True Love

  Besides them, Lexie would give Jared hell for scaring Alix off, and even Toby would probably be sad. And no doubt every relative on the island would say that Jared had run her off because he wanted his house back.

  Any way he looked at it, Alix leaving before the year was up was bad.

  Alix was looking out the windshield as they went down the streets and around two English-style roundabouts, one of which was called a rotary. Wherever they went, she was amazed by the courtesy of the drivers. Jared motioned to any vehicle that was stuck on a side street to go ahead of him and all the drivers waved back their thanks. He stopped for all pedestrians, who also raised their hands in gratitude. Cars, people, bicycles, road-crossing critters, were all given spaces and all actions were acknowledged with courtesy and thanks.

  They pulled into the parking lot of a pretty little building with a big doughnut above the door. DOWNYFLAKE was painted on it.

  “Why’s it called that?”

  “I have no idea,” Jared said. “You can ask Sue.”

  He opened the door for her and they entered a homey-looking restaurant that Alix immediately liked. And she had her first glimpse of what it meant to have grown up on an island. Jared knew everyone. He said hello to the staff and to nearly every table full of people.

  “Sit anywhere,” a pretty woman with a menu said.

  “Thanks, Sue,” Jared answered and went left to a booth by the windows. He stopped to exchange greetings and comments about deer and boats and fish with a group of men sitting at a large round table, then took his place across from Alix.

  “Sorry about that. I’ve been away for days and I needed to catch up. Hi, Sharon,” he said to a cute, tall, slim waitress.

  “You get back last night?” she asked.

  She had a lovely Irish accent and she handed Alix a menu as she poured coffee for him. Alix nodded yes for the coffee. When she left, Alix looked at the menu. “What’s good?”

  “Everything.”

  “I think I’ll have the blueberry pancakes and a couple of doughnuts.”

  He turned, nodded to Sharon, and when she returned, Alix gave her order. Jared said nothing.

  “You aren’t ordering?” Alix asked when the waitress left.

  “I always get the same thing and they just bring it.”

  “I can’t imagine living somewhere that a restaurant knows your order.”

  He glanced out the window for a moment. “When I’m in New York, sometimes I get so homesick I think I’m going to evaporate.”

  “What do you do then?”

  “If at all possible I get on a plane and come home. Aunt Addy was always here and always up to something, and my—” He stopped talking. He’d been about to mention his grandfather—which was unusual, as that had been an unbroken taboo all his life.

  But it was as though Alix read his mind. “Izzy said that Nantucket was one of the most haunted places on earth. Have you seen any ghosts? Or maybe Kingsley House is haunted.”

  “Why do you ask?”

  Alix was aware that he’d avoided answering her questions. “Odd things keep happening. Pictures falling off tables, fireplace soot coming down in a lump, that sort of thing. This morning I was trying to decide between a blue shirt and a peach one and the collar of the blue one moved.”

  Jared knew his grandfather liked blue the best. “It’s a drafty old house. Have you heard the floors creak?”

  He was still avoiding her questions. “No, but I think a man kissed me on the cheek.”

  Jared didn’t smile. “Were you frightened?”

  “Not at all. It was rather nice.” She started to say more but an older couple came by and wanted to say hello and how very sorry they were to hear of Addy’s passing. Alix drank her coffee and watched him as he smiled and talked. With his messy, graying beard and his long hair, he looked tired. She’d followed his career enough to know that he was a hard worker. Sometimes it seemed that everyone in the U.S. who could afford it wanted a house designed by Jared Montgomery. There were at least four books about his work, and many others that contained photos. His work seemed to be featured in half the magazines on the stands. She’d often wondered if he ever slept.

  It was odd to think of him as a person with a life, friends, and family. That he had a talent that was off the charts was just something that happened. He was supposed to stay on the island but he’d said he was leaving, and she had an idea that it was to get away from her and all the things she’d planned to ask him.

  When the people left, he turned back to his coffee.

