The Topaz Brooch

by Katherine Lowry Logan

  “The fucking tree. Some crazy lady smoking meth set it on fire. The hundred-twenty-five-foot bald cypress was estimated to be thirty-five-hundred years old and the fifth oldest tree in the world when she set it on fire in 2012. It burned like a chimney from the inside out. Firefighters extinguished the fire, but the tree collapsed, leaving only charred remains. The mighty tree is now only a twenty-foot stump.”

  Penny looked at the pictures of the tree before the fire and afterward, while pain twisted her chest, but she promptly buried it. She had to—for now. Without a doubt, the tree was the same one she saw the first night she camped in the swamp with Jean.

  “If the remains are there, we can find the treasure…if there is one,” she managed to choke out.

  “That’s not the problem,” Remy said. “The problem is, it’s now part of Big Tree Park. There’s a boardwalk through the swamp to the remains and an iron gate surrounding the base. But the worst part is that in 1945, the WPA improved the site and raised the elevation in places to provide dry areas for picnicking and parking.”

  “So we know where the tree is, but finding the treasure in a public area will be almost impossible.” Penny’s heart raced. If Jean spent years searching for the torc, found it, and left it for her, then she had to do the impossible.

  “Not necessarily,” Elliott said.

  Everyone jerked in the direction of the den to find the family patriarch leaning against the wall, his arms folded.

  “Do ye have a plan already, Elliott?” David asked.

  “A joint project led by top PhDs in anthropology, forestry, and environmental studies, along with large endowments to their respective universities and a significant donation to the tree park, of course. The park will close for two weeks to allow experts to study the trees and create a plan for the care and protection of the bald cypress for the next hundred years.”

  “Wouldn’t it be easier to get the diamond brooch and go back to 2012 before the fire?” Penny asked.

  “I’m sorry the tree burned,” Rick said. “But to find the treasure, all we need to know is the location of the tree, and the stump provides that. If we’re going to go back, it should be before 1945, when the elevation changed.”

  “Or go back and ask Jean if there’s a treasure to find,” Penny said.

  “To what year, though?” Rick asked. “The day before he died would be the logical date if we can find it.”

  “Knowing Jean, there probably is more than one date and cause of death. But what I want to know is how Elliott found a group of experts to agree to his plan so quickly, when we just now found the tree?”

  “I have connections, lass. It’ll take two to three weeks to get it all set up and have experts on-site, but we should have access by Memorial Day.”

  “So, what are you saying? Pack up and go home?” Rick asked.

  “And plan to be back here Memorial Day weekend,” Elliott said. Other than that, he gave no other details.

  And that left Penny’s head spinning.

  “Also,” he said, “clear yer calendars for the second week in July. We’re all going to Sweden to watch the twins play soccer in the Gothia Cup. David’s rented a castle that’ll accommodate all of us.”

  Penny held the back of her neck, squeezing the tight muscles as if that could keep her head in place. “I’ve been to the Gothia Cup. If you’re into soccer, it’s a blast. I’d love to go again, but I’ve got events in July that I can’t cancel.”

  “You’ll break the boys’ hearts,” Kenzie said. “When I told them we were cousins, they bragged to their teammates, and now they all want you there, as does the coach. Reconsider the invitation for ten seconds, then say, ‘yes.’”

  Penny dropped her hand, realizing she’d never keep up with this group. “Cousins?”

  “We call each other cousins because there’s no other way to explain the relationships,” Rick said.

  “So you and I are…cousins?” she asked with a teasing eyebrow lift.

  “In the generic sense, yes.”

  Churchill flicked his finger across the iPad. “Captain Lafitte, I’ve heard of Sweden, and I’d like to go. I’d feel safer if you and Mr. O’Grady go too. Sailing across the ocean will take several weeks, and we could meet English ships or privateers. We should take a full contingent of sailors and soldiers.”

  Penny sucked in her cheeks to keep from laughing. He was so cute, and she didn’t want to offend him. “Churchill, you won’t be in any danger, and you’ll be sailing over the ocean, not in it. You’ll be fine.” Then she thought about what he said. “Have you ever heard of Sweden?”

