A Time to Keep
Page 27
EPILOGUE
Gwen could feel her knees shake as she held the bible on which her husband had placed his right hand as he was sworn in as a judge for the Louisiana Supreme Court. Her eyes misted and she closed them briefly as photographers captured the moment for posterity. She felt a tugging on the hem of her skirt, but refused to look down at her three-year-old daughter.
Bianca had promised her mother and father that she wouldn’t say anything during Daddy’s swearing-in, but they were taking too long. “Mama,” she whispered softly.
Gwen cut her eyes at her daughter, who recognized the gesture immediately. Standing up straight, she raised her right hand as she’d seen her father do, then repeated his oath to uphold the constitution of the State of Louisiana and the United States of America.
Those who’d gathered in the Baton Rouge courthouse heard the childish voice repeating the oath verbatim and dissolved into fits of laughter. Gwen called her daughter a myna bird because she repeated everything she heard, but the teacher at her preschool said the precocious little girl had the gift of total recall.
Gwen turned her attention to her husband. Former D.A. and former Acting Sheriff Shiloh Harper was now Judge Harper. He’d realized his dream and so had she.
It seemed as if time stood still in bayou country, but not for Gwendolyn Taylor-Harper. She was wife and mother of a toddler daughter and infant son. She met with the ladies of the Genteel Magnolia Society whenever time permitted, hosted tours of Bon Temps for school groups, scheduled fund-raisers and social events in the historic antebellum mansion, and kept her journalistic instincts sharp when she wrote articles for the new editor and publisher of the Teche Tribune.
Nash McGraw, who took a plea rather than embarrass his family with a trial, would spend the rest of his life behind bars for the murder of Shelby Carruthers and the attempted murder of Gwendolyn Harper.
James Jameson was elected sheriff of the SMPD.
Ian and Natalee Harper were expecting their first—twins.
Augustine Leblanc had asked Moriah to marry him, but she told him she had to think about it. It had been a year since he’d proposed, and she was still thinking about it.
Gwen winked at her mother, who cradled her three-month-old grandson to her chest. A photographer motioned to her to move closer to her husband.
“Here come da judge,” she whispered softly.
Shiloh lifted his eyebrow in his best Dwayne Johnson imitation. He looped an arm over her shoulder, the sleeve of his black robe a startling contrast to her oyster-white silk dress.
“Can you smell what the judge is cooking?” he whispered before he anchored a finger under her chin and kissed her mouth. He deepened the kiss and cameras and flashbulbs captured the image that would appear in a major daily with the bold headline: ENTRAPMENT!
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ALSO BY ROCHELLE ALERS
The Eatons
Forever an Eaton
Sweet Dreams
Twice the Temptation
Sweet Persuasions
Sweet Destiny
Sweet Southern Nights
Sweet Silver Bells
The Best Men
Man of Fate
Man of Fortune
Man of Fantasy
Whitfield Brides
Long Time Coming
The Sweetest Temptation
Taken by Storm
ISBN: 9781460397152
A Time to Keep
Copyright © 2006 by Rochelle Alers
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