Catherine unfolded a newspaper that had been tucked beside her in the chair, and held it out to Cyrus. “Then, last summer, I saw this.”
He studied it. There was a photograph and article about him, done when he’d returned to Richmond. Also on the page was an article about the newly elected city council, with a photograph of the nine men.
Softly, Catherine said, “I knew Fortune had given you his name; the Gypsy said he would. I didn’t know his name—but I knew his eyes.”
Almost to himself, Cyrus murmured, “He was able to hide the emptiness from all of us for so long. But a camera sees what’s real, without illusion.”
“I knew, when I looked at the pictures, that the Gypsy had been right about it all,” Catherine said. “And I realized the enormity of my mistake. I had tried to break the pattern, to alter destiny, and because of that your life was in danger.”
“Is that when you sent me the cane?” Cyrus asked, glancing toward it where it leaned against the settee.
Catherine nodded. “From the article about you, I judged you weren’t aware of the gift you’d been given. The cane was your father’s, and I knew it would be a—a spur to your understanding. He had told me he wanted his son to have it.”
“Who was my father?” Cyrus asked quietly.
She hesitated, then said, “I can tell you only what I know, and what I sensed. The Gypsy was right—he was no ordinary man. He said his name was Fate. There was a kind of power in him, a positive force I’ve never felt in anyone else. Except you.”
Cyrus’s eyes held hers steadily. “He knew he’d have a son, yet he didn’t stay with you?”
A slight smile played at Catherine’s lips, a smile that held vast understanding. “He couldn’t stay with me, I knew that. But he gave the world a gift. You.” She nodded slightly, and her voice was certain. “To fight for love. To guard and protect love. To be the guiding hand love sometimes needs. That would be your destiny, he said. Just as he was Fate, you would be Fortune. Love’s Fortune.”
Cyrus didn’t look away from her, and his lean face was still calm, his eyes still tranquil. “So I’m to be a matchmaker?” he asked mildly.
“You don’t need me to answer that.” Catherine smiled again. “Once you fell in love with Julia, your course was set. Without her you would never have understood what love could be; now that you do, your instinct is to help others find what the two of you share.”
“A tall order,” Cyrus said, a sudden hint of amusement in his eyes. “And a lifetime’s commitment.”
“Isn’t love worth that?” his mother asked.
Cyrus didn’t have to reply aloud; his agreement was plain in his smile. He turned his head and looked at Julia, his face softening in an expression of wonder and delight.
“Yes,” he murmured. “It certainly is.”
This is for Susie, and the little one who surprised everybody.
BY KAY HOOPER
The Bishop Trilogies
Stealing Shadows
Hiding in the Shadows
Out of the Shadows
Touching Evil
Sense of Evil
Hunting Fear
Chill of Fear
Sleeping with Fear
Blood Dreams
Blood Sins
Blood Ties
The Quinn Novels
Once a Thief
Always a Thief
Romantic Suspense
The Haunting of Josie
Amanda
After Caroline
Finding Laura
Haunting Rachel
Classic Fantasy and Romance
On Wings of Magic
C. J.’s Fate
Something Different
Pepper’s Way
If There Be Dragons
Illegal Possession
Larger than Life
Time after Time
In Serena’s Web
Raven on the Wing
Rafferty’s Wife
Zach’s Law
The Fall of Lucas Kendrick
Unmasking Kelsey
Outlaw Derek
Shades of Gray
Captain’s Paradise
It Takes a Thief
Aces High
Golden Threads
The Glass Shoe
What Dreams May Come
Through the Looking Glass
The Lady and the Lion
Star-Crossed Lovers
The Wizard of Seattle
The Delaney Christmas Carol
Rafe, the Maverick
Adelaide, the Enchantress
Golden Flames
Summer of the Unicorn
The Matchmaker
PHOTO: © SIGRID ESTRADA
KAY HOOPER is the award-winning author of Sleeping with Fear, Hunting Fear, Chill of Fear, Touching Evil, Whisper of Evil, Sense of Evil, Once a Thief, Always a Thief, the Shadows trilogy, and other novels. She lives in North Carolina, where she is at work on her next book.
Kayhooper.com
Facebook.com/​BishopPage
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