The Chesapeake Diaries Series (225 page)

“All four of us, actually,” Ellie noted. “I came here as a last resort. I didn’t have anywhere else to go, either.” She gave Wendy an abbreviated version of her own journey to St. Dennis.

“The house was a refuge for my mother, as well,” Ellie said.

“Funny, but I can’t help but feel that it’s just Lilly looking out for everyone,” Wendy said, “just like she always did. I’m not a superstitious person, but I can’t tell you how many times over the years, when things were tough for me, I felt her arms around me. I know it sounds crazy, but I’ve never doubted for a minute that it was her, come to comfort me like she did that day when …” She paused and glanced at Gabi. “That day we came to stay with her …”

On the way home, Gabi asked, “Who is Lilly?”

“She was my great-great-aunt,” Ellie explained. “She lived in my house a long time ago. When Cam and Wendy were little kids they stayed with her for a while after their parents … died.” She thought it best not to go into detail on that incident.

“Does she have white hair?”

“I imagine she could have.” Ellie turned from Charles Street onto Bay View. “Why do you ask?”

“Because when I woke up to go to the bathroom
last night, there was a lady with white hair sitting in my reading chair.”

“You must have been dreaming, Gabi. Lilly’s been gone for a long time.”

“I wasn’t dreaming. She smiled at me when I walked past her to the bathroom.”

“People smile in dreams.” Ellie pulled into the driveway and turned off the engine.

“She was there,” Gabi insisted as she got out of the car. “I was sleepy but she was there and I saw her.”

Ellie slid out from the driver’s side and locked the car. Gabi was already at the front door, waiting for her to unlock it.

“Maybe she’ll come back tonight, and you’ll see her, too.” Gabi went inside when Ellie opened the door. “You’ll see her and you’ll know I’m not making her up.”

“I don’t think you’re making her up, I just think you were dreaming and only thought there was someone there. Sometimes in the middle of the night, our dreams seem very real.”

“She was real,” Gabi grumbled.

“What was she doing?”

“Nothing. She was just sitting there, watching me.”

“She didn’t scare you?”

Gabi shook her head. “She’s too nice to be scary. Like she’s an angel or something.”

Ellie watched Gabi chase Dune into the living room, where the two flopped onto the floor, then went into the kitchen, where she tucked the leftovers she’d brought home into the refrigerator and thought about Gabi’s midnight visitor, the white-haired old woman
who sat silently, watching the girl sleep. Gabi was absolutely certain of what she’d seen, and well, who could say she hadn’t?

It wouldn’t really surprise me if Lilly did watch over her
, Ellie concluded.
And it certainly wouldn’t be the first time that someone described Lilly Cavanaugh as an angel.…

Chapter 20

S
unday morning was brisk and sunny, and after breakfast, Gabi set off for the beach with Dune. Ellie stood in the doorway and watched the girl and the dog run over the dune and disappear behind the tall grasses. She was just about to close the door when a white Toyota pulled into her driveway. She stepped out onto the porch and watched Wendy O’Connor exit the car and walk toward her.

“Good morning,” Ellie called to her.

“Got a minute?” Wendy called back.

“Sure. Come on in. I was just going to have a cup of coffee.” Ellie stood back to allow Wendy to enter the house. “May I offer you one?”

Wendy appeared not to have heard. She stood in the foyer and looked up the stairs, then from side to side, as if taking it all in. Finally, she said, “You haven’t changed much in here.”

Ellie shrugged. “I don’t have any furniture of my own anymore—everything was confiscated by the feds when my father was arrested—and I haven’t had time to do more than start painting the kitchen. So, no, not much has changed.”

“You know that Cameron’s always planned on buying this place.”

“He and I have discussed that. He knows that when the time comes, I’ll give him the opportunity to buy it before it officially goes on the market.”

“I hope he can count on you to do that.”

“I gave him my word, Wendy. Why wouldn’t I keep it?”

“I hope you do. I mean, you probably will. It just means a lot to him, that’s all. He’d be so disappointed if you went back on that.”

“You don’t have to worry. I wouldn’t hurt him like that. I know what the house means to him. And frankly, I wouldn’t want anyone else to have it. It should be his.”

“Even if someone else could afford to pay a lot more?”

“We haven’t discussed price or terms or anything else. But my intention is that he’ll be the next owner.”

