Teddy followed her up the stairs and into their bedroom, where Cynthia lay wide-eyed in her cradle. Teddy removed his hat and unbuttoned his coat before reaching for the baby. She didn’t cry. She rarely cried. Instead, she studied him with all the seriousness a baby could muster, taking him in as if she were an adult. Teddy cradled her head and kissed her softly.
“She’s wonderful,” he said.
“Daddy!” J.T. cried as he ran into the room. “Where have you been? I missed you.”
“I’m here now,” Teddy said, avoiding the question. He handed Cynthia to Sophie and reached for his son, swinging him up into the air. “You are so big. I can’t believe my eyes. I hardly recognize you.”
“I’m going to be three,” J.T. announced. “Will you stay until my birthday?”
“I will try,” Teddy replied as he set the child down.
“Did you bring me anything?” J.T. asked.
“J.T., it’s not polite to ask people for gifts,” Sophie chastised him.
“He’s not people, he’s my father,” J.T. replied archly.
“As it happens, I did bring you something,” Teddy said. He reached into his pocket and extracted a retractable spyglass. “Let me show you how it works. You can use it to look at birds and stars.”
“I can use it to watch for your ship,” J.T. said, his innocent comment nearly undoing Sophie. Was this to be their life from now on, seeing Teddy once a year, if they were lucky?
“You must be hungry,” she said instead, striving for normalcy.
“Starving,” Teddy replied as he helped J.T. on with his coat and took him outside to test out the spyglass.
Settling Cynthia on her hip, Sophie went into the kitchen to fix Teddy something to eat. Had she known he was coming, she’d have made something special, but she didn’t bother to cook on days Caleb and Bethany went into the village since they always returned with bundles of food sent by Bethany’s mother. There was usually a steak pie and some sort of sweet for after supper.
Sophie sliced some bread and ham and pushed the kettle hanging on the hook into the flames to boil water for tea. Her vision blurred as she watched Teddy and J.T. in the backyard, taking turns with the spyglass and looking out to sea. J.T. needed his father, and Sophie needed her man by her side, but she was no fool; she knew it wasn’t safe for Teddy to stay. Rumors had been rampant after he left, the attack on Sophie discussed at length since the reason for it was unclear to the villagers. The only blessing was that George hadn’t given his real name at the inn, making the connection between them difficult to establish.
Lionel Holland was still looking for his son; Caleb had told her as much when he returned from Boston, where he’d gone to visit his sister. Sooner or later someone would recall seeing the two men on the road or meeting them at an inn, and their information might lead the authorities straight to Eastham. Sophie felt no guilt about George’s death, nor did she feel bad about Major Boothe, but their deaths would forever remain a stain on her relationship with Teddy, what happened that day a painful memory neither one of them wished to talk about.
Sophie smiled brightly when Teddy and J.T. came back into the house, their cheeks ruddy with cold. J.T. was clutching the spyglass to his chest, thrilled with his gift.
“Can I have some?” he asked, looking at the food on the table.
“You’ve had your supper,” Sophie replied.
“But I want to eat with Daddy.”
“All right. Come and sit down.”
J.T. waited to see which chair Teddy would take, then sat down next to him, desperate to be near his father. He looked up at Teddy, his eyes shining with love. Teddy reached for a piece of bread and put a slice of ham on it before handing it to J.T., who smiled. Then Teddy took some food for himself.
“Come and join us,” he said to Sophie.
Sophie didn’t think she’d be able to get any food past the lump in her throat, but she poured herself a cup of tea and sat down with her boys, happy for them to be together, even if it was only for a short time.
Later, when they lay in bed together after getting thoroughly reacquainted, Sophie finally broached the subject that had been on her mind since Teddy’s arrival. “I want us to be married, Teddy,” she said. “I want to be your wife.”
Teddy turned onto his side and propped his head with his hand, looking down at her. “I’m a wanted man, Poppet. My recent activities have not gone unnoticed by the authorities. As soon as I walk into town, I’ll be turned over to the nearest magistrate.”