  “Yes, ma’am, and China, too.”

  “You know, don’t you that Sweden isn’t anywhere near China?”

  “Oh, yes, ma’am. I wanted you to know that I could sail to China, too. I know where countries are on a map and how to use a sextant to navigate a ship.”

  “Well,” Penny said. “I guess I’ve been signed up for a treasure hunt and a soccer tournament.” For all the hesitation she had about her summer commitments, her reply came swiftly. “I better get back to Napa and rearrange my schedule so I can travel this summer.”

  “I’ll call my pilot to get the plane ready,” Rick said.

  “Can we keep the house?” Kenzie asked.

  “I’ll ask Cate to arrange an extension of the rental agreement through the end of June,” Rick said.

  “We’ll leave the monitors, printers, beer, and whisky and hit the ground running when we return,” David said.

  Rick reached for Penny’s hand. “Let’s go home.”

  “Will you take me to Kentucky?” Sophia asked. “I’ll pick up Lukas and Meredith, and we can fly Delta to Richmond.”

  “Sure, no problem. But I’ll take you to Virginia. I can’t put Meredith on a Delta flight while I take her private jet to California.” He looked at Penny. “I can put you on a direct back to SFO this afternoon, or you can fly with us to Kentucky and Virginia first.”

  Did she want to spend a few hours with Meredith after all she’d gone through in the past few weeks? No way. “I’d rather take the direct. It’ll cost a fortune, but I’m ready to go home.”

  His grip on her hand tightened gently, encouraging and reassuring her, telling Penny he was listening and understood her concerns, but he had to take care of his family, too. Then he released her, letting his hand glide off hers in a sensual release.

  “Take the lass back to Napa, Rick,” Elliott said. “I’ll pick up Meredith and Lukas, then take everyone to the plantation.”

  “It woan be much of a detour, and as good as Rhona feels right now, a couple more hours woan matter,” Remy said.

  “Are you sure?” Rick asked.

  “Aye, take Penny home.”

  “That works best for us,” David said. “We can pick up our kids, and the passports for Philippe, Rhona, and Churchill should be ready by the time we get to the farm.”

  “That soon?” Philippe asked.

  “David’s known to work miracles with one hand tied behind his back,” Kenzie said. “But occasionally, he needs both to perform his best.”

  David pulled her into his arms, rolled her into a horizontal dip as if they were dancing the Salsa, and they kissed like young lovers instead of a long-married couple with five kids. Penny gasped, afraid Kenzie’s head would bang against the floor.

  Kenzie opened her eyes as his lips left hers, and her mouth parted in surprise, then turned into a cat-in-cream grin. “What was that for?”

  “Because ye’re digging at me again. My only defense is to seduce ye and take yer mind off my failures.”

  “Well, pull me up out of this death drop without breaking my other arm, and we can negotiate.” He kissed her again, then swooped her up, and she landed on his hip, circling her legs around his waist in a well-rehearsed dance move. “Well, you haven’t seduced me yet, so you better keep trying.”

  “Time out,” Rick said.

  Penny couldn’t deny the way her stomach took an unch
aracteristic and not-so-small flip watching real-life romance play out in front of her. Kenzie and David were just like Philippe and Rhona, and Pete and Sophia.

  “We need a van to carry all the luggage. As soon as I can arrange transportation, we’ll load up and get out of here. You have thirty minutes max. So”—Rick waved his hand—“go do…whatever…and be ready to go.”

  David set Kenzie on her feet. “I’ll race ye to the bedroom.”

  She ran off, giggling. “See ya’ll in thirty.”

  Philippe picked Rhona up and carried her in his arms. “Looks like we have thirty extra minutes, love. Is there anything you’d like to do?”

  “I’m sure I can think of something.”

  Philippe walked out, carrying his giggling wife.

  Pete took Soph’s hand and tugged her toward their first-floor bedroom. “Come on. We have to finish packing.”

  Remy turned to the sink, filled two glasses with tap water, and handed one to Rick. “Drink this. I think we’re both…dehydrated.”

