The Milburn Big Box Set

by Nancy McGovern

  “You were how Viola convinced Ramona to play this ‘prank’,” Nora said. “She dangled you like bait. She probably told Ramona it was necessary to have Lucas asleep so you wouldn’t bring him along, hence the sleeping pill. Then she could call you about the diary and the two of you would be alone for nature to take its course.”

  “Mom!” Jacob stared at her.

  “It’s true.” Viola shrugged. “I hoped to kill two birds with one stone. I never liked you and Grace together, you know that. I thought maybe this way, you’d cry on Ramona’s shoulder and love would bloom.”

  “Of all the stupid—” Jacob squeezed his eyes shut. “You should have known better, Mom. Grace is the woman I love. I told you that over and over.”

  Viola shrugged. “I know you, my son. I know you better than you know yourself.”

  “No!” Jacob exploded. “No, you don’t. You always do this. You try and make decisions on my behalf when you have no right to. You did the same thing with Kaylee. Did it ever occur to you that maybe Kaylee would have liked to know her father, no matter what his past was? Bobby Black had a bad past, but he was working on himself. He’d sobered up. He’d started his own business. Maybe he’d have been a good influence on Kaylee.”

  “You can’t believe that!” Viola exclaimed. “He would have taken her away from us!”

  “No court would have let an ex-convict take Kaylee away from us,” Jacob said. “Kaylee would have had the best of both worlds. She would have stayed with us, and yet known her own father. You didn’t just murder Bobby, Mom. You robbed Kaylee of her birthright! What you did was evil.”

  “I love you!” Viola had tears in her eyes. “I love you and I love Kaylee. I did this all for her sake.”

  “If you love her at all, you’ll never say that again,” Jacob said. “She’ll have a lifetime of guilt following her about if she finds out.”

  “I—I can’t breathe,” Viola said quietly. “It isn’t true. I did the right thing. I made the tough decisions because nobody else could. I tried to keep the rest of you safe—”

  “Oh, did you?” Jacob asked. “Or was your eventual plan to get rid of Grace by accusing her of the crime? Huh, Mom? You accused Nora the other day, after all.”

  “I...” Tears were streaming down Viola’s cheeks. She shook her head, unable to speak.

  “And my daughter?” Sophia stood up, her voice hoarse. “You killed my daughter! And then you held me, comforted me, knowing that you had killed the most important person in my world?!”

  “I’m truly sorry about that,” Viola said, sobbing. “I didn’t mean to kill Ramona. I didn’t want to kill Ramona. I told her we’d make sure she married Jacob. I told her that she’d inherit the Giordano fortune. But once she figured out what I’d done, she was obstinate. She wanted to confess. She went crazy. She even talked about calling Grace and telling her everything. She knew Jacob would certainly not believe her.”

  “That’s why she called Grace instead of me!” Jacob whistled.

  “I knew I had to get rid of her, then,” Viola said. “Again, for Kaylee’s sake.”

  “No. For your own,” Sophia hissed. “You evil witch.”

  “And Dad?” Lucas asked, staring at his mom. “That hiking trip you went on all those years ago. People were right all along, weren’t they?”

  Viola stared at Lucas, shocked. “You don’t think I actually killed your father? Why, I loved him! No! That was a tragic accident.”

  “You told me someone might have followed you,” Lucas said.

  “I had to say something to get you back,” Viola said. “You simply wouldn’t believe that it truly was an accident that had killed your father. So I invented a mysterious assassin. At long last my son would look at me without doubt in his eyes. How could you, Lucas? I could bear for other people to suspect me. But you?”

  “Maybe I always knew what you were capable of,” Lucas said in disgust.

  “Whatever I did, I did out of love,” Viola said. “I never killed your father, Lucas. I only killed Bobby because I had to. For Kaylee’s sake.”

  “And Ramona?” Sophia screamed. “You took my daughter from me! I’ll never forgive you!”

  “Sophia, be reasonable.” Viola turned to her friend.

  “Reasonable? I’ll show you reasonable. You took my child, so now I’ll take yours,” Sophia snarled.

  “What?” Viola looked alarmed.

