Ever After (Nantucket Brides 3)

“When I get back, we’ll search some more and talk about the garden. Anything you need from town? And it’s not too late to go with me.”

“No, nothing,” Jamie said and stepped away from her. “Go. Have a good time. I’ll call my brother or something.”

He sounded so sad that Hallie almost said she wouldn’t go, but that was ridiculous. If he was a man who hated to be alone, why had he left the company of his extensive family?

But no matter how much his eyes seemed to be pleading, she didn’t give in to him and left the house. She walked to the end of the lane, took a left, and went to beautiful downtown Nantucket. The old buildings, the wonderful little shops, were all fascinating to her.

As she wandered about, in and out of the stores, she kept thinking of Jamie. She went up the stairs to a shop called Zero Main and looked around. The clothes were beautiful, but as she started to leave, it hit her that she could afford some new garments. Ever since her father and stepmother had died, Hallie’d had to work, sometimes at three jobs. She’d had to support Shelly, then when Shelly had left for California to try her hand at acting, Hallie had put herself through school. And the house she’d inherited from her father had needed a lot of repairs.

As she looked about the shop, she realized that that was all done. She had graduated from school and could now earn money.

With a smile, she took her time looking at the beautiful merchandise and ended up buying an entire outfit. She got a pretty white knit top, a dark blue jacket, black silk trousers, and a long necklace with a purple glass ball on the end of it.

As she left, she thought that even though her relationship with Jamie was professional, it didn’t hurt to look good.

At Sweet Inspirations she bought him candy she thought he’d like. At the Whaling Museum she bought four books on the history of Nantucket and put the titles of eight more into her phone’s notepad. The museum was a historian’s dream.

After lunch at Arno’s, she walked home. She put her shopping bags down in the kitchen, removed the sack of candy, and went through the house, searching for Jamie. She found him outside, sitting on the bench under the oak tree—and he looked almost forlorn. When he saw Hallie, his face lit up. Having someone glad to see you was a soul-lifting feeling. It was how her grandparents greeted her when she was a child. But after Shelly and her mother moved in, she got looks that seemed to say, Oh, it’s you.

Smiling, Hallie brushed the thoughts from her mind and went to sit beside him, holding out the bag of chocolate-covered cranberries.

“Tell me everything you did,” he said as he took the candy, and she did.

They were still on the bench when a woman burst through the gate. Jamie was holding his phone out to show Hallie photos of the “sprouts,” so they didn’t at first see her. His family lived in Colorado and he had just shown her a picture of the children racing scooters down the hallway of what looked like a marble mansion. Immediately, Hallie asked him to tell her more about the house.

“It was built by my robber baron ancestor, Kane Taggert,” Jamie said. “My dad is named after him. He was responsible for a lot of reforms in mining—the first Kane, that is, not Dad. He—” When the big gate made a sudden, explosively loud sound as it slammed behind the woman who came running through it, Jamie jumped to his feet. He grabbed a crutch and held it in a way that looked like he was ready to use it as a club.

Hallie was torn between her astonishment at Jamie’s reaction and what appeared to be rage on the face of the woman. She was short and stout, with iron-gray hair, and she looked like she wanted to tear someone apart.

“Is my mother-in-law here?” she demanded.

When Hallie stood up beside Jamie, he took a half step in front of her, as though to protect her. “Who is your mother-in-law?”

“Edith!” the woman said, then took a breath. “I’m sorry. I’m Betty Powell from Sea Haven, the B&B next door, and she is my husband Howard’s mother. If he doesn’t know where she is for even a few minutes, he gets frantic. I told him she’s probably over here, but he said I have to make sure. She’s not inside, is she?” She nodded toward the house.

“I was in there just minutes ago and it’s empty,” Hallie said.

“What about in the tea room? Is she hiding in there?”

“If you mean the room on the side of the house, it’s locked,” Jamie said. “We’ve been looking for the key.”

“There is no key!” Betty said. “According to my crazy mother-in-law, only they can open the doors.” She looked back toward the gate. “Why can’t that woman stay where she’s put?” She turned to Jamie and Hallie. “If she shows up, send her home, would you? Tell her Howard wants her. Heaven knows she won’t return for me. I’m sorry I bothered you.” She started for the gate at a rapid pace.

Jamie and Hallie, both wide-eyed, looked at each other, then back at the woman.

“Wait!” Hallie called.

With a look of impatience, Betty stopped and turned back to them. “Yes?”

“Who are ‘they’?” Jamie asked. “Who can open the doors?”

Betty looked shocked. “Don’t tell me you bought this house and no one told you about them?”

“Hallie inherited it,” Jamie said.

“Ah. Right. Makes sense. Old Henry Bell wouldn’t want just anyone around his precious ladies.” She looked at her watch. “I have to get back, but ‘they’ are the Tea Ladies. The Bell sisters who died. They’re ghosts. I don’t know much about them. All I know is that my crazy mother-in-law comes over here, goes into what she calls the tea room, and spends hours talking to them—or she thinks she does. I’m trying to get Howard to lock her away somewhere, but he won’t do it. I really do have to go. I have fifteen people coming for afternoon tea.” She left, slamming the gate hard behind her.

For a moment Jamie and Hallie stood side by side in silence.