Broken Love (Broken #4)(38)

“Gross,” I mumbled as I turned away from Nate.

Lucy walked up to me and clapped her hands. “Shall we head to the house?”

Excitement bubbled up once again. “Yes!”

As we made our way back to the stone house, Ryder pulled me back. “You’re not showing her Kate’s journal, are you?”

My eyes landed on Lucy as I shook my head. “I don’t think Kate ever had any intentions of your mom reading her journal. There are some very personal and private things in there.”

With a nod of his head, Ryder said, “I think for now you keep that find to yourself.”

Even though a part of me felt so guilty for holding something back that was Lucy’s daughters, I agreed as we continued to follow Lucy who was now walking in record time.

The moment I handed her the Bible, I could see the happiness on her face, especially when she found the letter Robert had written to Lizzy.

“And this letter was in the Bible?” Lucy asked with a confused expression.

“Yes. I assumed you had seen it before.”

She shook her head. “No, I had found Lizzy’s journal years ago in their house in Helena. That’s how I knew about Lizzy.”

“So, Robert and Lizzy were your great-great-grandparents?”

Ryder shrugged, “Great-great … great-great-great … what difference does it make?”

I playfully hit him on the chest. “A lot!”

Her head snapped up and she flashed me a wide grin. “When you’re moving around a bit more, we’ll head in and I’ll show you the house. It is a beautiful Victorian house Robert had built when Lizzy and he came over to America.”

“Why did he pick Montana?” I asked as Lucy took a picture of Robert’s letter.

“I would think the gold in the area. At the time they came here, the area was growing in population. The railroad and gold were big money makers and Robert invested in both. He needed to; he walked away from his birth right in England so he only had the money his mother had given him to start a future.”

“Who owns the house now?”

Lucy looked at me like I had grown two heads. “We do. It’s been in the family ever since it was built.”

My mind was spinning. Where did Kate find the letter and why didn’t she give it to her mother? In her own journal she writes about keeping a secret. Whose secret? Her’s or Lizzy’s? Whatever the hell it was why did Kate keep this letter away from her mom? Maybe the secret was in the old house?

Ryder walked up to me and placed his mouth to my ear. “I already see your mind working. We’ll visit the house tomorrow if you feel up for the drive.”

I wanted to squeal in delight I was so happy.

After showing Lucy where I found the Bible, and explaining Kate’s picture, she stood there staring at the bookshelf. “I must have brought Kate’s picture here, but how in the world did I miss the Bible?”

“Maybe Kate had it and placed it on the shelf. Sometimes when we’re searching so hard for something, we easily pass it over. The spine doesn’t even have any wording on it.”

Lucy nodded. “It would appear to be just another book … but … I wonder why Kate would have had the Bible?”

Ryder let out a chuckle. “Maybe she was wanting to research the family also.”

Lucy slowly shook her head. “You know, now that you mention it, she did ask me a lot of questions about Lizzy and Robert. She seemed to be interested in my thoughts about them running off together.” Lucy smiled weakly.

Ryder and I both chortled as we watched Lucy look over the Bible.

“Well, now that I’ve got this back in my hands, I can get to work on trying to figure out the rest of these names.” Lucy took the Bible and headed back to the main house to research the other names. I could hardly make out the handwriting, but she seemed to be able to.

The moment the door shut, I turned to Ryder and said, “I need to go upstairs and find Kate’s sketch pads.”

“Now?”

My heart was pounding so loud in my chest, I was sure Ryder could hear it. For some reason, I was desperate to find her work. Desperate to know more about her … and her connection to Lizzy.

What I didn’t know was how much my life was going to change when I found the things I was looking for.





OPENING THE DOOR, I smiled when I saw Nate standing there. “I hope you know getting this key away from our mother was damn near impossible.”

I patted him on the back as he walked in. “But not impossible.”

“No, nothing is impossible if you put your mind to it … and lie.”

I let out a chuckle. “What did you tell her?”

“That I was meeting an old friend in Helena and she was interested in old Victorian houses. Just the idea that I might meet and settle down with a girl here in Montana was enough for her to hand me the keys no questions asked.”

Laughing, I shook my head as Nate looked around. “Where is your evil girlfriend who tricked me into promising her my life? Mom would be so upset if she knew she wasn’t the one showing Ava the house.”

Rolling my eyes, I said, “That was your own stupidity to make the bet with her. And she’s upstairs with her head buried in Kate’s old sketches and Mom will never find out.”