“Then we can be married right here at home.”
“By whom? Do you expect the minister to walk up the hill and perform the ceremony? He’d as soon smite me as marry me. I’m a murderer, Sophie, and a pirate. I have my own ship now, and my own crew. I’m well known to the authorities.”
“Where is your ship?” Sophie asked.
“Moored off Nantucket. Once I return, we’re off to Jamaica.”
“Then you marry us,” Sophie said, surprising them both. “You are a captain, are you not? A captain can perform a wedding ceremony.”
“I don’t think a captain can marry himself.”
“He can in an emergency.”
“Is this an emergency, then?” Teddy asked, laughing softly. When Sophie didn’t reply, he leaned down and kissed her. “I’ve wanted to marry you since you were a slip of a girl. You are right; it’s time we were wed, but our marriage ceremony will have to be a bit unorthodox.”
“I don’t mind.”
Teddy reached for her hand and smiled. “I, Theodore, take thee, Sophie, to be my wife, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish until death do us part, according to God’s holy ordinance, and therefore I pledge myself to you.”
Sophie gaped at Teddy, surprised that he’d recalled the words of the marriage service so precisely, but her shock didn’t last long. She took his hand and made her own vow. “I, Sophie, take thee, Theodore, to be my husband, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish until death do us part, according to God’s holy ordinance, and therefore I pledge myself to you.”
“I now pronounce us husband and wife,” Teddy said. He leaned down and kissed her tenderly. “I love you, Sophie.”
“I can tell,” Sophie said with a giggle as Teddy’s love pressed against her thigh. “At least we don’t have to wait for the wedding night.”
“Every night will be our wedding night,” Teddy said as he rolled on top of her. “Until I have to leave again.”
Sophie ignored that last part. She’d learned that happiness came in moments that had to be seized and cherished. There’d be time enough to fret and lament, but tonight, she was a bride, and she would enjoy her wedding night.
Chapter 61
June 1731
The child at her breast burned with fever, his face flushed, his gown soaked with sweat. Sophie rocked the baby gently, humming a song her mother had sung to her when she was small. At nearly a year, Benjamin was sturdy and strong, but this fever had left him weak and lethargic. Sophie smoothed back his damp curls and pressed her lips to his forehead. Still hot. She stood and began to pace, needing to do something other than sit and await the fate of her son.
After about a half hour, Benjamin finally fell asleep, his breathing shallow and ragged. Sophie stopped before the window and looked out over the moonlit expanse of the bay. Its savage loneliness was as beautiful as ever, the horizon devoid of any living thing. What she wouldn’t give to see a ship on the horizon or a rowboat gliding toward the dock.
“Where are you, Teddy?” she whispered into the night. “Please, please come home.”
She sighed deeply and turned away. Teddy hadn’t come back since the week they married and Benjamin was conceived. He’d never seen his son, had never held him in his arms or kissed his round cheek. She prayed every night that Teddy wo
uld return, but deep down, she knew he wasn’t coming back. Not this time.
Sophie settled the child on her bed and covered him with a down quilt despite the warmth of the June night. She prayed he’d sweat off the fever and feel better come morning. She couldn’t lose her Benny too. She simply couldn’t. Sophie lay down next to the baby, her gaze on the full moon staring balefully from the pitch-black sky. Silent tears coursed down her cheeks as she held her baby close.
“I’ll never stop waiting for you, Teddy, not as long as there’s hope. I promise I will never leave this place. Please come back to me,” she whispered into the night. Eventually, she drifted off to sleep, her tears leaving dried tracks on her cheeks.