  Sophia drew a small revolver from her purse and pointed it at Jacob.

  “No!” Viola screamed.

  There was a loud bang as a gunshot reverberated through the house. The flash of light accompanying the bullet had everyone throwing their hands up to cover their eyes. Another loud bang echoed through the library, followed by absolute silence. Seconds ticked by before the world made sense again.

  Nora felt her heart sink as she saw the wreckage in front of her.

  Jacob and Lucas were sobbing over their mother’s body. Viola had thrown herself in front of the bullet that Sophia had intended for Jacob. Her body was still.

  The second body in the room was Sophia herself. Nora felt truly sorry for her. In a way, Sophia had been killed by Viola as surely as her bullet had killed Viola.

  Feeling suddenly dizzy, Nora collapsed into a chair.

  She’d been wrong earlier. It wasn’t only evil that drove men to kill. Sometimes, the road to hell was truly paved with good intentions. Viola had been so blinded by her love for Kaylee that she’d done the unthinkable. And now, here at the end of her path, Nora could only see the destruction and chaos she had left behind.

  Remembering what she’d told Grace on Thanksgiving night, Nora stood up and rolled up her sleeves. For as much as women like Viola created chaos, there would be others like her, ready to work and restore order again.

  *****

  Epilogue

  18 Months Later

  “And now, for the first time ever,” the man announced, “Mr. and Mrs. Jacob Giordano!”

  Claps resounded through the hall as Jacob and Grace emerged from behind the curtain. The band began playing “You Fill Up My Senses” by John Denver and there was a hush as Jacob and Grace began to dance. A spotlight fell upon them as they moved together in perfect harmony, dipping and swaying with the music. Although every eye was upon them, they only seemed to notice each other.

  For the second time that day, Nora felt her eyes well up. The first had been when Jacob and Grace had exchanged vows earlier. They looked so beautiful together, tall and broad Jacob with his slender, yet tough, wife. Nora felt a hand snake around her shoulders and pull her close. She looked at Harvey, whose eyes looked equally misty.

  “They’ll be fine,” Harvey said. “Whatever happens, they’re a good team. And they’ll handle it together.”

  Nora nodded. After the last eighteen months, especially, she felt confident of this.

  Viola and Sophia’s deaths had left a lot of destruction in their wake. But, bit by bit, those left to carry on had created some sort of life together again. The first thing Jacob had done was to apply for guardianship of Kaylee. With Viola gone, he really was the closest family member. He and Grace had talked, too, and had decided that, once married, they would apply to officially adopt Kaylee together.

  The next thing to be done was to manage the rumors and whispers that had spread like wildfire around town. At first, Aunt Eugenie had insisted that they try and suppress the truth. But Jacob had refused. He’d said that doing that in the past had only lead to misery and that this time would be different. So Jacob had held a press conference where he spoke honestly about everything that had happened, all the while with Grace holding his hand.

  To their surprise, the townsfolk of Greenfield, instead of shunning them, had embraced them. Everyone was sympathetic to Jacob and Lucas’ grief. As for Kaylee, Jacob had talked to her teachers and they’d decided it would be best if she was only told a brief, abridged version.

  Kaylee had been really shaken up at first, but Jacob made sure she regularl
y saw a counselor. That, combined with the fact that Aunt Eugenie had moved into the Giordano home to help take care of her, really helped things. Now eighteen months later, Kaylee was a happy, bubbly child again, surrounded by adults who truly loved her.

  The song ended and Grace and Jacob took a bow. A fast song started up and Lucas jumped to his feet, along with Kaylee. The two of them did an outrageously funny chicken-dance, making the crowd roar with laughter.

  Lucas and Finley had both put their differences aside and decided to run the company together. To everyone’s surprise, they’d actually made it work. Viola’s death seemed to have knocked the immaturity out of Lucas, who poured himself into his new work. It seemed to make Finley far kinder to Lucas, too, and so Finley’s charm and Lucas’ ideas combined to make Giso bigger and better than it had ever been before.

  Kaylee was now dancing in a circle, holding hands with Jacob and Grace. They were all laughing together. They looked up and Grace motioned to Nora and Harvey, asking them to join.

