Forever Hidden (Forever Bluegrass #2) (26 page)

“I found it!” Deacon grinned.

Sydney rolled her eyes. Men. “Yes, dear. You’ve found
it
many times. And you have my eternal gratitude for it.”

Deacon reached for her breasts and Sydney arched toward him. But his hand didn’t cup her breast as she expected. He grabbed her necklace and stared at it, then at the place he’d had her hands pinned.

“No, darlin’, not that. I found your ancestral treasure.” He grinned and gently pulled the necklace over her head.

“Where?” Sydney asked as she pulled her shirt back on.

“Look closely at the painting of your great-grandparents.”

Sydney faced the painting and looked up at it. “I don’t see anything.”

“Look at the frame. Right next to where I had you against the wall.” Deacon held up the key for her to look at before she stepped to the side of the large gilded frame.

There, at about shoulder height, was a small hole. Sydney felt her eyes go wide as she looked quickly back and forth between the key and the hole. Deacon didn’t say a word as he held out the key to her. Sydney reached out and their fingers touched as she took the key from him. He smiled encouragingly for her to complete her promise to her great-grandmother.

Sydney placed the key in the hole and exhaled with relief as the key fit. She turned the key and heard a
click
as the frame opened. She swung the painting open and there, hidden behind it, was a large metal safe.

“How do I open it?” Sydney asked as she looked at the keypad.

“The number has to have importance. Where did you find the key?” Deacon asked.

“In the family Bible,” Sydney said as she pushed passed Deacon to grab the tote she had set on the couch. Carefully, she pulled out the Bible and flipped to the inscription on Elizabeth’s birth.

“We’re called daughters of Elizabeth. The combination has to relate to her.” Sydney hurried to the safe and entered 1-7-0-3, the year of Elizabeth’s birth. They waited only a second before hearing the mechanical sound of a lock sliding open.

Deacon grabbed her shoulders from behind and squeezed. “You did it!”

Sydney opened the heavy door and found boxes of various sizes stacked up inside. But it was the envelope sitting in front with her name on it that held her attention.

“It’s from my great-grandmother,” Sydney told Deacon as she picked up the envelope. The handwriting was shaky so she knew this had to have been written recently. When she unfolded the paper, she saw it had been written just three months before.

My dearest Sydney Elizabeth,

It’s a fact of life that there must be death. Since I am writing this, I know death is near. But I am not scared. I am secure in the knowledge that I have lived life to the fullest, loved with all my heart, and lived long enough to see what amazing people my great-grandchildren have become. I am at peace with leaving this world in your hands. But I am not quite ready to leave without giving you one last gift.

I met your great-grandfather at a party and I still remember it as if it were yesterday. He was standing across the room with a friend of his. My friend laughed as a man asked her to dance and Beauford turned to see who had arrived. His eyes sailed past my friend and landed on mine. It was instant. I knew I would love him for the rest of my life. Of course, I couldn’t let him know that. I had to play a little hard to get.

Our wedding day was a day I will never forget. Not because of the dress or the party. No, I will never forget the one moment in time when Beauford looked down the aisle and our eyes met. I knew it was the beginning of my grandest adventure yet. We raised a family with joy and sadness. I’ll never get over the loss of my daughter. But as I leave you, I know I made up for it with you and Katelyn. I pray that you have always felt the love I have for you, for it runs deeper and longer than even my time on earth. Beauford and I have found our passions with horses, with the farm, and with our friends. We have laughed, cried, and taken adventures around the world and in our own house that brought us closer than I ever thought possible. And our adventures are not over yet. Time is just a number. Our hearts and our souls will live on, for that is true love.

And when I found your father naked in my kitchen, I knew my dear Katelyn had found that same kind of love. Of course, it was clearly written for the whole town to see before that; they just needed a little nudge.

Deacon smothered a laugh. “I’m sorry, does that say
naked
?”

Sydney shook her head. “It says it, but Mom never said anything about that. I’ll have to ask her about it.”

Deacon shook his head. “No, please, I beg you, let me ask your father about it. Preferably as we are all sitting down to dinner at Grandma Davies’s house. Go on, what else does it say?”

My last gift to you, my dear Sydney, is the family treasure. For I hope he is standing by your side as you read this, and my last gift has now been fulfilled. For I give to you what all the daughters of Elizabeth have passed on—the treasure of true love.

My love always,

Ruth Elizabeth Wyatt

Post Script – Deacon, treat my great-granddaughter well or Beauford and I will haunt you. Just kidding! Kind of. I knew you were the right man for my Sydney the first time we spoke. Take care of her, love her, treasure her, and be happy with her.

Sydney and Deacon stared at the letter, not saying a word. Sydney shook her head. No, it couldn’t name Deacon in it. How? What? No.

