Free JUST ONE MORE NIGHT by Fiona Brand Page A

The envelopes were plain, although of very good parchment, a rich cream that seemed to glow in the stark light. They were tied together with a white satin ribbon that shimmered with a pearlized sheen.
    Her throat closed up. Love letters.
    The top envelope was addressed to her aunt. Heart beating just a little faster, because she knew without doubt that she had found a remnant of the relationship her aunt had kept secret until she died, Elena turned the small bundle over.
    The name Carlos Messena leaped out at her, and the final piece in the puzzle of just why her aunt and Stefano Messena had been personally linked fell into place. “Mystery solved,” she said softly.
    Nick tossed the cloth he’d used to wipe his hands with over the back of a broken chair. Stepping over a pile of old newspapers that were destined for the fire, he took the letters.
    “Uncle Carlos,” he said quietly, satisfaction edging his voice. “My father was the first son, he was the second. Carlos died on active duty overseas around thirty years ago. So that’s why Dad gave Katherine the ring. It was traditionally given to the brides of the second son in the family. If Katherine and Carlos had married, it would have been hers.”
    With careful movements, he untied the faded ribbon and fanned the letters out on the top of a trunk, checking the dates on each letter.
    Holding her breath, because to read the personal exchanges, even now, seemed an invasion of privacy, Elena picked up the first letter. It was written in a strong, slanting hand, and she was instantly drawn into the clear narrative of a love affair that had ended almost before it had begun, after just one night together.
    Empathy held her in thrall as she was drawn into the brief affair that had ended abruptly when Carlos, a naval officer, had shipped out.
    Elena refolded the letter and replaced it back in its envelope. Nick passed her the contents of the envelope he had just opened. On plainer, cheaper paper, it was written in a different hand. There was no love letter, but in some ways the content was even more personal: a short note, a black-and-white snapshot of a toddler, a birth certificate and adoption papers for a baby named Michael Carlos.
    The mystery of Stefano’s relationship with Katherine was finally solved: he had been helping her find the child she had adopted out. A Messena child.
    Nick studied the address on the final envelope. “Emilia Ambrosi.” He shook his head. “She’s a distant cousin of the Pearl House Ambrosis. I could be wrong, but as far as I know she still lives on Medinos.” He let out a breath. “Medinos was the one place we didn’t look.”
    Elena dragged her attention from the sparse details of the Messena child. “You knew Aunt Katherine had had a baby?”
    “It seemed possible, but we had no proof.”
    Feeling stunned at the secret her aunt had kept, she handed Nick the note, the snapshot and the birth certificate.
    Gathering up the letters, she tied them together with the ribbon and braced herself for the fact that Nick would be gone in a matter of minutes.
    She should be happy they had solved the mystery and found closure. Her aunt had tragically lost Carlos, but she had at least experienced the heights—she had been loved. They hadn’t found the ring but, at a guess, Katherine had sent it to her son, who was probably a resident on Medinos.
    Elena made her way downstairs to the second level. Placing the album and the sadly rumpled cardigan on a side dresser in the hall, she washed her hands and face, then waited out in the hall while Nick did the same.
    Curious to see if Aunt Katherine had included any further shots of her small son in the album, she flipped to the first page. Unexpectedly, it was dotted with snapshots of the Messena children when they had been babies.
    Nick’s gaze touched on hers as he exited the bathroom, and the awareness that had vibrated between them in the attic sprang to life again.
    She closed the album with a