Brett had picked up tons of old family photos from CJ’s house to go through before he went to the tavern for dinner that night. The one he had for the memorial had been perfect, picturing Matilda at the piano with her grandnephews standing around it. But now he was looking for one that might show the dress she loved so much. Not that they’d ever find it. Yet, he was still curious. What if he could show her the photo and ask her if that was the dress she wore the night before she died?
He was sifting through the photos at his desk at home, looking for the ones when she was older, but one photo caught his eye. An old car that wasn’t vintage but new in the photo. And his mother when she was younger, holding hands with a man standing in front of it. She was smiling, he was smirking, and Brett swore that was the car that Stanton was driving the night he’d hit him.
The 1930s gray Plymouth. Though in the picture, he couldn’t tell the color. He flipped the photo over, and on the back, written in his mother’s handwriting, was Bill Smith and Me.
He couldn’t believe it. A human boyfriend before she met his dad and married him? Did she know he was a bank robber?
He called CJ. “You won’t believe what I found.” He continued to sort through the photos, looking for one of his great-aunt, and found one where she was with her sister and a couple of guys—all decked out. It was dated six months before she died. Was this the dress? He recognized one of the men. Theodore. But not the other. “I found a photo of Mom with Bill Smith. Shorty Bill Smith and his car. She looks like she was about eighteen in the photo.”
“The bank robber?”
“Yeah, and the car that Stanton was driving. I also found a photo of Matilda with her sister and two men six months before she died. Theodore and someone else. Maybe we can make a copy of it and send it around the pack to see if anyone knows who he was.”
“Okay, we can do that. Are you going to the tavern tonight?”
“Yeah. Are you?”
“No. Laurel wants me to spend tonight home with her.”
Brett chuckled. “Okay. Well, looks like about that time. Got to go. Talk to you later.”
“You’ll have to show me the photo of Mom and the thug. I can’t believe it.”
“Me either. I wonder if Dad knew about it.”
“I’ll have to dig up news reports of who the arresting—well, would-have-been arresting—officers were. If Shorty hadn’t died.”
“Okay, let me know what you learn.”
“Will do.” After they ended the call, Brett headed over to the tavern, parked, and went inside.
“I thought you were crazy for suggesting that Ellie date other guys,” Sam told Brett as he arrived early for dinner, took a seat, and got a beer.
“You changed your mind?”
Sam shrugged. “The place is packed every time she arrives to have a meal with another guy.” He handed Brett a mug of beer. “Yesterday when she canceled on Radcliff for lunch, I swear the whole pack knew about it, and it was the deadest it has ever been in here.”
“Well, enjoy it while it lasts, because after she dines with Radcliff and his brother, she’s not dating anyone else.”
“Are you sure about that?”
Brett eyed Sam, wondering if he’d gotten wind of something. “Yeah.” He took a swig of his beer. “She hasn’t gotten any more calls from bachelor males.” Not that he knew of.
Sam dried another beer mug and set it behind the counter.
“Well, do you know something I don’t?” Brett asked him.
“I don’t want to be the bearer of bad tidings, but I heard through the rumor mill that Sarandon asked her to go out with him in the morning.”
“She doesn’t eat big breakfasts, as far as I know.”
Sam leaned over the counter. “That’s all I know. If you want to know more, you’ll have to ask Sarandon.”
No way was Brett going to ask his brother what was going on. Knowing him, Sarandon was going to lecture Ellie, not date her. Where would they be going in the morning? Silva made cinnamon rolls to go, but her tea shop was only open for lunch. Unless Sarandon had made special arrangements with her.
Brett wasn’t going to try to track them down, as much as the reporter in him wanted to—and the wolf in him too. He heard the door jingle and glanced back at it. Silva was chatting happily with Ellie as they walked into the tavern. He wanted to sweep Ellie right out the door and have dinner with her—and forget that her date was closing the door right behind her.
* * *
Poor wolf, Ellie thought as she saw Brett, beer mug in hand, take a seat where Darien and Lelandi usually sat when they came here. The place was packed except for a table reserved for her and her date. None of the other Silvers showed up, which made it even harder to see Brett sitting there all alone, staring into his mug of frothy beer.
“Want to ask him to join us?” Kemp asked. “It’s almost painful to watch him suffering so.”
Ellie laughed. She loved the guys she had dated. They were all so decent, though she suspected they would have been a lot more forward if she wasn’t really dating Brett. She loved Brett most of all. “No, he wanted this. Besides, I’ve told all of you it’s only for fun.”
