The photograph showed a young couple who were obviously in love with each other. Jacob was taller than Rose, she came to around his shoulders. They were both slim built, although Jacob looked to have some muscle on him, with broad shoulders. Rose just looked slim and delicate, with a ribbon tied around her long blonde hair. At least it looked blonde.
Mack had to fight back tears as she looked at the photograph. These two were so much in love, and the relationship ended so tragically. It broke her heart.
She didn’t feel ready to read what Rose had written, but knew she must, for Thomas, and because it would only play on her mind if she didn’t. She turned the photograph over and finally read what Rose had written to her brother all those years ago.
“Oh, Thomas.” She placed her hand over her mouth. Tears rolled down her face.
“I know, Mack. She really did love me, and if she had made it to Boston, she said she would have come back to see me eventually. Probably when she could stand up to Mother and Father.”
Mack dried her eyes. “Thomas, would you mind if I just take a picture with my cell of this photograph?”
“No, that’s fine. We’ll have to get you a proper copy made.”
“That would be great.”
Just as Mack was about to snap a copy of the picture, Lucas came running into the room. Thomas quickly picked the photograph up off the table and put it back into his pocket.
She pulled herself together. “Come on, time for breakfast,” Mack announced, just as Dean walked into the kitchen.
He walked over to her and couldn’t help but run his hand down her back in a loving caress. “Are you okay?” he whispered in her ear. Dean bent down and placed a sweet kiss to her lips.
“I am now,” she replied, grinning. “Come on, Dean. Let’s eat.”
Breakfast was a silent affair, and all Dean wanted to do was pick Mack up and hold her until all her troubles were gone. She’d been crying when he’d walked into the kitchen, probably looking at the photograph Thomas had quickly hidden when Lucas appeared. This whole thing with Rose and his grandfather had really gotten to her. He hated how much it upset her.
It also shocked him just how much he was feeling for Mack. She’d gotten under his skin and he was sure she was there to stay. He just hoped she felt the same, because he had no intention of letting her walk away.
“You’re looking mighty happy with yourself, young man,” Thomas said, pointing his fork at Dean.
“Um, yes I am,” he replied, while eating his breakfast.
“Are you going to share?” Thomas looked between Dean and Mack.
“I might share my thoughts, but I’m not sharing my woman,” Dean said, to a laughing Thomas across the table.
“Who’s your woman?” Lucas piped up.
Dean paused with the last of his breakfast about to disappear into his mouth. “Your Auntie Mack. Is that all right with you, Lucas?”
“If you make her cry, I’m going to beat you up,” Lucas growled.
Dean about managed to swallow a mouth full of food without laughing. “If I make her cry, I’ll let you beat me up. Is that a deal?” He held out his hand to Lucas, who looked at it then shook it with sticky fingers.
“Deal.”
“Don’t I get a say in any of this?” Mack asked.
Lucas and Dean both looked at her. “No!” they said together.
She laughed. “Okay, if all the macho stuff is out of the way, what’s everyone doing today?”
“I’m going with Thomas to the Irish Pub,” Lucas informed them, rather proudly.
“Oh, you are, are you?” She raised an eyebrow in Thomas’ direction and waited for an explanation, which wasn’t long in coming.
“Well now, I usually meet a couple of old guys every week, and today is the day. We play cards, and just people watch. They want me to bring Lucas, as I mentioned him the other night, a time or two.”
Mack still frowned. She wasn’t too sure about the pub idea. “Are you sure Lucas will be okay there?”
“Don’t be worrying. You have enough on your plate right now. Lucas will be fine. If I didn’t think he would be, I wouldn’t take him.”
“Okay, but I’ll pick him up just after lunch.”
Lucas started to jump up and down. “Yes, yes, yes, I’m going to the pub, I’m going to the pub.” He started to sing around the kitchen.
Mack put her head in her hands. Dean and Thomas roared with laughter.
“Oh my God, Lucas. Do not, under any condition, tell your father.”
