Page 30

Kenna

––––––––

On the back of Kingsley's motorcycle, Kenna looked at River riding behind Zane. While they had ridden many times, they had never ridden together.

The ride today could change everything.

Her mind wandered back to Kingsley's conversation with her after meeting with Big John. He was sure the package Big John had put in Zora's safety deposit box had belonged to Ridge Stafford.

It was so wild and crazy to believe the package from her dad could possibly have passed through so many hands. But here they were, riding to find answers because Zora had no idea what was in the package, even though she owned the safety deposit box.

The wind whipped past her as they weaved through the winding mountain roads into the valley, following the river into St. Maries.

Her dad's mysterious package, the key, and the answers all felt like pieces of a puzzle she couldn't quite fit together.

Riding down the main street, Kingsley pulled into the bank parking lot. She looked around, finding Big John in the truck with Zora. The only way they could open the box was if Zora was here.

According to Big John, taking her off the mountain was challenging. Sometimes, stress would make her stop taking her medicine. He and Zane agreed it would be best if they watched her afterward to make sure she stayed medicated.

This wasn't something Zora asked for. They needed her to do them a favor. In return, they would make sure nothing happens to her.

Kingsley shut off the motorcycle. She slid off and stood beside the Harley.

"You'll stay out here with River." He nodded over her head. "Big John is right there, watching out for you."

"Okay." She kissed him quickly. "Good luck."

"We'll need more than luck." He swung his leg off the bike and turned to Zane. "Ready?"

"Yep."

River walked around the Harley and stood with her. Together, they watched the men get Zora out of the truck, talk with her, and lead her inside.

Her stomach rolled. "I feel bad having Zora come. She's not comfortable being off Gem Haven."

"I know, but there was no other way. Big John told us that Zora's name was the only one on the account, so she had to sign a piece of paper to go inside the safety deposit room and use her key. But because she rents the box, she can take whoever she wants with her." River chewed on her bottom lip. "We'll make it up to her. Maybe have pizza at the house so she can be around Zane and Kingsley more. She seems to enjoy being around her sons."

Kenna gasped. "Oh, no."

"What?"

"Zora has to sign in to use her key."

"Yeah, that's what I said." River frowned. "That's why we brought her."

She turned to her sister. "If there's a package in there from our dad and a key is included, we still can't use it without Dad's signature."

"Shit," muttered River.

Kenna exhaled heavily. "It's probably asking too much for someone to impersonate Dad and forge his signature."

River rubbed her stomach. "Let's just get today over with and deal with what comes next before we think up any more problems. The package that Big John and Zora remember might be something from Zane and Kingsley's dad, not ours. We're worrying about nothing."

A car door slammed. She turned and found Big John getting out of the truck and lighting a cigarette.

"I wonder how long it'll take." River paced.

"There're not many cars here, so it shouldn't take too long."

"Just think, at one time, we lived three streets over." She pointed in the opposite direction. "We went to that store with Mom all the time."

"Remember all the makeup she used to buy?" River laughed softly. "She'd stand in the aisle looking at all the shades of eyeshadow and holding them up to her face."

"And we'd always get a new color of nail polish." Her eyes burned.

She could get lost in all the good times in St. Maries. Her parents loved her and River. More importantly, her parents loved each other. A love like no other until her mom was killed.

She wanted a life with Kingsley. A good life. A loving life.

Her life was in Gem Haven now, not St. Maries. There was nothing here for her. River, Kingsley, and even Zane and Zora were the only ones who mattered to her.

"They're coming." River grabbed Kenna's hand. "Kingsley's carrying something."

"Oh, my God. Did we figure it out?" She surged forward and met Kingsley halfway to his Motorcycle. "Did you find it?"

"Yeah." He looped his arm around her shoulders.

"Open it."

"We won't do anything until we get back home." He stopped by his Harley and put the package—which turned out to be a Manilla envelope—in his duffle.

She turned around to tell River, but her sister was with Zane beside the truck, talking to Zora. "Is your mom okay?"

"I think so." Kingsley sat on the motorcycle. "We'll have Big John take her straight back to the cabin. She's comfortable there and she does better when Big John is helping her."

Zane and River walked toward them, hand in hand. She climbed behind Kingsley and put her feet on the pegs.

