did so. So much for trying to be polite.”

“I'm so sorry for what you went through,” Kelsey whispered, tears filling her eyes.

“What's done is done,” he replied. “We'll pick up and move on from here. At least I didn't suffer the same fate as poor Gloria. I just wish we could have stopped this in time to save her as well. And remember Kelsey, she hid those bonds, so ultimately, at least, she tried to do the right thing. She knew those bonds would give you the funds to buy back control of the company and stop both Pamela's takeover and Lou's merger.”

Once they ended their call and Kelsey hung up the phone, she dried her eyes and then looked around to see that Cole was waiting for her nearby, standing at the railing overlooking the water. Behind him was the bay and a thousand sparkling lights beyond.

Moving toward him, Kelsey could feel her heart swell with love and regret and hope all at the same time. She stopped just short, but then he opened his arms to her and she moved into his embrace. They were such a perfect fit together, like two pieces of a tightly molded puzzle. Looking into his eyes, she could see so much there. Peace. Passion.

Love.

“Remember when I told you I was almost engaged a while back but it didn't work out?” Cole whispered softly, gazing down at her as he gently brushed a lock of hair from her cheek.

She nodded, not trusting herself to speak.

“Would you like to know
why
it didn't work out?”

Again, she nodded.

“Because the night I proposed, she told me, ‘You're still in love with Kelsey Tate.' She turned me down. She said she wouldn't go through life with a man whose heart wasn't a hundred percent hers.”

Kelsey swallowed hard. “That must have been devastating for you,” she managed to whisper.

Placing his hands on each side of her face, Cole looked intently into her eyes.

“Not at all,” he replied. “Because the moment she said it, I knew it was true. I've been trying to get over you for five years, but I should have known I never could. I
love
you, Kelsey. I have never stopped loving you.”

“I love
you
, Cole. I always have. I always will.”

The words had been said. There was no turning back now.

Slowly, ever so slowly, he leaned his face down toward hers, both of them closing their eyes as their lips met. Their kiss was tentative at first, as if testing new territory, but then memories began to return, that delicious, familiar feeling of his mouth on hers, the kiss growing longer and deeper and more fulfilling than any they had ever shared. When it was over, he pulled her even closer and they simply clung to each other, two lost souls who had finally made their way back together, two broken hearts that had found healing in the arms where it had all begun.

“So what now?” she asked, praying this wasn't some momentary passion that he would later regret.

“I say we pick up where we left off.”

“Sounds like a plan,” she said, realizing how perilously close they had come to missing this second chance.

“This time around,” he added, “we're a little older, hopefully somewhat wiser, and, when those inevitable conflicts arise, more willing to find a meeting point rather than walk away. I know it's been a long time, and that people can change a lot in five years, but somehow I just feel it won't be all that difficult to catch up. Who knows? Maybe someday soon we can come back here and I can take a cue from your brother's playbook.”

She chuckled softly, daring to dream. “Sounds good to me.”

Pulling her even closer, Cole pressed his lips to her forehead and gently kissed her there.

“Poor Gloria. She paid a heavy price for trusting Lou,” she said. “But I take comfort in the fact that at least she had an eleventh hour change of heart. Lou said it was Adele's diary that did it. I just wish we could have found a way to prove Adele's identity once and for all. The diary will help, but it may not be enough to counteract the damage done by Rupert's claims.”

“I guess we may never know for sure,” Cole said, holding her tight.

“I guess you're right,” she replied, resting her face against his chest.

At least now they knew how Gloria died, and why, and who had killed her. They had answered a myriad of questions, found the bonds, and managed to save the company.

Most importantly, along the way, Kelsey had come back to God.

Tonight Cole had come back to her.

As she looked out at the water and the sparkling lights of the shores beyond, she remembered the Bible verse Jocelyn had referred to in her letter to Adele.

All streams flow to the sea, yet the sea is never full. To the place the streams come from, there they return again
.

Life was coming full circle.

Cole Thornton still loved her.

She had found strength and peace in relying on God.

Despite all they had been through, she had managed to rediscover her faith, her need for balance,
and
her true love along the way. For her, that was more than she deserved, and far more than she'd ever had the right to expect.

April 15, 1912

A
DELE

A
dele knew she had to find Jocelyn. As she scrambled up to climb out of the lifeboat, an officer pushed her back onto her seat.

“Sit down and don't move!” he shouted at her. “You're unsettling the boat!”

Crewmen were in her way, pulling on the lines, as she tried again.

“But I have to get out!” she cried. “Please let me through!”

“You can't do that now!” another one yelled. “Sit down and be still, or you'll kill us all!”

Stunned, Adele did as he said, gripping tightly to the side as she felt the jerky back-and-forth motion of the lifeboat being lowered to the sea. Down and down it went toward the black water below. She looked to the ship, the commotion and noise nearly unbearable. She heard the piercing screams and cries. She saw the debris that rained down around them. She felt the shame of what she had done, and it gripped her heart like a vise.

In a moment of anger, she had abandoned the person she loved most.

When they finally landed on the water and were free of the doomed liner, she could see swimmers in the swells, trying to move toward them. But the cold water made them lethargic, and few got very far. None reached them before the crew started yelling for someone to grab an oar and pull.

She and the girl beside her both sprang into action, quickly grabbing the closest oar and pulling on it together. At first it seemed as if they were getting nowhere, but they pressed onward and gradually made progress. They
rowed and rowed until a crewman said they had gone far enough. Then they released the oar and sat back in their seats. Adele looked at
Titanic
, its lights blazing, its orchestra still playing, its passengers leaping and falling into the water.