Ever After

  “Yeah, I know,” Jamie said and there was a flush on his cheeks. “But he and Hallie don’t get along. He keeps testing her.”

  “He thinks she’s a gold digger?”

  “He thinks she’ll leave me when she gets tired of my…of my…” He couldn’t finish or meet his father’s eyes.

  “What do you think?”

  “That if she’s smart, she’ll run away.” He was scratching one of the scars over his rib cage.

  “I think that if she’s smart she’ll overlook a few mosquito bites and see my son underneath.”

  “Thanks,” Jamie said and met his father’s eyes.

  “Are you hungry? Your mother yet again packed your refrigerator full of food. She’s becoming great friends with Dr. Huntley’s wife, Victoria. I think they’re going to collaborate on a book. A sort of murder mystery cum ghost story. Your mom found a lot of info about your Tea Ladies ghosts and gave it all to Kit.”

  Jamie nodded. He knew what his dad was doing. He was putting Jilly and Kit, the calmest people in the extensive family, together with his injured son. It was certainly well meant, but Jamie couldn’t suppress the resentment he felt. He needed to be singled out, but that didn’t mean he wanted to be. Poor, pitiful, damaged Jamie.

  “That all sounds great,” Jamie said as he got off the table. “Hallie and Uncle Kit had some meeting at two A.M. and now they’re friends.”

  “Did they?” Kane asked as he handed his son his clothes. “But Kit doesn’t talk to anyone.”

  “Everybody talks to Hallie and everybody likes her,” Jamie said, sounding almost defensive. He had his back to his father and didn’t see the smile that reached down to Kane Taggert’s very soul. This girl was putting life back into his son, and for that Kane was deeply grateful.

  “So I’ve heard. Raine can’t shut up about her.”

  “What does that mean? Two sentences?”

  “Four!” Kane said and they laughed, the tension between them broken.

  When Jamie was dressed, he flexed his shoulders and back. “I feel better after Hallie’s massage. You should let her work on you.”

  “I think I’ll give her a break. It seems like every male in the family has been over here. Come on, let’s go see what your mother left for us to eat.” He put his arm around his son’s shoulders and they walked back to the house.

  “Hi,” Hallie said as she saw Jamie enter the kitchen. After her nap, she could think more clearly—and right now she was remembering Jamie holding her against a wall. “Feel better?” she managed to ask.

  “Much,” he said.

  Hallie started to say more, but behind him came the big man.

  “I think you’ve met my dad.”

  “I have,” Hallie said as she shook his hand. “But I didn’t realize who you were. Mr. Taggert, would you like something to eat? But then I think it’s your wife who fills our refrigerator.”

  “Or Edith and her golf cart,” Jamie said, and he and Hallie looked at each other in a shared joke.

  “I’d love something,” Kane said and sat down at the table. He took a chair against the wall and settled back to watch his son and this young woman whom most of his family had been praising to the skies.

  He’d wanted to meet her the first day they’d arrived, but his wife, Cale, had nixed that.

  “She’ll know you’re studying her, judging her,” Cale said.

  “I just want to meet her, that’s all. No judgment.”

  “Ha!” Cale said. “You want to see if she’s worthy to be around your wounded son. You’ll be like Todd and make it into a criminal investigation. The poor girl will run away.”

  “And you wouldn’t question her?” Kane said, sounding more angry than he meant to.

  “I would scrutinize everything about her!” Cale shot back. She was quite small and her husband was very large, but she had never been intimidated by him. “I’d watch her like she was under a magnifying glass.” Her voice was rising. “If she said even a word that wasn’t kind and loving and gentle and caring to our Jamie, I’d tear her eyes out. I’d—”

  Kane pulled her into his arms. “It’s okay. We’ll both stay away.”

  Cale was trying to calm down. “Jamie and Todd have talked every day and I don’t know what the girl is doing, but Jamie likes her.” Since his injuries, they’d paraded half a dozen truly fabulous young women before him. “Brilliant Beauty Queens,” the family called them. Vassar graduates who’d given themselves pocket money by modeling. But Jamie had been so uninterested that Cale had consulted his doctor about any sexual injuries he might have. But, no, that part of his body was unscathed.

