They left early the next morning, hoping that this trip to Alabama would be the final stop in their treasure hunt. Jacqui was also hoping that it would reveal more of her family’s history, which was the more important treasure to her.

It was a long flight, and so after they were in the air and Khizar had checked in with the pilot, Jacqui asked him to sit down so they could talk.

“You know, we haven’t had time to talk about what happens next.”

“You mean, after we find the diamond? Or whatever Bill left for you?”

Jacqui nodded. “That, and what happens with us.”

“Ah, that next.”

Once again, Khizar felt the guilt of knowing that he hadn’t considered the long-term because there had been no long-term in his plan. Jacqui saw the raw emotion cross his face and reached out to take his hand.

“Neither of us thought past the proposal. But we can now. And we’ve got plenty of time, with nowhere else to go.”

Khizar nodded and lifted Jacqui’s hand to kiss it.

“So, let’s talk. I know how important your business is to you. But I also know the bakery isn’t doing so well.”

Jacqui wrinkled her nose.

“That little bit of information was in James’ file, too?”

“Ah, sorry. Yes. I was actually looking forward to seeing if I could help you with some business ideas. I don’t know much about bakeries, but I know how to organize and manage a business.”

“I’d love any advice you have. But I don’t know that any amount of help will make the bakery successful, at least not located where it is.”

Khizar said, “I fear you’re right. But if you’re willing to change the location of your bakery, I think you could make it successful.”

Jacqui studied him. “Move it, say, to Nudushan?”

Khizar grinned.

“I hope that you will indeed move to my country, and make it your country, too. I’d like it very much if you opened a bakery in Al Nud. I can think of a couple of vacant buildings that would work, and they’re not too far from my…not too far from our home.”

Jacqui took a deep breath.

“I like the sound of that.”

“I know it’s a big change for you, and I wouldn’t ask you to make it all at once. And your parents and friends are welcome in our home any time.”

“I’d like that. And I’m open to a move, and to starting a bakery in Nudushan.”

Khizar moved to take her hands and hold them between his.

“Jacqui, if you wanted to start a bakery in Paris, I’d find a way to make it happen.”

Her smile lit up the plane’s cabin.

“Let’s start with Nudushan, then we can see about taking over the world with cake.”

* * *

They landed at a different airport in Alabama, this one closer to Montgomery and the address on Bill Bauer’s note. Khizar drove while Jacqui navigated to the address.

The house was on the outskirts of Montgomery, in a cute little neighborhood where all the homes were older and well-maintained. There were tidy fences around each of the yards in the neighborhood and no cars parked on the street.

There was a small parking lot behind the house and a sign noting the historical trust that ran the house as well as information on the tour times.

Khizar parked in the lot and he and Jacqui got out of the car. Stepping through the gate in the white wooden fence, they walked around the house.

Jacqui took her time, looking partly for something that would match the clue Bill left them, and partly to take in all her ancestral home. The house was a two-story with a wrap-around front porch and ornamental woodwork everywhere. It was painted a slate blue with white trim. The stone path wound around the house and through a garden full of wildflowers, complete with a birdbath and two stone benches.

She knew Khizar was letting her take as long as she needed to look around. After a complete circuit of the house, two things were clear. First, no one from the trust’s staff was there, and second, nothing in the garden or yard jumped out at her as matching Bill’s note.

“So, what are we looking for?” Jacqui asked Khizar.

He squinted as he looked up toward the house’s roof and into the sunlight.

“I think it’s probably something hidden, but I don’t see anything that would lend itself to a hidden compartment like at the mine.”

“What about Bill’s note?”

Khizar looked back down. “He did use your middle name, Rose.”

“Then we’re looking for a rose of some kind.”

He nodded. “Except I don’t see any roses out here.”

Jacqui took another slow look around the garden.

“There aren’t any. I don’t even see anything that looks like a rose on the benches or bird bath.”

“We need to go inside,” Khizar said, sounding certain.

“Too bad Uncle Bill didn’t arrange for us to have a key,” Jacqui said and laughed.

“We can always call the staff if we need to, but let’s see if one of the doors is unlocked.”

Jacqui nodded and they walked up the front steps to the door.

No such luck, Jacqui thought, trying to open the dark brown wooden door.

“Maybe there’s another door we can try.”

Khizar walked around the porch and Jacqui followed him.

There was another door. Jacqui could see it, but the porch stopped before it connected to the back side of the house. They walked back around and down the steps, then picked their way through the garden to the back yard. There was another set of smaller steps leading to a screened back porch.

Khizar tried the door on the screen porch; it opened easily. He next tried the handle to the door leading from the back porch into the house. Jacqui held her breath as the handle seemed to stick, then turned with a tiny squeak.

Khizar looked back at Jacqui with a smile and a flourish as he held open the door for her.

