True Love

by Jude Deveraux

  “I’ll be fine, really. Jilly put my eReader in with the clothes and I saw that she and Dad have filled it with Cale Anderson books. I’ll be fine. Actually, I could stand some time alone.”

  “Sure?” he asked.

  “Absolutely sure.” She looked at him. “Did you take any photos of that house in Maine?”

  Jared laughed in relief. “You are my girl! There are a couple hundred of them in the photo file on my computer under Warbrooke, and I made a rudimentary floor plan. Go through all of it so you can tell me your ideas.”

  “If you give me access to your computer, I can’t guarantee that I won’t snoop around in your most private files.”

  “Snoop all you want. The computer with all the juice on it is in New York.”

  Alix laughed. “Okay, go do whatever you’re not telling me about. I’ll be fine. Any drawing paper around here?”

  “In the upstairs bedroom closet is a box of my old supplies.”

  “That paper is probably as old as Valentina’s journal.”

  Jared put his hand to his heart. “You crush me. And when I get back, I’ll show you how old I am.”

  “I can’t wait,” she said sincerely.

  Alix would have liked for their kiss goodbye to be longer, but she could tell that something was bothering him and he wanted to leave and take care of it. A few days ago she would have pestered him to tell her where he was going and why. But not now. For the time being, her curiosity was sated and all she wanted to do was focus on a design project. No more ghosts! Or dancing with men who didn’t exist. Or supernatural glimpses of the past.

  She needed peace and quiet and to lose herself in a project.

  Chapter Twenty-five

  At Kingsley House Jared threw the back door open so hard that the old glass rattled. Usually, he treated the house with the respect it deserved, but not today. He slammed the door just as hard.

  He glared at the doorway, hoping to see his grandfather, but he wasn’t there. Jared went up the back stairs to the attic, two at a time. He pulled the string on the light so hard it came off in his hand. Angrily, he tossed it away.

  “Come out!” he demanded, and turned full circle, but Caleb wasn’t there. “Are Valentina and Victoria the same person? I know you can hear me so you can damned well answer.”

  “I am here,” Caleb said softly from behind him.

  When Jared turned, he gasped, for his ghostly grandfather looked almost solid. No wonder Alix thought he was real! Jared almost reached out to touch him, but didn’t. He just stood there, glowering and waiting for him to answer.

  “Yes, Valentina and Victoria are the same spirit.”

  Anger raged through Jared so strongly that he thought his head might explode. “You are going to leave the earth! Are you planning to take Victoria with you?”

  “I don’t know,” Caleb said in a quiet, calm voice. Only his eyes betrayed his worry.

  “You can’t do that to Alix—or to Victoria,” Jared shouted. “She deserves life.”

  “It’s not up to me,” Caleb said, raising his voice. “Do you think I want to be a … a …”

  “Go ahead and say it. You’re a ghost!”

  “Yes, I am,” Caleb said and his own anger started rising. “Do you think I chose to stay in this house for two hundred years and see people I love die? I see them as babies, watch them grow, laugh with them, cry with them, but always—always and always—I have to stand back and watch them die. It happens over and over, and no matter how many times I see it, the grief is the same. Each time it hurts just as much.”

  Jared didn’t relent in his anger, but when he spoke he wasn’t shouting. “And now you’re going to leave the earth and take Victoria with you. All because you love her. Is that love to you?”

  “Is that what you think of me?”

  “I don’t know what to think anymore. Please don’t do this. If you leave, you cannot take her with you!”

  Caleb tried to calm himself. “I told you that it’s not up to me. All I know for sure is that the same people who were involved when I was last on this earth are assembling again. And I know that on the twenty-third of June I will depart this place. Where I go I don’t know.” Caleb’s body seemed to be fading. “I must leave you now. I am tired.”

  “Since when do you get tired?” Jared shot at him.

  “The closer I get to the time, the stronger and the weaker I get.”

  “That makes no sense.”

