“It’s what she needed to believe at the time. She wasn’t running from her life here. She was running from her past and its hold on her.” Phoebe turned to him, her eyes almost emerald in the shadows. “Knights Bridge was a stop on the way to becoming who she is now. I’m glad it worked out for her, and I’m glad she’s here tonight. Thank you for making that happen.”
“You did far more than I did.”
He saw spots of color in her cheeks as she smiled. “Ava and Ruby are beside themselves. They’re trying not to get too crazy but they’re so excited to have Daphne here.”
“I think Daphne’s excited, too.”
“People seemed to have a good time tonight. I hope you and Dylan and Julius weren’t too bored.”
“Not bored at all,” Noah said, letting his gaze settle just for a moment on the swell of her breasts in her elegant gown. The spots of color in her cheeks deepened. He smiled. “You did well, Princess Phoebe, and you look beautiful.”
He saw she hadn’t expected his comment. “Thank you,” she said, then quickly drank more wine.
Several people approached Phoebe to comment on the evening. Noah stood back, observing her as she interacted with her family and friends. Elly O’Dunn broke off from Daphne to chase her grandsons, who’d clearly had enough of vintage fashion and partying. Daphne met up with Dylan and Olivia. They got wine and approached him under the elm.
He sipped his wine, knowing that he stood apart from the people around him. Forty years ago Debbie Sanderson had come to Knights Bridge as an outsider. She’d appreciated the welcome she’d received, but ultimately she’d decided she didn’t belong.
Phoebe did, Noah realized. She always would.
In her mind, belonging in Knights Bridge meant living there, being the director of the library, fixing up her little house on Thistle Lane. Any change would seem to her like the drastic break that Daphne had made.
As Phoebe glanced at him with a smile, Noah also saw that she’d convinced herself that he would never want to stay in Knights Bridge and make a place for himself there.
Maybe she was right.
He felt himself go very still as he watched her, and he thought…no. She wasn’t right.
But he couldn’t tell her.
She needed to see it for herself.
*
“This could have all gone wrong but it didn’t,” Loretta told Julius as she helped herself to a third glass of wine. They were small glasses. Knights Bridge–size glasses, she thought with a grin. She’d changed back into her regular clothes but kind of missed her hippie outfit. “I had a great time. Were you ever a hippie?”
Julius looked at her as if she’d turned green. “No.”
“Always a button-down type?”
“Always.”
“Now you’re a high-priced private investigator for a high-priced Los Angeles law firm. You went to law school yourself?”
“UCLA. Never took the bar.”
“You went into the military,” Loretta said, because it was what immediately made sense to her.
He nodded. “I lost an uncle in Vietnam. My mother’s brother. Great guy. He was twenty. The baby of the family. It affects you forever, that kind of loss.”
Julius was pensive, no wine for him. They’d promised to take Daphne to Boston tonight and then fly back to L.A. in the morning. She had things to do, she’d said, but Loretta knew she’d needed an exit strategy before she could commit to returning to Knights Bridge. Now the Hollywood designer was mingling with people she’d known forty years ago and hadn’t seen since.
Knights Bridge was a pretty town, small and off the beaten track, but Loretta could see that Dylan was right. Time hadn’t stopped here.
Finally Julius said, “Daphne’s time here in Knights Bridge meant something. It wasn’t just about hiding and then running away. It wasn’t just about her. I hope she sees that now.”
“You’re thinking about Patrick O’Dunn,” Loretta said.
“Yeah.” Julius’s gaze was fixed on Daphne as she approached Phoebe under a big shade tree. His expression tightened. “She wanted me to do it. I told her I couldn’t.”
“Do what?”
“Watch. It’s not easy to tell Daphne no, but this was for her to do.”
He was silent as they watched Daphne hand Phoebe an envelope.
“What is it?” Loretta asked.
“It’s the letter she wrote to Patrick O’Dunn when she got to California. She never mailed it.”
Phoebe opened the envelope and unfolded the note inside. Loretta bit back her impatience. “What’s it say? You read it, right?”
Julius scowled. “You’re such a know-it-all, Loretta. Yeah, I read it.”
“Well?”
He hesitated, obviously debating how much to say. “Daphne tells him she made it to Hollywood and while she doesn’t know what the future will bring, she knows she made the right decision. ‘Thanks to you, Patrick, I’ve finally found my home.’” Julius cleared his throat. “She tells him she’d never have made it to California without him. He helped her find the courage to take the plunge, go after her dream, just because he got up every day and lived his life, did the best he could.”
Loretta choked back tears. “Damn. I think I’m going to cry.”