Chapter 62
Lauren
Labor Day
Gentle sunshine streamed onto the patio, the late afternoon cool and pleasant. A lovely breeze ruffled the leaves and several boats glided by. Tyler laughed merrily as he chased Billy around the patio, trying to get back his ball, but Billy wasn’t about to give it up. He was having too much fun. Merielle watched her nephew, an indulgent smile on her face as she leaned back in the deck chair. Lauren’s mom was admiring some photos Ryan’s mother was showing her, and their dads were deep in discussion about fishing. The smell of sizzling burgers and barbecued chicken filled the air, making Lauren’s mouth water. It was almost time to eat.
She left Xavier to help Ryan grill and walked into the house, where Brooke was putting the finishing touches on the salad. Lauren took out the side dishes she’d prepared earlier from the fridge and set them on the counter.
“I’ll take those outside,” Brooke offered.
“Thanks. I think we’re running low on lemonade. There’s some in the fridge.”
“Okay, I’ll come back for it,” Brooke replied, and stepped outside.
“Can I help?” Ryan asked as he walked into the kitchen.
“No, everything is ready. Would you like a beer?” Lauren asked.
“Sure.”
Ryan took a sip of beer and smiled at her. “You look happy.”
“I actually have some news,” Lauren said, smiling from ear to ear. “My agent has submitted my book proposal to my publisher, and they loved it. They’ve offered me a three-book deal.”
Ryan kissed her sweetly. “I’m so proud of you. Are you ready to say goodbye to Sophie?”
“I’ll miss her, and I’m grateful to her for giving me the inspiration and the desire to write something new and different, but if there’s anything I’ve learned from this experience, it’s that if you hope to find happiness after heartbreak, you have to grieve and then allow yourself to move on. I don’t think Sophie ever let Teddy go. She mourned him for the rest of her days, and even after her death, her spirit wasn’t able to leave this place.”
Ryan leaned back against the counter, his expression somber. He understood grief, but if the last few months were anything to go by, he also understood the value of letting go and moving on. He hadn’t mentioned Alicia once since their night on the boat, and although he’d left the family portrait on the mantel, he’d moved his and Alicia’s wedding picture into the office, where Lauren wouldn’t have to look at it every time she came over.
“Do you think it was grief that kept her tethered to this world?” Ryan asked.
Lauren shook her head. “No, I think it was hope. Perhaps, somewhere deep down, she still believed that one day he’d come back. Had she been able to mourn him, she might have been able to make peace with losing him.”
“Did you ever find out what happened to him?”
Lauren had spent hours at the library, using her research as an excuse to take a break from packing up the apartment. It had taken several visits, but she’d eventually found what she was looking for in a book about the Golden Age of Piracy and its impact on the American colonies. Lauren was surprised to learn that Mad Ted’s ship had been called Vengeance, a name possibly directed at those who’d tried to take Sophie away from him.
“Yes, I have,” Lauren replied. “Ted Mercer was mentioned in one of the books on piracy in the 1700s.”
“Was he eventually apprehended and executed?” Ryan asked.
“No. He met with a rather less dramatic end,” Lauren said, feeling strangely sympathetic toward the man. “He died of malaria at the age of thirty-two. It was rampant in the Caribbean during the eighteenth century. He’s buried in a cemetery in Port Royale.”
“Surely someone would have informed Sophie of Teddy’s death,” Ryan said, his beer forgotten. “He was notorious. He was Mad Ted.”
Lauren smiled. When it came to pirates, Ryan was still a star-struck groupie.
“You’d think so, but in those days, letters frequently got lost, ships went down with their entire crews aboard, and there was no Google,” Lauren joked.
“Hey, you two, quit canoodling. We’re hungry,” Brooke called from the doorway.
“Come on,” Lauren said. “Let’s enjoy our last barbecue at Holland House.”
She was about to walk toward the door when Ryan caught her wrist. “It doesn’t have to be.”
“My lease is up at the end of the month. I suppose we can squeeze in one more get-together,” Lauren replied.
“Let’s buy this place,” Ryan said, his eyes alight with excitement. “You love it here, and so do I. Let’s fill this house with love and joy and hope. It will be a new chapter for us both.”