“Why, Auntie Mack? Daddy always says you have to at least do everything once.”
Mack glanced at Thomas and Dean then gave them a dirty look because they were still laughing. “Lucas, I don’t think your Daddy meant for you to do it all while you’re still six!”
“Okay, scouts honor, this is our secret. I’m going up to wash my hands. Back in a minute, Thomas.” Lucas rushed off.
“You do realize as soon as he sees his father, that’s going to be the first thing he tells him?” Mack picked up her coffee and took a sip, while thinking about Lucas’ trip to the ‘Irish pub’ with Thomas. Hopefully he wouldn’t get into too much trouble.
“Spend today with me again?” Dean asked, breaking into her thoughts.
“I’d love to.”
<><><>
“Well, who do we have here, Thomas?”
“This is my good friend, Lucas Cartwright. Lucas, meet a couple of friends of mine, Levi and Walt. We’ve been friends for seventy-five years.”
Lucas’ jaw dropped and Levi smiled. “Well, come on over here and tell us some gossip, kid.”
He took a seat between Levi and Thomas. “What do you want to know?”
“Well now, let me think. What’s going on up at that cottage of Thomas’ that you’re staying in?”
“Oh, that’s easy. My Auntie has a secret about something she found about someone named Rose, and Dean slept in her bed last night, but she doesn’t know I know that. Is that what you mean?” Lucas looked at the stunned faces looking back at him. “What did I say?”
Thomas came back to his wits first. “You did fine, Lucas. Why don’t I teach you how to play poker, so you can fleece your father,” he replied, trying to change the subject.
“That would be cool.” Lucas grinned.
Thomas hadn’t expect that kind of gossip to come out of Lucas’ mouth. He was a handful all right. He chuckled to himself.
Tomorrow. Tomorrow he would talk to Mack about the night Rose died. Maybe. Maybe not.
Thomas glanced quickly over at Levi and Walt, who still seemed a little bit preoccupied. He was guessing they were thinking back to the time Rose died.
“Okay, let’s shuffle the cards.”
Chapter 26
“Dean, do you think the library here in town will have newspaper archives from 1947?” Mack moved to sit beside him on the sofa.
He reached out to her and pulled her in towards him for a hug. “Probably, why? What are you thinking?”
“I’m thinking that if Thomas can’t talk, then surely there would have been something about a young woman going off the cliffs written up in the newspaper. If there was, why didn’t Jacob read about it? Most people read newspapers.”
“You’ve got a point. Do you want to go?”
She sat up to look more closely at him. “Are you sure you don’t mind spending time at the library?”
“As long as I’m with you, I don’t mind.” He caressed her face then leaned in to kiss her.
As he started to pull away, she took hold of his face and sealed her lips to his for another quick kiss. “Mmm.” She licked her lips. “Thank you for being understanding. I really appreciate it. We could go somewhere after the library if you like.”
“I’d like.”
“Oh, I almost forgot. I took a picture of the photograph Thomas found. Let me show you.”
She stood up, reached for her cell and searched through her pictures to find the one she wanted. Unfortuna
tely, it was a really bad picture and didn’t really show the faces. She must have taken the picture just as Thomas removed it from the table when Lucas appeared.
“Damn, this is totally crap. Look.” She passed her cell to Dean.
“You can take another one again, Mack. In fact, when we go to visit my grandfather, I’ll bring my laptop and portable scanner over, and we can get a better copy for you.” Dean stood up and grabbed his jacket from the back of the kitchen chair.
Mack followed him out of the cottage. “That would be great. Thanks.”
He put his arm around Mack’s neck and brought her in close to him, then placed a soft kiss to the top of her head. “Come on, the library awaits,” he said, not wanting to let her go.
<><><>
As Dean pulled his bike into a parking space outside of the Thomas Memorial Library, Mack wondered if it was the same library where Rose worked all those years ago. Parts of it certainly looked old enough, although it looked like new sections had been added over time.