“Unless someone else made your heart skip for joy, right? I mean, that’s why we all were begging you to go out with us. Not because we wanted to teach Brett a lesson, but mainly because we all hoped we would have a chance to be that one and only for you.”
“Of course. And I warned Brett that could happen.”
“I bet he wasn’t happy with that notion.”
“Besides that I was dating wolves from the pack?”
Kemp laughed. “Serves him right. If I had been dating you, I would never have suggested it.” He drank his beer and set the glass aside. “So, I hear Sarandon asked you out.”
“You know, we were never with a pack, and I really have a hard time believing how fast word gets around.”
“Your secret is safe with me.”
She shook her head. “If you know, I’m sure everyone knows.”
Kemp looked over at Brett. “Including him.”
She had no idea what Sarandon had in mind, though she suspected he was going to give her a long talk about dating Brett, or what he was really like, or something. At least, she hoped that was all this was about. She hadn’t planned to go out with anyone else, just lunch with Radcliff tomorrow. So she’d begrudgingly agreed to go with Sarandon in the morning, after he said he’d bring some fresh cinnamon rolls from Silva’s shop, hot coffee, and green tea.
This time when she ended her dinner and thanked her date for a lovely time, she headed home and knew she wouldn’t see Brett tonight…except maybe in her dreams.
But after she finally retired to bed and heard the wolf howl again at the inn, she headed to Meghan’s room and knocked. “Hey, Meghan! Did you hear the wolf howl?”
After a couple of minutes, Meghan opened her door, wearing a long-sleeved flannel shirt, her eyes squinting. “What?” She was still half asleep, and Ellie suspected she hadn’t heard a wolf howl.
She let out her breath and told her sister what she’d heard.
“No. And I don’t want to hear a wolf howling. Put some earplugs in. Night.” Meghan closed her bedroom door and returned to bed.
It was true that Meghan could sleep through about anything when she was tired enough, but Ellie wished someone else would hear the wolf. Preferably Brett so that he could identify if the wolf was his aunt. Of course after Ellie went to the inn to check it out, she saw nothing of a wolf or Matilda in her human form. Ellie retired to bed finally, wondering if she even had any earplugs…just in case.
* * *
The next morning, CJ called Brett as he was trying to concentrate on writing an article about Shorty Bill Smith and putting a local spin on it. “Hey, did you hear Sarandon’s taking Ellie somewhere this morning?”
“Yeah, I did.”
“Well, I wouldn’t worry about it. He’s not interested in her. He only is concerned about you.”
“Yeah, I’m not worried about it. Unless he upsets her.”
“I’m sure he’ll be careful.”
Sarandon had better be, but Brett couldn’t quit thinking about what they were doing, and he was trying to keep occupied until he knew. “I have something else I need to discuss with you. I spoke to Ellie about Yolan’s exorcism offer. She said no, but we were talking more about what could be the reason for Aunt Matilda’s death. Do you know who I can speak with that might know who she was seeing?”
“Maybe Bertha Hastings. She’s been a friend of the family forever, and she’s older than our mother but younger than our great-aunt.”
“Okay, I’ll check with her. I’ll make some calls. Let you know what I discover.” And that’s what Brett spent the rest of the morning doing. Calling all of the older pack members about who had seen Matilda in the days before and after she had died.
“Her son, your uncle Ned, had been there,” Bertha Hastings said as he sat down with her at her kitchen table. The place was always decorated with flowers no matter the time of year. Bertha’s bed-and-breakfast was cheerful like Bertha was, her white hair coiled in a bun, the fragrance of roses scenting the air.
Uncle Ned had died in a boating accident, so no help there.
“Your grandmother was there, of course,” Bertha said. “They really were close, you know.”
“Remer, the piano teacher, said my grandmother was jealous that Matilda could play the piano so well.”
“Nonsense. She was really proud of her sister’s accomplishment. She bragged about her sister’s success all the time. Sure, she wished she were as talented as Matilda, but she never said anything that made it sound as though she was envious of her. Matilda was jealous that Caroline had a boyfriend though.”
“Grandmom did?”
“Yeah. Theodore Cochran, Remer’s grandfather, in fact. He had a real courtship going on with your grandmother. But she wouldn’t agree to mate him and stayed with her sister instead. Some wolves never want to take another mate. Both your great-aunt and grandmother were that way.”
“So Matilda wasn’t seeing Theodore.” Brett pulled out the picture of his grandmother and great-aunt with the two men.
“Oh my,” Bertha said, smiling at the photo. “That’s such a nice photo of them. Okay, that’s Benjamin Wheeler and Theodore.”
“Tell me about Benjamin.”
