Ever After (Nantucket Brides 3)

At last Hallie said, “We should have told her we love her fuzzy navel cupcakes.”

“And the lobster. But then my guess is that she has no idea Edith brought us the food.”

“I can understand that,” Hallie said. “I wouldn’t want to confront that woman.” She looked at Jamie. “It seems that I own a haunted house.”

“I think so. Does that scare you?”

She thought for a moment. “No, it doesn’t.”

“Wanna go knock on the tea room door and see who answers?”

“Definitely!”

Jamie smiled at her. “Hallie, baby, I like you more with every passing minute. Race you there!”

Hallie won the race, but she knew it was only because Jamie was on crutches. She hadn’t been to that side of the house and was surprised to see a narrow driveway and a double gate. If she had her car on the island, this was where she’d park it.

In front of her was a set of tall, wide double doors that looked very solid. She tried the knob, but it didn’t turn.

She waited for Jamie to come along on his crutches, and the way he pretended to have a tough time walking made her laugh.

When he reached her, he said seriously, “I think I need another massage to loosen me up.”

“Full body?” she shot back at him.

“Lights off?”

“Ten candles,” she said.

“One candle in the next room. With the door closed,” he answered.

“No deal, and it’s your loss.” Hallie looked back at the doors. “Are you going to knock?”

“I’m still thinking about a candlelight massage and besides, it’s your house.”

She took a step forward and after an

encouraging nod from Jamie, she knocked on the door. Both of them held their breaths, but nothing happened.

Jamie stepped forward and knocked louder. Nothing.

“Maybe tomorrow we should call a locksmith,” she said.

“Yeah, maybe.” Jamie raised his voice. “We’re friends of Edith and we’d like to meet you. I’m James Taggert and this beautiful young woman with me is named Hyacinth, after one of you two. She’s called Hallie and she’s descended from—” He looked at her.

“Leland Hartley. He was married to Juliana.”

Jamie loudly repeated what she’d said. “Hallie is a cousin of yours by marriage and if there’s one thing I know about in this world, it’s cousins.” Looking back at Hallie, he lowered his voice. “I have thousands of cousins. My dad has eleven brothers and sisters and they all have kids.”

“Really?” Hallie asked.

“Yeah.” He looked at her. “That big marble house you saw? You wouldn’t believe it at Christmas. It’s pure chaos.”

He looked back at the door. His tone implied that it was a horrible time, but Hallie thought it sounded like fun. In her experience, Christmas had been a fairly solemn occasion. There had been pleasantries but nothing even near chaos—unless Shelly didn’t get enough gifts.

Jamie banged on the door again, but still nothing happened. “So maybe Edith is crazy.”

“’Fraid so,” Hallie said. The truth was, she was looking at the way he leaned on his crutches. His body was tilting toward one side, and she was planning his next treatment. Besides that, she was dreading the coming night. She was getting tired of running up and down a dark staircase. One of her toes still ached from where she’d stubbed it this morning. The nighttime turmoil had happened twice now and a third time would make it a habit. It needed to stop now! “I can’t believe that after all we ate just a couple of hours ago, I’m hungry again.”