The Sunstone Brooch : Time Travel Romance by Katherine Logan (comprehension books .TXT) 📗

lots of notes you can read, plus I’ll tell you everything I remember about the time I spent with him.”

“You grew up close to the Theodore Roosevelt National Park in North Dakota.”

“I did, and I get the stories mixed up. Some of them I can’t remember if TR told me or a park ranger did. But he’s an incredible man. We talked for hours, or rather he talked, and I listened. Most of our conversations were about literature, even when JC, Austin, and I played chess with him. But Austin played with TR the most, so he’s got a few stories of his own.”

“You did?” Matt asked.

“I enjoyed it,” Austin said. “He’s a very competitive chess player.”

“He wouldn’t talk about politics or his late wife,” Ensley said. “Those two topics were off-limits, but everything else—from travel to the classics—he expounded on ad infinitum. I’d love to go back and spend more time with him. I don’t think I could ever get enough.”

“If you do, count me in,” Matt said.

Elliott knocked on the table. “Let’s get this meeting started, so we can get out of here and go fishing.”

If only it were that easy. If only they could just drink beer and go fishing for the day.

But the danger was still out there.

Tavis was still gone.

And a billion-dollar treasure was still gathering dust in a cave.

75

Mallory Plantation, VA—Ensley

When Elliott called everyone to the table, Ensley hung back, waiting to see what seats remained open after all the others sat down. The only two seats were on Elliott’s right.

Austin whispered. “Looks like Grandpa wants you next to him.”

“Terrific.”

Elliott sat near the center of the table with Meredith, Kevin, JL, Connor, Olivia, Pete, and Sophia on his left. On his right were the two empty seats, then Pops, Rick, Penny, and Remy.

Directly across the table from Elliott were Kenzie and David, with Charlotte, Braham, Jack, and Amy on one side. Kit, Cullen, Daniel, Amber, Matt, Elizabeth, Philippe, and Rhona, were on the other.

“Maria’s not here,” Austin said. “She’s probably babysitting. She’d rather be with the kids than sit through one of these meetings.”

“I don’t blame her,” Ensley said, strolling toward the empty chairs, mentally circling the table a couple of times in her mind, cementing names and faces together. At first, she thought there was a seating chart, arranging people in order of seniority, but then she and Austin would be sitting against the wall. Maybe no one other than Meredith wanted to sit next to Elliott, and Ensley was again the victim of the day. That made more sense than a seniority seating chart.

David typed on his laptop, and the Zoom login page appeared on the gigantic TV screen. After he logged in, he accepted everyone waiting to join the meeting. Six faces appeared in individual boxes. Other than Emily, Ensley didn’t recognize any of them.

Braham picked up a remote and clicked a button. A small door in the tabletop opened in front of every seat and a video camera popped up. Within seconds, all the people at the table joined the first six on the TV screen in separate boxes.

“Each camera is voice-activated,” Braham said. “As soon as ye speak, the camera will pick up yer voice so those on the call can hear ye. As a reminder, ye don’t need to yell.”

“Has everybody had a chance to get acquainted with Ensley? If ye haven’t, be sure to catch up with her after the meeting,” David said.

“The women are taking the pontoon out this afternoon, so we’ll give her a huge MacKlenna welcome,” Kenzie said.

“I’m sorry I can’t be there,” Emily said. “A day on the river with you gals would be so much fun.”

“Next time,” Kenzie said.

“Let’s get this meeting started,” Elliott said. “Ye all know that Erik the Viking saved James Cullen’s life, and our son is now at the monastery recovering from his trauma. The last time I saw Erik, he asked me to take care of his daughter, Ensley. With that in mind, I asked Kevin and Kenzie to update my estate plan to include Ensley as my heir, to share equally with Kevin and James Cullen.”

Ensley’s hand shot up. “And I objected! I inherited my parents’ farm, and after I sold it, I invested the proceeds. I’m not uber-rich, but I’m comfortable, and I don’t need Elliott’s money.”

“Feel free to object,” Kevin said. “But from what I hear, you’ll soon be my daughter-in-law, so it’ll all stay in the family anyway. And based on the treasure in the cave, which we all believe was collected and stashed there by Erik, you’re richer than our combined wealth. You should be able to take care of us in our old age.”

Chuckles rippled around the room until Connor asked, “What’s the plan for retrieving the treasure, and where can we sell it?”

Everyone looked at Elliott, but before he could say anything, JL blurted out, “We’re leaving it alone for now. After what happened to JC, we don’t dare recover it, and there’s not one piece in the collection we could legitimately sell.”

“We sold the treasure we found in California,” Connor said.

“That was different,” JL said. “We could explain the gold and artifacts. We can’t explain how a Roman treasure ended up in a cave in Lexington, Kentucky.”

“But we don’t have to,” Ensley said. “That’s what experts do. All we have to do is notify Sotheby’s or Christie’s. They’ll send experts to evaluate and appraise the items. Then they’ll schedule an auction.”

“They’ll never believe it,” Connor said.

“Yes, they will,” Robbie piped up from his Zoom square. His background was a mishmash of male and female soccer players, including a woman who resembled Penny kicking a soccer ball into the net. “Tell them what you found, Henry.”

“In 2016,” Henry said, “a metal detectorist from Lexington searched a pasture on a Central Kentucky farm for Civil War artifacts. His metal detector started pinging, indicating he’d found gold items. He dug up two Roman coins and kept poking