  “Ya think?” Rick asked.

  Remy pointed with his chin in the direction of the departing lovers. “There’s something in the water, and they’ve been drinking it.”

  “Hell!” Rick pressed his lips together to hide a grin that broadcast to the universe—and the single folks in the kitchen—what they were talking about. “You must be on to something.” He guzzled the water, refilled the glass, and chugged it down too. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and winked at Penny. “I didn’t realize I was so…dehydrated.”

  Penny had thought the Barataria crew were a bunch of crazies, but this group wasn’t any saner. So what did that make her, since she’d never felt so welcome before in her life? “Okay, give me a glass. I suppose I’m dehydrated, too, and I’ll take a beer chaser.”

  Rick tilted his head, his mind going a mile and a half a minute, and he leaned forward, bracing his forearms across the counter. “A beer always cures what ales ya.”

  She tilted her head in the opposite direction and chuffed out a soft laugh. “That joke doesn’t work when you say it. You have to write it out.”

  “Then let me spell it for you.” Using his index finger, he wrote the letters A L E S across her cheeks and lips.

  Remy grabbed three chilled beers out of the refrigerator and uncapped them, then took a long draw while rolling his broad shoulders beneath his tight T-shirt. “Oh, shit. I get it now. Ales as in beer and ails as in illness.”

  Rick saluted her with his beer bottle, and she saluted him back. “Yeah, I know. I thought he was smarter than that, too. But it looks like he’s five beers short of a six-pack.”

  “Come on, babe. Let’s take them out on the porch and make out.”

  “Are you going to spell words on my face again with your finger?”

  “No, I thought I’d use my tongue.”

  They both glanced at Remy who was watching them, his mouth agape, and they cracked up. Penny hugged him. “Bless your heart. We’re just teasing. Come on, let’s go out on the porch and drink these.”

  “You sure you two doan wanna be alone?”

  She laughed. “Me? No way. I don’t feel safe around him without my cutlass.”

  Remy pointed with his beer toward the den. “It’s in your trunk. Do you want me to get it?”

  Holy-shit shock rippled through her veins. “Dominique’s cutlass? No! No! That wasn’t for me to keep.”

  “Lafitte packed your trunk,” Remy said. “Whatever’s in there is because he wanted you to have it.”

  “He already sent me home wearing hundreds of thousands of dollars in diamonds. There’s no telling what else he put in the trunk. I won’t be able to make myself open it for a while.”

  “There’s no need.” Rick looped his arm around her shoulders and led her toward the porch. “None of that stuff’s going anywhere, and one day you might be happy to have it.”

  She took a pull on her longneck beer, and it went down cold and bitter. Damn. If she could only see Jean one more time…

  59

  The Flight Home—Rick

  Penny fell asleep before the plane hit cruising altitude. In sleep, the fine lines at the corners of her eyes and mouth smoothed out.

  Rick flipped onto his side in his reclining club chair, facing her and closing his eyes, but he couldn’t sleep. There was too much on his mind. Not only about her, but also the winery and the new label he’d scheduled for release in the fall. The next few months would be insanely busy.

  He wanted Penny to cater the event, but that could be dangerous. If they started dating and it didn’t work out, could they still work together? Of course, they could. They were both professionals. And Penny wasn’t like other women he’d dated. If he didn’t scare her off, they could have a future. He’d never met a woman he wanted to build a family with, have children with—until now.

  Penny had never mentioned kids. Having them was extremely important to him, but he was getting way ahead of himself. There would never be any children if they couldn’t practice making them.

  But thinking about Penny and kids reminded him of the gala rehearsal. She’d been there watching the kids dance around the stage while he played the piano. Kenzie’s twin girls had pulled Penny out onto the dance floor, and she’d twirled them around, all giggling so much that the boys joined them, strutting their moves. But Rick’s eyes had been on Penny, not the kids until his date arrived early, and they left the event tent for a quickie.

