Hidden Treasures

He’d had three phone calls from Aunt Judith, reminding him about wedding details he’d rather forget. All he could do was attempt to bring sanity into the nightmare everyone insisted on referring to as a wedding.

Then he’d lost the dog.

And found the wedding photographer.

A polite cough yanked his attention back to the woman. He reached out and closed his fingers around hers, but instead of immediately releasing his grip, he drew her to her feet.

It was getting late and he still had to find the dog.

Something hit the floor and Cade watched sandwich cookies roll in every direction. Meghan’s sigh echoed around the room. “Did you ever have one of those days?”

Cade suppressed the urge to smile. “Never.”

“Right.” The undercurrent of laughter in her voice sent Cade off balance. He wasn’t sure he liked the feeling.

MILLS & BOON

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KATHRYN SPRINGER

is a lifelong Wisconsin resident. Growing up in a “newspaper” family, she spent long hours as a child plunking out stories on her mother’s typewriter and hasn’t stopped writing since! She loves to write inspirational romance because it allows her to combine her faith in God with her love of a happy ending.

Hidden Treasures

Kathryn Springer

In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life.

—1 Timothy 6:19

To Norah—

Always listen for the sound of wild geese,

stop to pick dandelions, study the clouds…

and reach for the stars. And remember,

you are fearfully and wonderfully made!

Contents

Prologue

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Nineteen

Questions for Discussion

Prologue

“I knew I’d find you hiding in here.”

“Technically, it’s not hiding if the person is in plain sight.” Meghan McBride shot a mischievous smile at her sister, Caitlin, who sauntered into the room with her usual catlike grace, still wearing the periwinkle-blue stilettos she’d stepped into at eight o’clock that morning.

Meghan had kicked off an identical pair hours ago. It was too much to hope Caitlin hadn’t spotted her bare toes peeking out from under the netting of the tea-length gown she wore. She’d probably already noticed that Meghan’s hair had managed to break free of the grid of bobby pins anchoring it in place. It wasn’t fair that the breeze skipping off Lake Superior during their youngest sister’s outdoor wedding ceremony had ignored Caitlin’s neat French twist and set its sights on Meghan’s mop of curls—the ones the stylist had spent an extra half hour trying to restrain.

“Evie and Sam are getting ready to leave. She was wondering where you were…” Caitlin frowned. “Is that frosting on your elbow?”

Shoot. Meghan inspected her arm and made a halfhearted attempt to scrub off the pink smear with her thumbnail. “I think so. I warned Evie that she shouldn’t have asked me to cut the cake.”

Like a magician, Caitlin somehow produced a delicately embroidered handkerchief out of thin air and handed it to her with a sigh.

That was the trouble with sisters. They knew every chink in a person’s armor. Caitlin’s sharp eye for detail made her wildly popular as an image consultant and wildly annoying as an older sister. Evie had waved the white flag of surrender and turned her closet over to Caitlin years ago, but Meghan had refused to go down without a fight. She liked going barefoot and wearing blue jeans and T-shirts. Not only did she spend most of her spare time with children and paint, every time she bought something new, she ended up getting a stain—or two—on it. What was the point?

“I still can’t believe our baby sister is married,” Caitlin murmured.

Meghan couldn’t believe it, either. The previous summer, she and Caitlin had sweet-talked Evie into managing Beach Glass, their father’s antique store, while he went away on a two-week fishing trip. Evie’s brief stay had turned into something straight from the pages of an action-adventure novel. She’d discovered that her father and his friend, Jacob Cutter, were searching for clues they hoped would lead them to a sunken ship. Their cautious sister, who ordinarily steered clear of anything risky, had dodged a corrupt group of treasure hunters and fallen in love with Jacob’s son, Sam.

“Right out of a fairy tale,” Meghan murmured. “Who would have guessed?”

Caitlin made a noise that sounded suspiciously like a snort. Except that image consultants didn’t snort. “Sam’s a good guy.”