  “Come on!” Harvey pulled Nora up. As if he’d guessed her thoughts, he added, “Enough with the past. We’ve got a bright future to look forward to.”

  It was true, Nora knew. The last year and a half had been tough. Yet the Giordano family had all bonded together and faced it head-on. The future looked brighter day by day.

  “Look at me, Aunt Nora!” Kaylee exclaimed. “I’m doing the Macarena!” She shook her hips along with the music and Grace shook hers, too, in perfect sync. Both looked at each other with happiness shining in their eyes and Nora found herself blinking back tears.

  “Come on, Aunt Nora!”

  “You have to call her ‘Grandma Nora’ now,” Grace said with a wink.

  “What do you mean?” Kaylee looked baffled.

  “Well, you know your Uncle Jacob and I signed civil marriage papers a year ago, right? So that we could properly submit the adoption papers?”

  “Yeah?” Kaylee looked confused.

  “We got them back today!” Grace said with a big smile. “So I’m officially your new mom, if you’ll have me. And Nora is now your grandma!”

  “For real?” Kaylee’s eyes grew wide.

  “For real, kiddo.” Jacob bent down and kissed her. “I’m no longer your uncle. I’m officially your dad, according to the United States Government.”

  “Seriously? You’re my real family now?”

  “We always were, sweetheart,” Grace said. “Love is what makes a family, isn’t it? And we all love you.”

  Kaylee threw herself upon them both with a big hug. “This is the happiest day of my life!” she exclaimed.

  “And mine,” Jacob said, a bit teary.

  “And mine,” Grace agreed.

  Nora let herself be swept away to the dance floor by Harvey, giving Grace a moment of privacy with her new family. She didn’t say it out loud, but seeing Grace so happy made Nora feel, finally, like the past was fading away, and a new future was shining as bright as the ring upon Grace’s finger.

  The End (of Dancing With The Dead)

  Continue For Reminiscing With The Dead…

  RETURN TO MILBURN…25 Years Later

  A Sequel Series To “A Murder In Milburn”

  BOOK 3:

  Reminiscing With The Dead

  By

  Nancy McGovern

  Chapter 1

  The Snow Ghost

  There’s nothing more cozy than being snuggled up and warm when the weather is frigid. As her husband, Harvey, drove them home in their sleek, black BMW, Nora drooped sleepily in her soft, leather seat, watching the world go by. A thick blanket of snow covered both sides of the road and small snowflakes settled gently on the overloaded branches of weary trees. There was a silence covering the night, broken only by the soft growl of the car’s engine.

  Nora touched her fingertips to the window. Snowflakes raced each other diagonally downwards as the car streaked forward into the night. As Harvey’s knee injury didn’t let him ski or do much in the way of winter sports anymore, the Nathaniels now whiled away the winter with many a potluck dinner at friends’ homes. Tonight, it had been Nora’s good friend, Anita Teaks, who had held a karaoke night in her semi-finished basement. Nora had brought along her famous jalapeño mac & cheese and, though the evening had begun slowly with people reluctant to sing, eventually the night had turned into quite an event, with friendly jostling for the mic as each person let their inner pop-star out.

  Harvey was still humming along to Bryan Adams’ Everything I Do when he let out an exclamation and suddenly slowed the car.

  “What is it?” Nora turned to look to where Harvey was pointing as the car slowed to a stop. On the shoulder of the road, nearly invisible with the snow on it, sat a white Toyota. The car was ominously dark, with no lights illuminated. Harvey’s face was immediately grim and Nora felt a little flutter of panic in her heart. She looked at the license plate of the Toyota and saw that it had California plates. Her heart sank further into her chest. Someone from a warm state like California had little chance of knowing just how deadly a Wyoming winter could be.

  “Do you think…” Nora’s words caught in her throat.

  But Harvey was already out of the car, zipping up his heavy duty jacket. With his phone’s flashlight, he peered into the car and then let out an exclamation. Within seconds, Nora was right beside him.

  “What is it?” she asked.

  “The car’s still warm,” Harvey said, touching the hood. “But there’s nobody in it. And the snow’s just getting worse.”

