“And if he showed up …” Toby said.
“We’d lock him in with us,” Alix said.
“You guys are crazy,” Lexie said. “And you have no idea what that man is really like.”
“So tell us,” Alix said, and she and Toby leaned forward, chins in hands, ready to listen avidly.
Frowning, Lexie started to say something, but then shook her head. “You two are hopeless. So how’s Jared doing with the new relatives up in Maine?”
“I haven’t heard about them yet. Just the town, which he likes a lot,” she said. “He’s going to meet the men today and call me tonight.”
He didn’t call until nearly ten P.M.
“Tell me!” she said. “I want to hear every word.”
“They are … unusual,” he said.
“What do you mean?”
“There are two families, the Montgomerys and Taggerts, and they intermarried a long time ago.”
“How long have they lived in that town?”
“It seems that they arrived here a few centuries ago.” He paused. “Are you laughing because it sounds like my family?”
“Exactly like them. Do they have any documentation about Valentina and Parthenia?”
“As a matter of fact, they do.”
“You’re kidding.”
“No, I’m not. There’s a woman who has sort of become the family historian, and she’s going to fly in from Colorado and bring me letters between Valentina and her cousin.”
“That sounds great,” Alix said. “So do you like your new relatives?”
“Yeah,” he said, but there was hesitation in his voice.
“What’s wrong?”
“Nothing. In fact, it’s all good. They’re so much like me that I feel as though I’ve known them forever, especially the Montgomery side. They even sort of look like me. The truth is that I’m trying to get them all to spend time on Nantucket. The Harper house is for sale.”
“Isn’t that the big place on the corner? And isn’t the asking price of that house seven and a quarter million?”
“I think so,” he said. “But they can afford it.”
“Rreeee?aaaallll?yyy?” Alix said.
“Really. I have to go. I’m meeting Mike in a few minutes. Tomorrow I’m going fishing with a couple of my new cousins. And I may stay a few days longer than I originally planned. Do you mind?”
Alix smiled. She wouldn’t tell him so but it felt great that he’d asked what she thought. It was as though they really were a couple.
“I think you deserve time off, so go have fun. And by the way, what do they have that needs designing?”
Jared laughed so loud that Alix had to hold the phone away from her ear. “There’s a huge old house set on a rock bluff and it needs a major remodel, but they’ve not trusted anyone to do it.”
“Until now,” Alix said.
“Until a blood relative came along. It’s a distant connection, but the time element of family doesn’t seem to bother them.”