Bertha shrugged. “He was a builder. Built a lot of the early homes in the area. My bed-and-breakfast even, though at the time it was just a home. He did have a hobby though. He loved to play the piano, and he and your great-aunt would play duets together. This was after her mate died. Come to think of it, I remember hearing Theodore at her house the one day. I was a kid, came over for piano lessons, and he was upset with her. He was angry that Benjamin was over there all the time, worried that Benjamin really wanted to see Caroline, since she was living there too.”
“Was he upset with Grandmom for not mating him?”
“He was. He tried courting another widowed wolf to make Caroline jealous, I believe. She just called him an old goat. Then she changed her mind and said he was just being a dog. So it didn’t work on her. He quit seeing the other woman and kept hanging around Caroline after that, I guess figuring that he enjoyed her company more even if she wouldn’t mate him.”
Brett smiled, imagining his grandmother telling Theodore that.
“I think after Matilda died, he thought your grandmother would mate him, but she said she was too set in her ways. He died five years later. Six months later, she also died.”
“All of natural causes?”
“Of course. Why would you ask that? Oh, don’t tell me. Matilda is haunting the piano.”
“How did you come to that conclusion?”
“It’s the only thing I could think of that would make you question their deaths. You recently moved the piano to the inn. The sisters are sensitive to ghosts. I just added up the facts.”
“Well, we’re trying to take care of it and not let on that it’s happening.”
“She’s playing the piano?”
“Sometimes. They’re afraid she’ll play when the guests are trying to sleep at night.”
“Well, if you need my help, let me know. I’d be happy to talk to her.”
He frowned. “You can see ghosts too?”
“No. I can still talk to her and see if anything I say helps. Oh my, you don’t think Theodore had anything to do with Matilda’s death, do you? I mean, maybe he thought if she were gone, Caroline would mate with him.”
“Sounds like a motive. But how to prove it if it really happened that way.” He studied the photo. “Grandmom wanted to have Matilda buried in her favorite dress, but she couldn’t locate it for the funeral. Was this the dress she was thinking about?”
“It certainly could be. She only wore it for special occasions. You can’t tell from the picture, but the dress is forest green. She loved that color.”
It had nothing to do with Matilda, but wondering if Bertha would know anything about the other photo, he pulled it out and showed her.
“Oh, oh, I’m surprised your father didn’t get rid of that photo.”
“Granddad had it for some reason. He passed it down to us.”
“Well, that’s Shorty Bill Smith. The bank robber who hit our local bank. He had gotten sweet on your mother around the time your dad met her. Your dad led the posse that took off after Shorty and killed him. Or the man actually killed himself, from what eyewitnesses said.”
“How did Mom take the news?”
“She was shocked. She never knew Shorty was a bank robber. She always told your dad he had saved her from ruin. Exaggerated, of course. Shorty was human, and she wouldn’t have ever married him and changed him.”
“I bet Dad wouldn’t have liked that. About my great-aunt, everyone was there to see Matilda for the funeral, right?”
“Everyone but Theodore. He’d come down with a bad cold and wasn’t feeling well. ’Course, Caroline went to take him her homemade chicken soup and wanted to check on him after her sister had died from a cold that wasn’t all that bad. On top of that, the poor man had fallen and bruised the side of his head something terrible. But then they had a falling-out, I think over the fact that she wouldn’t marry him even after her sister died, and I don’t think they spoke to each other again.”
“A bruise from falling?”
“He said he’d spilled some water on the floor, slipped on it, and hit his head on the table going down.”
“Did she believe him?”
“I guess. She was worried about him.”
“Thanks, Bertha.” If not that, was it as Ellie had said? Matilda was angry she had died when she did, and it had nothing to do with anything else? But what if Theodore had gone out with Matilda in the boat the night before she died?
* * *
“Omigod, Sarandon, this is beautiful.” Ellie did a pirouette under the green metal roof of Matilda’s burned-down home. Three picnic tables were situated on the cement slab, with a grill on a separate slab and even outdoor lighting for night use. The fireplace had been refurbished, and a marble memorial plaque was attached to one of the pillars. Nearby she saw a wrought iron arbor that she hadn’t noticed before. It was freshly painted white, and there were a few rose canes climbing over the arbor. Then Ellie saw the gazebo. It was beautiful.
“Jake had old photos of her tending her roses around the gazebo, so we could replicate it just like it had been during its glory years. As you can see, we built stone planters around the roses so when they begin to grow, everyone can enjoy them.”
Sarandon folded his arms across his chest and smiled. “You suggested it to Brett, he mentioned it to the rest of us, and Eric told me to make it happen. I wanted you to see it first since it was your idea and we wanted to know if you thought we needed to make any changes.”