  “Any footprints are already covered,” Nora said looking around.

  “Still,” Harvey said. “There’s a chance we may catch up to whoever was driving this car, if he or she is out here somewhere.”

  “I’m worried, Harvey,” Nora said.

  “Me, too,” Harvey admitted. “The driver made a grave mistake leaving the car instead of waiting for help to arrive. It might cost them their life.”

  Nora bit her lip. As someone who had lived many years in Wyoming, she knew just how deadly winters could be. For her, it was almost second nature to be prepared, even if they were only traveling to a neighbor’s house. Their gas tank was never less than half full, there were always bottles of water & snacks in the car and they even had extra clothes and a sleeping bag stowed away in the trunk, just in case the worst should happen. But this driver was clearly an outsider, possibly someone who’d never seen a real winter before.

  The warmth of the party seemed very far away as Harvey drove slowly down the road, keeping his eyes peeled.

  “There!” Nora exclaimed, pointing to a hooded figure that was hobbling slowly down the road, shoulders hunched.

  “Thank goodness!” The car screeched to a halt next to the stranger and Harvey rolled down his window. The hooded figure turned towards them and Nora was taken aback by how young the man actually was, having assumed he was much older by his gait. He appeared to barely be into his twenties and had a scraggly mustache hanging over his upper lip with flowing, golden locks that reached his shoulders. His eyes were sunken and hollow and he seemed to look right through them, rather than at them.

  “Come on,” Harvey said, with some impatience. “Get in the car, buddy. The sooner we get you warm, the better off you’ll be.”

  Obediently, the young man slid into the backseat and shut the door carefully behind him. Harvey pulled away while Nora handed the boy the extra jacket they kept in the car.

  “Th-thanks,” he said, shivering. “I thought I was going to die out there.”

  “You could have.” Harvey’s voice was short. Nora bit her lip. She knew her husband well and she knew that when he got really anxious he could easily lose his temper. But what their new acquaintance needed at the moment was some warmth, not a fatherly lecture.

  But Harvey was off. “You must never drive in winter without having adequate supplies in your car, and you must never get out of your car if you’re caught in a storm. What were you thinking? Far better to hav
e stayed and called 911.”

  “My phone died,” the man said.

  “And you could have, too! It’s just terrible planning, that’s what it is,” Harvey continued. “You should thank your lucky stars. Just last winter we had a couple from Laramee who—”

  “Okay, Harvey. Enough,” Nora said gently. “Let him breathe a little, won’t you?”

  The young man shot her a grateful look and Harvey, shaking his head, continued to drive.

  “I’m sorry,” the man said finally. “You’re right. I should have planned this better. It was all so spontaneous. Two days ago, I got out of California, pointed my car toward Wyoming and just drove. I wasn’t thinking clearly.”

  “You don’t need to say sorry.” Harvey’s voice was still gruff, but he’d calmed down a little. “We all make mistakes. I’m just glad nothing happened. I suppose you’ll have a good story to tell at the end of it all.”

  “Yeah…a good story.” He looked out of the window, his mouth forming into a frown.

  “I’m Harvey Nathaniel, by the way. This is my wife, Nora,” Harvey said.

  “Good to meet you, sir. I’m Austin. Austin Birdwhistle.”

  “That’s an unusual last name,” Harvey said.

  Nora frowned. It was unusual, and yet…it stirred a memory. Of what? Nora had a flash of a smiling woman but, just as quickly, it vanished.

  “I’m told less than twenty people across the world share it.” Austin smiled. “I guess that makes me special.”

  “So what prompted you to come over to Wyoming spontaneously, son?” Harvey asked. “A girl, maybe?”

  “A woman, actually,” Austin said with a bitter laugh. “But not like you’re thinking. I’m looking for someone who...” His voice trailed off. He shook his head. “Never mind.”

  Nora frowned. She’d been observing Austin for some time now, and he confused her. He’d just been saved from near death, and yet he didn’t seem to concerned about it one bit. Something else was obviously on his mind. The frown that was near-permanently etched on his face spoke volumes about his thoughts, yet his demeanor and his manners gave Nora the impression that he was basically a good person.