Lunch had been an enjoyable meal. Robert and Kiki had been all about Mason, asking him about his career and technique. Did he prefer directing or acting? They were enthralled by every word that left his mouth.

Katherine had sat next to Norah, who she discovered was a talented artist, and her husband Caleb, who ran a non-profit that helped third-world countries build their infrastructure. They were by far the most fascinating Stevens, and Katherine wondered what it would be like to spend a lifetime traveling the globe and helping the world one small project at a time.

Grace spent the meal charming J.D. and Claire, asking them all about themselves, which they loved, and Bryce looked a bit distracted as he kept looking at his phone.

"We're to have more than we thought," Laura said as she checked her phone as they prepared to leave the table.

"Really?" Cassie said, sounding excited for the first time since Katherine had arrived. "Who?"

"Alice, Rainer, and Beth." Laura supplied as she flipped her phone over.

Katherine could tell they wanted to ask questions but weren't going to while they had an audience, and Katherine could help with that.

"Grace," Katherine leaned around J.D. to look at her concerned face, "perhaps Reva could give us a brief tour of the house, and we could talk with you and Mr. Stevens later about potential rooms we would like to film in?"

"Yes, that sounds like an excellent idea," Kiki said, standing and taking over. "We only have three days, so we really need to lay our plan out tonight so we can start filming tomorrow. We want to do some exterior shots tonight if it's all right with you. There is going to be a full moon."

"Of course," Bryce nodded as Reva appeared by magic.

"Maybe she's the ghost?" Mason whispered sotto voice to the table.

Riva acted as if she hadn't heard as she smiled at the table and waited for the crew to stand and follow her. Katherine turned to leave, but Grace caught her hand and pulled her back into her seat.

"Katherine will catch up with you all in a bit if that's all right?" Grace asked in her sweetest voice. "Riva, will you close the doors behind you, please?"

Riva nodded as she led the others out of the room, and Claire looked over her shoulder at Katherine with suspicion.

"Watch out for that one," Cassie said when the doors were closed.

Katherine nodded her agreement. "If this is family business, I should probably leave," she insisted, trying to stand again, but Cassie and Grace pulled and pushed her back into her chair.

"In case you haven't figured it out yet, Katherine. You are family." Davis smiled at her as he took some of his wife's leftover bread and shoved it into his mouth.

Katherine looked at them all wide-eyed, but they all continued with the conversation.

"Bryce?" Grace turned to look at her husband.

He smiled his honest-to-goodness smile that once again caught Katherine off guard.

"Mave ran away from home. She told them to join us here, help Alistair on his mission, and leave her the hell alone. They were smothering her, and she couldn't take it anymore."

Katherine watched as all the Stevens' faces broke into grins.

"Do we know where she ran away to?" Mason asked, leaning back into his chair, suddenly relaxed, and Cassie reached over and squeezed his arm in happiness.

"I can guess where," Davis said as he looked at them.

"Sam!" several of them said in unison.

"Do you think so?" Laura asked with a frown.

"Yes, not only because he's in Savannah, but he's her favorite person in the world." Davis stood, ending the conversation. "Are you going to let them film you tonight?" he asked Mason.

"Only if I get to dress up like a ghost. I tried convincing Laura to play the woman in white because she's naturally pale, but she wouldn't bite."

"No pun intended," Bryce said from the head of the table, and Katherine looked at him with shock and awe.

"Bryce has a wicked sense of humor when he has a mind to. It's where Alistair gets it from." Grace winked at Katherine as she stood.

"Is there really a woman in white?" Katherine asked, following them all out of the room.

"No," Laura shook her head. "This place will disappoint your crew."

"Unless Mason has his way!" Davis looked over at Mason, who had a thoughtful look as if determining how he could make the place appear haunted.

"If we keep Rainer off the radar, maybe he can be the bumps in the night?" Mason thought aloud.

The others just ignored him as they all went their separate ways. It wasn't difficult for Katherine to catch up with the others, and she received another worrying look from Claire, but she didn't notice it because she was too busy recalling Davis's words.

Was she really family, and what was Alistair's mission? Did it have something to do with her? Was that why they were there? Had he agreed to do something he didn't want to do to get her to come to him?"