They climbed off Dean’s bike and removed their helmets. Mack reached up to him and pulled his head down to hers for a sizzling kiss, then pulling away she gave him a saucy grin.
“What was that for?” He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her even closer to nuzzle her neck.
“I can’t resist you.” She groaned.
A car suddenly backfired, which brought them back to their senses. Dean took a deep breath and moved her a bit away from him. “We better head inside, before I put you over the bike, and take you back to the cottage.”
She giggled when she caught the look on Dean’s face. They were acting like lovesick teenagers. Mack opened the door to the library and stood with her hands on her hips, waiting for him to catch up. “Coming?”
“I’m not answering that.” He ushered her inside.
He leaned against one of the pillars in the middle of the library and just watched his woman walk over to one of the library assistants. She’d put more of a sway into her step, which she’d done deliberately to get a reaction out of him… Hot damn!
Last night when Mack took matters into her own hands, literally, it was a very nice, pleasurable surprise. He hadn’t been expecting that, although he’d hoped. What guy wouldn’t?
Yesterday, when he’d listened to Mack read about his grandfather’s love life, he’d found it kind of creepy and hard to imagine the Jacob from the diary, who was in love with Rose, to be his grandfather who was in love with his wife, Eliza.
Mack waved him over to follow her. He straightened from his slouched position and followed her to an archive room. She seemed to be in deep discussion with the male library assistant, who was ogling her. Dean’s woman.
Dean placed their helmets on top of the large table in the center of the room, and his leather jacket over the back of one of the chairs. He walked over to Mack, wrapped one of his arms around her waist, and pulled her in close, laying his claim. She didn’t let him down either. She placed one of her arms around his waist with her hand going in to his back pocket to squeeze his butt. The little minx! Dean leaned over and placed a kiss on top of her head as he pulled her in tight to his chest.
The assistant seemed to get the message, because after he’d finished telling her to come get him if she needed anything else, he dashed from the room.
She grinned, reached up and pulled his head down to hers for a quick kiss, as she walked off towards the shelves where a lot of rather large books were stored.
“The newspapers we want are over here. Apparently, each page is laminated for protection, so he didn’t have any problem leaving us alone in here.” Mack looked back to Dean.
“Alone? For how long?”
She laughed. “Get your mind off body parts and come over here and help. You’re taller than me.”
“Yes, ma’am!” He sauntered over, laughing.
He lifted the volume down that covered the week of April 14, 1947, and set it down on the table, while Mack took her denim jacket off and placed it on top of his on the chair.
She was really excited, hoping there was something in these papers about what happened to Rose. It appeared to have been awhile since anyone had looked through them, because they were caked in a few layers of dust. She blew it off the best she could, then turned the page to April 15th. They both eagerly scanned each page closely to try and find something.
As they carefully looked through the 19th, Mack started to lose hope of finding anything. It was five days after the event, and surely it would have been covered before then.
Just as she started to turn the page, something caught Dean’s eye. He put his hand out and stopped the page from turning. “Mack, look. Read this.”
April 19, 1947
Today the Coast Guard has called off the search for the missing girl, who fell to her death, over the cliffs on the evening of the 14th. Clothes have come ashore on the beach, but as yet, there is still no sign of a body.
If anyone has any information about the identity of the missing girl, please contact...
“Could this be Rose?” She lifted her face up to look at Dean, excitement filling her eyes.
He pulled her out of the chair and onto his lap. “I don’t know. It sounds like it. But why isn’t her name in the article? It’s as though no one knows it’s Rose.”
She snuggled more into him. “I’m going to have to ask Thomas. It just doesn’t make sense. Her family obviously had money. If her father was trying to marry her off to a wealthy guy, her drowning should have been bigger news.”
“Come on, let’s go and get something to eat, then head back and see if there’s anything out there on the Internet about Rose. There should at least be a death certificate we can view.”
Chapter 27
“Are you enjoying your lunch?” Thomas wiped his mouth with a napkin and smiled at Lucas, who was arranging his remaining fries into a row of soldiers on his plate.
