“Thank you,” Jamie said.
Amanda had already started removing containers and chopsticks from the plastic bags and was setting them on the table when Jamie and Kate arrived in the kitchen. Jamie set the sweet-and-sour chicken in front of Gracie before she went hunting through the boxes for her spicier chicken.
“When I get done eating, can I explore the castle all by myself?” Gracie asked.
Jamie glanced at Kate, who nodded. “If it’s okay with your mama, I don’t care if you go on an adventure. Just yell real loud if you get lost so we can send the prince to find you.”
Gracie giggled. “You’ll have to come find me, Mama. We don’t have a prince in this castle. We didn’t bring Waylon with us.”
“So you think Waylon is a prince?” Kate asked.
“Yep, and you are a princess. He’s going to rescue you from this castle and take you to live on the ranch with him.”
“What makes you think that?” Jamie asked.
“It’s my story, Mama.” Gracie sighed.
Jamie didn’t voice it, but she felt as if she’d been admitted to a castle, too.
“That’s right,” Amanda said. “And I like her story.”
Gracie finished her food, broke open the fortune cookie, and handed it to Jamie. “Read it to me, Mama.”
Jamie straightened out the bit of paper and read, “You will find new things in your future.”
“What does that mean?” Gracie asked.
Jamie planted a kiss on her daughter’s forehead. “It probably means that you will make even more new friends in Bootleg when school starts.”
Gracie sighed again, this time with more drama. “I thought it meant I’d find a hidden treasure in this castle.”
Kate ate her last grain of rice and tossed the container in the trash compactor. “It’s not really a castle.”
“It’s her story,” Amanda reminded them. “Go and find the treasure, darlin’ girl. And bring it back for us to see.”
“But you only have about thirty minutes, and then it’s bedtime for you, little girl. We have to get up really early and go to the courthouse and you need to be all smiles.” Jamie kissed her on the top of her head.
Minutes later they heard her opening doors on the second floor.
“I want to see his room, too,” Amanda said.
Jamie pushed back her food. “Want to go with me?”
“Why don’t we all go together?” Kate led the way across the foyer and to the last room on the left. She opened the door and stood back to let them go inside first. “It’s just a room with a nice closet and a big bathroom. I bought this house after we were married because I loved this room and the view of the pool.” She pulled open the drapes to show them the backyard.
“So this isn’t where you lived before you married him?” Jamie asked.
“I lived in a small house, not much bigger than the cabin, and I loved the coziness,” she answered. “Do either of you feel anything about this room?”
Amanda walked over to the sliding doors leading out to the patio. “I don’t want to sleep in here, but it’s just a big empty room.”
“I’m done.” Jamie turned and left the room.
“Did it help?” Kate asked.
Jamie folded her arms over her chest. “It did.”
“How?” Kate and Amanda followed her back to the kitchen.
“It wasn’t just me that he couldn’t love. It was any woman. We were all just a game to him. Like a hunter chases down a white-tailed deer. Marrying us was equivalent to shooting us. Now I know it wasn’t because I couldn’t make enough money or wasn’t pretty enough or good enough in bed. It wasn’t me or you or Amanda.” Jamie picked up her suitcase and headed up the stairs. “I’m glad you invited us. It’s really, really over now, or it will be after tomorrow morning.”
“I’m not sure I understand,” Amanda said.
“He lived here. He lived in my house, which you were paying for,” Jamie said. “And he lived in your little apartment. Nothing satisfied him or brought him happiness. He craved the hunt.”
“And look what it finally got him,” Amanda said. “I’m ready to get in that pool and pretend that we are on vacation. What are you going to do with this house after the summer, Kate?”
“Sell it,” she said without hesitation.
Amanda awoke with a start the next morning. She scanned the room and tried to figure out what she was doing in a five-star hotel. Then it all came back to her in a flash. She was in Fort Worth. Today she would go to the courthouse to get her maiden name back, putting the final touch on what had happened in the last month.