Ever After (13 page)

“And watch her eyes change?” Jamie said. “I've seen that too many times. No, thank you. I like her ordering me to do her exercises. I even like her thinking I'm some rich playboy. Better that than feeling sorry for me.”

Caleb shook his head. “You do know, don't you, that when women find out a man has lied to them that they are
not
amused.” When he looked at Jamie, he saw that he didn't seem to be concerned. “I can tell that you have never been on the receiving end of a woman's rage over a man's prevarications—no matter how well intentioned they were.”

Jamie's eyes were twinkling. “I'm not sure yet, but I think Hallie might forgive me.”

Caleb laughed. “Ah, the vanity of youth. You make me glad I'm an old man.” He stood up. “Come on and I'll tell you how the garden used to be. You can use the knowledge to impress your pretty girlfriend.”

“She
is
pretty, isn't she? I like the shape of her. She—”

Rolling his eyes, Caleb pointed out where a row of blueberry bushes had been.

When Hallie returned, she had a bag full of muffins and cookies—and a new pair of navy-blue flats. “Sorry,” she said.
“There's a beautiful clothing shop by the bakery and I had to make an emergency purchase.”

Jamie, leaning on his crutches, was standing at the back door. Caleb, beside him, wondered what he'd say. Would he try to prove his masculinity by saying she shouldn't have made them wait?

“Wise decision,” Jamie said solemnly. “Do you think they have them in my size?”

“If they did, they'd have to be tied to the dock.” She looked at Caleb. “Where do you think the ladies served tea?”

“There,” he said, pointing. “There was a pergola covered by roses.”

There were only a few stones left to mark where the structure had been. Hallie pointed out the shade near the wall. “What if we bring some furniture out and have our tea there?”

“I'd like that very much,” Caleb said.

“Come on,” she said to Jamie, “help me set this up and maybe I'll let you try on my new shoes.”

“With or without you in them?” he asked as he followed her to the house. At the doorway he paused to look back at Caleb. “See? No pity,” he said and went inside.

It didn't take long to bring out three chairs, a little table, and a tray full of tea things.

“I want to hear every word of the story of the Tea Ladies,” Hallie said as she poured the tea. “Although I fear that if they ended up ghosts, there isn't a happy ending.”

“There is usually good in every story,” Caleb said and began to tell of the two sisters who had been born less than a year apart. They had been pretty little girls, but by the time they reached sixteen, they were extraordinary. “Nantucket men traveled the world over, but all of them agreed that they'd never seen beauty to compare with that of Hyacinth and Juliana Bell.”

Their mother died when the girls were quite young. Their
father—who had a store that sold tea and coffee—dedicated his life to providing for them and protecting them.

Caleb was a good storyteller and he had them laughing as he described what the men of Nantucket did to try to court the gorgeous young women, from gifts to secret visits. “See this high wall? Old man Bell put it up to try to keep the men out. But it didn't even slow us—them—down. Night and day, men and boys vaulted over the wall and fell to the ground. Doc Watson said his practice was based solely on what he called the Bell Fools. Broken ankles, arms, collarbones, twisted necks. Half the males on the island were on crutches.”

Jamie and Hallie were laughing.

“What we all loved about them”—Caleb again caught himself—“I mean
they
loved is that the girls never let the attention or their own beauty go to their heads. They were kindness personified. They…” He had to pause to get control of himself. Hallie was right: This story did
not
have a happy ending.

He looked back at the eager young faces waiting to hear more. “They were the town's matchmakers.”

“As in putting couples together?” Hallie asked.

“Yes, and they were quite brilliant at it. They were the ones who got Captain Caleb Kingsley and the lovely Valentina Montgomery to stop arguing and admit they were mad about each other.” He looked at Jamie. “If they hadn't done that, your Kingsley ancestor wouldn't have been born and you wouldn't now be sitting here with this lovely young lady.”

“I love them very much,” Jamie said with such seriousness that he made Caleb laugh and Hallie's face turn red.

Caleb continued. “The girls invited people, young and old, to tea nearly every afternoon, and what they served was beyond delicious. It was said that they could take barnacles and bilge water and bake them into ambrosia. Between the beauty, the food, and the matchmaking, you can see why all the sailors
brought back gifts for the girls.” He told of their father's taboo on keeping expensive personal items, so the sailors offered gifts for the tea parties. “The girls especially liked recipes that came from all over the globe.”

“That's like our teas!” Hallie said. “The B&B seems to be carrying on the tradition because Edith brings us food from everywhere.”

“Does she?” Caleb said, smiling, then continued. “Over the years, the Bell sisters got to know their guests and saw who interacted well. Then they contrived ways to get prospective couples together at church, at socials, wherever they could. And they had a knack for breaking up unsuitable engagements and putting people together who actually liked each other.” Caleb chuckled. “Sometimes they met with resistance, like the time they put the daughter of a tavern owner with one of the rich Coffin boys. It took a while, but his family grew to love her.”

“Weren't they too young to do something like that?” Hallie asked.