The house had been maintained impeccably, Jacqui thought as she looked around. Nothing was out of place and all the furnishings, although a bit faded and worn, looked well cared-for.

They searched the downstairs rooms, finding nothing related to a rose. There were fresh flowers in vases in the dining and living rooms, and wallpaper with flowers on it in the hallway, but none of the flowers even suggested roses.

While Khizar was looking through the living room, Jacqui searched the kitchen. She carefully picked up an old-fashioned egg beater that was sitting on display on the counter. If James’ research was correct, this item was something her great-grandmother might have used. Jacqui laid the egg beater back down and slowly walked through the kitchen, trailing her hand along the counter.

Khizar walked into the kitchen and watched her for a moment.

“We’ll come back. Sometime when the staff is here, and you can tell them who you are. I’m sure they will tell you the history of the house and the Bauer family.”

Jacqui couldn’t look at him. She tried not to let him see her cry, but he came to her anyway and wrapped his arms around her.

“I promise, Jacqui. We’ll spend as much time here as you want, and I won’t stop until you know everything you need to about your family.”

She nodded into his chest. “Thank you.”

He pulled back and wiped the tears off her cheeks.

“Ready to go on?”

“Yes. I don’t think there’s anything down here.”

“Then upstairs it is,” he said confidently.

They climbed the stairs to the second level of the house. Jacqui saw mostly bedrooms and one bathroom. Nothing stood out until Khizar waved at her from the doorway of the bedroom on the east side of the house.

Inside, above a pretty three-drawer dresser, was a large painting of a rose.

“That has got to be it,” Jacqui breathed, hardly able to believe it.

Khizar carefully felt around the painting’s frame, and then lifted it off the wall. He gently set the painting down, off to the side, out of the way.

A small metal panel sat in the wall, with four rotating discs lined up in the middle of panel and a small handle next to the discs.

“It’s a safe,” Khizar said, running his fingers along the edge of the safe’s door.

“So, we need a combination to open the lock, right?”

Khizar nodded. “Four numbers.”

“Okay. What four numbers should we try?”

Khizar studied the safe for another minute.

“Usually, people use numbers they won’t forget. Birthdays, anniversaries, things like that. This kind of safe, it doesn’t matter how many combinations we try. It won’t lock us out after a certain number.”

“Well, that’s good, at least. Do you know Bill’s birthday?”

“I know the date, but not the year.”

“Try it and see.”

Khizar put in four numbers for the month and day of Bill Bauer’s birthday. Then, he tried it reverse, just to be sure. The safe didn’t open.

“Of course, it wouldn’t be that easy,” Jacqui said.

“Is there anything else in his letter?”

Jacqui carefully pulled out her great-uncle’s note to her and reread it, looking for any numbers or anything that might be translated into numbers.

She shook her head. “I don’t see anything that would work.”

“What about your birthday?” Khizar asked. “He left this for you to open.”

He stepped aside so that Jacqui could put in the numbers. Jacqui tried a few different combinations—the day and month, the month and year, reversing each of those—but nothing worked.

They thought in silence for a few minutes until Jacqui looked up with an idea.

“What if it is my birthday, but it’s also the day Uncle Bill and I met?”

Khizar nodded once. “That’s it. It’s something only you would know.”

Jacqui put in the day of her birthday and the last two digits of the year. She heard a click, and then she pulled on the handle.

Jacqui slowly opened the door to the safe, and gasped. The Bauer Diamond sat inside the wall safe on a bed of black velvet, and even in the dim light of the bedroom, it shone like a small star.

Khizar peered over her shoulder, and Jacqui heard a sharp intake of breath from him.

“Wow,” he said, reverentially.

Jacqui reached into the safe and picked up the diamond. She’d never held anything quite like it. Stunning didn’t do the gem justice—it was one of the most beautiful things she’d ever seen. Turning, she walked to where they could see the diamond in better light.

Standing in front of a window, sunlight hit the diamond and scattered the light in a rainbow of prisms on the far wall.

“It’s beautiful,” Jacqui said softly.

“It is, without a doubt, the most exquisite diamond I’ve ever seen,” Khizar added.

Jacqui laughed, a little nervously.

“This is the real thing, right? It’s not another clue.”

“No, this is definitely the real diamond. I’ve never seen anything like it. No wonder Bill hid it away. He would never have had a moment of peace if he’d kept this in public.”

Jacqui turned the diamond over. It was perfect, but it was also something that her great-uncle had touched. It was part of his history, and so it was part of Jacqui’s. But, standing there with a priceless diamond in her hands, Jacqui realized that she had no idea what to do with it now.

“Please tell me you brought something to carry this in. I don’t even know what to do with it,” Jacqui said, holding the diamond like it might break.

Khizar tapped it, carefully, but still to prove a point.

“There’s not much you can do to damage this gem, love. And I’ve got a case in the car designed to protect it.”

“What should we do with it?”

