Ever After Read online

  He picked up his phone and compared it to the picture he had taken that first day. “This is yellow.” Finally, he met her eyes.

  “Right. The first one we saw had birds on it, but this one is of daffodils. Here are the birds.” She handed him a pillow. Jamie put both on the table. “You know, this is a bit creepy.”

  “Very,” she said and handed him a cup of tea with six different types of cookies on the saucer.

  He took a drink, then said, “Hallie, I…” He couldn’t seem to find words for what he wanted to say. “I don’t hurt anyone,” he said at last. “If I’d ever come close to hurting anyone, I wouldn’t have allowed myself to be here alone with a young woman.” He took a breath. “It’s just that sometimes I don’t know where I am.” He paused. “I didn’t mean the things I said.”

  Hallie nodded in understanding. “I know.” She could tell that he didn’t want to say any more about it. But that was all right because she too had things she didn’t want to talk about. She gasped. “The box! We forgot the box.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “The one that hit me on the head. Remember? You freaked because you thought I was bleeding to death and you washed my hair. I turned into Meryl Streep fighting for her Kikuyus and—” She looked at his blank face. “It’s a girl thing. I’ll go get the box, but you stay here. Okay?”

  “Yes,” he said softly. “I’ll stay right here and wait for you. Just this time don’t take too long.”

  She wasn’t sure, but she thought maybe he was making a joke about what had just happened.

  She went to the pantry but didn’t switch on the light. Instead, she leaned back against the wall and put her hands over her face. That had been truly scary! She’d not known how to help him. Stand back and let him get over it by himself? Or step in and do something?

  When she closed her eyes, she seemed to hear the words “In every war, the soldiers are different. This one responds to love.”

  Her eyes flew open, but no one was there. But she knew who had “spoken.” The same voice had told her which bedroom to choose, had told her to give a soldier orders, and was now giving her advice.

  “Hallie!” Jamie yelled.

  “I’m here,” she answered back. “I’ll be there as soon as I find it.” When a bit of lightning highlighted the old box as though a spotlight had been turned on it, she rolled her eyes. “Why am I not surprised? And I bet that tea is still piping hot.”

  When she heard what sounded like the laughter of two young women, she hurried out of the pantry.

  Chapter Fourteen

  “Are you okay?” Jamie called.

  “Yes,” she answered and picked up the box. She sniffed a bit and put on a smile. She wasn’t going to let Jamie see how much he’d upset her.

  As she rounded the corner, Jamie was coming toward her on his crutches. But before he could say anything, there was a knock on the door. “Fun’s over,” he mumbled. When he nodded at the box, she shoved it way back on a shelf of the dresser, and Jamie opened the door.

  It was Ian. “I have been given instructions to equip this room with a properly set table for dinner tonight. Dr. Huntley and his wife had dishes and silver sent over from Kingsley House. You two need to get dressed.” Ian stepped inside. “It’s a sauna in here! Did you have a fire going?”

  “Yeah,” Jamie said. “With the storm, it was cold in here.”

  “Storm?” Ian said. “We’ve been on the beach today and it was so sunny we nearly fried. We went through a dozen tubes of sunscreen.”

  “Maybe it was a localized storm,” Jamie said.

  Ian unhooked the double doors and threw them both open. Outside the grass was dry; there wasn’t a drop of moisture on the paving stones.

  Hallie was just behind Jamie and staring in disbelief. “Interesting.”

  “Whatever you two have been drinking, you should share it,” Ian said. He looked out at the garden. Raine and Adam were coming toward them carrying big boxes, and behind them was an older woman.

  “Is that Aunt Tildy?” Jamie asked.

  “None other.”

  Jamie turned to Hallie. “We have to get out of here as fast as we can run.”

  “But I want to meet her,” Hallie said even as Jamie got behind her and began pushing.

  “Unless you want to tell every secret you’ve ever had, especially about your stepsister and the passport, you’ll get out of here before Aunt Tildy arrives.”

  Hallie took time to blink twice, then began running toward the stairs.

  “Dinner in an hour,” Ian called after them. “And we set up the TV in the living room while you two were braving the big bad storm. Did the thunder keep you from hearing us?”

  Hallie stopped at the top of the stairs and looked at Jamie. “We’re either both crazy or…”

  “Or the ladies played some game on us,” Jamie answered.

  “I don’t know about you, but I prefer crazy,” Hallie said.

  “I agree. So what was in the box?”

  “I didn’t have time to look. I need to get dressed. If your cousins are bringing over china, is this thing formal?”

  “Put on the black dress you wore to dinner. But you should know that if Uncle Kit’s involved, he may show up in a tux. And Aunt Jilly might—”

  “Why didn’t you warn me about this? I should have started getting ready two hours ago. Damn!” She ran to her bedroom to get in the shower.

  Minutes later, as she was frantically trying to get the curling iron to work on her hair, Jamie knocked on her bedroom door.

  “Are you dressed?” he asked.

  “Enough.” She had on her underwear and a bathrobe.

  Jamie came in, wearing the clothes he’d worn when they went out to dinner. “You don’t need to do that to your hair. You look great with it pulled back flat.”

  “Nice to hear but not really true,” she answered. “Oh, no!” Her cell phone was ringing.

  Jamie took it off her nightstand and looked at the ID but said nothing.

  “Who is it?”

  Silently, he handed her the phone. In big letters it said BRADEN. “It’s probably his mom.” She put down the iron, took the phone, and stepped into the sitting room. “Hello?” she said tentatively.

  “Hallie?”

  “Braden! How are you? And how is your mother?”

  “Everyone is fine. Do you have a moment?”

  “Of course. My time is yours.”

  Jamie was standing in the doorway. “We need to go down and greet our guests,” he said rather loudly.

  “You’re not alone,” Braden said. “And you have guests? Is that someone I know?”

  “No, you’ve not met him,” Hallie said while frowning at Jamie and motioning for him to go away.

  But he sat down in a chair, his hands on his lap, looking as though he meant to stay there.

  Hallie turned her back on him. “I was told that you’re coming here to visit.”

  “Yes,” Braden said, “I am. Hallie, I have to tell you something and I hope it won’t upset you. I wanted to hear both sides of what went on between you and Shelly so I spent some time with her. I even took her to the office with me.”

  “Oh,” Hallie said and sat down heavily on the window seat. “Let me guess. You think she went about it the wrong way, but she has a valid reason for what she did.”

  Braden gave a laugh. “No, I haven’t changed.”

  Hallie’s smile deepened. “Has she put my house up for sale?”

  “No, and she’s not going to!” Braden’s voice was firm. “But she made a pass at my boss.”

  “She didn’t!”

  “Oh, yes,” Braden said. “She most certainly did. Anyway, Hallie, I have some paperwork to clear up at the office, then I’ll fly out to Nantucket and we can talk. But honestly, is it all right for Shelly to continue living in your house for another week or so? She got a job at a restaurant so she can feed herself, but she can’t pay the mortgage. Once this is settled, I’ll get