Total pages in book: 128
Estimated words: 120230 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 601(@200wpm)___ 481(@250wpm)___ 401(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 120230 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 601(@200wpm)___ 481(@250wpm)___ 401(@300wpm)
But the first thing I did after we broke up was go to the cemetery.
Clara’s gravestone was the oldest, weathered by time until no amount of maintenance could keep the lichen away. But that wasn’t why I was there. I had a question. And the answer was on Clara’s gravestone.
Here lies Clara Darceline Shepherd, wife of Blake Shepherd, and mistress of the Shepherd Estate.
None of that was a surprise. But below that line were three more.
Matthew Charles Shepherd
Rose Matilda Shepherd
Diana Beatrice Shepherd
Forever in their mother’s arms
The date of death was identical for all four people in the grave . . . or what remained of them after the fire. Which left Blake Shepherd and a child whose name I didn’t know.
The sole survivors of a family of six.
16
It was as I was finishing up the first part of the engagement shoot that dark clouds began to gather on the horizon.
Grace had borrowed one of Darcie’s floaty dresses, with Darcie generously offering her one of the three new ones she’d brought along for fresh social media images. Together, the two of us had managed to rig it so that it looked perfect from the front. A lushness of cream and lace. The back was Frankenstein’s monster of bulldog clips, safety pins, and even paper clips, but photography could be all smoke and mirrors and I knew these images set among the golden grasses and on the rocks by the creek would come out breathtaking.
I had, however, also taken a couple of candids for their own personal archive of the two of them in hysterics over the look of the back of her dress.
Aaron, after some discussion, had opted to wear his own long-sleeved white shirt over blue jeans. Together, they looked romantic and playful, young and happy. I’d started with shots of them lying down—though those’d had to be quick because all those pins were poking into Grace—then had come photos of them running through the grass, along with portraits more formal and posed.
I’d also taken a small set with the Shepherd estate in the background, but the couple had quickly nixed that setup after taking a look at the resulting images.
“Too gloomy,” Aaron had said. “There’s something creepy about that place.”
“I can’t stop thinking about that poor woman who came out here expecting a grand estate and had to live a lonely life in a dismal pile.” Grace shivered. “And have you been to the graveyard? She’s buried with three of her children. They all died in the fire. Rumor has it old Blake Shepherd started the blaze—he ended up badly burned all up one side of his body.”
My eyes flared. “What? Did Darcie tell you that?”
“Oh, no.” Grace waved a hand. “I love history and after Aaron told me we were invited here, I went down the research rabbit hole, found a couple of archived documents in the Central Library up in Auckland.”
I was surprised that Blake Shepherd had been considered noteworthy enough for the archives—though I guessed it had to do with how successful he’d been as a prospector. What surprised me even more was that chirpy, happy Grace had been interested enough to dig that deep.
Then again, she was highly educated and well traveled—all I knew of her after such a short acquaintance was nothing but surface gloss. Though her cheerful personality was very much real; I saw that over and over again in the time that followed, my own heart blooming at seeing the two lovebirds interact.
A-dorable.
Now, lowering my camera, I put my hand to my eyes and glanced at the horizon. “Looks like we might get a bit of rain.”
Aaron and Grace, having been posing on the bridge, looked over their shoulders.
“Damn.” Aaron whistled. “Weather forecast did mention a polar blast, but they were saying there was a chance it’d bypass this region. Guess not.”
I threw my camera strap over my shoulder, the back of my neck tired. “We’re done as far as the outdoor shoot anyway. Cloudy light won’t matter as much for the inside part. If it does rain, we can use the effect of rain against the windows to make it sweet and romantic.”
“You’re amazing, Luna. You made me feel like a movie star today.” Beaming, Grace fell into step beside me, Aaron loping up to take position on her other side. “But I hope the others don’t get drenched.” A frown as she looked at the mountains beyond the estate. “How far did they say they were going to go?”
“I wasn’t paying too much attention.” The foot of the mountain at which the group had aimed itself was about two football field lengths away from the estate house. They obviously hadn’t been planning to go all the way up—that would’ve required climbing gear.
“I think Kaea said that it was pretty much a full-day thing unless they pushed it. He also wanted to be back well before dark,” Aaron said. “No one wanted to go hard, not even him.”