Tears in her eyes, she smiled at him and turned to see the view. “It’s glorious. Just perfect. I couldn’t suggest anything different. When will we commemorate it?”
“We’ll have a ceremony soon.” He frowned at her. “Your lunch date is the last one you’re having with any of the other guys, right?”
“Yeah, except for our breakfast date. That’s it.”
“Well, breakfast with me doesn’t count.”
“Sure it does. Maybe not in a boyfriend-girlfriend way, but we are on a date, Sarandon Silver.” She took his hand and led him to the table where he’d set the bag of cinnamon rolls and the tray of coffee and tea.
They sat next to each other so they could watch the river flow by, a cinnamon roll in one hand, a hot beverage in the other, and just listened to the birds singing in the trees as the sparrows woke to find a meal. The sky was turning pink and orange and blue, the breeze stirring the leaves and pine needles. She wished Brett were here with her enjoying the beauty of the woods and the river, having breakfast with her, seeing the sun rise. What a way to start a day.
* * *
Brett didn’t have any plan to stay away from the tavern while Ellie had her last date. He wanted her to know he was the follow-up date for tonight and every other occasion. Though the truth of the matter was, he was barely holding it together and couldn’t wait for these dates to be over. He still didn’t know what her date with Sarandon had been about.
“Hey, Ellie,” Brett said, smiling down at her and nodding his head to Kemp. “Want to come to my place for dinner tonight? And then we can go to the inn to practice our lessons.”
She gave him a small smile back as if she knew he was laying claim to her in the tavern in front of everyone there.
“All right. And a run after that to your favorite childhood getaway.”
Feeling overjoyed they were on again, and no one else was going to slip in, Brett smiled. “Yeah, I’d love that.”
She motioned to the box of chocolates. “I need to run if I’m going to keep eating all this chocolate.”
“I suppose I can’t join you for a run tonight, can I?” Kemp asked.
“No,” Brett said firmly.
Kemp laughed. “I didn’t think so, but I thought I’d ask. Just in case. We haven’t ordered yet. Did you want to join us?”
Brett grinned at him, slapped him on the back, and sat down, mostly ignoring Ellie’s look of surprise. She had to know that he was serious about her, and sitting back and waiting for her to get through all these dates with other wolves was killing him.
* * *
Ellie thought the world of Kemp for inviting Brett to dine with them. She was surprised he’d offered, as if he knew it to be a foregone conclusion—she and Brett were a couple. And she was a little surprised Brett would accept, but she thought he must have been desperate to end all this business with her dating other wolves.
They had a lovely time visiting. When they were done and it was time to call it a night and get on with piano lessons and a run, Brett paid for their meals. Kemp argued with him, but Brett insisted since he’d kind of taken over the date.
Kemp had laughed and thanked him and thanked Ellie for a lovely time. Kemp gave Ellie a quick kiss on the cheek and said good night before Brett could react to that. He helped her on with her jacket and pulled her in for a real kiss, which had the patrons in the tavern whistling, clapping, and cheering.
Ellie laughed, and Brett looked like the happiest wolf in the world.
* * *
When they arrived at the inn for piano practice, the first thing they noticed was the song sheet for “Mary Had a Little Lamb” resting on the floor.
“I tell you she’s trying to share something with us.” Ellie pulled out the one for “Louie, Louie Wannabe” and placed it on the music stand.
As soon as she did, the sheet lifted and fluttered to the floor. Brett and Ellie stared at the song sheet as if it were going to move again.
“She doesn’t like that song? I love it,” Brett said.
Ellie chuckled. “No, she wouldn’t have it with the rest of her music sheets if she didn’t like it and didn’t think it was a good song to teach to her pupils. I’m sure she’s trying to tell us something.”
Brett opened the bench seat and began pulling out the separate music sheets, and he started setting them up one at a time. Every time he put up a new sheet of music, it was tossed to the floor. Carefully, Ellie gathered them up as if they were treasured possessions.
When he set the sheet music for “Sweet Caroline” on the stand, the name caught his attention. His grandmother’s name. He and Ellie waited to see what happened next. He hadn’t even reached for the next single sheet of music, just knowing this could be a clue.
“Your grandmother…” Ellie said, practically whispering the words.
Brett just stared at the song sheet, still waiting for something to happen, for Matilda to highlight her sister’s name in lights or do something more significant to indicate they were on the right track.
“Okay, so she’s trying to tell us something about your grandmother,” Ellie said, drawing closer to the song sheet and reading it. “It’s a love story between a boyfriend and Caroline.”
