Page 125 of Four Promises to Love

“Yes.” She gave him a dazzling smile. “Yes, it does.”

“Then it’s settled.”

Owen gave her a sweet, possessive kiss before turning to his family.

“Now let us solve that last riddle and find those jewels.”

Thirty-Six

Reunited with his beloved, Owen felt the sense of rightness that had eluded him for so long.

This is where I am meant to be. Finn is my home. Solving this riddle is part of our destiny.

Oddly, the daunting task didn’t intimidate him. Fate—or some other mysterious force—had brought him and Finn together to love and heal one another. It had led them here, to Chuddums, where his three siblings before him had found true love. If, as the rhyme claimed, Rose and Thomas were to be trapped in this earthly realm until “love’s seasons” freed them, then Owen and Finn had to be the fourth and last season.

The women had been right from the start. Even now, the promises Owen and Finn had made to each other were leading them to uncover the secrets Felix Pearce had taken such pains to hide. Ultimately, these facts would help them undo the real curse: the lies that had obscured the true story of Rose and Thomas.

Xenia had refreshments brought in, and everyone gathered around the coffee table, sipping tea and contemplating the various clues, assembled together for the first time. Owen occupied the sofa with Finn on one side, Gigi on the other. He read Pearce’s letter again, Gigi doing the same over his shoulder.

“At least this proves that Felix was trying to be a hero,” Gigi said. “He knew about his brother’s trespasses and wanted to make things right. That is why he took the family heirloom and hid it for Rose to find if she came back. It was to be restitution.”

“Couldn’t he have been more explicit?” Grantley muttered from an adjacent chair. “It would have been nice if he’d simply said, Apologies that my brother Langdon was such an evil bastard. Please accept these emeralds as payment for all the suffering he caused.”

“Felix was wise to be discreet,” James pointed out from the opposite settee. “If his family found this letter, they might have discovered the location of the jewels and his testimony. They would have destroyed any evidence incriminating their golden son. Felix had to choose his words with care.”

“I agree,” Finn said. “In some ways, Felix was as powerless as Rose. The villagers turned Rose into a monster; Felix’s family erased him. Perhaps that was why he wanted justice for her…because he knew how it felt to be an outsider. Has any progress been made on finding his gravesite?”

“Unfortunately, no,” Grantley said.

“We searched the mill, but nothing came of it,” Papa added. “We could continue our efforts, but it feels like we are looking for that proverbial needle.”

“Something is not right.” Leaning forward, Finn tapped her finger on the last clue. “Felix tells us specifically that the last of his gift is not for finding but for knowing…that we won’t come to it by searching. I think I may have led us astray. Maybe the hiding place has nothing to do with Felix.”

“Your reasoning was sound,” Owen said.

She chewed on her lip. “Was it? I thought Felix intended for us to find his final resting place to validate his existence. But perhaps the truth is even sadder. Perhaps he understood his family too well and realized that they would erase him completely after his death. Just as they expunged him from the parish records, so too might they cause his remains to be lost forever. He himself might not have known where he would end up. In that case, how could he hide the jewels there beforehand?”

Her logic was sobering.

Owen squeezed her hand. “Let us start over and think of other possibilities.”

“You have the benefit of fresh eyes,” Mama said. “For instance, what jumps out at me is this bit about looking beneath the lie. What might Felix be referring to?”

“I recorded a list of possibilities from our last discussion.” Xenia consulted her notebook. “The most obvious lie is that Rose killed Thomas; we believe the real murderer was Langdon Pearce. Another falsehood is that Rose and Thomas were enemies. They were, in fact, lovers and later man and wife. Finally, the villagers claimed Rose was a witch.”

Mama raised her brows. “None of those lies bring to mind a specific, physical location?”

“We’ve searched several places frequented by Rose and Thomas.” Owen counted off the places on his fingers. “The hidden room behind the fireplace, the rose garden, the caldarium, and the yew tree by the stream. We found some clues but no treasure.”

“I suppose we could look in the hermit’s grotto,” Evie said.

At Finn’s questioning glance, she clarified, “It is a place I saw in my visions. But it’s tiny, with few places to hide things. Manderly and I have, um, spent considerable time there.” She blushed. “We probably would have stumbled upon the jewels by now.”

“Maybe there is another lie we haven’t considered,” Mama suggested.

“What are you thinking, Penny?” Papa asked.

“We’re looking for a particular kind of fiction, aren’t we? One that is explicitly tied to a place where jewels could be concealed.”