“Old souls,” Caleb said softly. “Sometimes when people intuitively know that they aren't to be on the earth long, they seem older than their ages. I think in this case those beautiful young ladies wanted to leave behind what they instinctively knew they were never going to have for themselves. They gave people love and families.”

“I don't think I want to hear the end of this story,” Hallie said.

Reaching across the little table, Jamie put his hand over hers and gave it a reassuring squeeze. “Didn't Hallie's ancestor change everything?”

“Yes, he did,” Caleb said and began to describe the instant love between Juliana and Leland. “Once those two saw each other, everyone else ceased to exist.”

Caleb saw the quick glance that Hallie and Jamie exchanged, as though they knew the feeling. It wasn't easy for him to suppress
his smile. In his long lifetime he'd seen many people fall in love the moment they saw each other.

“Juliana and Leland got married, didn't they?” Hallie asked.

“Yes. Just six months after they met, they married.”

“Was it a nice wedding?” Hallie didn't want to sound too girly around the men.

“By all accounts, it was glorious. I heard that Juliana wore a dress the color of the sky just before a storm, and her sister wore one like early dawn at sea.”

“Oh,” Hallie said, letting out her breath. “I'm not sure what those colors are, but I like the sound of them. Were there lots of flowers?”

“The islanders denuded half of the gardens on Nantucket. But then there were few families who didn't owe the girls something, including children who wouldn't have existed except for them. Someone called them the Princesses of Blissful Tomorrows.”

“That's lovely,” Hallie said. “I've always dreamed of—” She stopped herself. “Anyway, did the newlyweds have time for a happy life before…you know?”

“No,” Caleb said flatly. “At the party after the wedding, the sisters' father collapsed. Everyone had been so preoccupied that no one had noticed he was ill.” Caleb took a breath. “He had a fever that he probably caught from one of the ships that had recently returned with a cargo of tea. His daughters insisted on taking care of him, so Juliana postponed her wedding trip—and her wedding night.”

When Caleb looked at the young couple, his eyes were bleak. “The girls caught the fever. Their father recovered, but they did not.”

He took a moment to calm himself. “The whole island grieved. In less than a week they went from joyous celebration to deep mourning.”

“And what about Leland, the bridegroom?” Hallie asked.

“He was inconsolable. His relatives came from Boston to get him and took him home. He never returned to the island. Many years later he married again and had a son, your ancestor.”

The three of them sat in silence for a while, listening to the birds and the wind, the tragic story hanging over them.

Jamie broke the sadness. “You know, if I'm going to be in a haunted house, I'm glad the ghosts are two hot babes.”

Hallie and Caleb couldn't help laughing.

Caleb reached into his pocket, withdrew an old key, and put it on the table. “That should open the side door.”

Jamie picked up the key. “And we'll see them inside?”

“Only if you've not yet met your True Love.”

“What?” Hallie asked.

“Jared didn't tell you that part?” Caleb had to feign innocence, as he well knew that Jared wouldn't have told them the old story.

“No, he didn't,” Hallie and Jamie said together.

“The legend is that the Bell girls still like to match people and the only ones who can see them are ones who need their help. If the door opens, they're allowed to go into a beautiful room, and the dear young ladies will be there waiting for them.”

“And if they aren't needed?”

Caleb shrugged. “Then they'll see a room that has been closed up for a very long time. Henry kept all the doors locked after he bought the house. I'm not sure he ever went in there after the first time. By now, it must be a very dusty room.” There was a lot more to that story, but Caleb wasn't going to tell it, at least not now.

Jamie gave a little snort. “Wait a minute! If Edith can see them, does that mean she's looking for her True Love? Isn't she a little, you know, past that?”

Caleb didn't smile. “Are you asking if she's too
old
to find love?” His voice was louder and deeper.

“I'm just trying to put some reality into this fairy tale, that's all.” Jamie's voice was also rising.

Hallie glared at him. “If you get into a fight and hurt your knee, I swear I will cut your clothes off
before
I call an ambulance.” She turned back to Dr. Huntley. “So why wouldn't the door open for
me
? I know Jamie has someone, but I don't.”

“Who do I have?” Jamie asked quickly, but when Hallie gave him a look, he said, “Oh, yeah.”

“You'll have to figure that out on your own.” Caleb looked at his watch. “I'm afraid I have to go. My lovely wife is waiting for me.” He stood up. “Perhaps you two could come to dinner some night.” A look at Jamie's frown stopped him. “But with the coming commotion of the wedding, it might be too much.”

Jamie and Hallie walked with Dr. Huntley to the front gate and watched him go to the end of the lane. When he was out of sight, they looked at each other.

Hallie had the key in her hand. “So now what do we do?”

“We go see a dirty old room that has been locked up for who knows how long?” Jamie said.

“If we see it as dusty, that means you and I have already met our True Loves.”

“No,” he said. “It means that the place hasn't been cleaned.”

“But Edith—”

“Obviously has a key,” he said. “The next time I see her I'm going to put her in a stranglehold and make her talk.”

“You do that and she might stop stealing Betty's food and delivering it to us,” Hallie said.

“Good point. So? You ready to open the door?”