The Present by Johanna Lindsey Read Free Book Online

could see under it, but the leather was just too stiff and tightly drawn to budge.

    "An attached key would have been too simple, I suppose." Reggie sighed.

    "The leather was cut to shape around it. It can be cut to unwrap it," Derek pointed out.

    "So it can," James agreed, and reached down to lift a very sharp-looking dagger out of his boot. That, of course, had Anthony raising a brow at him, to which he replied with a shrug, "Old habits are hard to break."

    "Quite so, and you did haunt some of the more disreputable waterfront establishments in your day, didn't you?" Anthony remarked.

    "Are we doing the laundry now, or getting inside that box?" James shot back.

    Anthony chuckled. "The box, of course, old man. Do slice away."

    The leather was tougher to cut than they imagined it would be, particularly with so little room for a blade to slip under any of the flaps to do the job. In the end, it was more James's strength than the dagger that snapped the leather away from the rings, so the padlock could be set aside and the flaps peeled back.

    He handed it back to Amy to do the honors. She wasted not a moment pulling the flaps out of the way and lifting the gift out. It was a book after all, leather-bound and untitled. There was also a folded parchment in it that fell out and floated to the floor.

    Though a half dozen hands reached for it, Derek picked it up first, unfolded it, and after a quick glance, said, "Good God, Amy, you really do know how to call 'em, don't you? I hope you didn't wager too much, Jeremy."

    Jeremy chuckled at that. "She wasn't interested in winning anything, just in making the bet so she would win it. Works for her every bloody time, if you ain't noticed. Ought to drag her to the races one of these days. She'd even put old Percy to shame in picking winners, and he's been amazingly lucky himself in that regard."

    Percy was an old friend of the family, at least of the younger generation. He'd chummed about with Nicholas, Derek, and then Jeremy as well, when Derek took his newly found cousin under his wing years ago.

    "If you don't say what's in that letter this instant, Derek Malory, I'm going to kick you, see if I don't," Reggie said impatiently.

    She and Derek were more like brother and sister than cousins, having been raised together after Reggie's mother died, and she had been known to kick him quite frequently over the years, so he was quick to reply, "It's a journal they wrote together, a history so to speak. Gads, that was nice of them, considering there's no one left alive who knew them—really knew them, that is."

    He handed the parchment to Reggie, who shared it aloud with the others.

    To our children and their children and so forth,
     
    This record we leave to you may be a surprise, or it may not. It's not something we talk of other than in private, nor have we ever told our son. And we are not assured of having more children that we may or may not speak of it to.
     
    Know that it was not an easy task, getting my husband to agree to add his thoughts to this record, because he feels he does not express himself well with the written word. In the end, I had to promise him that I would not read his portion, so he would be free to include feelings and perspectives that I might not agree with, or might tease him about. He made me the same promise; thus, when we finished this record, we did securely lock it and throw away the key.
     
    So we leave this written record to you, to be read at your leisure, and with your own imagination lending it life. Though when you do read it, it will most likely be when we are no longer with you to be questioned about our motives and less than honest dealings with the people who would do us harm. And I give you fair warning: If you have been led to believe that we are individuals that could do no wrong, then read no further. We are human, after all, with all the faults, passions, and mistakes that
    humans are known for. Judge us not, but perhaps learn