  “None of this half life of mine makes sense.” He looked at his grandson with eyes that showed his misery. “Please believe me when I tell you that I don’t know what is going to happen. If it is at all possible, I will leave alone and I will not take Valentina with me.”

  “She is Victoria, she lives in this century, and she has people here—on earth—who love her very much.” Jared was too upset to think clearly and his grandfather was fading quickly. “Can Victoria see you?”

  For a moment he was brighter, less transparent. “If I allowed it, she could. But I’ve never wanted her to love half a man.” He began to grow dimmer. “Don’t let Alix get away. Don’t be the fool that I was. If I’d stayed with Valentina none of this would have happened, but I wanted one more voyage. I thought I needed to be richer than I already was.” There were tears in his voice and his eyes. “Learn from me. And talk to Parthenia. Her spirit has always been able to see inside you.”

  He was gone.

  Jared flopped down on the couch, feeling like he was single-handedly trying to stop a freight train.

  It was only minutes later that he knew he had to get out of the house. As he needed to breathe, he had to leave. The thoughts were so strong that he was sure his grandfather was controlling them. “Stop it!” he growled, and immediately the overwhelming feelings stopped.

  He stood up, calming himself, and more fully comprehending what Alix had been through. With these new powers his grandfather had, it was believable that he could show Alix visions of the past.

  Jared looked around the attic, at the familiar sight of too much left over by his family, then went down the stairs and out the back door. He thought of returning to Alix, but he had an idea that she was happily buried in the plans for the Montgomery house. How he wished he could join her! But the thought that Victoria might die soon was too strongly in his mind for him to relax, and he didn’t want Alix to pick up on his fear.

  He walked down the lane toward Main Street. Maybe Lexie or Toby was home. Alix’s questions had made him wonder who else in his family could see Caleb. Jared had grown up being told all the rules about his grandfather, but this morning he was questioning them. Maybe if the women had told the men and vice versa, they could have done something long ago. An exorcism?

  While Jared couldn’t imagine having grown up without his grandfather—especially after his father died and before Ken arrived—at the moment he wished someone had long ago sent the man away.

  Jared went to Lexie’s house, opened the back door, and called out, but no one answered. They were at work. He turned to leave, but then heard a noise in the back. Maybe one of them was in the greenhouse.

  It was Jilly. She’d just dropped a huge flowerpot, it had smashed, and she was trying to pick up the pieces.

  “Let me do that,” Jared said as he bent and began gathering the pot shards.

  Jilly stood up. “I was trying to help but I did this. I should probably quit, but the girls are so busy and I needed something to do.”

  Jared looked about the greenhouse. He wasn’t a gardener but even he could see that the place needed a good cleaning. “How about if I do the heavy lifting and we work together?”

  “You must have other things to do,” she said. “I’m sure Alix needs you.”

  “She’s working on a remodel plan for that big old house in Warbrooke, and besides, she’s glad to be rid of me.”

  Jilly looked hard at him for a moment and deep into his eyes. Something was bothering him. “How about if we start at this end?”

 
; “Perfect,” he answered.

  Cleaning the big greenhouse was hard, physical labor. Everything had to be moved, weeds pulled from under the benches, gravel raked. Two of the tables needed repair since they were always wet. Plants needed repotting, which meant dealing with big bags of compost, peat moss, and vermiculite.

  Jared needed the labor, so he carried fifty-pound bags, sawed new cedar boards, and hammered them into place. He picked up heavy pots of shrubs and took them outside so Jilly could prune them, then carried them back inside. When the back of his hand was torn by rose thorns, he didn’t seem to notice.

  It was late afternoon before Jilly could persuade him to stop work and eat something. Besides, there wasn’t anything left to do. She suggested they walk back to Kingsley House but Jared said no. The truth was that he didn’t even want to go to the guesthouse, so they went inside Lexie’s. Jilly looked at him, dirty, sweaty, and with eyes that seemed to be haunted, and said, “Why don’t you take a shower while I make us some sandwiches?”