“Yeah, that was really awesome.” He shoveled more ketchup-covered fries into his mouth. “Hey, look! It’s Auntie Mack and Dean,” Lucas shouted, then shot up out of his chair, ran out of the door and into Mack’s arms.
“Are you okay, Lucas?” she asked as Dean walked around his bike and started to ruffle his hair.
“Great, I can play poker,” Lucas added with great pride.
“Oh, you can, can you?” She grinned at Dean.
Dean took Mack by the hand and led the way inside to be introduced to Levi, Walt having already left.
Mack looked stunned. “You’re Levi. I mean, Levi?” She laughed. “Sorry, I’m not usually an idiot. I mean Levi, as in childhood friend of Thomas?” She found it unbelievable that Levi and Thomas were still best friends after all these years.
Dean handed her an ice cold Pepsi and put his down on the table, then carried a couple of chairs over for himself and Mack. He put both chairs close together, and then eased Mack down into hers. He needed to touch her, and put his arm around her, gave her shoulder a squeeze, and whispered in her ear. “What’s wrong?”
Mack turned to reply and stopped when she realized just how close to Dean’s face she was. Looking into his eyes, she leaned forward slightly. “It’s okay.” Then she kissed him. “Just making sure the ladies over there know you’re mine. Plus, I couldn’t resist.”
She moved slightly away and noticed a twinkle in Thomas’ eye. He probably had us married already, she thought. After she took a long drink of her Pepsi, she looked over at Thomas. “How long have you known Levi?”
“Seventy-five years, or there abouts.”
Dean put his drink down rather abruptly. “Damn, that’s a hell of a long time.”
Mack looked just as shocked. “In Rose’s diary, she mentioned you a couple of times. In fact, the description that really made me laugh was about you and Thomas absconding with an apple pie, and that you both got caught returning the plate.”
“I remember as though it was yesterday,” Levi replied, laughing.
Dean could see the wheels tur
ning in Mack’s head and wondered how long it would take for her to start questioning Levi.
He was seated close with his hand caressing her thigh, her hip, or anywhere else he could reach. Right now, his hand was caressing the back of her neck. Mack had her hand on his thigh and was sliding it up and down. He wasn’t sure she knew what she was doing. Boy, another couple of inches, and she would know just how much she affected him.
“Levi, can I ask you something?”
He paused and took a drink, then he quickly glanced at Thomas. “Yes, I guess. As long as it isn’t going to get me into trouble.”
Dean reached down and removed her hand from his thigh. She was playing hell with his libido. He laced their fingers together while she decided what to ask Levi.
“Do you remember Rose? What she was like?”
“I do.” He had a slight blush. “She was the most beautiful girl I’ve ever seen, and I had one hell of a crush on her.”
“What’s a crush?” Lucas asked, having just finished his huge ice cream sundae.
“A crush is when you really like someone, and you can’t think about anyone else,” Mack replied to Lucas, who still looked confused.
“So you mean like you and Dean?”
With everyone laughing, Dean let go of her hand, took hold of her face and kissed her, very slow and very soft.
“Yes, like me and your Auntie Mack,” Dean answered grinning, at Mack’s dazed look.
Just then, Dean’s cell started to ring. “Excuse me a minute. It’s my mother.” He stood up, and before he walked outside to answer his cell, placed a quick kiss to the top of Mack’s head.
Her sandwich arrived and she started to eat it, but kept glancing outside to catch a glimpse of Dean on the phone. She liked to look at him. Wherever he was, her eyes were always drawn to him. Was this how Rose felt when she was with Jacob?
Dean came back inside and appeared rather distracted as he sat back down next to her. “Is everything okay? You look bothered.”
He sighed in frustration after he’d talked to his mother. “I’m fine.” Then he looked directly at Mack. “I have to go to Boston tomorrow, for a garden party at my folks’ place. Do you and Lucas want to go with me? We would, of course, have to go in your car, but we could share the driving. We could also bring my laptop and scanner back as well.”
Rose Page 15
