“There’s an apartment upstairs in my house. You can stay there as long as you like.”
“But you and Alix need your privacy.”
“We’ll enjoy the company,” he said, thinking again of Ken.
She looked at him in speculation. “I don’t know you very well, but you have a look in your eyes that my family, the Taggerts, says means a Montgomery is up to something and you’d better watch out.”
Jared gave a laugh that could be heard all the way to the inside of the old house. “Does this mean you’re not open to a bit of adventure?”
Jilly smiled. “I have raised two children on my own since they were three years old and my job has been to delve into eight-foot-tall stacks of old papers. The truth is that if a pirate asked me to go sailing with him I would probably say yes. What time should I be ready?”
“Is daylight tomorrow too soon? It’ll take five hours to drive down to Hyannis. I found someone to deliver the stained-glass window I’ll be taking back, so we can catch the noon fast ferry to Nantucket.”
“I will be ready by four A.M.”
“You’re my kind of girl,” he said.
“I’m hardly a girl but thank you for the compliment.”
That had been last night and he’d spent the evening helping Jilly pack. Or rather, he saw the women scurrying about getting her ready. Jared had stayed with the men and watched sports on TV. One by one the women came in to make a comment.
Mike’s wife told Jared how pleased they all were that he was adding to Jilly’s life. “She’s the sweetest of all the Taggerts.”
“That doesn’t take much,” a Montgomery said and the Taggerts threw popcorn at him.
“You men are cleaning that up,” she said as she left the room.
Cale came in with a laptop, squeezed beside Jared on the couch, and showed him the real estate listing she’d found for a house on Kingsley Lane. “Is this the house you told me about? The one with the time-traveling ghost?”
“It is,” he said.
“This house costs rather a lot.”
“It’s Nantucket,” Jared said.
Cale didn’t ask what that meant, just glanced at her husband. “This is going to take some persuading.”
“Do a time-share,” Jared said. “Three or four months per family. Share the cost.” He leaned toward her. “Writers love winter on the island the best. That’s when it’s quiet and the ghosts show themselves.”
“You really are a Montgomery, aren’t you? A true snake oil salesman.” She was smiling. “I like this idea and I’ll propose it to them.” She put her hand on his arm. “I’m glad you joined the family, and I look forward to meeting Alix.”
“What’s going on with you two?” Kane asked from across the room.
“I’m planning to run off with your new cousin,” Cale said. “Where’s Kane?”
Jared looked up in surprise. “He’s Mike?”
“Yes,” Cale said. “He’s fat; my husband isn’t.”
Mike grunted at that and looked back at the TV.
Jared smiled at the absurdity of her words. He knew that both Kane and Mike used their basement gym to keep in shape with workouts that would be tough for an Olympic athlete. Their muscular bodies showed the results. Neither was the slightest bit overweight.
As she’d said, Jilly was ready to leave as soon as it was daylight—and every family member over the age of two was there to see her off. Jared had never seen so much hugging and kissing in his life! One of the biggest Taggerts pulled him into a death grip and said, “You let her get hurt and you answer to us.” Jared nodded in reply. It was a concept he understood and approved of.
Hours later, when they reached the dock at Hyannis, one of Jared’s cousins was waiting for them. He was going to take the truck with the stained-glass window in the back on the slow boat—the ferry that carried vehicles—the next day, then he’d stay on the island to help with the chapel.