True Love (53 page)

I
t was early morning, just three days before he was to get married, and Jared couldn’t sleep. Toby had sent him an email with details, such as getting the marriage license, the rehearsal times, and that she and Lexie were flying to New York for the day to buy new dresses. She said she’d sent Alix emails of more information.

Jared lay in the bed with his hands clasped behind his head, looking at the ceiling. Last night he and Alix had stayed in the chapel and talked until midnight. It hadn’t been easy to keep their clothes on but they’d done it. But then they’d been feeling the solemnity of what they were planning, their lifetime together.

Neither of them liked the secrecy of their plans, but they did like getting it done. They’d made up their minds and were now determined to go forward into their lives together. In other words, they
wanted to continue in the way they had been, living and working with each other, with no further interference.

Last night as Jared was getting into bed, he sent an email to Tim to come to Nantucket on Friday and bring his tux. Jared would only tell him in person that he wanted him to be his best man. In other circumstances, it would have been Ken, but he would be escorting Alix down the aisle.

It wasn’t yet dawn but Jared got up, pulled on jeans, a T-shirt, and sandals, then quietly went up the stairs to the attic. As he stretched up to reach the light chain, he remembered why he’d been so angry that he’d torn off the pull string.

For a moment he stood still, looking out the window. His anger about his grandfather and Victoria was gone now, replaced with a sense of
What will be, will be
. Somewhere in the last few days he’d come to terms with a feeling of destiny, that no matter how angry he became, he couldn’t change the future. He couldn’t stop what might happen—and he doubted if his grandfather could either.

When he heard a sound behind him, he didn’t turn, but he knew he was no longer alone. “Do you know what I did?”

“Came to your senses and asked dear Alix to marry you?”

“Yes,” Jared said as he turned around—then drew in his breath. His grandfather was sitting in the big wing chair and he was as solid looking as any human.

Walking toward him, Jared reached out to touch his grandfather’s hand. It was real, almost solid and almost warm—and it was the first time in his life that Jared had ever touched him. Jared drew back and sat down heavily on the threadbare couch. He had a horrific vision of Caleb putting his arm around Victoria and the two of them walking into the fog and never being seen again. All Jared could do was stare at his grandfather.

“I still don’t know,” Caleb said in answer to the unasked question. “I don’t know how or why or what will happen. Everyone is here now. Did Alix tell you that she saw my father at Parthenia’s wedding?”

“No,” Jared said, still staring.

“His spirit is in Dr. Huntley’s body. My father was a man of great integrity and kindness, and my mother was his strength.” Caleb sighed. “I’ve had to see them die four times, and three of those times were just alike. First my father went, and he was followed soon by my mother. But this time your modern medicine has made them leave each other out of order.”

“What does that mean?” Jared asked.

“It’s yet another thing that I don’t know, but I hate to see him the way he is now. He misses my mother so much that he’s only half alive.”

Jared was studying his grandfather, very aware that in a few days he would no longer be there. “Have you been spying on Victoria?”

“Not in the way you mean,” Caleb said with a bit of a smile. “A bit of talk while she’s asleep, but nothing more.” He waved his hand. “If I got near her the way I am now, she’d see me. However, I’ve been considering allowing that. One last time.”

“You won’t get to see number eight,” Jared said, meaning the son that he and Alix would have. “But then I guess we should drop the numbers.”

“Perhaps you’ll name a son Caleb.”

“I would be honored,” Jared said. “Maybe on that last day you would be allowed out of this house long enough to come to our wedding.”

“I wish I could!” Caleb said. “With all my might, I wish I could be there. I would like to hold Valentina in my arms one last time, see her smile at me.” He sighed. “I have paid for my greed.” He gave a little laugh. “The irony is that the treasure I thought I had to have was left behind on my ship and my brother brought it back to Nantucket.”

“Are you talking about the shipload of goods you bought in China?”

Caleb waved his hand. “It doesn’t matter now. Are you going to let Victoria in on the secret of your wedding?”

“Absolutely not!” Jared said. “You know what she’s like. She’ll want to take over everything.” He looked sharply at his grandfather. “Have you had a hand in this? Did you persuade Izzy to step out of her own wedding?”

“How could I have done that when I’m not allowed to leave this house?”

“What you
can
do is answer questions directly.”

“Can I?” Caleb asked. “I hear someone. I think your Alix is coming up the stairs.”

Jared watched, fascinated, as Caleb got out of the chair and walked across the room. When he reached the wall, he kept walking.

As his grandfather vanished, Alix appeared at the doorway. Jared opened his arms to her and she snuggled beside him on the couch.

“Is this your hiding place?” She didn’t want to tell him that Lexie had ratted on him.

“Since I was a kid.”

“Did you sleep well?” she asked.

“Not much,” he answered. “Too much on my mind. Did you get an email from Toby?”

“I looked at my phone and I had five of them, so I turned it off. I’ll read them later. You look like something’s bothering you. You still have time to change your mind.”

He kissed the top of her head. “My only worry is that you’ll wise up and run away. You sure you want to take on all the Kingsleys?”

“I guess you mean Captain Caleb.” When Jared didn’t say anything, she turned to look at him. “Has he been here?”

Jared could hear the apprehension in her voice, but he wasn’t going to lie. “Yes, he was here. I came up to talk to him. He’s going to leave the earth very soon.”

Alix didn’t know what to reply to that. She’d never heard of anyone saddened because a ghost was leaving. Weren’t people always trying to get rid of them? “Why is he going?” she asked.

“I don’t understand it. People reincarnated from the past have gathered, so Granddad’s leaving.”

“It has to do with my mother, doesn’t it? She was Valentina.”

Jared nodded, afraid to say more.

“Maybe now that he finally gets to see her again he can leave.”

“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

I
t 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.”