Her heart rate sped up at the thought. It was like the story she had heard as a child where a poor woman sold her greatest asset, her hair, to buy her husband a new watch chain, and her husband had sold his greatest asset, his watch, to buy her a ribbon for her hair. It had always been a story that had touched Katherine.

It was what love should be. Of course, one could look at it from a cynic's standpoint, that love had only made them poorer, but Katherine chose to look at the romance of making a great sacrifice for the one you love.

Was that what Alistair was doing for her?

"Katherine, are you listening?" Kiki asked her with a frown.

"Sorry, I am now," she reassured her and did her best to keep the focus on the rest of the tour and not let her mind wander. The house was so vast that it took the rest of the day. Her favorite part was the roof. One had to climb up a medieval stone tower that had been incorporated into the house to reach it, and the amount of history in the stone amazed her.

When she reached the top, she looked over the vast estate. It went on as far as the eye could see. She took in the quiet calmness and slowly fell in love with it. She was reminded of another story she had read. Jane Austen's 'Pride and Prejudice'.

"Of all this, I might have been mistress," she quoted.

"You still could be," Alistair's gentle voice said from behind her.

Katherine spun around and took her time looking at him. He looked tired.

"I don't deserve it." She shook her head.

"I think you do," he shrugged.

Unable to take it any longer, she ran toward him, and he caught her in his arms, holding her close against him in a fierce hug.

"This was worth the trip across the pond," she could hear a smile in his tired voice.

"You don't have to do this. Alistair. We can cancel the entire thing!" She pulled back and looked up at him. "You're not doing this for me, are you?"

Alistair tucked a piece of her hair behind her ear and trailed in fingers down her face.

"I believed you when you said you didn't care if we filmed here. The reason I agreed to it was to trap you here. To have time to prove to you that you belong here, in this world with me, with my family." He lifted her hand and placed a kiss on her palm. "Is it working? I take it by the greeting you gave me it is?" He gave a sad smile. "If I had known the house would woo you better than I would, I would have invited you here long ago."

"It's not the house, Alistair." She frowned up at him. She didn't want him to think she was using him again.

"Then what?" he sounded curious.

"You're Uncle Davis said I was family and your mother asked me to stay when they were talking about Mave." She swallowed hard at the memory. "It meant a lot."

"I'm glad. You are family. Why do you think my father is your lawyer? He only works for his family."

"I thought he was helping me because you asked him to," Katherine frowned.

Alistair shook his head in disagreement, but what he would have said next was lost.

"Here you are!" Mason called as he pulled out his phone and sent a text.

"I told Davis to bring beer. We need to celebrate!" Mason patted Alistair on the back as Cassie joined them.

I haven't been up here in years," she said as she walked over to the edge and looked at the ground below and smiled. "Do you remember the first time I came up here, Mason?"

"I do. Caleb was drunk, Rainer was hitting on you-"

"He was not hitting on me. He welcomed me into the family. They knew what was happening before we did." Cassie denied.

"All I remember was you poured beer on my head, then Mom came and broke up the party," he reminded her as he put his arms around her shoulders.

"I miss her," Cassie sighed.

"What's the good news?" Alistair asked with a frown.

"Mave ran away and told Rainer, Alice, and Beth to leave her the hell alone," Davis said as he threw Mason a six-pack which he caught with one hand. "They're on their way here now."

"And Mave said they needed to support you on your mission?" Katherine asked. "What mission might that be?" Mason threw Alistair and then Katherine a beer.

"Bryce still buys the cheap stuff," Mason grimaced as he took a sip. "You should work on that as the future earl, Alistair!" Mason said to change the subject.

It only took a few minutes for Caleb, Laura, Bryce, and Grace to join them.

"Where's Norah," Katherine asked Alistair when it was apparent that she wasn't going to join them.

"Probably resting. She has a bad back, and sitting on long plane rides makes it worse sometimes. Either that or she's lost in one of her drawings somewhere." Alistair pulled her close and kissed her head before they joined the others.

Katherine listened to all the good-natured bantering, which felt surreal.

Did this amazing family really feel she was part of them?