“Good. Because it’s going to be hard enough for him when you leave.”

When Ellie didn’t respond, Wendy said, “You have to know that he cares about you. Like, a lot.”

“Cam and I have become … close.”

Wendy snorted. “You don’t know my brother. He’s thirty-five and he’s never brought a woman to have dinner with me. Ever. I’ve never met any of the women he’s dated. He doesn’t get involved and he walks anytime he thinks he’s starting to care about someone. He’s told you about our parents, so you can figure out why.”

Ellie nodded. Their father had loved their mother
deeply, and she’d killed him. It wasn’t a stretch to figure out why Cam wasn’t a believer.

“So for him to bring you to dinner last night—well, you can see that this is a big move on his part.”

Ellie crossed her arms over her chest, not certain of the point Wendy was making.

“If you turn around and sell this place to someone else, he’ll be angry. But if you leave St. Dennis, you’ll break his heart.”

“Wendy, I’ve already told you that I’ve committed to selling him the house.” Ellie sighed. “And he knows I have no intention of staying here.”

“I think he’s hoping you’ll change your mind about that.”

Before Ellie could reply, Wendy glanced at the mantel.

“Mr. C.’s decoys. He let me play with them when I was little. I loved those ducks. I used to pretend they were real, and they were my pets. I’d sneak one or two upstairs with me at night to sleep on my bed.” She smiled. “At least I thought I was sneaking them. Years later, Miss Lilly let on that she knew all along.”

Ellie could tell that Wendy wanted to pick them up, so she went into the living room and took one from the mantel. “Cam said this was a pintail duck, I think.”

“He did not. He knows better. That’s an old-squaw. The one next to it is a pintail.”

Ellie handed it to her.

“Mr. C. did the most amazing work. He’d spend hours working on these things.” She stroked the wooden side of the duck, her finger tracing the painted
feathers. “Cam said something about you giving some of these to him.”

“No, he’s earning them. The house needs a lot of work, some of which needs to be done by a professional. I can’t afford to pay him in cash, so we agreed I’d pay him in decoys. He’s up to, I think, almost two whole ducks now.”

“That’s nice of you, but why don’t you just sell the house now and be done with it. Move on now, before you and Cam take this thing any further.” Wendy placed the duck back onto the mantel carefully. “You want to move on, then go. Go now.”

“I’m afraid I can’t do that, Wendy.” Ellie was debating whether to share the terms of her mother’s will with Wendy, when Gabi blew in through the front door.

“Ellie, guess what?” She ran breathlessly into the room. “We saw … oh, hi, Wendy. I didn’t know you were coming. Thanks again for dinner last night. Everything was delicious. We’re having turkey sandwiches for lunch today.” She turned to Ellie. “The eagle is back. He’s down by the old lighthouse. You need to come see! You can come, too, Wendy.”

“Actually, I was just leaving,” Wendy said, her gaze on Ellie. “Thanks for showing me the decoys, Ellie. It’s good to know they’re still here.”

“They belong here. They’ll always be here.” Ellie grabbed her coat on the way to the door with Wendy. “Thanks for stopping by. I hope we’ll see you at Christmas.”

“Maybe you will.”

They all walked outside and Wendy got into her
car. She rolled down her window as if she were about to speak but merely waved instead.

“Bye, Wendy!” Gabi called as she ran to the beach. “Come on, Ellie. He’ll have flown away by the time you get there.…”

Cameron stopped over later in the afternoon, ostensibly to make sure they had enough dry wood for a fire.

“Want to stay for dinner? We’re having leftovers from last night,” Ellie said.

“Funny, that’s what I’m having. Thanks, I’m going to have to pass. I have an estimate I need to go over with a client in the morning and it’s nowhere near finished.”

“I think I’ll go upstairs and read for a while,” Gabi told them.

“Sure.” Ellie nodded and watched her go up the steps two at a time, Dune trailing along behind.

When they heard Gabi’s bedroom door close, Cam asked, “How’s she doing today?”

“She seems okay. Spending more time alone in her room, but maybe she needs some time alone right now. All things considered, she’s doing remarkably well. I just hope it isn’t an act, so that she falls apart one of these days.”

“And how are you doing?” Cam drew her into his arms.

“I’m doing okay, too.”

“No regrets?”

