Epilogue
Eighteen months later
Sam reached for Tessa’s hand as the newly elected governor prepared to speak.
“Good evening, ladies, gentlemen. First, I would like to thank each and every one of you for your vote. It was a close race, but it only takes one more vote than the other candidate to win.” Applause.
“Tonight, as your newly elected governor, you all know why you’re here.” He paused. “Almost thirteen years ago, one of the city’s most horrendous tragedies took place. The lives of Piper and Poppy Jamison, along with those of their uncles, Liam Jamison and Jack Jamison, were taken by a vicious, callous man, who was the father and the brother of the victims.” Michael Chen looked at Tessa. “I would like to formally apologize to Ms. Tessa Jamison. I was the lead prosecutor in the case, and I made a very bad mistake. I did not listen to her. So bent on getting a conviction, I and my staff focused all of our attention on her, a woman, a wife and mother who’d just lost her entire family. I can’t begin to think that my words will have any healing effect on the survivors, but I hope in some small way, they will. Rachelle Jamison lost a son.”
Sam leaned over and whispered in her ear. “Now?” she mouthed back.
He nodded.
Tessa took Rachelle’s hand, then whispered in her ear. “Already?” Rachelle asked in a low voice.
Tessa nodded.
“I’m coming with you.”
Quickly, and hopefully, they quietly eased out of the auditorium without distracting too many people who had come to listen to Governor Chen discuss a new bill the Florida Senate had recently passed.
The Jamison Bill. The bill protected women who had been released from prison and were being stalked, harassed, or had an attempt made on their life by their significant other. Tessa had worked tirelessly with Lee and Darlene to take the bill to the Florida Senate. Surprised and proud when it was passed, Tessa’s loss might prevent another woman in similar circumstances from losing her life or that of a family member. It was a simple thing, nothing too complex. When a woman was released from confinement in a jail, prison, or halfway house, if she was harassed by a significant other who had been instrumental in her having been convicted and served time, the harasser would automatically be jailed for ninety days, then would receive a full mental evaluation before being released. It wasn’t huge, but it was something dear to her and to Rachelle, who had become a surrogate mother to her. Rachelle had sold her house in Miami and moved to Naples, where Tessa now lived in a ritzy condo overlooking the Gulf of Mexico.
As soon as they stepped outside, the June heat hit them full force. “Can you believe it’s this hot at night?” Rachelle asked. “Or am I having another hot flash?” she added, laughing.
Inside the car, Tessa’s bright red Porsche, Sam cranked over the engine and clicked the air-conditioning on. “Do you think Lara can handle this?” Tess asked the others as Sam backed out of the parking garage.
“I do, Tess,” Sam said. “She’s not the same girl she was. She has finally grown into a woman, at least in my opinion.”
“She has,” Tessa agreed. “I think her finding out about Joel, Liam, and Jack, the poor twin who’d spent most of his life in Savannah, and the girls changed her. Made her realize that life was too short to waste it on dope and dresses. What do you think of Logan?”
“He seems like a decent guy. He married your little sister, so he better take care of her, or else,” Sam teased.
“Did you call Lee and Jill?” Rachelle asked from the backseat.
“No, Logan did. They should be there by the time we arrive.”
“I hope we’re in time. I would hate to miss this life-changing event, plus I can’t wait to see Lara’s face when she sees her baby for the first time.”
“As it should be, a surprise. I don’t think I’d want to know the gender of my child if I were lucky enough to have one,” Sam said.
Tessa remained quiet. While she and Sam were in love, and planned on getting married in the fall, in Vermont, she wasn’t so sure about children. She was almost forty-nine, and he was fifty-three. But never say never.
Look at Jill. She was ready to burst with a baby boy. Lee was so excited, he’d replaced all his pink ties and shirts with pale blue ones. They were older, too, but Tessa knew that Jill would make an excellent mother, and Lee was already the stereotypical doting father.
Sam pulled into the parking lot at Gulf Coast Hospital.
Inside, they took the elevator to the second floor, where the birthing suites were located. Inside room number 216 were Lara, Logan, and the baby.
“You’ve had the baby already?” Tessa said as she hurried across the room.
“Yep. Here. You want to hold . . . her?”
Tessa eyes filled with tears. “A baby girl.”
She took Elizabeth Marie Rivera and cradled her in her arms. Tears dripped down her face.
Life hadn’t always been good to her, but right now, she was happy. Lara was happy, and baby Elizabeth would be the most spoiled niece in the whole world.
Sam stood behind her. With a finger, he traced the baby’s cheek. “Soft as down,” he said, smiling.
Tessa cradled the baby in her arms, then inhaled.
Strawberries and honey.
She looked at Lara and smiled.
She remembered.
Jill and Lee arrived, her belly entering the room a few seconds before she did. When Jill saw the baby, she sat down and cried.
“She is absolutely beautiful, Lara. She has Logan’s eyes.”
They all looked at her. “What?”
“She hasn’t opened them,” Tessa said, laughing.
“But when she does, she’ll have those gorgeous blue eyes,” she insisted.
“Of course. Lara and Logan both have blue eyes.”
They all laughed and took turns holding the new addition to the family. Rachelle was now designated as Nanny to baby Elizabeth. In the short time since Joel’s death, they had all become a mishmash family.
Tessa had had the house torn down and the property totally excavated. After she had received permission, the entire property had been converted into a grassy retreat amidst all the beautiful and expensive houses in the gated community. And on it were two memorials, one to the Jamison girls and one to their uncles.
The memorial to Jack and Liam consisted of a large, Calder-like mobile of two manatees swimming around and around a small whale that spouted water into the air every minute. The memorial to Piper and Poppy, she had placed at the base of the lighthouse at the edge of the island. It was a very large sculpture of a kitten’s paw and a jingle seashell. The lighthouse was ringed by a newly planted semicircle of different kinds of red flowers that bloomed all year round and a semicircle of purple flowers that was also perpetually in bloom.
Harry’s work proved what Joel had told her the day he tried to murder her. He had indeed killed both Jack and Liam. After dousing Liam’s body with sodium hydroxide, he had buried his remains in the yard, which was confirmed by the DNA analysis of the bones that had been dug up.
Jack’s body had ended up in the swimming pool, and everyone had assumed it was the body of his twin brother, Joel. Jack, it turned out, had spent his life after his mother’s death at the Canterberry Institute, in Savannah, Georgia, an institution for the mentally challenged. He had been released only two days before his death. From his doctor, they had learned that Jack had witnessed Joel push their mother down the steps. Jack had always been slow, and after Lois’s death, Grant had had him placed at Canterberry for his own protection.
She didn’t want to know any more than that.
Right now, for the first time, her life was hers, on her own terms.