  Kane had been furious when his wife told him what she’d done. Thankfully, Jamie didn’t find out.

  Repeatedly, the family had been told to wait, to give Jamie time to recover. When Todd told them of his idea of taking Jamie away from his family’s loving home, away from their care and concern, everyone had fought him. But Todd had a couple of doctors on his side. Only after the family agreed to allow it had Jamie been told.

  At first he’d said yes, but as the day to leave approached, he’d started to back down. But somehow, Todd and Raine had persuaded Jamie to go.

  So now Kane was getting his first look at this girl. She was quite pretty and as curvy as a snowman. As he watched Jamie and Hallie at the sink, he couldn’t help thinking of the tall skinnies Jamie’s family had paraded past him. It looked like when it came to taste in women, it was like father, like son.

  Hallie put a tray of vegetables and dip on the table, and as Kane munched, he saw the way the two of them moved about the kitchen. Their voices were low, but then they didn’t seem to need many words, as they worked well together.

  There was an interesting moment after Jamie said something and Hallie laughed. They were standing at the sink, inches apart, their backs to him, and they looked at each other. Such electricity passed between them that Kane paused with a carrot halfway to his mouth.

  Somebody’s been in the cookie jar, he thought, then reached for his phone. He wanted to tell his wife that Jamie’s long spell of celibacy had been broken.

  But when Hallie turned and asked if he’d like iced tea or lemonade, Kane took his hand off the phone. “Tea,” he said and leaned back in his chair, unable to get the grin off his face.

  “What have you two been doing?” Kane asked when they were seated across from him.

  Jamie knew his father well and when he looked up, his eyes had a bit of a glint in them. Kane met his son’s eyes for only a second, and his smile widened. It was a silent message between them.

  Hallie started telling about Edith and the elaborate teas she brought them and how the woman talked to the lady ghosts.

  At first Jamie was quiet, letting Hallie tell the story, but when she got to Dr. Huntley’s visit he joined in.

  Kane sat back, listened, and smiled. He wasn’t much interested in the ghost story—though he knew his wife was—but he was very, very happy to see his son so animated.

  When they ran out of salad dressing, Jamie got up and retrieved a bottle from the fridge. It didn’t seem to mean anything to Hallie, but it was monumental to Kane. After Jamie came home, wrapped in bandages, his wounds healing, there had always been someone nearby to get whatever he needed. Now he was on crutches, his leg in that big, cumbersome brace, but he was doing his own fetching. Neither he nor Hallie seemed to think his physical problems were an excuse for him to sit and be waited on.

  “I nearly forgot,” Hallie said. “We have to move the dresser in the tea room.” When Jamie sat back down, she took his crutches and leaned them against the wall.

  “Why?” Jamie asked.

  She looked startled. “I just realized that I haven’t told you about my dream! I saw the ladies. After I told Uncle Kit about it, he said we have to get some Taggerts to move the dresser to see if what I dreamed was real.”

  “You told my uncle but not me?”

  Kane took a big bite of his sandwich to keep from laug
hing at his son’s tone of disbelief, and maybe even some hurt at being left out.

  “It was that morning when I woke up in your bed and the kids were jumping on us, then your naked cousins showed up. I was so dazzled by them that I forgot all about the dream. If you hadn’t—” Breaking off, she looked at Kane. “Sorry. They weren’t really naked. Not then, anyway.”

  Kane raised his hand. “Don’t mind me. Say what you want.”

  Jamie was glaring at Hallie. “You could have told me later. You could have taken a break from your harem and told me about your ghost dream.”

  “You were hiding out with your brother, remember? I couldn’t find you! I asked everyone where you were, but they wouldn’t tell me. I still don’t know where you were.”

  “Busy,” Jamie said. “So what was your dream?”

  “I’m not going to tell you now. I’m going to wait until tonight and tell everyone.”