He pulled her to him, drawing her into his fantasy. Butterflies took flight in Lauren’s stomach. They’d talked about the future, and she’d even considered extending the lease, but nothing definite had been decided, other than that they would continue to see each other as often as they could should she decide to return to Boston.
“What about Tyler? How will he feel about leaving his home, his only connection to his mom?”
“I will never allow Tyler to forget his mom, but I couldn’t ask you to live in another woman’s house. You have to grieve and then allow yourself to move on if you want to be happy,” Ryan said, repeating Lauren’s words to her. “I love you, Lauren, with all my heart. Please say yes,” he urged her, his voice husky, his lips close enough to her ear to give her shivers.
Lauren took Ryan’s face in her hands and smiled into his eyes. “I love you too, Ryan, and I have already moved on. It happened when I wasn’t looking. Yes, I would love to buy Holland House and make a home here with you and Tyler. But can we keep the name?”
“You mean you don’t want to rename it the Kelly House?”
“That sounds like an Irish Pub,” Lauren joked. “I want to keep the name to honor Sophie.”
“I’m all right with that,” Ryan said, wrapping his arms around her waist as he lowered his face to kiss her.
“We’re hungry,” Xavier bellowed from the patio.
“Coming,” Lauren and Ryan replied in unison and went to join the others.
Epilogue
Sophie stands in the kitchen, watching Lauren and Ryan from her favorite place by the window. Their eyes are glowing with love and hope for the future, and she envies them. There was a time when she looked at Teddy like that and thought their life together would be long and beautiful. They had their moments, but fate wasn’t kind to them—or maybe it wasn’t fate, but the people they loved and trusted. Sophie wipes away a tear that slides down her cheek when she thinks of Teddy’s lonely grave in Port Royale. She still mourns for him, but now that she knows what became of him, she can finally let go. She can move on.
Sophie’s face is transformed as she smiles through her tears. “I’m coming, Teddy,” she whispers as her hand unconsciously goes to the necklace Teddy gave her all those years ago. “I’m coming, my love.”
Lauren and Ryan don’t notice anything; they’re too caught up in each other and their shiny new love, but the spot by the window suddenly looks brighter, the sun filling the kitchen with the golden glow of the late afternoon. They feel a lightness they can’t explain, and a shimmering joy that fills their hearts.
Ch
erish your love is Sophie’s last thought before she flies into Teddy’s arms and buries her head in his chest. As we would have.
The End
Please turn the page for an excerpt from The Lovers
Echoes from the Past Book 1
Notes
I hope you have enjoyed The House on the Hill. If you’ve read any of my other books, you know how much I love historical mysteries and dual-timeline stories. I also enjoy a good pirate story. I decided not to delve too much into the more colorful aspects of a pirate’s life, but I have sailed past Hog Island many times and wondered if Captain Kidd’s treasure is still there somewhere, just waiting for the right person to find it.
I love hearing from you. You can always reach me at www.irinashapiroauthor.com or [email protected].
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If you’ve enjoyed the book, reviews on Amazon and Goodreads would be greatly appreciated.
An Excerpt from The Lovers
Echoes from the Past Book 1
Prologue
The darkness was absolute, the interior of the chest smelling rank and damp. Their bodies were pressed together, crammed in an unnatural position, limbs stiff after hours of immobility. At first, there was still hope, but it had run out, as had the air, as the tight-fitting lid prevented even the smallest amount from seeping in. His arms felt like lead, but he gathered what was left of his waning strength and lifted his hand to her face. He didn’t need to see it; her features were burned into his brain, as were those of their child. Please, God, keep the babe safe.
Her skin was still warm, but she was already gone, as surely as he would be in the next few minutes. His lungs were already burning, a sheen of sweat covering his face. He pressed his lips against her unresponsive mouth in a final kiss as a last thought flashed through his dying brain:
The House on the Hill: A Ghost Story Page 33