Page 113 of Lost and Found

She pushed up onto her toes and kissed him like she knew everything would fall into place.

Bailey held Matt to her chest in the back of a Suburban and tried to manage her kaleidoscope of emotions. She loved Wes, and he loved her, and that was enough to get through the day’s fury, heartbreak, and disgust.

And Matt was safe in her arms, just as Wes had promised. She tried to focus on them. On their happiness and the future. On all the possibilities that might unfold. But she couldn’t forget the lives Erick, Peter, and Martin had taken over the years. Maybe even Angus. She didn’t understand it and didn’t know which man had harmed each victim, but in her heart, Bailey understood that Erick had killed her sister.

Wait… She recalled the conversation with Angus the night a lipstick message was left on her mirror when she returned to the estate, and he threatened her custody of Matt.

The only person who’s leaving you messages to stop is the person who doesn’t want Caitie’s case solved. Her murderer. You don’t seem to understand that.

Angus had known this entire time. They had been protecting Erick and trying to get their hands on Ryan’s legacy. Bailey fought back the urge to get sick. Perhaps she would never know the details, but the Cosgroves had. And they’d done everything to protect themselves. Their name. Their power.

Despite the horror of learning everything, an eerie calm settled over her. She’d set out to find who’d hurt Caitie, and she’d done it. For Caitie, and in a way, for Matt.

The man who’d introduced himself as Winters, whom Wes had handed her off to, returned to his vehicle, knocked on the back window, and opened the door. “Wilder’s speaking with the feds. He wanted you to know it would be a few more minutes. Need anything while you wait?”

“No, thanks.” She stroked Matt’s hair.

“Can we have ice cream?” Matt asked.

The man grinned. “Why don’t I let Wilder handle that request?”

Matt twisted in her arms. Gone were his tears and worries. “Who’s Wilder?”

“That’s Wes’s last name.”

He adjusted the bridge of his red glasses. “I bet Wes wants ice cream.”

“I bet he does too. You should ask him.” She patted Matt’s hair, unable to keep her hands idle.

“Can we go back to the house near the new park?”

“The one in Granite Creek?”

Matt nodded. “I like that house.”

“Why?”

He shrugged, squirming onto the back seat and tucking his legs under him. “I like the ice cream, and Ms. Alicia at the library, and I want to meet Pickles.”

“Those are great reasons to like it.”

“I like that Wes stays with us.”

Entirely different emotions compressed her chest. Hope. Happiness. The possibility that happily ever after was just around the corner. “I do too.”

Matt recounted a castle he and Wes had been building in Minecraft and their inventory. Her thoughts drifted to the man who had so easily given her room to build him into their lives. And he loved her.

“What are you smiling about?” Matt asked.

“Lots of things.”

“Me too.”

Wes walked toward their vehicle. Every step closer, her certainty in him solidified. Not that it had ever been shaky. She trusted him, wanted him. Loved him.

He opened the door. “Hey, baby.”

“Hey.”