Ever After (11 page)

“Hartley!” came a voice like a drill sergeant.

Hallie, on her stomach under the covers, moved farther down.

Jamie tossed back the coverlet, exposing her T-shirt-clad upper half. “It's time to go to the gym.”

“Who is Valery?” she asked.

She didn't see the shock on his face that was followed by anger. But he got his emotions under control. “She's the love of my life. Jealous?”

“Does she put up with your moans and groans and calling her name at night?” Hallie still hadn't turned over, and she was berating herself for having asked about the woman. But it was better than not knowing.

“I'm lovable as I am,” Jamie answered. “Now get up and let's go to the gym. I'm going to toughen you up.”

“Oh?” she said and turned over in the bed to look up at him. Her braless upper half was barely hidden under the thin T-shirt. “You don't like the softness of women?”

She had the pleasure of seeing his eyes widen. Putting his crutches aside, he sat down on the side of the bed.

“If you want to…” He trailed off and when his hand reached for her, she flung back the cover on the opposite side of the bed, rolled out, and walked around toward him. Her T-shirt hung only to her hips so her bare legs were exposed.

She had the great satisfaction of seeing Jamie's face turn nearly white. “Holy crap, Hallie! I'm only human.”

“You're the one who told me to get up.”

“And now we both are.”

She didn't know what he meant, but a quick glance downward explained it. While trying to suppress a giggle, she hurried to the bathroom and closed the door.

Over two hours later they left the gym and walked back to the house. Hallie was sure that every muscle in her body was going to be sore. Jamie had put her on a program on the treadmill that went back and forth from easy to fast and difficult. Then he'd had her sit on a bench while he guided her arms as she did variations of flys and curls.

In return, she got him off the weights and into exercises that were part Pilates, part yoga, with a lot of meditation added. Her goal was to get the tension out of his giant muscles.

For all that the long, hard workout nearly killed her, Hallie had enjoyed it. They'd laughed and talked throughout the time. Jamie told her stories of his family, a lot of them about his brother Todd, who Jamie seemed to think was the best guy on the earth. “He does undercover work with the police and sometimes I don't hear from him for months.” Jamie sounded as
though when he and his brother were separated, they missed each other to the point of pain.

His talk of his family was so happy that Hallie wanted to respond in kind, so she told him more about living with her grandparents. She described the big garden they had and how her school friends loved to come to sleepovers and pick berries. “My grandfather would set up a screen in the garden and we'd watch movies outside. It sounds tame now, but to a bunch of nine-year-olds it was wildly exciting.”

“But later your grandparents moved out?”

“Yes,” Hallie said and her voice changed. “When Dad showed up with his new wife and her cute little blonde daughter, my grandparents ran to Florida.”

“So the only relative you have left is Shelly?”

“Yes,” Hallie said and she could feel her back teeth clenching.

Jamie saw in her eyes what he guessed was years of repressed anger. He could give her sympathy, but he knew from experience that was often what a person needed least. “You want some? Relatives, I mean. I have what feels like millions of them. Just last year a whole new branch of them found us. Jared Montgomery Kingsley showed up and we found out we're related to half of Nantucket. So tell me what kind of relatives you want. You could go by age, sex, personality, profession, or location. Just tell me and I can find whatever you want.”

By the time he finished, Hallie was laughing. “I'll take a tall, dark, and handsome male.”

“Here I am.”

She laughed harder. “You and your ego! Get down on the floor and start breathing.”

“Is this the one where you use both hands to search for my belly button? Just so you know, last night it moved six inches lower.”

“Get on the floor!” She was shaking her head at him and still laughing.

When they finally quit working out and got back to the house, they were pleased to see that the kitchen table was loaded with food.

“Looks like Edith has been here,” Jamie said.

“And she's trying to win us over to her side.”

Jamie picked up a little triangle of crisp strudel, broke it in half, and gave the larger piece to Hallie. “Let's see. Angry woman who slams gates versus Edith who brings us food. Hard to decide, huh?”

“Edith has won me. This is delicious. Apricots?”

“I think so. What's your favorite berry?” He picked up a square cookie with a design of a rabbit on it.

“Lingonberry. They grow on little bushes. When I was little, Grams made a killer jam from them. Is that tea hot?”

Jamie touched the pot. “Scalding.”

By the next minute they were seated at the table and helping themselves. Before they finished, Jamie's phone rang. He looked at the ID. “A cousin. What a surprise.” He touched “answer.” “Jared, good to hear from you. I just came up from the basement, where I have Hallie chained to a wall. She—”

“Give me that!” Hallie said as she took the phone from him. “Hi, Jared. Everything here is okay. What about you?”

“Fine,” he said. “Alix and I are in Texas right now, but I wanted you to know that I haven't forgotten about you. I'm going to get a lawyer on this case against your stepsister.”

“I don't think that's necessary,” she said. “I'm sure you made your point clear enough that Shelly won't do anything like that again.”