  He shoved that colossal mistake out of his mind and returned to thoughts of the kids, which led him to Churchill, and Rick chuckled. How was the kid doing, and how was the flight to Virginia? He’d have to call Pete later for an update on Lukas’s reaction to Churchill. Knowing Lukas, he’d latch on to the new kid in the family and follow him around like a puppy. As responsible as Churchill seemed to be, he’d quickly adapt to his role as big brother.

  Rick moved to a forward-facing seat with access to an executive table and opened his laptop. Before he dealt with work issues, he sent Braham the promised notes on all the cigars he’d smoked. Then Rick read the emails from Cate, his wine master, executive chef, and master culinary gardener that he hadn’t had time to answer until now. While Penny slept, he needed to solve a few winery issues before he returned to the office.

  Three hours later…

  …he pushed back and got up to hit the head and get a cup of coffee. On his way back to his seat, he stopped and kissed Penny on the forehead. She didn’t budge an inch. She was exhausted, but she was healthy and would bounce back quickly, at least physically.

  He lifted strands of hair—without a speck of blue—off her face and kissed the same spot again. God, the woman turned him on.

  When Lafitte kissed her, Rick had to sit on his hands to keep from decking the son of a bitch. But it would have upset Penny, and he didn’t want to hurt her, so he tolerated the pirate’s lips on his woman. The guy was dead now, though, and he’d never kiss Penny again.

  It would take hours of therapy for Rick and Penny to work through their shit-pots full of traumas. Elliott would insist that Rick go, and, together with Meredith, would hold his job as president of Montgomery Winery over his head until he sat his ass in his therapist’s office and confessed all his insecurities and fears.

  Rick made a note on his calendar to call his therapist in the morning. He wouldn’t be stubborn this time. His face still heated with embarrassment over his freak-out, Kenzie planting him on the kitchen floor, and Elliott calling him out to the woodshed.

  He shivered at the memory and pushed the self-flagellation aside, and, for the next ninety minutes, he and Cate traded emails. She called the owner of the rental house and extended the rental agreement through the end of June, and also reserved the limo.

  Cate was grooming a capable assistant to take her job when she retired, but every time Cate mentioned retirement, he offered her more money to stay. One of these days, begging wasn’t going to work, and she’d leave him. Then Meredith wo
uld lose her spy. He’d learned early on that although Meredith had given him management responsibility, she still kept her finger on the pulse of Montgomery Winery.

  When Veronica, his flight attendant, announced they’d be on the ground in twenty minutes, he closed his laptop, stowed it away, and moved back to the seat next to Penny. He whispered in her ear. “We’ll be landing shortly.”

  She opened her eyes, blinking. “Landing? How long have I been asleep?”

  “Four and a half hours.”

  She pushed the buttons to raise the seat back and lower the leg rest. “I didn’t realize I was so tired. I was dreaming about floating on an inflatable lounge chair sipping umbrella drinks.”

  “I’ll take you to the Hotel Esencia near Cancún if you want to go to the beach.”

  “I’ve heard of that place. It’s supposed to be gorgeous, but I can’t leave again so soon.” She turned to face him directly. “There is something you can do for me, though.”

  He didn’t like the sound of this. She was going to ask him to do something he wouldn’t like. “I’ll do whatever I can.”

  “I need two weeks.”

  “For what?” he asked slowly.

  “Time. I need my space until we return to New Orleans.”

  “I’ll give you space as long as you have dinner with me.”

  “Come on, Rick. You know what I’m asking. I’ve got several things to work out, and it’ll be easier to do if you’re not around. Plus, I’ve got to get a new driver’s license since Jean decided to keep mine.”

  “If I’d known, I would have insisted he return it,” Rick said.

  “I just hope he destroyed it before he died.”

  “He wouldn’t do anything to put your life at risk.”

  “I hope you’re right, but—”

  “Shh. Let’s not worry about it. Let’s talk about the Preakness Stakes at Pimlico in Maryland next weekend. Go with me.”

  “Sounds like fun, but no. My staff would go apeshit if I disappeared again so soon. They’re still pissed at me for going dark for almost a week. I mean they’re thrilled I’m okay and on my way home, but they’re still pissed, and so is Morgan. She might not speak to me for months now. I’ve got a lot to do to restore that friendship.”