The understatement of the year. “He’s perfect for Evie. And she deserves to be happy.” Meghan knew her sister couldn’t argue with that.

“She does.” Caitlin’s expression softened. “We better get back to the reception before she hunts us down—”

“Too late!” The words, accompanied by Evie’s lilting laugh and the rustle of satin, preceded her into the kitchen.

Meghan took one look at her sister and the lump that had lodged in her throat—the one that had formed while she’d watched Sam and Evie recite their vows—swelled to the size of an orange again. Evie looked spectacular in the ivory gown Caitlin had found in an exclusive shop in the Twin Cities, where Caitlin and Meghan lived.

Meghan ignored a pinch of envy. It’s not that she wasn’t ecstatic for Evie. She just couldn’t help but wonder what it would be like to feel that way about someone. Caitlin was openly cynical when it came to love, but Meghan knew it happened to some people. Like their parents. And now Evie and Sam. But for reasons she kept to herself, she wasn’t convinced she was ever going to be one of them.

“Sam and I are going to sneak away while the orchestra is playing the last song.” Evie’s gown swished around her feet as she crossed the room and drew them into an affectionate hug. “I wish I could take you to Paris.”

“Oh, Sam would love that,” Caitlin said dryly.

“Have fun,” Meghan commanded. “And don’t worry about Dad. I’m planning to stay until next weekend and I promise I’ll take good care of him.”

Evie’s smile faded slightly, proving she still had some progress to make when it came to letting their father manage on his own. Evie had an exasperating tendency to fuss over Patrick, although Meghan thought she understood why. Evie had been a freshman in high school and the only one of them still living at home when their mother, Laura, had passed away unexpectedly.

“I have a list of reminders—”

Meghan’s howl drowned Evie out. “I don’t do lists! I lose lists, Evie. You know that.”

“That’s why I made copies.” Evie looked smug. “Several of them. And they’re posted where you can’t miss seeing them.”

“On a package of Oreos?” Caitlin said under her breath.

Meghan bit back a protest long enough to glare at Caitlin. When she turned back to Evie, she pasted a smile on her face. No need to upset the bride on her wedding day. “Dad and I will be fine, Evie. Don’t worry about a thing.”

“Megs is right. It’s not like Dad is a toddler who’s going to get into trouble the minute your back is turned.”

Evie didn’t look convinced. “I wouldn’t be too sure about that,” she said darkly. “Remember what happened last summer.”

“The entire Cutter family became believers. Sophie and Jacob got engaged. And you met Sam.” Meghan believed in looking at the positives. If she didn’t, she’d never have been able to gather the courage to launch her own photography business.

“That’s true.” Evie gnawed on her lower lip. “But he’s up to something. I can always tell. He and Jacob were in a huddle earlier this afternoon and he’s been spending a lot of time online lately.”

Caitlin opened her mouth but Meghan shot her a warning look and looped an arm around Evie’s slim shoulders. “I’ll watch out for Dad. And I’ve got one word for you. Honeymoon. Now go. Sam’s probably waiting in the car.”

Evie’s cheeks turned as pink as the miniature roses in her bouquet. “I’m going. And I’ll call—”

“When you get back,” Caitlin interrupted.

“When I get back,” Evie promised.

Meghan didn’t believe it for a second. Judging from the skeptical look on Caitlin’s face, she didn’t, either.

“Evie?” Sam poked his head in the doorway and his pewter gaze zeroed in on his wife. “Are you ready?”

“Just hugging my sisters before we leave.”

“There’s always time for that.” Sam’s warm smile encompassed all three women and once again Meghan found herself thanking God that He’d brought Sam and Evie together.

You wouldn’t happen to have another Sam hidden somewhere, would you, Lord?

Caitlin cleared her throat. “Go on, you two. The sooner you get out of here, the sooner I get my postcard of the Eiffel Tower.”

“I taped a backup list to Caitlin’s mirror in case you lose yours,” Evie called over her shoulder.

Evie and Sam disappeared and Meghan felt the weight of the sudden silence, knowing that no matter how happy they were for Evie, things would be different now.

