Christmas Present Part 15

"Thank you. Mom," Bria said with a loving smile. "You've been wonderful. I don't know anyone but you who could have put together such a beautiful wedding in such a short time."

"I had a lot of help. Besides, there's nothing to thank me for. I'm just so grateful you've found a love that is as strong as the love your dad and I have for each other. My only question is how long do we have to wait before we can visit you?"

Bria laughed. "You can come tomorrow as far as I'm concerned. Kells too."

"I don't know about that. I don't want to get off on the wrong foot with my new son-in-law. We'll wait a bit, but not too long." She strolled to the closet, checking for anything Bria might have forgotten, and saw the mirror. "What do you want me to do about this?" she asked, pointing.

Bria barely glanced at it. "Put it back up in the attic. I don't need to look at it again. I know my future is going to be filled with joy."

Smiling, Cara nodded and shut the closet doors.

Bria reached for her Liz Claiborne jeans, folded them, and put them into her suitcase. Suddenly she stilled.

Elizabeth.

Zara had seen her in these jeans and thought her name was Elizabeth, a natural mistake. She wished she had known Zara. What an interesting and wonderful woman she must have been.

With a warm smile of affection for her ancestress, she closed her suitcase. And with a final hug for her mother, she went downstairs to Kells and to her future.

Kells and Bria were pelted with shamrocks as they ran to the helicopter that would take them on the first leg of their trip to their home in Australia.

Bria slid into her seat beside Kells and reached to take his hand. The helicopter lifted off, and the pilot circled the homestead before heading for Tucson.

Bria waved to the laughing, happy crowd that was her family, then turned to her husband, her expression one of undiluted love.

He leaned toward her and kissed her with a tenderness and pa.s.sion that she returned. She was secure in his love and secure in a future that she knew without a doubt was going to be filled with ecstasy and happiness.

The next morning Cara climbed the steps to the attic, the mirror in her arms. Zara Delaney's letter was locked away in the safe for future generations.

In the old section of the attic Cara knelt to place the mirror against the wall as Bria had directed. She reached for the shawl, but then hesitated, and an impish smile appeared on her lovely face. Unable to resist, she turned the mirror to her and gazed into its brilliant depths.

And in a twinkling she saw Bria and Kells, plus Patrick and a beautiful young woman she didn't know, sitting on Killara's lawn, watching over children who were running and tumbling and laughing happily. Her grandchildren, she realized. And she and Burke were there too, his arm around her, as together they watched with loving indulgence.

With a gentle smile she turned the mirror to the wall, draped it with the shawl, then went downstairs to Burke.

end.