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  When Jared got to Warbrooke, he called Alix. She’d found the names of Michael Taggert and Adam Montgomery online in the town directory. Based on their involvement in the community, she guessed that they were patriarchs of the family. “It looks like the family owns most of the town,” she told him.

  “It’s a nice place,” he said about the town in Maine. “Reminds me of Nantucket.”

  “High praise indeed.”

  On the day Jared was to meet the men Alix had tracked down, she found she was a bit nervous and had trouble concentrating on what Toby was saying. They had nearly all the wedding preparations done, including reservations for all of Glenn and Izzy’s guests. A few were staying in hotels—which cost a fortune—but most of the guests were being put up in the houses of the Kingsley relatives. Lexie had organized that, as well as persuading Roger Plymouth to let her use his six-bedroom house for guests.

  “Will he be there?” Toby asked.

  “No!” Lexie said. “He’s promised to stay at his house in Taos then.”

  “Darn!” Alix said. “Toby and I were thinking of taking over the master suite.”

  “And if he showed up …” Toby said.

  “We’d lock him in with us,” Alix said.

  “You guys are crazy,” Lexie said. “And you have no idea what that man is really like.”

  “So tell us,” Alix said, and she and Toby leaned forward, chins in hands, ready to listen avidly.

  Frowning, Lexie started to say something, but then shook her head. “You two are hopeless. So how’s Jared doing with the new relatives up in Maine?”

  “I haven’t heard about them yet. Just the town, which he likes a lot,” she said. “He’s going to meet the men today and call me tonight.”

  He didn’t call until nearly ten P.M.

  “Tell me!” she said. “I want to hear every word.”

  “They are … unusual,” he said.

  “What do you mean?”

  “There are two families, the Montgomerys and Taggerts, and they intermarried a long time ago.”

  “How long have they lived in that town?”

  “It seems that they arrived here a few centuries ago.” He paused. “Are you laughing because it sounds like my family?”

  “Exactly like them. Do they have any documentation about Valentina and Parthenia?”

  “As a matter of fact, they do.”

  “You’re kidding.”

  “No, I’m not. There’s a woman who has sort of become the family historian, and she’s going to fly in from Colorado and bring me letters between Valentina and her cousin.”

  “That sounds great,” Alix said. “So do you like your new relatives?”

  “Yeah,” he said, but there was hesitation in his voice.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “Nothing. In fact, it’s all good. They’re so much like me that I feel as though I’ve known them forever, especially the Montgomery side. They even sort of look like me. The truth is that I’m trying to get them all to spend time on Nantucket. The Harper house is for sale.”

  “Isn’t that the big place on the corner? And isn’t the asking price of that house seven and a quarter million?”

  “I think so,” he said. “But they can afford it.”

  “Rreeee​aaaallll​yyy?” Alix said.

  “Really. I have to go. I’m meeting Mike in a few minutes. Tomorrow I’m going fishing with a couple of my new cousins. And I may stay a few days longer than I originally planned. Do you mind?”

  Alix smiled. She wouldn’t tell him so but it felt great that he’d asked what she thought. It was as though they really were a couple.

  “I think you deserve time off, so go have fun. And by the way, what do they have that needs designing?”

  Jared laughed so loud that Alix had to hold the phone away from her ear. “There’s a huge old house set on a rock bluff and it needs a major remodel, but they’ve not trusted anyone to do it.”

  “Until now,” Alix said.

  “Until a blood relative came along. It’s a distant connection, but the time element of family doesn’t seem to bother them.”

  “You’ll fit right in with them since you talk about Captain Caleb as though you saw him yesterday.”

  Jared was a bit taken aback by that, but he smiled. “I miss you,” he said. “Are you getting along all right?”

  “Well enough.” She was pleased with the sweet tone in his voice. “Dad doesn’t want me to see the progress on the chapel, Izzy can’t seem to stay awake long enough to make a decision, and this house is big and empty with only the Captain and me here. Other than that, I’m great.”

  Jared drew in his breath. “Have you been talking to him?”

  “Yes. Lots, but, alas, he never answers back.”

  “Not even any cheek kisses?”

  “None,” Alix said. “So what do I do to get the legendary Kingsley ghost to talk to me?”

  “Now that I think about it, it might be good for you to move in with Toby and Lex until I get back.”

  “Is that jealousy I hear?”

  “You’re wanting to talk to a ghost and I’m jealous?”

  “Yet another question evaded.”

  Jared laughed. “Yeah, okay, so I’m more than a little envious that he’s with you and I’m not. What are you wearing?”

  With a look at her sweatpants and old T-shirt, Alix lied completely. It was a few days later that Jared called and talked to her about Jilly Taggert. She was the family historian who’d flown to Maine especially to see Jared. “Is it all right if she returns home with me?”

  Alix replied instantly. “How old is she and what does she look like?”

  “She’s pretty in a quiet, Sunday-picnic way, intelligent, and she’s in her forties, I guess. She said she’s always wanted to see Nantucket, so I thought …”

  “That the island is so beautiful that she needs to see it,” she finished for him.

  “Exactly!” He paused for a moment. “Alix, would you think I’m crazy if I told you that something about her reminds me of your father?”

  Was Jared matchmaking? she wondered. If he was, then Alix was pleased. Her father deserved to find someone. “I take it Jilly isn’t like my mom?”

  Jared gave a guffaw of laughter. “Jilly is the complete opposite of your mother. She never demands attention and she’s very thoughtful of others.”

  “It does sound like my dad will like her, so yes! Bring her back with you. Are you going to drive or fly back?”

  “Drive.” He gave her the date of his reservations on the slow boat. “I should see you in the early afternoon,” he said and his voice lowered. “So have you written any more poems?”

  “No, but I’ve a good idea for one.”

  “Tell me,” he said softly.

  Chapter Twenty

  It was early Sunday morning and Alix was in bed listening to the rain. It seemed that today everyone she knew on the island was away or busy. Toby was doing the flowers for an afternoon wedding, and Dilys and Lexie were off-island shopping. Her dad was at the job site at six A.M., seven days a week, and Alix knew he didn’t want her hanging around there.

  Alix had work to do on the sketches for the guesthouse for the man from the Daffodil Festival, but she didn’t want to do that. At long last, this morning she awoke with an overwhelming, impossible-to-deny urge to go to the attic and see what she could find. In spite of Jared’s offer of help, Alix knew that the time had arrived to begin searching through the papers about Valentina.

  Getting up, she opened the bedroom curtain and saw the rain coming down in a steady stream. It was dull outside, colored by a mix of rain and fog. “The Gray Lady” was a nickname for the island and she saw why.

  Alix dressed quickly—no need for careful attention to her hair and face if Jared wasn’t there. She hurriedly ate a bowl of cereal, then started up the stairs to the attic. A couple of days ago she’d asked Lexie what she knew about the attic and its contents.

  “That pl