Page 73 of The Way Back Home
Carefully, he untied the bow and began to unfold the linen, revealing the necklace he’d seen around Teagan’s neck. The Celtic pendant she’d never taken off.
She’d left it for him. As a keepsake.
As a goodbye.
Because she didn’t expect to ever see him again.
He stared at it for a long time, the sense of loss morphing into something else. A renewed sense of purpose. This was a sign, pointing him in the right direction.
Right toward her.
She cared for him, enough to leave him something important to her.
If she thought this was the end, she was wrong.
It was abeginning.
Noah left his cabin and headed to the main house. By the time he stepped into the spacious kitchen, his resolve was complete. Teagan was his future.
“Hey, Mom, dickheads,” Noah said cheerily.
His mother shot him a censuring look; she and most of his brothers were seated around the scarred kitchen table, looking as tired and emotionally worn out as he felt.
They cast astonished stares his way as he poured himself some coffee and grabbed a handful of cookies.
“I think he’s flipped,” Eli murmured.
Noah smiled indulgently back at him. For the first time in a long time, his mind was remarkably clear. “Nope.”
“You looked like you were gonna off yourself an hour ago,” Adam said suspiciously, earning himself a swat on the back of the head from his mother.
“That was before I found this.” Noah reached into his pocket and pulled out Teagan’s necklace.
“What is it?” they asked, straining to see.
“It’s Teagan’s,” Noah told them. “She left it for me under the tree.”
Alex looked at him as if he’d lost his mind, but his mother’s eyes glimmered with understanding.
“Let me see that, dear.” Noah’s mother picked the charm up between her fingers, her eyes widening as she turned the charm to view it front and back. “This looks old.” She brought it closer to her face. “There’s something engraved on the back, but I can’t make it out.”
“What do you have there, Molly?” Martin asked as he came into the kitchen, bringing with him the scent of winter air and hay.
She held the charm out to him. “Teagan left this for Noah.”
Martin glanced at his son, his eyes filled with approval and knowledge. “Did she now?” He examined the charm closely.
“Can you make out what it says?” Molly asked.
“No, but I know someone who can.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
TEAGAN
Teagan hated hospitals. Had since the first time she’d been in one.
It had been just after her mother died. Tony had told the police she’d fallen from the loft while playing in the barn. She tried to tell the truth, but no one listened. Tony had played the part of the grieving widower well, painting himself as a man barely holding it together while caring for a “difficult” child.
