Page 93 of Waiting For A Girl Like You (Haven House #4)

“ Y ou went quiet on me.”

“My dad took over driving, and I’m trying to read,” Liam said. “But the old man is making me sick.”

“I drive better than you,” Will muttered in the background. “Not everything is a race, Liam.”

Jamison grinned as she struggled with the zipper on her wedding dress. It was a little snug, but it fit. “Hold on, I’m putting you on speaker.”

Setting the phone on the dresser, she zipped the gown the rest of the way and turned toward the full-length mirror on the closet door. It was hard to see everything in the tight space, but what she could see made her want to cry.

It was perfect.

“Are you there?” Liam asked.

She cleared her throat. “Yeah, I’m here.”

“Did you put on the dress?”

“I did.”

“I bet you’re beautiful.”

Shaking her hips, she danced around as much as she could, finding herself getting giggly at three o’clock in the morning. “I’m so ready to marry you. ”

“I’m holding you to it.”

It was almost as if they were standing at the starting line of a new life. The years since Toby’s return had been hell, and coming out the other side, she was starting to realize how truly awful it had been.

“When will you come home?”

Her father and Rowan both thought they could start easing back into regular life by the end of next week, which meant returning to Texas for her. But she didn’t want to go without Liam.

Of course, Simone had been quick to point out that Christmas was right around the corner and that everyone should just stay at Haven House until the New Year.

“Sooner rather than later,” Liam replied absently, his thoughts obviously occupied with the journals.

“Listen to this. Even though he was devoted to Taylor and hated Samuel, the truth is that Toby was fine with Taylor pursuing Samuel because he wanted Evangeline Fairweather. Obsessed isn’t even a strong enough word.

Cecilia always said Taylor tried to play it off like Toby was just nostalgic over his first love, but there was more to it, and looking back, I wouldn’t be surprised if Toby had planned to keep Evie and get rid of Taylor. ”

“I don’t think we’ll ever know exactly what happened, will we?”

“All the players in the game are dead, and out of all of them, I would have wanted to talk to CeCe the most,” Liam grumbled.

“Sinclair said he started writing these journals because of her. Apparently, she journaled as a form of stress release, writing absolutely everything down. Her past, her present, and what she hoped for in the future. She was also very open with Sinclair and allowed him to read the entries. God, I’d love to get my hands on those. ”

Jamison thought of the closet full of CeCe’s clothes. “CeCe’s stuff was in the house, so I guess her journals went up in the blast?”

“Probably.” Liam sighed with a laugh, drunk off his exhaustion. “Hey, do you think we could do a séance?”

He wanted answers. Liam needed a clear map in his mind of what exactly happened, and he would chip away at the information they had until he found it.

She had a feeling these journals were going to become his new “hobby,” and Jamison realized this must be what Bernie felt like when Will became fixated on a cold case .

“Very funny. I’ve had enough nightmares starring CeCe. Trust me, you don’t want to talk to her,” she replied, only half serious. “Does Michael talk about how he got into the group and his plans?”

Liam blew out a long exhale. “He wanted to do more than stop them. He wanted to burn the whole damn thing to the ground. When Sinclair met with Taylor, he told her he was sick and offered to help. They were basically family, after all, and her people had no organization. So he planned the wave of attempted kidnappings but used only his own men and made the operations deliberately sloppy to get Zanmi members caught. He was the one who sent the women to the houses. He tricked them into thinking it was a scare tactic—like they were putting on a show—before they were meant to grab you or Evie.”

“But then, why did he warn us at the doctor’s office?”

“Taylor planted the ultrasound tech. Sinclair had no idea until it was happening. He didn’t care if Taylor snatched you, since your presence would only draw the other Zanmi members in. But Evie? Taking her would’ve been game over.”

“Why did Taylor not go after Harper and Theo?” she asked, the thought of those people touching her nieces making her feel weak. “Oh my God. She did. The woman at Harper’s school!”

“Without her father’s full support, Taylor didn’t have the means to pull off a full kidnapping.

Her people were sexual deviants, not criminal masterminds.

But yeah, I would assume that was one attempt.

However, think about how Taylor was always doting on the girls.

She was overly familiar with them, and since she once worked for Samuel, no one questioned it. ”

“You think she was grooming the girls to be comfortable with her, so when she tried to run off with them, they wouldn’t put up much of a fight?”