“That says my name, doesn’t it?” Deacon asked as they looked together at the postscript.

“Yes, but how did she do that?” Sydney wondered.

She finally looked up at Deacon and found him smiling. Then he threw his head back and laughed so hard his whole body shook.

“What?” Sydney asked when he finally stopped laughing and grinned down at her.

“Don’t you see? Mrs. Wyatt set us up.”

“How? I can’t believe it. She used the treasure to get me to meet you and purposefully didn’t tell me you would be in Atlanta or that you even existed. She knew you would find me digging around in the backyard.”

“And she knew a detective like me would never be able to walk away from a mysterious lost treasure,” Deacon chuckled. “She knew we would be together until we found this safe—a safe she conveniently failed to tell you anything about, even though it was right here in her own house.”

Deacon pulled her into his arms and smiled down at her. “And now we got engaged with her here.” He looked up at the painting he had proposed in front of.

“She gave me the greatest gift of all. She gave me you. Now, let’s go home.”

“Don’t you want to know what’s inside?”

Sydney shook her head. “I have my treasure right here. Everything else can wait.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

Four months later . . .

It was the moment Deacon would never forget. The moment Sydney came around the corner of Wyatt Estate and looked up at him. She was exquisite in her great-grandmother’s wedding dress with a veil fluttering behind her. He didn’t see Marshall walk her down the aisle. He didn’t see his father tearing up. He didn’t see Marcy and Jake share a sweet kiss. All he saw was his future, his love, and his life.

And then she was his. And he was hers. He sealed his promise to love her in this life and the next with a kiss. Their friends and family cheered and rose petals rained from the sky.

“I love you, Sydney Elizabeth McKnight,” Deacon whispered in her ear before taking her hand and running down the aisle together.

*     *     *

Sydney waited for Deacon to fall asleep. She was exhausted from their wedding, the party, and their own private celebration once they returned to their home. But she had one last thing to do before she could fall asleep in her husband’s arms.

Sydney quietly slipped from the bed, tiptoed down the stairs and into the living room. There, on the wall, was the new painting of her and Deacon standing lovingly together in front of Twin Oaks. Sydney pulled the key from her pocket and inserted it into the frame of the picture. The picture swung out and she entered 1-7-0-3 into the safe to open the metal door.

“What are you doing?” Deacon asked from behind her. She wasn’t surprised. She felt him even though she didn’t see him.

“I’m continuing the treasure for the daughters of Elizabeth.” Sydney placed an envelope, a picture of her and Deacon at the wedding, a stack of money, and her first design plate of her number-one-selling dress into the safe before shutting it, possibly forever.

“Not just for the daughters of Elizabeth, but
our
daughters. Now, come on, wife. We still have a lot of celebrating to do.” Deacon whisked her up into his arms, and she looked forward to celebrating every day with him.

*     *     *

Two weeks later, the grounds of Twin Oaks were packed. Valets had to drive cars to the neighboring farm to park. Out back, a string ensemble played from their place on the balcony overlooking the people dancing beneath them. The backyard had been transformed into a romantic wonderland. White lights twinkled from the trees. Candles floated in water on every table. And people danced on the dance floor that covered the evidence of all the holes he and Sydney had dug in the backyard.

Deacon checked with the bartender and the caterer before making his way inside the house. Sydney had decided to keep the house and continue the family history. And tonight was her unveiling of that history. Daughters of Elizabeth, a foundation to help women who had escaped or who were trying to escape from sex trafficking, was holding their first fundraiser tonight.

He walked into the kitchen and found his wife standing next to Ms. Vander and Bailey as they walked through the living room, now set up as an exhibit. People from all walks of society filled the room as they read the framed letters of the daughters of Elizabeth leaning on easels. They stood behind the red velvet ropes to exclaim over the wedding dresses now on display with the artifacts from each daughter of Elizabeth set out in front of them and the portraits of each happy couple hanging on the wall behind them. Private security was stationed with every dress and at every table, for the treasure of love behind each was immeasurable.

Sydney stopped in front of the wedding dress and portrait of Evelyn Seeley and her husband that had been in Mrs. Wyatt’s safe. Bailey leaned forward to read the letter that Deacon knew held the story of how Evelyn met her husband, a US Marshal who had been searching for an escapee and instead found love.

“Bailey is looking well,” Zain said quietly as he came to Deacon’s side.

“Yes, she is. And so is Lacey.” Deacon smiled as Lacey came up beside Bailey.

The girls had survived, and with Zain, Deacon, and Sydney championing them, they had become vocal supporters of bringing attention to sex trafficking in the United States and all over the world.

“I heard that Barrett, Victor, and Emily are spending life in prison,” Zain said as they watched Bailey and Lacey laugh at something Sydney said. The three had pled guilty and spared the girls from testifying in trial in return for their lives.