  “But you just said that Uncle Kit has already heard it.”

  “Yes, but I got an email from him saying he was reading the research material your mother brought and that at dinner tonight he’d tell us about it. And he says your aunt Jilly is taking a break from wedding activities to look more deeply into the Hartley family tree. Tonight she’s going to tell us what she found out. I am certainly looking forward to the dinner. What do you think we should cook? Scallops? They’re local.”

  Jamie was staring at her in open-mouthed astonishment. “Uncle Kit gave you his email address?”

  “Yes. Don’t you have it?”

  “No, I don’t. He is a very private person.”

  For a moment the two of them looked at each other as though they were going to get into a serious argument. Kane thought maybe he’d have to step in, but then the two young people started laughing.

  “So now you’re going to run off with Uncle Kit?” Jamie asked, teasing.

  “No. I’m after Raine. Think I could sweet-talk him into moving that big dresser?”

  “I could—”

  “Oh, no, you can’t,” Hallie said. “You could injure your knee again and my arms are still sore from a morning of working on all of your incredibly tight muscles. You’re not going to use any muscles while I’m around.”

  “I thought you liked my tight muscles.” His meaning was clear.

  “Not on a massage table! Right now we need Raine and another one of your bull-sized relatives to move that cabinet.” With a gasp, she turned to look at Kane. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to disparage anyone.” Her face turned red.

  “At least we Taggerts are good for something,” Kane said as he got up. “Jamie, get your phone and tell Raine to come over here and we’ll see what we can do about the furniture. Hallie, come with me and show me this thing.” He looked from one to the other. “If you two can bear to be parted, that is.”

  “I can walk and text at the same time,” Jamie said as he reached for his crutches, obviously not wanting to be left behind.

  But when he stumbled, Hallie said, “Give me the phone.” He did and they went into the tea room.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Kit arrived with Raine, who was carrying a big file box. The three Taggert men looked surprised when the tall, elegant man kissed Hallie on both cheeks. “You look well, my dear,” Kit said.

  “I had an interesting morning,” she answered and ignored the little snort Jamie gave.

  “So I heard.” Kit nodded for Raine to put the box on the coffee table. “Should we empty the cabinet before it’s moved?”

  Kane gave a snort identical to his son’s. “I think we can manage it fully loaded.” He looked at Raine and the two big men easily moved the huge old dresser away from the wall, then stood back. “It’s yours,” Kane said to Hallie, meaning that she could look first.

  Leaning against the wall they’d exposed were two pieces of old paper, one about ten by twelve, the other half that size. Whatever was on them was hidden from view. The fact that they’d been there, untouched, for over two hundred years didn’t surprise Hallie. Her dream had been so vivid, so clear, that it was as though she’d lived it.

  When she picked up the papers, an envelope fell forward. On the front, in beautiful copperplate writing, was the single word “Kit.” In one movement, she hid the envelope under her shirt, then got up and put the papers face down on a tea table.

  As the men moved the dresser back in place, she caught Kit’s eyes and he understood that she had something to show him. As he walked past Hallie, she surreptitiously slipped the envelope to him.

  When they’d all gathered around the table, Hallie said, “Is everyone ready?”

  “With breath held,” Kit said.

  Hallie turned the large one over first. The ink drawing was exactly as she’d seen it in her dream. Two beautiful young women were stretched out together on the window seat, one with her head on the other’s shoulder. Their pretty dresses draped about them, nearly encasing them.

  The artist had caught what looked to be sadness in their eyes. But then that was understandable. On Juliana’s wedding day, they’d known it was their last moment together in the same house. The next day, Juliana was to leave with her new husband. What they didn’t know was that within a week, death would separate both of them from everything they loved.

  Hallie looked at Kit in question and he nodded at her. Yes, these were the young women he had seen.

  “And what is that one?” Kane asked.

  Hallie flipped over the other paper—and gasped. It was a drawing of her father. He was wearing a high-collared shirt and his hair was longer than he used to wear it, and he was very young, but it was most certainly her dad.

