Page 23 of The Matchmaker


  Catherine unfolded a newspaper that had been tucked beside her in the chair, and held it out to Cyrus. “Then, last summer, I saw this.”

  He studied it. There was a photograph and article about him, done when he’d returned to Richmond. Also on the page was an article about the newly elected city council, with a photograph of the nine men.

  Softly, Catherine said, “I knew Fortune had given you his name; the Gypsy said he would. I didn’t know his name—but I knew his eyes.”

  Almost to himself, Cyrus murmured, “He was able to hide the emptiness from all of us for so long. But a camera sees what’s real, without illusion.”

  “I knew, when I looked at the pictures, that the Gypsy had been right about it all,” Catherine said. “And I realized the enormity of my mistake. I had tried to break the pattern, to alter destiny, and because of that your life was in danger.”

  “Is that when you sent me the cane?” Cyrus asked, glancing toward it where it leaned against the settee.

  Catherine nodded. “From the article about you, I judged you weren’t aware of the gift you’d been given. The cane was your father’s, and I knew it would be a—a spur to your understanding. He had told me he wanted his son to have it.”

  “Who was my father?” Cyrus asked quietly.

  She hesitated, then said, “I can tell you only what I know, and what I sensed. The Gypsy was right—he was no ordinary man. He said his name was Fate. There was a kind of power in him, a positive force I’ve never felt in anyone else. Except you.”

  Cyrus’s eyes held hers steadily. “He knew he’d have a son, yet he didn’t stay with you?”

  A slight smile played at Catherine’s lips, a smile that held vast understanding. “He couldn’t stay with me, I knew that. But he gave the world a gift. You.” She nodded slightly, and her voice was certain. “To fight for love. To guard and protect love. To be the guiding hand love sometimes needs. That would be your destiny, he said. Just as he was Fate, you would be Fortune. Love’s Fortune.”

  Cyrus didn’t look away from her, and his lean face was still calm, his eyes still tranquil. “So I’m to be a matchmaker?” he asked mildly.

  “You don’t need me to answer that.” Catherine smiled again. “Once you fell in love with Julia, your course was set. Without her you would never have understood what love could be; now that you do, your instinct is to help others find what the two of you share.”

  “A tall order,” Cyrus said, a sudden hint of amusement in his eyes. “And a lifetime’s commitment.”

  “Isn’t love worth that?” his mother asked.

  Cyrus didn’t have to reply aloud; his agreement was plain in his smile. He turned his head and looked at Julia, his face softening in an expression of wonder and delight.

  “Yes,” he murmured. “It certainly is.”

  This is for Susie, and the little one who surprised everybody.

  BY KAY HOOPER

  The Bishop Trilogies

  Stealing Shadows

  Hiding in the Shadows

  Out of the Shadows

  Touching Evil

  Whisper of Evil

  Sense of Evil

  Hunting Fear

  Chill of Fear

  Sleeping with Fear

  Blood Dreams

  Blood Sins

  Blood Ties

  The Quinn Novels

  Once a Thief

  Always a Thief

  Romantic Suspense

  The Haunting of Josie

  Amanda

  After Caroline

  Finding Laura

  Haunting Rachel

  Classic Fantasy and Romance

  On Wings of Magic

  C. J.’s Fate

  Something Different

  Pepper’s Way

  If There Be Dragons

  Illegal Possession

  Rebel Waltz

  Larger than Life

  Time after Time

  In Serena’s Web

  Raven on the Wing

  Rafferty’s Wife

  Zach’s Law

  The Fall of Lucas Kendrick

  Unmasking Kelsey

  Outlaw Derek

  Shades of Gray

  Captain’s Paradise

  It Takes a Thief

  Aces High

  Golden Threads

  The Glass Shoe

  What Dreams May Come

  Through the Looking Glass

  The Lady and the Lion

  Star-Crossed Lovers

  The Wizard of Seattle

  The Delaney Christmas Carol

  Rafe, the Maverick

  Adelaide, the Enchantress

  Velvet Lightning

  Golden Flames

  Summer of the Unicorn

  The Matchmaker

  PHOTO: © SIGRID ESTRADA

  KAY HOOPER is the award-winning author of Sleeping with Fear, Hunting Fear, Chill of Fear, Touching Evil, Whisper of Evil, Sense of Evil, Once a Thief, Always a Thief, the Shadows trilogy, and other novels. She lives in North Carolina, where she is at work on her next book.

  Kayhooper.com

  Facebook.com/​BishopPage

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  Kay Hooper, The Matchmaker

 


 

 
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