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  “Only the relief I felt when I discovered you were still alive. As I said, I didn’t know if I reached the switch box in time.” He shifted to see Noelle better. “I’m so glad you filled in the details last night. I think I like being a hero.” He winced again.

  “Don’t forget I rescued you first.”

  He laid his head back against his pillow and closed his eyes. “I’ll never forget that, even if you’d let me.”

  She sank into the chair beside the bed and held his hand in silence for a moment. “Nathan, do you remember my telling you last night about the head injury Pearl received years ago?”

  “Yes.”

  “It happened before Mom died. I haven’t been able to get any of this out of my mind. Pearl caused those deaths ten years ago. She admitted last night that she’d killed Harvey. Do you think she was responsible for Mom’s death?”

  “Maybe we’ll never know for sure.”

  “Maybe I don’t want to find out.”

  He squeezed her hand, then raised it to his lips and kissed it. “Are you going to be okay?”

  She nodded. “It’ll take a while.” Tears stung her eyes, and she swallowed, trying not to let them fall. “I loved Pearl.”

  “She loved you, too, Noelle.”

  The tears fell. “Jill found out what Pearl had been doing in the sawmill before you and I returned. She was going through those old log books that we searched.”

  “That’s right,” Nathan said. “Pearl kept those books years ago, before Melva took over. I remember hearing a lot of complaints about how slow she was. Now we know why.”

  “And she could never throw the extra pages away, for the same reason,” Nathan said. “It all makes sense.”

  “Harvey must have found out about Pearl’s problem,” Noelle said. “He’d been the company accountant for years, so he must’ve known about the codicil to the trust. He could have tried to blackmail Pearl the way he did Melva. Pearl resorted to murder to protect what she had always tried to keep as a family secret.”

  “Again,” Nathan reminded her.

  “I fought hatred and anger all night long. It’s so hard to understand why Aunt Pearl would do something like that.”

  He adjusted his position once more. “Something occurred to me when I woke up in the middle of the night. Someone with OCD who has been brought up in a strict religious household would have a heightened sense of right and wrong. The compulsion would be to resist evil, not commit it.”

  “So that would mean what? That the ‘family curse’ might have even given her the impetus not to kill Carissa?”

  “Or maybe it had nothing to do with that at all. Her response to the threat of losing Cooper Hollow was something completely unconnected to her compulsive tendencies.”

  “Perhaps her love for Carissa was what saved Carissa’s life,” Noelle said.

  Nathan placed a hand over Noelle’s and squeezed, then linked his fingers with hers. “That’s what I’m saying.” Again, he shifted, his discomfort apparent in his expression. “I could use a change of subject. How’s business?”

  She frowned. “Business?”

  He leaned close, grinning. “Don’t tell me you’ve already forgotten? Noelle’s Naturals? You know, the store you prize so much?”

  “It’s doing great. Why?”

  “Ever think of branching out?”

  She suppressed a smile. He really did read her mind. Or maybe he’d been eavesdropping on her conversation with Karah Lee and Blaze. “Yes, as a matter of fact, Mariah and I had talked about opening a store in Branson.”

  At the sudden disappointment in Nathan’s eyes, Noelle had trouble maintaining her serious expression. “I don’t think Hideaway’s ready for a health-food store.”

  “You might be surprised.”

  “Too expensive.”

  “There’s a demand for the supplements, and I’ve thought for some time about expanding, buying my own building. I could see a merger taking place.”

  She considered this for a moment. “I suppose strong consumer interest could persuade me to move farther south, instead.”

  He took her hands. “Admit it, you’re a country girl at heart.”

  “And maybe they’d accept my résumé at the clinic.”

  He grinned. “I don’t suppose there’d be any other reason you might choose this area.”

  “Oh, yes. I plan to start a rock collection. I’ve heard rumors there are some beautiful crystals in this part of the state.”

  Nathan smiled wryly. “I suppose I could find a few for you down by the creek after the next rainstorm.”

  “I was thinking about the kind you find in a jewelry store, already set in gold.”

  Nathan’s eyes held hers for a long moment. “Ever been to Thorncrown Chapel?”

  “The glass church in the middle of the woods at Eureka Springs?”

  He released her hands and reached up to touch her face. “That’s the one. It’s where they hold wedding ceremonies.”

  She smiled, then kissed him. “Is this a proposal?”

  “Is it ever.”

  “I accept.” Most definitely, it was time to come home.

  ISBN: 978-1-4268-1044-2

  LAST RESORT

  Copyright © 2007 by Hannah Alexander

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