  “Thank you for the flowers,” she said. “That was very thoughtful of you.”

  “I shouldn’t have lied.”

  “No, you should have. If you hadn’t, I would have bombarded you with questions. You don’t have to leave Nantucket. I promise I won’t bother you.” She’d said this earlier, but this time there was no resentment in her voice. “I won’t ask questions about designing, or about where you get your ideas. I won’t even ask how you came up with the Klondike building. Not while we’re on Nantucket. Here, you’ll be Kingsley to me, not the great and famous Jared Montgomery. But …” She smiled at him. “Off-island, all bets are off. Is that a deal?”

  Jared gave her a weak smile, and he wasn’t sure what to reply. This morning he’d gone into the house early to have another look at the model of the chapel that she’d made. His business partner, Tim, had sent him yet another email saying he needed the design for the California house now! The movie couple wanted a Jared Montgomery design—not one from someone else in the firm, but from Jared personally.

  This morning Jared had the idea of persuading the movie stars to build something designed by Alixandra Madsen. He’d tell them of her father, who’d taught Jared everything he knew. He’d lay it on thick about how she was up and coming and they’d be the first to have one of her designs. And a private chapel secreted away on their big estate would be just the thing.

  And giving Alix a commission would partially pay back Ken for all he’d done for Jared. “Pass it on.”

  “What did you say?”

  He didn’t realize he’d spoken aloud. “I was thinking about what a generous deal you’re offering. When I was a student I was insatiable for knowledge.” In between carousing, he thought. Away from home, all those long-legged college girls … Half of his designs had been done three hours before he had to present them.

  He smiled at her. What he had to do now was to get Alix to show him her model so he could act surprised at the sight of it. He didn’t want her to think he’d been snooping—or that someone who didn’t exist had shown him her plan.

  Their breakfast orders were put before them, scrambled eggs with spinach, bacon, and cheese, a toasted cranberry muffin on the side for him. Alix had pancakes rich with blueberries and a couple of chocolate-covered doughnuts.

  As Jared started to eat, he thought that he needed to get her away from her thoughts of leaving. She needed a reason to stay on the island. “Did you know that weddings are a big business on Nantucket? Multimillion. I don’t know much about it, but I’m sure it wouldn’t be too difficult to make a wedding for your friend here.”

  “And your girlfriend Toby could help?”

  Jared smiled so broadly that the hairs on the back of Alix’s neck stood up. That lip of his! She looked away.

  “Toby’s not my girlfriend. She’s out of my league. I’m much too …” He ran his hand over his beard as he searched for the right word. Earthy? Salty? Too male?

  “Too old?” Alix asked.

  Jared looked at her. “Old?”

  “You said she was a kid. Twenty, wasn’t it?”

  “She just turned twenty-two. Her father gave her a refrigerator for her birthday.”

  “Oh!” Alix said. “Did he wrap it?”

  This time Jared realized she was joking. “Knowing her dad, he probably filled it with hundred dollar bills—all of which Toby returned. She’s determined to support herself.”

  “By raising fl
owers?”

  “That and working in a florist shop. She can advise you about wedding flowers.”

  Alix wasn’t sure if she greatly admired this young woman or hated her for making people fall in love with her.

  “And of course, there’s always Valentina. You can find out about her.”

  “What does she do for weddings? Cakes? Photography?” Alix wondered how many girlfriends he had on the island.

  He was looking at her so intensely she felt like she’d been put under a microscope. “You weren’t told about Valentina?”

  “It seems that I wasn’t told about a lot of things. My mother visits Nantucket and from the quantity of supplies in the cabinet in the green bedroom she’s been here many times. And then there’s you. It’s hard for me to believe that it’s an accident that I, a student of architecture, was put into a house owned by an American Living Legend.”

  “A what?” He looked horrified.

  “An American—”

  “I heard you, but that’s absurd.”