“I wish I could stay with you and Dad a few extra days, but I’m booked from now until September.” Caitlin broke the silence.

“Dad and I will be fine,” Meghan said. “You know Evie. She has a tendency to worry, that’s all. Like you said, what kind of trouble can a retired English teacher get into?”

Chapter One

Dad, you are in so much trouble.

Meghan surveyed the papers fanned out on her father’s desk. The ones she’d discovered when she’d shouldered her way into the study to deliver his afternoon cup of green tea and plate of Oreos. Evie’s list had specified fig bars—in capital letters, no less—but over the course of the week Meghan had fed those to an adorable family of gray squirrels. That the discovery the squirrels liked fig bars had taken place after she’d dumped the cookies out the window was entirely coincidental.

She picked up a stack of photos, every one of them depicting a work by a well-known artist named Joseph Ferris. Either her dad had shifted his interest from antiques to art or else he was planning to become an art thief.

Which could also explain the blueprints of what looked to be a sizable estate fanned out on the desk blotter.

She’d gotten suspicious when she’d seen the light glowing under the door of her father’s study two nights in a row. At midnight. Patrick always went to bed promptly after the ten o’clock news. Both times she’d ignored it, not wanting to draw attention to her late-night forays into the kitchen for leftover wedding cake.

But the night before she’d heard the phone ring a few minutes after twelve and then her father’s muffled voice on the other side of the door as she padded down the hallway. She’d assumed he was talking to Evie, but when she’d asked about it at breakfast, her father had almost choked on his whole-grain bagel and mumbled something vague about talking to a friend.

Right. Suspicious, she’d pushed a special code on the phone and listened to a nice little robotic voice recite the number of the last incoming call. From an area code somewhere in upstate New York.

Meghan had to face the truth. Evie’s list had turned her into…Evie. But there was no going back now. She had to find out what he was up to.

Ever since Patrick had discovered the whereabouts of the Noble, a ship Lake Superior had claimed in the late 1800s, and solved the mystery behind a century-old scandal that had plagued Sophie’s family, random people had started to contact him. Some asked for help researching their genealogy while others wanted to hire him to locate missing family heirlooms.

In spite of his daughters’ initial misgivings, Patrick had actually taken on some “clients” over the winter and, judging from the growing number of inquiries, his reputation must have spread.

Meghan blew out a sigh. She didn’t want to be the wet blanket that snuffed out the fire of enthusiasm in her dad’s new hobby, but a person couldn’t be too careful nowadays. Hadn’t Patrick learned that lesson the summer before, when a man he’d thought he could trust had turned on him and Jacob Cutter while they’d searched for the Noble?

She put down a photo of Joseph Ferris’s haunting watercolor Momentum and pivoted toward the door. And came nose to nose with her father.

“Meghan.”

“Dad.” Meghan crossed her arms and did her best imitation of Caitlin. It must have worked, because a deep red stain crept out from under the collar of her father’s oxford shirt and worked its way to his cheekbones.

Patrick coughed. “Ah…I was wondering where you were.”

I’ll bet you were.

“It’s three o’clock. Tea and cookie time.”

“My watch must be slow,” Patrick muttered.

Meghan sighed and decided to stop being Evie. And Caitlin. Especially Caitlin. Her suspicions were ridiculous. This was her father. Patrick McBride. The absentminded professor. Mr. Integrity himself.

“Why the sudden interest in Joseph Ferris, Dad? And please tell me that you aren’t planning to supplement your retirement income by becoming an art thief.” Meghan laughed.

Patrick didn’t. Instead he gave her a thoughtful look. “Do you think it falls under the label of stealing if a person is taking something back that technically belonged to them in the first place?”

Meghan groped for the plate of Oreos she’d set on the desk. “Does the something that technically belongs to someone else happen to be a work by Ferris?”

“Yes.”

Meghan shoved a cookie in her mouth. Never mind twisting the two sides apart and delicately scraping out the cream center. “You’re going to…to steal a Joseph Ferris?”