  “Whoever he is, he looks like you,” Jamie said. “You have the same eyes.”

  She looked at the others standing around the table and each one nodded in agreement.

  Hallie picked up the drawing. “I guess this is Leland Hartley, my ancestor.” She looked at Jamie, his father, and Raine, noting the resemblance among them. Her father had been the only blood relative on his side she’d ever seen, but here was evidence of someone else related to her.

  When she looked at Jamie, he seemed to understand. This discovery needed privacy.

  “Okay, that’s enough,” Jamie said. “Everybody out.”

  “I agree completely.” As Kit started for the door, he nodded at the big box by the couch. “I think you’ll find the contents of that interesting.” He left with Raine.

  Kane paused by his son. “Your mom will send dinner over later, so you two don’t have to worry about that. Enjoy yourselves.” With a warm smile at both of them, he left the tea room.

  Hallie looked at Jamie. “He doesn’t think you and I are…uh, together, does he? I mean, he doesn’t know that this morning we—” She couldn’t say what was in her mind.

  Jamie didn’t want to lie, nor did he want to confess, so he said nothing.

  But Hallie understood. Yes, he knew. Embarrassed, she stepped out the door. “I think I need to clean up the gym, so I’d better go.” But the sky suddenly opened and rain pelted down on her. She ran back in and shut the door behind her.

  “You’re wet,” Jamie said. “Stay here.” He went into the kitchen and returned with a stack of dry kitchen towels, put one over her hair, and began to rub.

  “I need to go upstairs and change,” she said.

  Suddenly, Jamie did not want her to leave the room, didn’t want either of them to leave it. He pulled the folded blanket off the window seat and wrapped it around her shoulders. Rain was coming down hard outside and they could hear it lashing against the windows. It was a fierce summer storm.

  When Hallie shivered, Jamie put his arm around her. “This looks like it may be coming down for a while. How about I build us a fire and we go through the box Uncle Kit brought over? And you can tell me about your dream that seems to have been real.”

  Hallie put the towel around her neck. “I think that’s a great idea. Do you know how to build a fire?”

  Jamie couldn’t he
lp shaking his head in disbelief. “Of course. I’ve watched the butler do it many times.”

  Her eyes widened.

  “We don’t have a butler and I’m from Colorado. I can build a fire on top of snow.”

  “Really?” She sat down on one end of the couch, wrapped in the blanket.

  “Watch and learn,” he said. It took him only minutes before the fireplace was going strong. The wind hit the old windows, making them rattle, but it was cozy and warm inside, and the light from the fire was cheerful.

  Hallie leaned back against a pillow and stretched her legs out. For some odd reason, her clothes no longer felt wet. “This is nice.”

  When Jamie sat down on the opposite end of the couch, she drew her knees up. Reaching out, he pulled her feet onto his lap and began to massage them.

  “I don’t think this is appropriate,” she said and started to draw back, but he held her feet to him.

  “Let me get this straight,” Jamie said. “This morning you had me buck naked on a table with only a towel the size of a washcloth over my behind, and your hands were all over me. Inside my thighs, well below my navel, everywhere. And that’s not even counting when we were all over each other. But now I’m not allowed to touch your feet?”

  Hallie couldn’t help laughing. “I guess when you put it that way, I can’t say no. And besides, it does feel good.” He was stroking her feet, his strong hands caressing them, and she closed her eyes.

  “You’re not used to people doing nice things for you, are you?” he asked.

  “I guess not.”

  “Your stepsister didn’t do anything to thank you for all you did for her?”

  It was Hallie’s turn to give a snort. “No, that’s not something Shelly does. Can you reach the box Kit brought?”

  Once again, Jamie knew he’d been told to back off. “Sure,” he said. “You mind if I take off this sweatshirt? It’s heating up in here.”

  At her nod, he pulled the heavy garment over his head. Under it he had on a plain white, short-sleeved T-shirt, which allowed the scars on his arms to show. When he reached over to get the box, she could see the outline of more scars on his back.