  She took her time chewing as she looked at him. “Is it my imagination that every time I ask you a direct question, such as about my mother or ghosts or even why I’m here, you change the subject?”

  Jared almost choked as he held his laughter in. If no one had told him she was Victoria’s daughter, in that instant, he would have known. “Isn’t your mother that famous writer?”

  “If you grew up on Nantucket and later ran home every chance you got, and my mother stayed here often enough to turn a room in your house into the Emerald City, then you must have met her.”

  Jared picked up his coffee cup to hide his smile.

  It was Alix’s turn to look at him with the intensity of a kestrel falcon homing in on its prey. “I know my mother arranged this year in Kingsley House, so what’s she after?”

  “Mind if I have one of your doughnuts?”

  “Help yourself. The big question is why you’re trying to give me so much to do that I don’t leave the island.”

  “Hey, Jared, old man,” a male voice called.

  “Saved!” Jared said under his breath.

  “Ha! You’re not safe by any means.”

  A young man who looked vaguely familiar came to the table. “I see you found him,” he said to Alix. “You don’t remember me, do you?”

  Wes, where the sun sets, she remembered, but said, “North by northwest, isn’t that your name?”

  He laughed. “How wonderful to be remembered by a beautiful woman. You and this old man aren’t a couple, are you?”

  Alix was still smiling and out of the corner of her eye she could see Jared frowning. “Mr. Kingsley and me? No way.”

  “Great,” Wes said. “How about going to the Daffodil Festival with me this weekend? We’ll ride in my dad’s old car for the parade, then later we can go to ’Sconset for a tailgate picnic.”

  “What do I bring?”

  “Just your pretty self. My mom and sister will do the cooking.”

  “Keep it in the family, I guess,” she said, remembering that Wes had said he was a cousin to the Kingsley family.

  “Doing that would include half the island. I’m going out on my boat today. Want to go with me?”

  “I’d—”

  “She and I are going to see Dilys,” Jared said, his voice firm. “And we have some things to do around town.”

  Alix kept her eyes on Wes. “And Mr. Kingsley and I have a lot of things to talk about.”

  “On second thought,” Jared said. “Maybe she could go with you.”

  Alix turned and gave Jared a warm smile. “You’re my host and I think we should get to know each other, don’t you?”

  “I came here for breakfast, so maybe I could join you two,” Wes said. “And I haven’t seen Dilys in weeks.”

  “We’re finished.” Jared stood up and put money on the table. Downyflake didn’t take credit cards.

  “See you Saturday,” Alix said to Wes as she left, Jared right behind her.

  They got into his truck and he had the job of maneuvering out of the close parking lot, which he did with ease.

  “So why does my mother want me here?” Alix asked as soon as they were on the road.

  “I have no idea,” he said.

  She heard the honesty in his voice.

  “Look, this whole thing is a shock to me,” he said. “My aunt Addy died and I was told that she’d left our family’s house—which should have gone to me—to Victoria’s daughter for a year. I will admit that I was quite angry when I was told.” He looked at her to see how she’d take that.

  “I don’t blame you. I would be too. Why did my mother come here?”

  “For inspiration?” he asked, trying to sound innocent. “Aren’t her books set in a seaside town?”

  “You haven’t read them?”

  “No.” He didn’t say that he hadn’t because he knew they were based on his ancestors. Who wanted to read that his great-great-grandmother had affairs? Or that a distant cousin probably murdered his brother-in-law?

  “Why didn’t she tell me she came here? Every August she sent me to stay with Dad. Mom said she went to her cabin in the Colorado mountains to think and plot her novels.”

  She spent that month reading my family’s journals, one by one, Jared thought but didn’t say.

  “How often did she come here instead of going to Colorado?”

  “She’s come here every August since I was fourteen.”

  Alix opened her month to speak, then closed it. Did this mean the whole cabin-in-Colorado was a myth? “Why did she lie to me all these years?”

