Ever After (Nantucket Brides 3)

“Of course I will. And Jamie, dearest, how are you really and truly?”

“It’s what you wished for.” He was looking at Hallie and smiling.

Cale drew in her breath. “That you’re beginning to heal?”

“Yes, you have it right.”

“Okay,” she said. “I’m now going to go somewhere and cry, then I’ll make some calls. Oh, no! Here comes Tildy. I have to hide. Jamie, I love you more than you can imagine.” She clicked off.

He put his phone down and looked at Hallie. “He’ll be here as fast as my mom can get him here. Which means he’ll probably knock on the door at any second.”

Hallie was calming down. “I’m sorry for getting so excited about this. It’s just that I never dreamed this could happen. My mother’s family only seems to give birth to single children, no siblings, and my dad grew up as a ward of the state.”

It came to Jamie to make a joke about that being a blessing, but he didn’t. He wanted her to tell him what had happened with her stepsister, but at this point he knew better than to ask her directly. “You have any girlfriends you want to invite to the wedding? The big meal is a buffet, so there’s room for more people.” He handed her some papers from the box. The rain was coming down hard and the fire felt good. Her legs stretched out beside him, her feet by his hip. His uninjured leg was beside hers, but the braced one was half on, half off the couch. He shifted so their legs were together, then pulled the blanket over them.

Hallie looked like she was about to protest, but when a flash of lightning lit up the room, she didn’t. “This is some storm. I wonder why we weren’t warned about it on the news?”

“Dad says that storms on Nantucket aren’t for sissies.”

“That looks to be correct. Anyway, I have no special girlfriends to invite. A few work friends but not that BFF.”

Jamie picked up a copy of an article from the local newspaper dated 1974 and told Hallie of the first lines. A young couple on their honeymoon had been staying at the Sea Haven Inn. The wife went to the police and said her husband had been talking to two women at the house next door and they’d told him to get a divorce.

“Listen to this!” Jamie said and began reading aloud. “?‘When the police investigated, they found that the room where the husband said he’d had tea with the young women was securely locked and when it was opened, the inside was filthy.’?”

Jamie showed the page to Hallie. There was a grainy black-and-white photo of the tea room and it was just as dirty as it had been when they’d first seen it.

Hallie took the page and continued reading. “?‘When questioned, the husband told the police that the beautiful young women he’d had tea with were ghosts. He said they only appeared to him because he’d not yet met the woman he would love with all his heart. He said he needed to be free so he could search for her.’?”

“This was on their honeymoon?” Hallie said. “No wonder his wife was furious!” She read more, telling how the owner of the house, Henry Bell, had denied the existence of any ghosts. He said the room was locked when he bought the house, and since he didn’t need the space, he’d left it locked. “Do you think Henry was telling the truth?” Hallie asked.

“I think he was lying through his teeth,” Jamie answered.

“I agree. I do think Henry was in love with them.” She put the paper down. “I just remembered the embroidery we saw. It was on the porch and you took a photo of it.”

Their eyes met and in the next second, Hallie was running through the house to get it while Jamie looked on his phone for the photo. When she didn’t come back right away, he called for her, but there was no answer. He called twice more but still no answer.

A bright flash of lightning was followed by a crack of thunder so loud the old house seemed to quake. Hallie’s disappearance, the lightning, then the noise, were too much like what Jamie had experienced on the battlefield. He rolled off the couch and hit the floor hard. He couldn’t remember where he was, but he had to get out of there!

He was crawling across the floor on his stomach, his braced leg dragging behind him, and keeping his body low.

Hallie came into the room carrying a heavily laden tea tray, a bag over her shoulder. “Look what Edith dropped off. Sorry I took so long, but I couldn’t find the tray. Jamie? Did you fall?”

When she set the tray and bag on the dresser and looked down at him, she realized that he wasn’t himself. He was like he was during his nightmares, awake but not awake.

“Jamie!” she said. “It’s me, Hallie. You are safe.” But he didn’t respond. And he was crawling toward the blazing fireplace! She put her hands on his shoulders and pulled back, but he kept moving. “Jamie!” she shouted, but again there was no response. What could she do? “Help me,” she whispered aloud. Jamie was now inches from the fire. “Please help me know what to do!” she cried out.

Suddenly, she stood up straight, her shoulders back. “Soldier!” she yelled. “Halt!”

He stopped moving.

Hallie turned on the two floor lamps to put as much light as she could in the room. When she looked back, Jamie had collapsed onto his stomach, his face buried in his arms. She knelt down at his head and stroked his hair.

“Go away,” he mumbled. “I don’t want you to see me like this.”

She sat down beside him. “I’m not leaving.”

He turned his head away from her. “Get out of here!” he shouted. “I don’t want you!”