“Hallie,” Jared said with patience, “we left your stepsister alone in a house that you own. For all we know, by now she's put it up for sale.”

“I don't think she'd do that. She—”

Jamie took his phone back and put it on speaker. “I agree with you,” he said to Jared. “You have a lawyer? If not, I'm related to some.”

“That's why I'm calling. Alix wondered if Hallie knew an attorney who is aware of the family situation. It might save time explaining.”

Jamie looked at her in question.

“My neighbor's son, Braden Westbrook, is a lawyer,” Hallie said. “But he's with Hadley-Braithwaite in Boston. They're a big-deal law firm and I'm sure this case would be too small for them.”

“Does your friend know Shelly?” Jared asked.

“Oh, yes. He's known her since she was a child.”

“Perfect. I'm going to call him.”

“Do you want his phone numbers and addresses?” Hallie asked. “I know them by heart.”

“Let me get a pen,” Jared said. “Okay. Shoot.”

She recited Braden's cell number, office number, the addresses of his law firm and his apartment in Boston. Then she gave the cell number and address of his mother, who lived across the road from Hallie's house.

“This is great,” Jared said. “Thanks, and I'll get back to you as soon as I know anything.”

“Ask about the tea room,” Jamie said.

“Uh, Jared?” Hallie asked. “Uh, something happened. I don't know how to say this exactly, but…Well, actually, nothing really
happened
, but—”

Jamie picked up the phone. “Did you know this house is haunted by a couple of tea-serving ladies?”

“Oh, Lord,” Jared said. “I forgot about them.” He let out a sigh. “Nantucket has…” He trailed off. “How scared are the two of you?”

“Not scared at all,” Jamie said. “Well, Hallie is a bit, but she had me move upstairs to be near her and she's okay now.”

“Did she?” Jared said in a way that left no doubt that he thought the “moving upstairs” had nothing to do with a couple of ghosts.

Jamie looked at Hallie, whose face was turning red. “Actually, we're intrigued and would like to know more about the ladies, but that room is locked. We thought we'd call a locksmith and—”

“No,” Jared said. “I know someone who can open the doors. I'll call him and he can probably answer any questions you both have. His official title is Dr. Caleb Huntley, director of the Nantucket Historical Society. Are you two going to be home today?”

When Jamie looked at Hallie, she nodded. “We'll be here.” As he hung up, he picked up another of the square cookies, this one with a rose on it.

“It'll be interesting to find out the history of the Tea Ladies, won't it?” Hallie said.

Jamie was staring at the food on the tiered tray. “What's your stepsister's cell number?”

“I'll look on my phone and give it to you.”

“You don't know the number off the top of your head?”

“No, I don't.”

“So you're not one of those savants who can remember everybody's numbers and addresses?”

“Of course not. What gave you that idea? Oh. Braden. It's just that I've known him a very long time and his mother and I are close. She helped me after my grandparents moved out, when I was left alone with Ruby and Shelly. And he—”

“How old is this Braden?”

When she realized what he was getting at, she couldn't help a little smile. “Thirty-two. Jealous?” She was teasing, just as he'd done this morning, but there was no laughter on Jamie's face.

“Of an old lawyer? Not at all.” He got up from the table. “I have some emails to answer.” He left the room.

In spite of his denial, his attitude made her smile.

Jared called Caleb Huntley, his wife's stepfather—though past that, the two of them had a very long history together. He didn't bother with preliminaries. “You have to go to the Hartley-Bell house today and tell Jamie and Hallie about the ghosts. And be gentle. They don't understand Nantucket.”

“Ah,” Caleb said, his voice soft. “Those beautiful young ladies. I'd like to see them again.”

“Forget that. I don't want you talking to ghosts and scaring a couple of off-islanders to death. Go as Dr. Huntley, the director of the NHS, and tell them the facts.”

Caleb chuckled. “You mean tell them how every male on the island under the age of seventy used to climb the walls to get to those women? Actually, old Arnie was seventy-two, so make that every man under eighty.”

“I don't have time to reminisce with you about the good ol' days. Just please go over to the house and tell them some nice, quiet story that will keep them from jumping on the next ferry and leaving the island. I especially want Hallie to stay calm. She can't leave until I get this business about her stepsister straightened out.”

“I'll take care of it,” Caleb said. “You handle your buildings and leave the ghosts to me.” As soon as Caleb hung up, he buzzed for his assistant. When she entered he said, “If I draw a map of the attic of Kingsley House, could you go there and get something for me?”

Like all historians, her eyes lit up at the prospect. Kingsley House had been owned by the same family since it was built in the early 1800s. It was rumored that the attic was full of treasures
that should be in museums: journals, clothes, historic artifacts, things historians could only dream about. “Yes,” she managed to say.

Caleb quickly drew a map of the arrangement of the attic. Third row from the door, all the way to the back, under four crates full of China imports, inside an old trunk, on the bottom left side, was a little cinnabar box that contained a key. He wanted that key.