Kate didn’t recognize the tone or the number, but it was definitely her phone.
“Hello,” she answered.
“I’m so glad you answered, Mrs. Steele. The judge who will be presiding over the cases of you and two other women and a child has had a family emergency. The only time he can see you will be at eight o’clock in the morning. I’m sorry for the inconvenience, and if you want to reschedule, we can do that. We have a date open four weeks from tomorrow or on out past that,” a woman said.
Kate glanced at Amanda and made a snap decision. “We will be there. How long will it take in the courthouse?”
“Fifteen minutes if he agrees. Longer if you have to talk him into it,” the lady answered. “We just learned of the emergency. Sorry I couldn’t give you more time.”
“It can’t be helped, I’m sure. Have a nice evening,” Kate said.
“What can’t be helped?” Amanda asked.
“We’re going to Dallas tonight. Instead of seeing the judge at one o’clock tomorrow afternoon, we’re seeing him at eight in the morning. With the traffic in the downtown area, we’d have to leave a three o’clock in the morning, so we might as well drive down to my house and spend the night there,” Kate said.
“You’ve got to be joking.” Amanda groaned.
“I have a perfectly good house! I’ll arrange for a car to take us to and from the courthouse so none of us have to drive. We’ll take my car down there. Just pack a bag and we might even have time for a swim before we go to bed,” Kate said.
“Are you sure?” Jamie downed the rest of her wine.
“Very, and pack your bathing suits. Gracie will probably wake up on the way, and I’m sure she’ll love a swim.”
Amanda smiled for the first time that evening. “Me, too! I love to swim and I’ve got a maternity bathing suit. This will be a real treat. Thank you.”
“Living in Bootleg is one thing. This will be in the middle of all your neighbors,” Jamie said.
“So? Are you ashamed to be seen with me?” Kate teased.
“Hell, no!” Jamie answered. “I was thinking it might run the other way.”
“Hell, no!” Kate echoed with a grin. “Let’s get ready and go take care of business. I’ll call for takeout food on the way. Y’all decide what you want.”
“Sounds fine to me,” Amanda said.
Gracie didn’t wake up until they were on the outskirts of Fort Worth and had barely gotten her eyes open when Kate parked in the garage of a big two-story stone house. “Is this a castle?” she whispered.
“No, it’s my house,” Kate answered. But hey, if Gracie wanted it to be a castle, then Kate would gladly let her be the princess who lived there.
Gracie stood in the middle of Kate’s elaborate living room, eyes big as saucers, trying to take in the whole place at once. Where her daughter felt awe, Jamie was more than a little intimidated by the sheer size of the house. She’d realized that Kate came from money and had lived a life way above Jamie’s pay grade as a teacher, but this was surreal.
“Where do I sleep?” Gracie finally asked.
“My bedroom is upstairs, along with two others. Y’all can take your pick of whichever one you want,” Kate said. “They are pretty much the same.”
“Did Conrad sleep in either of them?” Amanda whispered.
“He liked the master suite on the ground floor,” Kate answered. “We’ll unload all this food in the kitchen and open up the containers.”
Amanda dropped her suitcase on the floor. “I’m so glad we opted for Chinese. I’ve been craving it for a couple of days.”
“After we eat, can I see his room?” Jamie whispered.
“Of course, but why?”
“Final closure.” Jamie shrugged.
Kate pointed down the hallway. “It’s the last door on the left. Mother and I cleaned it out before I went to the cabin. Unless she stored other stuff in there, it’s empty.”
“Thank you,” Jamie said.
Amanda had already started removing containers and chopsticks from the plastic bags and was setting them on the table when Jamie and Kate arrived in the kitchen. Jamie set the sweet-and-sour chicken in front of Gracie before she went hunting through the boxes for her spicier chicken.
“When I get done eating, can I explore the castle all by myself?” Gracie asked.
Jamie glanced at Kate, who nodded. “If it’s okay with your mama, I don’t care if you go on an adventure. Just yell real loud if you get lost so we can send the prince to find you.”
Gracie giggled. “You’ll have to come find me, Mama. We don’t have a prince in this castle. We didn’t bring Waylon with us.”
“So you think Waylon is a prince?” Kate asked.
“Yep, and you are a princess. He’s going to rescue you from this castle and take you to live on the ranch with him.”
“What makes you think that?” Jamie asked.
“It’s my story, Mama.” Gracie sighed.
Jamie didn’t voice it, but she felt as if she’d been admitted to a castle, too.
“That’s right,” Amanda said. “And I like her story.”
Gracie finished her food, broke open the fortune cookie, and handed it to Jamie. “Read it to me, Mama.”
Jamie straightened out the bit of paper and read, “You will find new things in your future.”
“What does that mean?” Gracie asked.
Jamie planted a kiss on her daughter’s forehead. “It probably means that you will make even more new friends in Bootleg when school starts.”
Gracie sighed again, this time with more drama. “I thought it meant I’d find a hidden treasure in this castle.”
Kate ate her last grain of rice and tossed the container in the trash compactor. “It’s not really a castle.”
“It’s her story,” Amanda reminded them. “Go and find the treasure, darlin’ girl. And bring it back for us to see.”
“But you only have about thirty minutes, and then it’s bedtime for you, little girl. We have to get up really early and go to the courthouse and you need to be all smiles.” Jamie kissed her on the top of her head.
Minutes later they heard her opening doors on the second floor.
“I want to see his room, too,” Amanda said.
Jamie pushed back her food. “Want to go with me?”
“Why don’t we all go together?” Kate led the way across the foyer and to the last room on the left. She opened the door and stood back to let them go inside first. “It’s just a room with a nice closet and a big bathroom. I bought this house after we were married because I loved this room and the view of the pool.” She pulled open the drapes to show them the backyard.
“So this isn’t where you lived before you married him?” Jamie asked.
“I lived in a small house, not much bigger than the cabin, and I loved the coziness,” she answered. “Do either of you feel anything about this room?”
Amanda walked over to the sliding doors leading out to the patio. “I don’t want to sleep in here, but it’s just a big empty room.”
“I’m done.” Jamie turned and left the room.
“Did it help?” Kate asked.
Jamie folded her arms over her chest. “It did.”