“And Sebastian will be spending quite a few years with them as well,” Deacon added.

“Who is Sydney talking to?” Zain asked as they watched her step away from the girls and join a group of four couples who looked to range from forty to fifty years old.

“It’s the Simpson family. They are big here in Atlanta,” Deacon told him.

Zain gave a slight nod in recognition of the name. “I’m going to get a drink. Do you want one?”

“No thanks,” Deacon said absently as he watched Sydney head his way with a huge smile on her face.

“Simpson Global just donated $100,000 to the Daughters of Elizabeth.”

Deacon leaned down and kissed her smiling lips. “That’s wonderful. You did a remarkable job putting this together. Your family is out back dancing, and your mother has finally stopped crying.”

Sydney looked a little guilty. “I guess I should have told her about all this before having her walk into the house. I just wanted her to get the whole experience of her family’s past, to see her wedding picture hanging between Great-grandma’s and ours and witness our family's history.”

“Well, I think she was surprised in a good way. She loved how you linked it to strong, independent women. And by the way, Bailey and Lacey are lost in it. I think your message of courage, bravery, and love ties in perfectly with the foundation’s message.”

Sydney leaned her head against his shoulder as they watched people tour the exhibit and, more importantly, listen when Bailey and Lacey took the microphone outside to tell the people the importance of organizations like Daughters of Elizabeth.

*     *     *

“Look at them. Sydney and Deacon are so in love,” Kenna Ashton, Sienna’s mother, said to her two friends, Dani Ali Rahman, Zain’s mother, and Paige Parker, Ryan’s mother. The three ladies of Keeneston raised their glasses and clinked them together before Dani pulled out a notebook. The couple in question danced by under the warm Atlanta night sky.

The entire crew from Keeneston had come down to help launch the foundation. There were cousins, aunts, uncles, grandparents, and friends all there in support of one of their own.

“Can we really claim being matchmakers for them?” Dani asked, as she looked at the notebook the Rose sisters had entrusted to them. The Rose sisters had played matchmaker for a hundred fifty Keeneston couples over several generations but had handed off that responsibility to these three best friends.

“Well, we did say Sydney was going to be next,” Kenna argued.

“Yeah, but when we asked Sienna, she suggested Matt,” Paige complained as Dani crossed out Matt’s name and wrote Deacon’s in the notebook.

“I’m still counting it as a win,” Dani said as she took another sip of her champagne.

“Okay, so who is next?” Kenna asked as they all looked around the dance floor.

“I know,” Dani said instantly. “You both have one of your children married. It’s time for one of mine. Gabe is too busy embracing his playboy status to settle down, but Zain is ready.”

“Are you sure?” Paige asked skeptically.

“A mother knows these things. He’s ready. He’s not happy, and he doesn’t know why. I do. He wants to be loved for who he is, not what he is. I know that look well. It’s the same one his father had before we fell in love,” Dani explained.

The friends all agreed, and Dani wrote the next name in the notebook.

“Who should go on the other side?” Kenna asked as she stared at the blank page opposite Zain’s new spot. They would soon fill it with likes, dislikes, and all of his qualities. They would use that to find a woman who was perfect for him.

Dani tapped the pen on the table. “I don’t know, but with the summit coming up we could find someone perfect for him there.”

“Operation Grandbabies for Dani starts now,” Paige teased as the three friends clinked their glasses and talked about the perfect woman for Zain.

*     *     *

The house was finally empty. All of their guests were back at their homes or hotel, and the exhibit had been secured and taken away by armed guards to the museum in downtown Atlanta where it would be on display for the next three months. Sydney watched the last catering truck roll down the long drive and into the night.

She heard Deacon come out onto the balcony. He slid his arms around her middle, and she leaned back and felt the warmth of his bare chest as she looked up at the stars in the sky. “I’m so proud of you,” Deacon said from where he rested his chin on the top of her head.

Sydney smiled and turned in his arms so she could look up at him. “And I couldn’t have done it without your support. I know we usually discuss things as a couple, but I’ve made a decision that will impact our future.”

“What’s that?” Deacon asked.

“I’m moving my headquarters to Lexington. I want to expand our family in the future, and I want to be home in Keeneston when we do.”

Deacon smiled down at her. “I like that decision very much. I think your Grandma Davies will as well. Tonight she told me once again that she couldn’t die happy until she had a great-grandbaby in her arms.”

Sydney laughed, her heart full, as Deacon pulled her tight against him and placed a trail of kisses down the side of her neck. “Now let me show you exactly how much I like that decision.”

Deacon pulled the satin slip up her body and tossed it on the balcony floor. He took his time kissing his way down her body, and Sydney let her head fall back in ecstasy. Her ancestors had been right. True love was the greatest treasure of all.

THE END

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