Kingsley's hand went to her calf and squeezed. "We're not going straight home."

"Why not?" She was anxious to open the package and find out what her dad had left behind for them.

"When we opened the envelope, there was a receipt on the top of the pile of papers. Your mom's ashes are placed in a memorial wall at St. Joe's Cemetery." He rubbed her leg. "About two miles away."

"We thought you and River would like to visit your mom, " Zane added.

River met her gaze. Kenna's throat closed. For a moment, she wanted to tell them no. She wanted to remain clueless because then she wouldn't have to face the pain that she'd already lived through.

But, it was her mom.

She missed her more than she'd ever be able to verbalize. There was a hole in her heart that would always ache when she thought of her mother.

"Okay." She nodded at River.

They needed to see where her ashes were placed. They needed to say goodbye—something they should've been allowed to do when they were eleven and twelve years old.

She wrapped her arms around Kingsley and pressed tightly against his back. There were too many changes. Too many information bombs. Too many emotions beating inside her.

It took no time to get to the cemetery. The area was familiar to her, and yet she never set foot in the place before.

Gravesites were uniformly spread out over the area, but Kingsley rolled through the middle of the cemetery, beyond a small white building that looked like an old church, and stopped near a concrete wall.

River jumped off Zane's motorcycle and rushed to her. "Dad had her cremated?"

"I guess so." She frowned at the wall.

The surface was covered by small squares, row after row, at least ten deep and fifty long. Each square had a name and birth/death dates.

"I always imagined she was buried somewhere," mumbled River. "This is weird."

The heaviness in Kenna's chest increased. She, too, always imagined her mom in a casket. It physically hurt that the truth was different than what she was led to believe.

There was no funeral, no flowers, no goodbyes.

Kingsley took her hand and led her to the wall. She read names, holding her breath. Even though she wanted to find where her mom was laid to rest, she held out hope that she wasn't here. That her dad hadn't put her inside a slim wall and forgot about her.

"I don't see anything." River walked around the structure. "There's more names on this side."

Kenna followed her sister, barely reading the names. Some of the squares had flowers stuck inside a hole under the nameplate. Some of them wilted and dried like forgotten promises.

River dropped to her knees. "I think this is her."

Kenna stepped closer and read. "Louanne Carpenter?"

"The date's correct." River rubbed the pad of her thumb over the name, wiping the dust off the front. "But once again, one of our parents has a different last name than us."

"That's why we couldn't find any information about her death," muttered Kenna.

"Carpenter?" said Zane. "Are you sure?"

"It says it right here. The dates for the birth and death are right." Kenna swallowed. "There's less than three thousand people who live here. It has to be her."

"Hell," mumbled Kingsley.

Straightening, she looked at Kingsley and then Zane. "What's wrong?"

Kingsley scratched his beard. "I think we just found out why my dad owed your dad a favor."

"What do you mean?" She turned away from the memorial wall.

He cupped her face and kissed her. "We'll talk more when we get home. Take this time with your sister and see where your mom rests."

Kingsley walked back to the Harley and lit a cigarette. Zane joined him, leaving River with her. She tried to figure out what the men meant.

"Does the name Carpenter sound familiar to you?" asked Kenna.

"Nope." River sighed. "Yet, we're supposed to believe our last name is Pruitt. This whole mess doesn't make sense."

She turned around and kneeled on the ground, reading her mother's name again. She'd lived half her life without her mom, yet it seemed like yesterday.

"Maybe next time, we can bring some of Zora's flowers and put them under her name." She trailed her finger over the engraved cursive.

River leaned against Kenna's side. "I'm glad she's somewhere permanent."

"Yeah," she whispered.

Knowing what it felt like to be shuffled from one home to another home through the foster care system, she was glad her mom's ashes were placed in the memorial wall for safe keeping.

Going by the dates, her mom died at thirty years old. She was so young. Barely eighteen years old when she had Kenna.

"We'll visit again." River inhaled deeply.

Kenna stood and hugged River. "Are you okay?"

River squeezed her. "It feels kind of good, you know?"

"Yeah," she whispered.

Their dad had taken care of their mom even after her death. She looked at the wall once more and then walked toward Kingsley.