“No. At least, not yet”—Ellie tried to make a joke—“but it’s still early.”

“I really admire what you’re doing. I don’t think most people would do what you’re doing.”

Ellie shook her head. “I think anyone who thought about the situation would. Believe me, at first, I wasn’t happy that I was being asked to do this. I didn’t want to do it. But so far, it’s better than I expected, and after getting to know Gabi a little, I’m glad I said yes.”

He held her close, his chin resting on the top of her head.

“Her mother must have been a pretty good mom,” Ellie said. “You can tell she’s been raised well. And she reads a lot, hasn’t asked for a TV, and doesn’t have her face in a cell phone all day. Which makes me wonder if perhaps she isn’t some sort of mutant child. Perhaps a form of alien life.” She stopped and thought it over. “Of course, I haven’t seen her with a cell phone, so maybe she doesn’t have one. I mean, if she did, she’d be calling her friends back in New Jersey, wouldn’t she?”

“Maybe she wasn’t that close to anyone.”

“Hard to believe. She’s friendly and outgoing and she’s smart.” Ellie thought some more. “Maybe I should ask her if there’s anyone she wants to call. If she doesn’t have a phone, she can use mine.”

“That would be nice.” His arms were strong around her and she felt that if she dropped right there where she stood, he’d catch her. It had been a long time since she’d felt so sure of anything.

Cam sat on the sofa, pulled Ellie onto his lap, and kissed her.

“So what’s the plan for Gabi?” he asked.

“Tomorrow I’ll get her enrolled in the local middle school.” She realized she had no idea where that might be. “Which would be where?”

“Out on the highway. About a mile past the Crab Claw on the same side of the road. It’s a regional school now, Eastern Shore Regional.”

“I’m not certain exactly what I need to do to get her registered. I thought I’d call first thing in the morning and see what I need to bring with me.”

“What do you need to prove you’re her guardian?”

“I don’t know. That’s one of the things I need to ask.”

He began to massage her shoulders and she groaned.

“God, you’re tense,” he murmured.

“Can’t figure out why.”

His thumbs dug into her muscles and she yelped, but after several more minutes she was all but purring.

“Better?” he asked.

“Oh, yeah.” She rotated her neck in a full circle. “Much.”

He tapped her forehead. “Too much going on in there right now. Give yourself a break and put as much of it aside as you can.”

“It’s really tough right now.”

“Name one thing in your life that was resolved by worrying about it.”

She shook her head.

“Point proven.” He kissed her again, helped her off his lap, then stood. “I’m going to get going or I’m not going to want to leave at all.”

“I wish you could stay.”

“So do I. But …” He pointed toward the second floor.

“I know.”

“However, we can have lunch together this week. I could meet you in town somewhere.”

“Or we could have lunch here.” She circled a button on his shirt with her finger.

“Or we could have lunch here.” He grinned. “We could definitely have lunch here.”

“Tuesday might be good.” She walked him to the door. “Tomorrow might not be good because I don’t know how long it will take me to get Gabi straightened out at school.”

“Call me when you get back home and let me know how it went.”

She walked out on the porch with him and shivered as the wind from the Bay picked up, but she stood with her arms wrapped around her middle while he drove away. She went back into the house, thinking that she was pretty lucky to have found him, and wondering what she was going to do about it.

“Does this look okay?” Gabi stood in the kitchen, her arms out to her side, an anxious expression on her face.

“Jeans and a cute top always looks okay,” Ellie assured her.

“I have another top I wanted to wear but I can’t find it. I think maybe I didn’t pack it.”

“I’ll talk to Jesse today about contacting your mother’s attorney and see what’s what. In the meantime, eat some breakfast.”

“I’m too nervous to eat.”

“Then just have a piece of toast and an apple or a banana and a glass of milk.” Ellie realized that she sounded just like Mrs. Timothy, their old housekeeper, who made her eat breakfast every morning. “Just toast, Ellis,” and she’d hold out a plate with a slice of oat bread toasted with butter and strawberry jam. Or, “Just a few bites of this delicious oatmeal …”

One of Ellie’s first memories of boarding school was rejoicing that there was no one there to badger her to eat in the morning.

Ellie waited until nine before calling Jesse’s office. After exchanging pleasantries with Violet Finneran, she was transferred to Jesse.