“Our mother didn’t know what had happened to you,” Laurel said.

“No, dear. I couldn’t even tell my beloved sister or hug my nieces one last time.”

“I don’t believe this. You’re a habitual liar,” Stanton said. “Father told us you’d say anything if we ever saw you again so that you’d look like the innocent in all this. I can’t believe you’d drag his name through the mud. For what? Just so you looked like the sweet, adoring mother who was fighting for her life?”

“Give it up, Stanton,” Vernon said, sounding so angry, Laurel knew it was going to get physical between the brothers. Stanton was their leader, and he wouldn’t take any guff from his brothers.

Stanton turned on his brother and growled. But Vernon’s fist shot out so fast and connected with Stanton’s jaw so hard that he knocked Stanton on his ass before he could react.

Everyone looked as shocked as Laurel felt, not expecting Vernon to win the confrontation. But she was damn glad he had.

Vernon swallowed hard, rubbing his hand that had to hurt like hell after hitting his brother’s iron jaw with so much force, and then he stalked toward Clarinda. Everyone was watching him closely, ensuring he didn’t attack her, but he got on his knees in front of her, laid his head in her lap, and hugged her. “Mom,” he said in a choked sob.

Laurel swore there wasn’t a dry eye among all the wolves gathered. Family meant everything to them. CJ offered his hand to Stanton to help him up, and the hardheaded wolf accepted it, stood, and then waited while Yolan gently pulled his mother to standing and gave her a hug.

Looking like a teen with attitude, Stanton stalked across the floor to join them. Everyone was still tense, just in case, as Yolan stepped back to allow Stanton time with their mother. “I’m sorry.” With tears in his eyes, he kissed his mother’s cheek and pulled her into his arms to give her a hug.

“The fault is not yours,” she said softly to him, but Laurel was close enough that she heard.

“The hotel is my nieces’, your cousins’, but when I die, the candy store, which is very profitable, will be yours.”

“It doesn’t matter,” Stanton said and hugged her again. “We’ll make it up to you—for what our father did to you and to us by forcing you to run.”

Laurel joined CJ. He immediately took her into his arms and held her tight, making her feel warm and well loved.

She whispered, “When we’re done here, I want to get a tree and decorate for Christmas. I want to have a Christmas celebration with your brothers, my sisters, the Silver cousins and their mates, my aunt, and the Wernicke cousins, if they want to join us.”

He smiled. “We’ve got our work cut out for us.”

“But it’s good work for a good cause.”

* * *

Three days later, Laurel and CJ were enjoying a grand celebration. The Christmas tree was clothed in Victorian style with burgundy velvet garland; gold, silver, green, and burgundy balls; and twinkly lights—and her sisters were helping to prepare the main meal of hickory-smoked ham and potatoes.

Aunt Clarinda had made all the heavenly chocolates that their mother fixed when she was alive, and Laurel realized it was a family tradition that she and her sisters had to carry on. Lelandi helped bake some special bread; Tom’s wife, Elizabeth, was fixing mistletoe margaritas; and Jake’s wife, Alicia, was preparing the greens for the meal.

Laurel hoped the men were getting along. At first, it was quiet, and then they began to talk about guy kinds of things—hunting, fishing, boating, camping.

The women talked about all kinds of things—babies, the hotel and the sisters’ plans for it, like renovating the basement and turning the maids’ quarters into more rooms.

Laurel paused while carving the ham and turned to face her aunt. “Aunt Clarinda, you never told Mom about your mate or that you had three sons.”

Her aunt shook her head. “It was a whirlwind romance and mating. But he was a brutal man. I tried to run away twice, and he caught me and beat me for it. At that point, I was pregnant and afraid I’d lose my babies. So I ‘behaved.’ When I gave him three adorable little boys, I thought he’d be happy with me.” She snorted.

“It didn’t work that way. I learned later, too late, that he’d had an abusive father. Not toward him, but toward his mother. He wouldn’t let me get in touch with your mother. I sent a letter, and then that postcard was the second time I’d been able to send her a note. I was so happy with Warren, but…”

Laurel set down the carving knife and fork and gave her aunt a hug. “We’re so glad you’re alive and well and part of the family again.”

“You don’t know how glad I am.”

Ellie asked, “Do you know anything about the stencil-type letter on the wall in the main lobby area of the hotel?”

“That’s Chrissy’s doing. She was a maid who died from a raging fever, and she still hangs around the place. She created a beautiful quilt with the letter C on it, and I thought her talents were wasted on working as a maid at the hotel.”

“We saw it in one of the pictures,” Meghan said.

“It was beautiful, wasn’t it? Chrissy’s harmless. But sometimes people can see her peering out the attic window after she’s cleaned the room, wishing for a mate and a different life,” Aunt Clarinda said.

“That’s so sad,” Ellie said.

“She seems content,” Aunt Clarinda said. “She just flips the light on and off every once in a while.”

Laurel exchanged glances with her sisters.

Ellie smiled. “So, it’s not an electrical short in the light switch.”

Laurel wondered if Chrissy was the woman that Carol, the psychic, had seen peering out the window during the grand opening, and not a premonition of someone else staying in the attic room.

“The painting was moved from the hotel to the house,” Laurel said.

“No ghost did that. My son Stanton said he moved it.”

“Why?” Laurel asked.

“Trying to scare you into believing the ghosts haunting the hotel had a lot of power. The same thing with painting the X on the ceiling and moving the paint and ladders. They had planned to do a ghost show that showed how terribly haunted the place was if they couldn’t find a way to get the hotel legally. But then you stopped them by denying permission.”

“How do you know all this?” Ellie asked.

“CJ told me all that had been going on, and I asked Stanton. He told me what they had been doing. But he said it was because he really believed the hotel belonged to his family—and at the time, he didn’t know that you were family. The boys never knew my maiden name. John hated my first name, so he called me Claire instead of Clarinda. So I could see why they wouldn’t make the connection. And they had no idea that I was alive.”

“What about Elroy, the cabinetmaker?” Laurel asked.

“I felt so bad about him. He was a good man, but I was already mated and I couldn’t tell him the truth. Elroy thought Warren didn’t think he was good enough for his sister. I just couldn’t let him know. His son was so upset with me, knowing his father loved me, and I really cared for the son, but everyone’s life that I touched would have been in danger if John Wernicke had learned the truth. It was heartbreaking for me, yet I could do nothing about it. After his father died, Jacob learned who I was, but he never said anything because what did it matter at that point? I was gone, and so was everyone else involved in the affair—John, Sheridan, Elroy, and Warren.”

“Who replaced the deadfall? You thought the murderer had done it to hide the body,” Laurel said.

“Whoever killed Warren at first. When another animal fell through, Jacob told me he did it. He was afraid his father had killed Warren, and he wanted to keep the pit covered up.”

“Who really killed Warren?” Laurel asked.

“I suspect John did. When I talked to my sons, we tried to piece together the sequence of events. Their father disappeared for a while, and they learned he had gone to see Warren and said he had reconciled with him. He didn’t. I saw John arrive in front of the hotel, and Warren told me to leave. So I did. When I returned, Warren was gone. Vanished. I took over the hotel, but the rest is as I said. Sheridan threatened to tell John I was running the hotel. I had to abandon the place and start over. But I never once stopped looking for Warren.”