Part of Jacqui wanted to keep it, because it was connected to her great-uncle, but this diamond was not something meant to be set on a bookshelf as a keepsake.

“It’s yours, so the decision is up to you.”

Jacqui looked up at him with wide eyes. She turned it over in her hands and then answered her own question.

“You’re a jeweler; you should have it. I wouldn’t know what to do with it. I think it would be more trouble than it’s worth just to have lying around.”

“If that’s what you want, my company will buy it from you. However, I think we should sell it to someone else,” Khizar said.

“Really?” Jacqui wasn’t sure what to make of this change.

Khizar placed his hands on her arms, holding her the same way she was holding the diamond, like something precious.

“I don’t need the diamond. My company doesn’t need the diamond. For me, your love is the greatest treasure I could find, and I hope you know that you will never want for anything again. You can sell it and keep the money, but I intend to make sure your business is secure and you have everything else you could possibly want in life. If we sell the diamond, we can donate the proceeds to charity, and Bill’s diamond will continue to do good in this world.”

Jacqui couldn’t help but smile.

“I’d like that. I hope Uncle Bill would, too.”

Khizar thought about that.

“I think he would. I think he left this to you so that you would have the freedom to do what you wanted.”

“He was a good man, wasn’t he?”

Khizar smiled, and Jacqui could see for the first time just how much he truly admired Bill Bauer.

“He truly was.”

Holding the diamond between them, Jacqui stretched up to kiss the man she loved, who had given her an adventure she didn’t know she wanted and a family she didn’t know she had.

“Then let’s sell the diamond, and start our own family tradition.”

Khizar carried the gem to the car and packed it in the case he’d brought for that purpose. Jacqui followed a few minutes after, closing up the safe and hanging the painting back on the wall. She took a few minutes to look around again.

“Thanks, Uncle Bill,” she said out loud as she walked down the stairs. “It means a lot to me that you wanted me to have something you cherished. I hope you know that what the diamond brought me was more than riches. You brought someone very special into my life, and that’s worth more than any diamond.”

Jacqui stepped off the stairs and made her way back out through the kitchen. She stopped one more time before she left out the back door.

“I’ll come back, I promise. And I’ll bring our kids here, too. You’re still part of our family, Uncle Bill, and always will be. We won’t forget you.”

Jacqui quietly closed the door behind her and laid one palm against the wood.

“Bye for now, Uncle Bill.”

She walked to the car where Khizar was waiting for her. He gathered her in his arms and held her close.

Jacqui heard him whisper softly, “Thanks, Bill.”

It didn’t take them long to get back to the plane, though it was a quiet drive with each of them lost in their own thoughts. But when Khizar held her hand, she knew she wasn’t alone.

They boarded the plane and Khizar suggested they fly to New York City first.

“We have an office there, and I can start the process to sell the diamond. Plus, we have excellent security, so I know the diamond will be safe there.”

That sounded reasonable to Jacqui.

“I’m good with a quick trip to New York, if you promise to take me to Times Square.”

Khizar grinned at her. “I’ll take you wherever you want to go, my love.”

He gave the case with the diamond to Jacqui. She carried it back through the cabin while Khizar discussed their flight plan with the crew. When he followed her into the bedroom a few minutes later, Jacqui had opened the case and was looking at the diamond again.

Khizar raised an eyebrow in question, and when Jacqui nodded, took the diamond out of the case and sat it on the long, low dresser against the wall where they could admire the beauty of the precious gem.

Jacqui sat on the bed and watched him as he watched the diamond.

“Starting to regret your idea to sell it?” she asked him, teasing just a little bit.

Khizar laughed and turned from the diamond. He leaned over the bed, and over her, and kissed her deeply. Jacqui put one hand on his chest, wrapping her fingers in his shirt and pulling him down.

“No. Bill obviously wanted you to have some kind of financial security, and you do, now. I will give you everything you need. Everything you want, too, for that matter,” he said between kisses.

“How much do you think the diamond will sell for?” Jacqui asked, curious even as she was distracted by Khizar’s fingers and mouth on her skin.

She could feel his grin against her neck.

“Enough to endow several of your favorite charities with significant funds. You’ll probably have a building or three named after you in the near future.”

Jacqui laughed and pushed him away slightly so that she could carefully, slowly unbutton his shirt. He tried to move her hands so he could do it, and she kissed him again, long and slow, until his hands got sidetracked with something else. She went back to unbuttoning his shirt and loved the groan he made when she took her sweet time doing it.

“I think I’d like the buildings to be named after my parents instead, or maybe my great-grandmother, Rose.”

Khizar said, “That’s a wonderful idea.”

Jacqui sweetly kissed his cheek. “Thank you.”

He grinned roguishly.

“To be fair, I think every idea of yours is wonderful.”

Jacqui kissed him, relishing the thought that this man was hers and she was his, and as the plane took off into the night, the only thing that mattered was that they were together.