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  “He’s been seeing your mother off and on for the past twenty-two years. So why now?”

  “Is there someone different here now?”

  “Actually, there is. Jilly.”

  “Parthenia!” Alix said and turned around to look at him. “Maybe it’s not just one person who mattered, but all of them. And think how it happened, from designing the chapel to Izzy’s relatives fighting, even to finding Valentina’s journal. Maybe now that all of us have gathered together, he can leave. We’re a sort of séance of spirits from the past.”

  “I like that idea very much,” he said, thinking that if she was right, it meant that Victoria was in no danger. He kissed Alix firmly. “Thanks. You’ve made me feel better. But then you always do.” He glanced out the window to see the growing daylight. Victoria would be up soon. “I was thinking that we should turn Valentina’s journal over to your mother now, before the wedding. It might keep her occupied enough that you and I can do all the things Toby has planned.”

  “Good idea. Izzy’s guests will start arriving day after tomorrow and we have to meet planes and ferries, then we have to get them settled. How angry do you think they’re going to be when we tell them that Izzy isn’t here?”

  He caressed her cheek. “Do you care?”

  “No,” she said. “Because of the way they’ve treated Izzy, I don’t. I do feel bad about not letting Mom know, but she’d—”

  “Put you in a dress with a train so long that you’d have to attach a caboose?”

  Laughing, Alix put her arms around his neck. “I love you.”

  “Nice to finally hear it,” he said. “I thought maybe you said yes just to get near Montgomery.”

  “I would never do that,” she said. “However …” She kissed his neck. “Maybe he could give me a short course on lighting. Just a little one.”

  “Yeah, okay,” he said as he pushed her down on the sofa, “but I get a poem for each lesson. In the meantime, tell me that one about my lower lip again, especially the soft and succulent part.”

  “I rather like the to draw it in, to caress it, to feel it against my own part better.”

  “Recite the whole thing again and let me decide.” He was kissing her deeply.

  Chapter Thirty-three

  It was five A.M. and this evening Jared was to get married. He should have been the happiest man alive, but all he could think was, Was Victoria alive? Would she be alive at the end of the day?

  He was sitting on the little couch in the attic, his hands in his pockets, and sporting a never-ending frown. For one thing, the attic felt empty. The great heap of boxes was still there, but something was missing—and he knew what it was. All his life, anytime he’d entered the attic, his grandfather had appeared. It was one of the constants of his life. An hour after Jared had been told of his father’s death, he’d run up to the attic. His grandfather had sat by him while Jared stared into space, unable to comprehend what had happened.

  Today, for the first time, he didn’t feel the presence of his grandfather. The room felt hollow, empty, as barren as a sea with no wind.

  Had his grandfather already left the earth? It had been the twenty-third for five whole hours, so maybe Caleb had departed at midnight. If so, Jared hadn’t said goodbye to him. Their last time together had been too abrupt. Things were left unsaid. When they’d last spoken, Jared hadn’t thought of pleasant goodbyes. He’d only been concerned for Victoria.

  And if Caleb had left the earth, it could mean that Victoria was gone. Right now she could be lying in her bed and … and not alive, he thought.

  When he heard someone on the stairs, his heart leaped. His grandfather? Alix? Maybe even Victoria? But Alix had spent the night at Toby and Lexie’s house so she and Jared wouldn’t see each other. They’d all worried about keeping the wedding a secret from Victoria, but she was now so engrossed in Valentina’s journal that she wouldn’t have noticed an earthquake. The only person she was interested in speaking to was Dr. Huntley, as she spent hours picking his brain about Nantucket history. Last night the poor man had fallen asleep on the big couch. Jared had volunteered to drive him home but Victoria said to leave him. Poor man, Jared thought. Victoria meant to start all over again first thing in the morning.

  If she was still alive, he couldn’t help thinking.

  Saying goodnight to her last night had been difficult. When she was heading to bed, Jared kept hugging her.

  “Jared! What in the world is wrong with you?” she’d asked.

  “Nothing.” He stepped back and looked at her, noting that her hair was a darker auburn than it had been when he’d met her so many years before. He always gave credit to Ken for saving his life, but Victoria had been there too. It was Victoria who had helped Jared after his mother died. Victoria hadn’t been a bottomless well of sympathy as his relatives had been. Poor Jared, they’d said, an orphan who now bore the entire burden of the Kingsley family.

  Instead, Victoria had made Jared laugh. While she was on Nantucket she’d thrown parties and invited people he liked. When she was off-island she’d sent him funny little postcards and emails, and they’d often talked on the phone.

  “Jared?” Victoria asked. “You’re looking at me very oddly.”

  “I’m just remembering things. Are you sure the doc will be okay on the couch?”

  “He’ll be fine. I want to get up early for the wedding, so I’ll check on him then.”

  Alarms went off in Jared’s head. “Why do you have to get up early? I mean, aren’t Lexie and Toby handling everything?”

  “And Alix. She’s the maid of honor, but you’re right. Maybe I should go over there and check on them now. Is it too late now to call and talk to Izzy?”

  “Yes!” Jared said. He knew Izzy and Glenn had made it safely to Bermuda, as they had sent him a long email thanking him for flying their siblings and three friends there. Jared felt it was the least he could do since he and Alix were taking over Izzy’s beautiful wedding. “I mean it is much too late. The girls said they were going to be … uh, polishing their toenails tonight.”

  “Really, Jared!” Victoria said. “You can’t possibly be that naive. They’re going to go out to drink a lot and flirt with boys.”

  “You think so?” Jared said, sounding as naive as Victoria seemed to think he was. “But, yeah, I’m sure they are.”

  “I still don’t understand why Izzy wanted to stay with Lexie and Toby and not here. This house is larger.”

  “They don’t want to be around Tim and me.” His business partner had flown in early yesterday with a tux and a diamond tennis bracelet. “It’s for the bride. I thought it would be a better gift than a toaster.”

  Jared had stared at the bracelet in puzzlement. “It’s an expensive gift for someone you’ve never met. Izzy is—”

  “Izzy? This is for Alix. It’s you and her getting hitched, right?”

  “How did you figure that out?”

  “You wouldn’t invite me to an unknown person’s wedding, would you? Certainly not with a tux.”

  For Jared it was a relief to have another man to talk to about the coming wedding. Ken was busy during the day putting the finishing touches on the chapel and his evenings were spent with Jilly. Jared thought perhaps they were no longer in separate bedrooms.

  Jared talked with Tim, a great money person, about the arrangements for the wedding, and about how the gifts would go to Izzy and Glenn, who needed them. “Kingsley House certainly doesn’t need anything added to it.”

  Tim, who was married, had set Jared straight on that issue. “Alix may not want a new blender, but there must be something that she truly wants.”

  Jared realized what that was. “Her own office here on Nantucket.”

  The only place that made sense as an office was the two-bedroom maid’s quarters. Victoria was out for the day so they could do it.

  “You’ll need the other bedrooms for the kids,” Tim said. “In my experience they start coming about six months after the ceremony.�€