never met. The chilly wind kicked up swaths of dust from the ashes as Aunt Rayah gently sifted them from the brushed nickel urn into the water. Bro

e her seem some how at peace. Brooke couldn’t help taking her phone from the pocket of her jacket and capturing an image of the moment. When the last of the ash

d wondering about the show of

… reminds me,

my pa

er tear. Her parents had been killed in a

ing to him before we leave?”

ion questions jumping around in her head, not the least of which

go see the cabin?”

uld

sell it for ten years. And it’s a long way from New

ok in a deep breath of the f

There may be some old p

as right. That there would be something s

of kin until the notice from his attorney arrived with a package containing the inheritance he’d left to he

d her aunt when they climbed back into the car

nsisted. “I honestly didn’t think your mother had any family but us

y, this man k

if bracing herself for one of the many ha

n silence. Brooke wished she had known Raymond Ellis, III. Someone who could have connected her to her mother the way Aunt Raya

orth a small fortune according to a representative from Omega Development who’d stopped by her Aunt’s house before they’d left for the

r why he had not contacted her until after he died, but she couldn’t help it. She was in the middle of considering th

l up and get snacks

oda,” Broo

nty dollar bill. “Gr

all cooler near the register. They looked like old-timey bo

with large brown eyes encased in thick dark lashes and hooded beneath dark brows. His short curls were tapered at the edges and swirled jus

d went blank and she felt an invo

ked up the soft cadence of

she ad

. He took both bottles, popping the top of each before handing them back. He was more than a head taller than her five foot six, an

he said waving

said trying to ha

any. I bottled these myself l

, and she shook it

rooke

D on the label and smiled good natured. “Follow us on social media. Post a picture of the label when you get bac

ver her. She tried to turn her eyes away from him a

?” he asked as he returned to the re

rass Island. I just inherite

wide and his jaw fell slack and it fel

I say somet