Chapter 20 - THE LAST PROMISE
The next morning Emma stood in the grand foyer with a small suitcase.
William waited by the door.
Ethan held the dog’s collar.
“I won’t be long,” Emma said.
William’s voice was low.
“You don’t have to go alone.”
“I do.”
She knelt and hugged Ethan hard.
“Keep the foundation strong. Keep Max out of the rose beds. And keep your father’s coffee cup full.”
Ethan nodded against her shoulder.
“Come back.”
“I will.”
She stood and looked at William.
For a moment neither spoke.
Then Emma reached into her pocket and pressed the foundation master keycard into his hand.
“In case.”
William closed his fingers around it.
“There is no ‘in case.’”
Emma gave a small smile.
“There’s always an ‘in case.’”
She walked out into the bright morning sun.
The black car waited at the curb.
As it pulled away Ethan waved from the steps.
William stood behind him with one hand on the boy’s shoulder.
Inside the car Emma opened a sealed envelope Miller had given her at dawn.
A single photograph.
A man with the same violet eyes as Isabella.
Standing outside a federal building in Chicago.
Smiling at the camera.
On the back of the photograph one line of handwriting.
She still has friends.
Emma folded the photo and slipped it into her jacket.
She looked out the window as the mansion disappeared behind her.
The city moved past in clean morning light.
Somewhere ahead a new fight waited.
She had kept her promise to Eleanor once.
May you like
She would keep it again.
No matter how many shadows still walked.