  Jared wished none of this had started; it wasn’t his business to tell any of it. “Maybe you were too close to my aunt,” he said softly. Both his grandfather and his mother had told him how Aunt Addy went to her bed for weeks after Alix was taken from her that first summer. She’d been through the deaths of most of her family, but she’d always been strong. She’d been the one to give comfort to the grieving.

  But that summer had been different. After Ken had found his wife and his business partner in a compromising situation, his orderly, easy life had turned upside down. In the ensuing turmoil, Victoria had taken four-year-old Alix and run away to give him time to calm down. She ended up on the island of Nantucket, broke and with no discernible skills. She took a job as a housekeeper-cook for Miss Adelaide Kingsley. Even though Victoria couldn’t so much as turn on the old stove, and she refused to clean anything, Addy put up with her because she and little Alix became inseparable. It was after Victoria found the journals and began to rewrite the first story that Addy began to hope that Victoria and Alix would stay.

  It might have happened except for Victoria’s insistence on secrecy. When she took little four-year-old Alix off the island, it had nearly killed Addy. And only Jared could see how it had affected his grandfather. His mother, not a Kingsley, couldn’t see Caleb, but Jared could. Even the death of Jared’s father had not upset his grandfather so much.

  “Why would she take her away?” Caleb had whispered to Jared. “Alix belongs here. She always has.”

  Jared couldn’t get his grandfather to say any more, but by that time Alix’s father was there and Jared’s life changed dramatically.

  “I think that could be true,” Alix said in reply to his comment. “My mother does have a bit of a problem with jealousy.”

  “What about you?”

  “Yes, she’s always been jealous of anyone who got close to me. In high school I could hardly have a boy over or she’d—”

  “No, I mean, do you have a problem with jealousy?”

  “A month ago I would have said no, but recently my boyfriend, Eric, dumped me and took up with someone else. I wanted to shoot him.”

  “Not her?”

  “She was too dumb to know what was going on.”

  Jared laughed, and Alix couldn’t help smiling.

  “It’s too soon to laugh about!” she said. “On the way here on the ferry I was crying and eating lo
ts of chocolate.”

  “Were you?” Jared asked. “Is that a usual female remedy for being thrown over?” He put as much innocence in his voice as he could muster.

  “In my case, it was.”

  “That was just a few days ago. What brought you out of it?”

  “I saw—” She broke off. She’d come close to saying “I saw your lower lip.” Instead, she looked out the window of the truck. They were in a rural area now, the houses farther apart, but still sided in that unfinished gray cedar that made a person aware that it was Nantucket.

  “I thought maybe you did some work that took your mind off your problems,” he said.

  She thought of the chapel model hidden away in the cabinet downstairs. With the way the man sauntered in and out of the house at will, she knew she needed to move the model and the papers so he didn’t accidentally see them. “Nothing important,” she said. “So tell me who Dilys is.”

  Chapter Seven

  They turned down a little road that was close to the water, and pulled into a driveway beside a house that Alix could have picked out as having been designed by Jared Montgomery. Tall windows peeped out of the roof, doors were recessed, and there were angles that no one expected. The trademarks of his designs were all there.

  He sat in the truck, watching her, as though waiting for her to say something, but she didn’t. She was determined to keep to her bargain. Here on Nantucket he was Kingsley, not Montgomery.

  A short, gray-haired woman, sixtyish, came around the house. She had skin that had spent a lot of time exposed to sun and salt water, but her eyes were exactly like Jared’s. And like Captain Caleb’s, Alix thought.

  Jared practically jumped out of the truck and ran to his cousin, picked her up, and twirled her around.

  “My goodness, Jared, what a greeting. I just saw you a few days ago.”

  “Don’t mention Ken,” he said. “You never met him. Victoria is fine, but Ken no.”

  Dilys looked around him at Alix, whom she’d already heard a lot about. Lexie had called with an extraordinary story about Jared showing up at night asking for flowers. “I’m not to mention her own father?” Dilys asked as Jared set her down.