“If the whole having a Fairweather boy thing didn’t work out? Maybe.” Liam released the groan he always made when stretching. “We’re going off a bunch of assumptions here. We'll know more once Dad and I sit down and dissect these journals.”

“Sinclair states several times how CeCe found peace in her writing, and that makes me feel that he wouldn’t have allowed her journals to be destroyed,” Will said in the background. “I bet we’ll find them, eventually. ”

“Check the last few pages,” Jamison suggested. “Every good story has a twist right at the end.”

“Okay, hold on. Let me get the next journal.” Liam’s chin rubbed against the phone as he moved around.

“This is the last section. We didn’t want to tell you, but Kris has wanted to leave Mark for a long time.

The jackass got their secretary pregnant last year, and Kris has been hiding it from you and Dad.

But then, somewhere in the middle of all that, she and Bruce came together.

You know I love him like a brother. He’ll take care of her and the boys. ”

“So, Sinclair family gossip. Got it.” Jamison found her veil and fluffed the delicate material to secure it in her hair. “What else?”

“ I can’t begin to tell you how much I love you and how sorry I am for everything.

I wish I were a better man and a better son.

I wish I could have been a husband and a father.

That was how I convinced Taylor I wanted to help her in the first place.

We talked about how much Cecilia and I wanted kids, and since she was gone and I was on my way out, I would help her with this one last thing to see that pieces of us lived on.

Taylor already knew we wanted nothing except each other and a simple, quiet life in our own part of the world.

I guess hearing me show my vulnerable side was all the convincing she needed. ”

Utterly still, Jamison stared at her reflection in the mirror, her heart breaking for a man who probably didn’t deserve any sympathy. “That’s so sad. Simone needs to hear this.”

“ I would have made Cecilia happy, and I would have never stopped. I would have spent every day doing whatever I could to see her smile. And she loved you guys, Mom. Cecilia said you made her feel normal and at ease, which I can attest was not an easy thing to do . Her writings weren’t confined to journals.

She wrote letters of gratitude as well, and there are at least two dozen addressed to you. If you want to read them…”

Liam paused, reading ahead again. “Son of a bitch,” he hissed. “Son. Of. A. Bitch . He did save CeCe’s journals.”

“Where?” she shouted, along with Will and Holden.

“If you want to read the letters, you can find them in a storage unit in Eureka Springs, along with some personal things I want you to have. The code to get in is the date I met Cecilia. If you can’t remember it, you’ll be able to find the information in a set of her personal journals that chronicled the years until she met me .

I left them at Haven House. I thought it was fitting to keep them there . ”

The reflection before her gaped in shock. “Here? Where would he hide them here?”

“He doesn’t say, but this is Sinclair,” Liam replied. “I’m sure he’s telling the truth, and we’ll probably find them in the attic or library someday.”

The urge to search nearly had her bolting from the closet. However, running around Haven House in the middle of the night while upending possible hiding spots was a sure way to piss off Simone.

“How does he close the final page?” Will asked. “Jamison is right. There’s always a twist, and he would have provided his mother with a general idea of where to look.”

“Let’s not forget that Michael Sinclair has proven he has a flair for the dramatic,” Holden added, sounding half asleep. “I bet the guy was an ass all the way up until the end.”

Liam stayed silent, and Jamison, with the very limited patience granted to her, felt like she was about to burst as she waited. “Tell us, Liam! I know you’re trying to analyze what you’re reading before you say anything.”

“This guy is dead, and he’s still pissing me off,” Liam growled. “It’s just gibberish. You can find the journals at the edge of the stone. Look for the shadows in the flower beds, and the beasts in the wilderness. Our secrets are with the ghosts who remain in the river .”

“Graveyard? Or the mill?” she said, thinking aloud. “It’s obviously outside, and I can go look—”

“No. You’re not going anywhere near it,” Liam ordered, and she heard a car door slam shut. “It’s too dangerous, and Sinclair could have rigged the place.”

“But then, why would he have sent his mother to retrieve them?”

Will grumbled loud enough for her to hear. “I agree with Liam. You need to wait until we can get someone in to take a look.”

“Rowan and Selah are here. They can help. And Abe has some fancy equipment where he can find stuff underground—”

“No, Jamison. I want you to wait for me.”

“But when will that be?”