Patrick smiled. “Of course not. I wouldn’t begin to know what an authentic Ferris even looks like.”

“Well, that’s a relief—”

“That’s why I was hoping you’d do it.”

“Let me get this straight.” An hour later Meghan had a new appreciation for Evie’s suspicions about their dad’s dedication to his side business. Her younger sister had tried to warn her, after all. “A woman named Nina Bonnefield contacted you by e-mail, claiming she knew Ferris personally. He supposedly left a gift for her on an estate he visited in northern Wisconsin almost twenty years ago. And she hired you to find it for her.”

“That’s it in a nutshell,” Patrick said, way too cheerfully in Meghan’s opinion.

Of their own volition, Meghan’s fingers walked across the desk toward the plate of Oreos. Until she realized she’d eaten them all. “Why doesn’t this Nina Bonnefield go back to the estate and retrieve it herself? If it really belongs to her.”

There, she’d said it.

“That’s…complicated.”

Of course it was. “Dad, this whole thing sounds kind of fishy to me. You said she isn’t even sure if the gift Ferris left for her was a painting. Maybe it was a coffee mug. Or a souvenir toothpick holder.”

“For reasons Nina—Ms. Bonnefield—can’t share, she can’t go back. That’s why she needs my help. There’s a rumor the island is going up for sale and—”

“Wait a second. Did you say island?” Meghan interrupted.

“The Halloway estate is on a private island on Blue Key Lake, near the Chequamegon National Forest. It’s been in the family for years but they closed it up in the late eighties.”

Halloway. Halloway. The name stirred up something in Meghan’s subconscious, but another thought darted in and pushed that one aside for the moment.

“So Nina is somehow related to the family that owns the island?”

Patrick’s gaze bounced around the room and finally came to rest on Meghan. “No offense, but I promised Ms. Bonnefield I’d keep that part confidential. Jacob and I checked out her story, and both of us believe she’s telling the truth. She sent me a copy of the letter from Ferris and it does sound as if he left something for her. A thank you of some sort for her friendship and encouragement.”

“That would be some thank-you,” Meghan muttered.

“His paintings are valuable?”

“Paintings, drawings, sculptures. He dabbled in everything. Ferris is one of those artists who gained fame postmortem. By the time the critics finally noticed him and acknowledged his genius, he was in the final stages of pancreatic cancer. The collection of his work isn’t all that sizable because his career was short, so what’s out there got snapped up right away. If there’s still one floating around, I’m sure someone would have noticed. It may have already been sold.”

“Or tucked away in a closet on an estate in northern Wisconsin.”

And Meghan thought she was an optimist.

She tucked her teeth into her bottom lip and tried to figure out a way to discourage her father from getting himself into a potentially sticky situation. And helping oneself to a valuable piece of art definitely fell into that category, no matter who claimed ownership. “There has to be a way Nina Bonnefield can find out if the Ferris is there without involving you.”

“There is a reason, but I can’t tell you what it is. It’s—”

“Confidential. I know.” She hated to ask the obvious. “So what’s your plan?”

Patrick’s eyes lit up and Meghan tried not to groan. Somehow she knew she wasn’t going to like the answer.

“The house is going to be opened up temporarily for a family wedding in a few weeks. According to my sources—”

Meghan blinked. His sources?

“—after the wedding, the Halloways plan to auction off the contents of the house before the actual sale of the island goes through. From what I’ve heard, the family used to be quite a patron of the arts. There’s a sizable collection of paintings and sculptures there. I’m more familiar with antiques, so I wouldn’t be much help.”

Meghan’s eyes narrowed. She had a background in art. She remembered what her dad had initially said about her finding the Ferris. She’d assumed he’d been kidding. Now she wasn’t so sure.

“Dad, please tell me you aren’t thinking I’m a shoo-in for the job.”

“Of course not, sweetheart.” Patrick looked surprised by the suggestion. “I told Ms. Bonnefield you’re a photographer.”

