I stared through the windows toward the lake.
“What happens to the company?”
“That depends on whether Daniel cooperates.”
“And if he doesn’t?”
“We request a court-supervised accounting.”
Harold said nothing until Linda had left.
Then he spoke quietly.
“There is something else.”
I turned toward him.
“I have cared about you for a very long time.”
My entire body became still.
He continued before I could answer.
“Thomas knew.”
“Harold.”
“I never crossed a line. I would never have dishonored him or you. But he knew that after we met, before either of you married, I had feelings for you.”
“Why tell me now?”
“Because I do not want my help mistaken for a transaction. I expect nothing from you. If you remain in the guest suite for ten years, we are friends. If you move tomorrow, we are friends. If you never want this subject mentioned again, it will not be.”
I looked at the man who had carried my suitcase without attempting to claim the life attached to it.
“Thomas knew?”
“He told me once that loving someone sometimes means being grateful she chose a good man, even when that man is not you.”
That was when the tears finally came.
Not because Harold had loved me.
Because Thomas had understood and trusted both of us.
Harold walked toward the window, offering me privacy even inside his own home.
That small act revealed more than any confession could have.
The missing jewelry led us to another discovery.
Linda asked me to create an inventory of the personal belongings still inside Daniel’s house. I included the sapphire brooch and gold bracelet.
Harold remembered the brooch immediately.
“Your grandmother wore that at Daniel’s christening.”
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