“Remer’s grandfather, Theodore. He wanted to mate her, but she wanted to stay with her sister instead.”
“Was he unhappy about it?”
“Yeah. Tried to make her jealous by dating another woman.”
Ellie’s eyes widened. “And then?”
“My grandmom called him an old goat. And then a dog.”
“Oh, wow,” Ellie said, smiling. “Being a dog is worse than anything.”
“Yeah, because they run around and don’t mate for life. So when she didn’t fall for it, chase after him, or try to make up to him, he came back to her.” He explained all that Bertha Hastings had told him about Matilda, Theodore’s bruised head from a fall on a wet floor, his fighting with Matilda over Benjamin being in the same house with Caroline, and the falling-out that he and Caroline had after Matilda’s death.
Brett and Ellie read over the song sheet.
“I don’t know. It’s just a love song between a man and woman named Caroline,” Ellie said. “I don’t see any significance to the words.”
Brett put up the rest of the song sheets, one by one, but nothing happened with any of them. Matilda had given them a clue, and if they couldn’t figure it out, she was done trying.
Ellie put “Louie, Louie Wannabe” back on the stand and began practicing. “I’m surprised she didn’t mind this kind of music.”
“She loved all music, kept up with the ages, and wanted to make sure that everyone, young and old, enjoyed it when she played. She said it kept her youthful too.”
“She sounds really sweet.”
“She was. Both she and Grandmom were funny together. Grandmom was my dad’s mother. Aunt Matilda married a man who died young but gave her one son, Ned. He died in a boating accident. It flipped over, he was struck in the head, and he drowned. That was after she’d died.”
“I’m so sorry,” Ellie said.
“Uncle Ned was fun to be around. He took us kids boating all the time. We really missed him.”
“No foul play, right?”
Brett smiled at her and shook his head. She stood up so he could practice playing. He played the same song she had and then went back to playing “Mary Had a Little Lamb.” Afterward, they played the duet again.
“We’re not perfect and probably won’t be by the time the guests are here, but I think we’ll be passable.” She smiled up at him. “Are you going to dress up?”
“Yeah, I wouldn’t miss it for the world.” He let out his breath. “What are we going to do about my great-aunt?”
“Talk to her. I don’t know what else to do. My sisters and I tried a séance, and that just riled Chrissy up. Your great-aunt only seems to want to express herself to the two of us, for whatever reason.”
“Because we’re courting each other,” he ventured.
She smiled at him again.
He took that as an affirmative and decided to carry it a little further. “And we’re in love.”
Her smile broadened, and then she laughed.
He smiled back. “Well, don’t tell me it’s not true.”
“Are you ready to run?” Ellie had such an impish smile on her face that he wondered what she was up to.
As soon as they drove out to the woods, stripped, shifted, and ran to his favorite spot, he couldn’t believe what he saw. His great-aunt’s burned-down home was now a beautiful memorial. He read the sentiments etched on the marble plaque while Ellie’s soft wolf body pressed against his as if she was reading the memorial too, but he knew then that she and Sarandon had been here earlier today. He smelled their scents, cinnamon rolls, coffee, and tea. He howled with joy.
And she howled with him. Off in the distance, a couple more howls rent the air—Jake’s and his mate’s.
If Ellie liked the idea, he thought this would be the perfect place to have their wedding. If she wanted one. Wolves didn’t always have them. Mating was for life, which meant no marriage certificate was needed to make it binding.
He thought the world of Sarandon for having added all the wonderful touches to the site. And he assumed his brothers would want to commemorate it with a pack gathering. What better way to do so than to have a wedding here? And soon.
On the drive back home, he told her how beautiful it was.
“I didn’t know anything about it. Sarandon brought me out there this morning to show me. I believe he wanted me to show you.”
“I was afraid he was going to scold you for dating the other guys. It was killing me not to know where the two of you had gone.”
“I think it was a peace offering on his part, maybe from all your brothers, even your cousins, for hassling my dates.”
“They hassled them?”
She raised her brows at him.
“You mean they were there to watch you eat with the other guys? What did you expect?” He smiled.
“I hadn’t expected all of them to be there for that first date.” Ellie leaned against the car window and peered out at the sky.
“That’s what happens in a pack. One show of unity, and that’s all that was needed.”
She turned to look at Brett. “You were there for every date after that!”
“Well, sure. Just in case your date hadn’t gotten the word.”
She laughed and leaned back against the seat. “I couldn’t believe you barged in on my lunch date with Kemp.”
“He had a choice. He didn’t have to offer. He just knew he didn’t stand a chance.”
“Next time you suggest to me that I should date others—”
“There will never be a next time, believe me.”