The Sunstone Brooch : Time Travel Romance Katherine Logan (no david read aloud TXT) 📖

in love and fighting evil. Her experiences were wilder than any book she’d ever edited.

Meredith poured sherry from a crystal decanter with a surprisingly steady hand. “This is a carefully blended sherry I brought from home. You’ll notice the apple, citrus blossom, and roasted nut flavors. I hope you like it.” She handed a glass to Ensley and lifted the other. “To what should we toast? Wounded lions and lambs?”

When Meredith asked the question, her eyes, her whole demeanor, conveyed a stark, heartbreaking reality. She was also a wounded lion and, in many ways, the wounded lamb as well.

“How’d you know?”

“I was in Lyle Ann’s sitting room across from Elliott’s room.”

“So you heard us yelling.”

“Most of it.” Meredith sat with her back ramrod straight, her chin lifted ever so slightly, and the force of her iron will on full display. Angry waves still rippled off her, but at least they weren’t white-capped now.

Ensley raised her glass. “Let’s toast to wounded lions and sacrificial lambs.” She pinged her glass against Meredith’s, hoping she didn’t look as stark and heartbroken as Meredith.

“So, Braham and Cullen sent you in there to talk Elliott out of his pity party?”

Ensley shrugged. “Something like that. How’d you know?”

“I know them. This situation is very stressful, and it’s their natural inclination to try to fix it, but they can’t.”

“Who can?”

“Only Elliott. He messed up this time, and it’s going to take more than an apology to make it right again. But what I don’t understand is why they thought you could.”

Ensley gnawed on that question for a moment. It had to be more than her connection to Erik. But for the life of her, she didn’t know. Probably that telepathy thing again.

“Maybe they thought I was spunky enough to give him hell and fast enough to take cover before the cyclone hit.”

Meredith smiled. “You, Kit, Kenzie, and JL have a lot in common. I’m sure Braham, Cullen, and Austin saw the similarities. But there is a connection between you and Erik, and Elliott thought it was his job to tell you.”

“How’d you know?”

Meredith sipped from her glass, then held the crystal between her palms and slowly rolled it back and forth as if she wasn’t even aware she was doing it. She didn’t answer immediately, and Ensley wondered if she was going to ignore the question.

Then Meredith took another sip. “I’ve studied genealogy for decades, and when I met you and your cousin, I did a background search. I wanted to know your family’s country of origin. Your mother’s family came from the Scottish Highlands and settled in North Dakota, so you’re from a branch descending from Thomas MacKlenna’s brother Edward.”

Ensley’s jaw dropped. “Are you serious? Am I related to JC? And you never said anything?”

“Very distantly related, and I didn’t want to interfere. I liked you instantly and hoped one day you might be our daughter-in-law. If a relationship developed between you and James Cullen, I would have told you, but I didn’t want it to influence you either way.”

“Does Elliott know about the connection to the MacKlennas?”

“Elliott has never been very interested in genealogy. The hows and whys don’t concern him. He just wants to know the bottom line. I never told him about your connection to the family.”

“So you’re in the habit of keeping secrets?”

“Secrets and acts of omission. They seem to be a family curse. But I heard Elliott tell you about your other parent.”

“Erik. Did you know?”

“I suspected. Sophia painted a portrait of Erik based on Penny’s description. When Elliott told me about your disappearance, your photograph triggered something in my brain, and I went back to Erik’s portrait. You have his eyes—glacial blue—and his high cheekbones. You look too much alike not to be related.”

Ensley popped up out of her chair as her heart slammed urgently in her chest. “I can’t believe my mother was unfaithful. She just wouldn’t have cheated. That’s not who she was.”

“Your father was injured in Iraq and couldn’t have children. Erik was a sperm donor.”

A second slid off the mantel clock, then another, both of them drenched in tension. “How could you possibly know that? It’s private information and violates all sorts of HIPAA regulations.”

“You’re right on both counts. And I’m not proud of everything I’ve done through my network of detectives and genealogists. They often tread lightly into the gray zone.”

“But Elliott said Erik loved my mother.”

“I’m sure he did. But that doesn’t mean your mother was in love with him.”

“Are you just saying that to make me feel better?”

“I don’t think words can make you feel better right now, Ensley. You have to look at what people do, not what they say. That’s where you find honesty.”

“Elliott opened the door and let me in. What does that mean?”

“What did he tell you?”

“That Erik stood in as Elliott’s proxy when he beheaded the man who tortured JC. And he asked Elliott to be his proxy and watch over me as if I was his child.”

“And he will when he comes to his senses again.” Meredith sipped her sherry. “That makes you a Viking warrior. How do you feel about that?”

Ensley lifted her chin. “Proud. But it doesn’t take anything away from how much I still love my dad.”

“And it shouldn’t.”

“But this story isn’t about my Viking father. It’s about the clan, which right now is rudderless. It can’t survive without you and Elliott. Everyone would splinter off. It’s the cohesiveness that strengthens the family and protects the brooches.”

“You’re very insightful.”

“Not any more than the others. So what do you want from Elliott? What will it take to get your issues resolved? I can tell you’re putting up a good front, but you’re crying on the inside. What do you need? If words don’t matter, what do you want to see?”

Meredith stood, set her empty glass aside, and walked over to the window, hugging herself. She didn’t speak, didn’t move, didn’t even seem to breathe. Finally, she said, “I want to see James Cullen.”

Ensley walked over