The Sapphire Brooch (The Celtic Brooch Trilogy Book 2) (91 page)

Charlotte came to a sudden, breathless stop. Her head cocked, staring at him in utter disbelief through tear-filled eyes. Then the most radiant smile he’d ever seen brightened her rosy-cheeked face.

Braham knelt on one knee, his kilt swirling around him, his son in his arm. He held out the sapphire ring and said, “I love you, Charlotte. Will you marry me?”

She dropped to her knees, tears streaming down her face.

“Will you accept this ring now with my promise to love you and our children? To protect you and our children, and live
here
and
now
with you for the rest of my life?” His heart stopped beating while he waited for her answer.

“I…will marry you.”

She held out her hand and, with his heart crashing happily around in his chest, he slipped the cherished ring on her finger.

“I marry you too, Daddy.”

Braham pulled Charlotte into the curve of his arm and kissed her. The kiss moved like a warm, blossoming light from the center of his heart to the center of forever.

Lincoln patted Braham and Charlotte’s cheeks. “I want to kiss Daddy, too.”

Charlotte smiled into Braham’s eyes. “Kiss your daddy, Lincoln. He’s finally come home.”

100

MacKlenna Farm, Lexington, Kentucky, Present Day

L
ate on Derby
night, after everyone had gone to sleep, Elliott sat up in bed studying a family tree. Meredith had received a one-inch stack of documents from her research team a couple of days earlier, but with all the pre-Derby activities, he hadn’t had time to read even one page. Now, reveling in Stormy’s Sun’s Derby victory, Elliott was too hyped up to sleep. He removed his reading glasses and tapped a corner of the frame against the papers.

“If I read this correctly, Michael Mallory from Ulster married Lorna MacKlenna, who was James Thomas MacKlenna’s two-times great aunt.”

Meredith pulled back the sheets on her side of the bed and climbed under the covers. “Yes, and Charlotte and Jack are direct descendants of Michael Mallory, who immigrated to America in 1613 and founded Mallory Plantation.”

“How am I related to Michael Mallory?”

Meredith rolled over on her side and propped up on her elbow. “I haven’t counted the generations, but Lorna is probably your twelve- or fifteen-times great aunt.”

Elliott gave a small grunt of amusement. “That’s pretty far removed.”

“Almost to Adam and Eve.”

Elliott put his glasses back on and thumped through the pages again. “Didn’t I see a letter from a law firm in Edinburgh?”

“Keep looking. It’s in there.”

He tossed the pages on the floor next to the bed. “I’ll look later. Give me a synopsis.”

“Their client hired them to deliver the brooch, a family heirloom, to Charlotte. They won’t reveal the client’s identity. Sorry.” She rolled over, turned off her bedside light, and then fluffed her pillow. “It makes me wonder though if the person knew of the stone’s magic and wanted to get rid of it just as much as Charlotte did.”

“That would make sense.”

Meredith yawned. “The research budget is in the stack, too. The team in Scotland is plugging into a database the names of all MacKlenna family members and the families MacKlennas married into all the way back to the fourteen-hundreds. It’s going to cost you.”

“I’ll sell more Apple stock.”

“I know for a fact you’ve never sold one share of your Apple stock.”

Elliott rolled over and sat on the edge of the bed. “This time I might have to.” He patted Meredith’s hip affectionately. “I’m going to check on the boys.”

“They’re fine. They were so tired when they went to bed, they shouldn’t wake up until late tomorrow morning. It was a big day for everybody.”

Elliott made a small sound of pleasure. “Especially Stormy’s Sun. The pressure will be on him now to win the Preakness and Belmont.”

“If he’s half the horse his sire is, there’s no doubt in my mind he’ll win it all.”

Elliott climbed out of bed and slipped on a pair of gym shorts. “Don’t fall asleep, I’ll be right back. I haven’t finished celebrating.”

Meredith yawned again. “I’ll be waiting. Oh, I forgot to ask. Did you talk to David? Is he okay with Braham’s sudden appearance?”

“David’s not the type to live with unrequited love. After Lincoln was born, he gave up hope.”

“I know he said it, but—”

“There’re few things in this world ye’ can believe without a doubt. One of them is the word of David MacBain. He’s fine, Mer. Ye’ don’t have to worry.”

Elliott walked down the hall, smiling when he passed Charlotte’s bedroom, hearing soft moans and the rhythmic squeak of the bed. She and Braham might not come up for air before the Preakness in two weeks. Braham had done well at the track earlier in the day. He knew horses. He had won a $2 Superfecta and the $1 Supper High Five, but Jack had to collect the winnings of more than a hundred sixty-five thousand dollars, since Braham had no identification. First thing Monday Elliott intended to create an identity for the lad, complete with college diplomas and a passport. Before they went to Baltimore for the Preakness, Braham would have all the documentation he needed to collect his winnings. And then there was a small matter of millions of dollars in buried gold needing to be converted into cash.

Elliott opened the door to the boys’ room and tiptoed in, sidestepping a Legos racetrack, but his bare foot landed squarely on one of a hundred Hot Wheels forming a long line around the track. Elliott cursed under his breath as he hobbled across the room.

Seven-year-old Cullen and three-year-old Lincoln were sprawled on the bed crosswise, smelling of soap and freshly washed hair. Their pajama shirts were rucked up over their tummies. Elliott laughed silently. Careful not to wake them, he straightened the boys in the bed and pulled up the covers.