That much was true. Meghan relaxed a little, relieved she and her dad were on the same page. It didn’t sound like either of them would be of much use to the mysterious Ms. Bonnefield. Thank goodness.

“So she decided to find someone else to play Nancy Drew?”

“Not quite.” Patrick plucked off his glasses and rubbed them against his shirttail.

Warning bells suddenly went off in Meghan’s head. That particular gesture meant her father was either nervous—or stalling. “Daaaad?”

“I had no idea she was going to pull a few strings.”

“What kind of strings?”

“Parker Halloway has hired you as her wedding photographer.”

“Wedding…” Meghan surged to her feet. “I don’t photograph people. Didn’t you tell Ms. Bonnefield that?”

“I did.” Patrick smiled. “But she made you an offer I couldn’t refuse.”

Meghan’s teeth rattled in her head as the small fishing boat bounced over the waves toward Blue Key Island. She kept her gaze trained on the slate-shingled roof peeking through a shield of poplar trees. Proof, at least, that one of Nina Bonnefield’s claims was true. The Halloway house really did exist.

Meghan sincerely hoped the woman hadn’t been making up the rest of the story.

She still couldn’t believe she’d adjusted her work schedule to accommodate a visit to the Halloway estate in the first place. But like Joshua scoping out the Promised Land, a reconnaissance mission was all Meghan would agree to. Unlike her father, she didn’t trust a woman who’d suddenly appeared out of cyberspace, claiming a friendship with a famous artist but not willing to disclose the nature of her sketchy relationship with the Halloways. Or why she couldn’t simply knock on the door and ask for her property back.

It took several days of negotiations with Patrick, but in the end Ms. Bonnefield had reluctantly accepted Meghan’s terms. If Meghan happened to spot an authentic Ferris hanging on the wall, it was up to its owner to figure out a way to claim it.

Meghan didn’t trust Ms. Bonnefield but she trusted her dad. And it wasn’t his fault that the thought of hunting for a work of art wasn’t nearly as nerve-racking as playing wedding photographer. Even though she couldn’t argue with Patrick’s assertion that it made sense for her to be in a position where she could wander around the island—and the house—with a camera.

The boat tripped over a wave and Meghan grabbed the side to steady herself.

“It’s a little choppy today,” Verne Thatcher shouted above the roar of the outboard motor. “Storm’s moving in quicker than they predicted.”

Meghan glanced from the grizzled old fishing guide to the batting of dark clouds unfolding across the sky.

She and Patrick had spent the better part of the afternoon roaming through the sleepy little town of Willoughby, trying to find someone with a boat who was willing to take her across. With a major thunderstorm in the forecast, no one seemed eager to go out on the water. Or maybe it had something to do with the reason for Meghan’s trip to the island.

Judging from the closed expressions on the faces of the locals whenever Meghan and Patrick mentioned the name Halloway, it was clear the family wasn’t going to win any popularity contests. Meghan didn’t want to speculate as to the reason why.

Close to giving up, they’d settled into a booth at the local diner to discuss their options when a shadow fell across Meghan’s laminated menu.

The man standing beside their table was short and wiry, with features that looked as if they’d been carved from a piece of teak. Dressed from head to toe in field khaki, the only thing that prevented him from looking like a game warden was the Hawaiian-print handkerchief casually knotted at his throat.

He flicked the brim of his hat, which was studded with fishing lures. “Hear you’re looking for a boat to the island. We better get there before the rain does.”

Meghan barely had time to kiss her dad goodbye before Verne Thatcher tossed her suitcase into the back of his rusty pickup and hoisted her into the cab, where she found herself wedged between two damp, liver-spotted spaniels named Smith and Wesson.

Now, close enough to the island to see the dock jutting out from the gentle contours of the shoreline, a fresh crop of doubts stirred up the butterflies in Meghan’s stomach. Just as a raindrop splashed against the back of her hand.

“Someone expecting you?” Verne barked the question as he eased back on the throttle and the boat agreeably slowed down.