Chapter 10 - THE SPRING THAWThree months later, the ice on Lake Geneva broke beneath a warm April sun that turned the gray stone of the Romano estate the color of wet honey.
The front gates no longer carried the heavy iron chains that had kept the town at arm's length for half a century. Instead, they stood wide open, welcoming the morning delivery trucks and the local children who occasionally stopped by the east wall just to watch the massive black Cane Corso sun himself on the manicured grass.
Inside the newly renovated conservatory—built directly over the foundations where the old secrets had finally been laid to rest—Evelyn knelt on the flagstones, potting rows of bright yellow spring tulips while a portable radio played a low, melodic tune from a station in Madison.
Heavy footsteps crunched across the gravel path behind her.
A pair of polished black leather shoes stopped beside her knee. A moment later, a heavy wool jacket was draped gently across her shoulders, smelling faintly of cedar, rain, and old paper.
"You're going to ruin those gloves," Gabriel said, leaning down with a cup of steaming black coffee in his hand.
Evelyn looked up, wiping a streak of dark garden soil off her forehead with the back of her wrist, leaving a smudge that made Gabriel’s lips twitch into a genuine, unguarded smile—the kind the newspapers had never managed to photograph.
"I like the dirt," she said, taking the coffee cup from his hand. "It doesn't lie about what’s underneath."
From the shade of the grand oak tree near the terrace, Titan lifted his massive black head, let out a long, contented yawn, and thumped his heavy tail twice against the grass.
Gabriel looked down at the dog, then back at Evelyn, his dark eyes warm and steady in the spring light.
"The board meeting in Milwaukee went well," Gabriel said quietly, sitting down on the edge of the stone planter beside her. "The new municipal water board voted to name the park across the lake after my uncle."
"And the Sterling assets?"
"Distributed among the families they displaced forty years ago." Gabriel reached out, his fingers gently brushing a stray petal from her hair. "And as for the estate... I signed over the south lodge to a local animal rescue organization. They're moving in next week."
Evelyn stopped drinking her coffee, turning to look at him with a mix of surprise and warmth. "All of it?"
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"Just the part we weren't using," Gabriel said, leaning his shoulder against hers as the morning sun broke fully over the lake. "After all, we have plenty of room in the main house now."
And for the first time in twenty-eight years, the old mansion on the cliff didn't sound like a fortress guarding its ghosts. It sounded like a home.