Cullen shifted slightly and mumbled something, but then quickly lapsed into the deep breathing of sleep again. Elliott stood still for a moment, listening to the sounds of the night. Satisfied the boys were safe, he kissed their heads.

Stopping at the door on the way out, he glanced back into the room, remembering all the nights he had come up to check on Kit when she was small. He wouldn’t be kissing either of the boys if she hadn’t gone back in time. But her absence would always leave a hole in his heart.

“Wherever you are, Kit,” Elliott whispered, “may God hold ye’ and these precious boys in the palm of His hand.”

“The better part of one’s life consists of his friendships.”

—Abraham Lincoln

*     *     *

Thank you for reading

THE SAPPHIRE BROOCH.

I hope you enjoyed reading this story as much as I enjoyed writing it.

Reviews help other readers find books.

I appreciate all reviews, whether positive or negative.

Katherine graduated from Rowan University in New Jersey where she earned a BA in Psychology with a minor in Criminal Justice. Following college she attended the Philadelphia Institute for Paralegal Training, before returning to Central Kentucky where she worked as a real estate and tax paralegal for over twenty years.

Katherine is a marathoner and lives in Lexington, Kentucky. When she’s not running or writing romance she’s enjoying her five grandchildren: Charlotte, Lincoln, Cullen, Henry Patrick, and Meredith.

Please stop by and visit Katherine on her social media sites or drop her an email. She loves to hear from readers.

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Email:
[email protected]

If you’re interested in Kit and Cullen’s love story you can find
THE RUBY BROOCH
(the Celtic Brooch Trilogy Book 1) on Amazon

*     *     *

If you’re interested in Meredith and Elliott’s love story you can find
THE LAST MACKLENNA
on Amazon. This story is NOT a time travel romance

*     *     *

If you would like to receive notification of future releases

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[email protected]
and put “Sequel” in the subject line

Look for THE EMERALD BROOCH in late 2015

This book could not have been written without the input, support, and encouragement from Carol Parrot and Ken Muse. Thank you very much!

Notes about events in the story:

•    A Confederate surgeon did tend to General Ramseur’s wounds at Belle Grove Plantation, and General Custer sat at his bedside off and on during the night. No one told the general, though, that he had a daughter named Mary. Most of the wounded were buried at Belle Grove temporarily until they were removed and interred in their final resting places.

•    The sequence and times of events in Richmond were altered slightly to accommodate the story, as were the conditions at Castle Thunder. It was a brutal place but my muse took it a step further in creating the dungeon scenes.

•    General Benjamin F. Butler, commander of the Union Army of the James, referred to Elizabeth Van Lew as his “correspondent in Richmond, and General Ulysses S. Grant considered her valuable enough to order personal protection for her when he entered Richmond. However, there is no indication that she ever met President Lincoln. After Grant was elected president, he nominated Elizabeth for the position of postmaster of Richmond, which Congress approved. The government paid her $5,000 for her service and several of the prisoners she had helped sent her money. Elizabeth died in 1900. The city condemned the mansion in 1911 and it was torn down the following year.

•    The assassination attempt on Secretary Seward was a bloodbath. Lewis Powell’s wild rampage left five people seriously injured, but he didn’t kill anyone. Braham’s role in the events of April 14, 1865, is entirely fictional. Although I was tempted to let him overpower Powell, I didn’t want to further alter the real story.

•    According to Carl Sandburg in
Abraham Lincoln: The Prairie Years and the War Years,
Seward’s house did have a doorbell.

•    Braham and Cullen’s legal maneuverings are products of my imagination, although the Habeas Corpus Act of 1863 was an actual act of Congress. For those of you with legal backgrounds, or like me, love legal thrillers, I decided not to include objections to Braham’s witness badgering. He wouldn’t have gotten away with it in today’s courtroom, but in a trial where defendants had almost no legal rights, I gave him some leeway.

•    The tracking device David implanted in Charlotte’s hip is also a product of my imagination. Technology isn’t available for implanting a chip of that sort in a person.

•    Everybody needs an Aunt Mimi! I don’t have one, but I have a sister Mimi, and she has created genealogy notebooks for all of her siblings. The complicated MacKlenna Family tree will be available in the near future!

•    As for time travel, altered memories, and the locations of the brooches at any given moment, I decided to let my muse take the story in a fun direction without worrying about time passing and snowballing effects.

•    Will David ever get his HEA? Yes, stayed tuned!

Special Thanks to my fantastic early readers: Joan Childs, Shirl Deems, Virginia Simpson Geffros, Jessica Hartwigsen, Tamara Logan, Ken Muse, Nancy Qualls, Theresa Snyder, and John Wickre, Ph.D., and an extra special thanks to my editor Faith Freewoman, Demon for Details Manuscript Editing, who did an amazing job with a very long manuscript.

Agonito, Rosemary,
Miss Lizzie’s War, The Double Life of Southern Belle Spy Elizabeth Van Lew,
GPP, Guilford, Connecticut 2012

Cartmell, Donald,
The Civil War Book of Lists,
New Page Books 2001

Carr, Richard Wallace and Carr, Marie Pinak,
The Willard Hotel, An Illustrated History,
Dicmar Publishing 1986, 2005