  “That sounds good,” he said. “Lexie stole a pair of my sweatpants and she has a dozen of my T-shirts.”

  “I’ll find them,” Jilly said. “You go get clean.”

  By the time she had sandwiches made and the clothes he’d tossed out the bathroom door in the washer, Jared appeared at the table. He looked a bit less worried than when she first saw him, but whatever was upsetting him was still there.

  “Is it Alix?” she asked, hoping that he wouldn’t do that infuriating male thing of making her drag it out of him.

  “There’s nothing wrong between us,” he said as he looked down at his plate.

  “Then is it Caleb?” she asked, and when Jared looked at her she drew in her breath. His eyes looked as though something deep inside him—his soul, maybe?—had been mortally wounded. She put her hand over his. “Tell me,” she whispered.

  “I think maybe Caleb is going to kill Victoria.”

  Jilly didn’t say a word. Long ago she’d learned that the first rule of listening was to do just that: to listen.

  It took Jared nearly an hour to tell the whole story. He told of his grandfather leaving Valentina behind for one last voyage, then finding out that she’d married his snake of a cousin, a man who’d practically stalked her. “When Caleb heard that she’d given birth to his son, he traded ships with his brother and led them into a storm with the sails up. The crew was mostly Nantucketers and they all went down,” Jared said. “For years after that, it was a bad time to be a Kingsley on this island.”

  “But Caleb came back,” Jilly said.

  “Yes, he did.”

  “Did Valentina ever see the ghost of the man she loved?”

  “No. When he first showed up at Kingsley House, it was six years after his ship went down. By that time Valentina was gone and Obed had remarried. But Granddad’s son was there and he could see and talk to his father.”

  “Was the boy’s stepmother nice to Caleb’s son?”

  “Yes, she was. She had no children of her own so young Jared was greatly loved by her.”

  “And the snaky cousin?”

  “Died young,” Jared said quickly, then gave a look that said he didn’t want to talk about that. He quickly brushed over the next two hundred years to get to Alix and what she’d seen—and what Caleb had told him about at last leaving the earth.

  “But he must not take Victoria with him,” Jared said, his eyes showing his fear. “She is so alive. She takes care of people and was such good company for Aunt Addy. They used to walk into town and have meals together and talk about how Victoria could tell the stories she’d read in the journals. Aunt Addy was quiet and hardworking, while Victoria holds court, like some queen of old. She draws people to her. They were perfect for each other.”

  Jared looked at Jilly. “Granddad talks about people resembling each other and reincarnation, and that he knows he’s going to leave the earth on Izzy’s wedding day. But if he does really love Victoria, he won’t take her away with him. If Alix …”

  “If Alix what?” Jilly asked.

  “If I had to leave the earth, I wouldn’t be selfish enough to take her with me. I wouldn’t think that my happiness was more important than her life.”

  “What does Caleb want to do?”

  “He says he has no choice in the matter. He didn’t choose to be a ghost and he isn’t going to be able to choose what happens when he leaves.” He looked at Jilly as though asking for her advice.

  “I think you need to keep Victoria away from here until after the wedding,” Jilly said.

  “I agree,” Jared said, “and I believe I’ve done it.” He told her about Aunt Addy’s journals that Victoria wanted but couldn’t find. “As long as she thinks staying away from here will get her access to the precious Kingsley journals, she won’t come near Nantucket.”

  “Good,” Jilly said.

  Neither of them said the obvious: that death could find you anywhere.

  Chapter Twenty-six

  It was nearly six when Jared and Jilly left Lexie’s house. Neither she nor Toby had yet returned from work. Jared had changed back into his own clothes and he was feeling better after having talked to Jilly. Now he wanted to see Alix. Maybe he could clear his mind enough to think about a design project.

  “Mind if I walk back to the house with you?” Jilly asked. “Ken will be home soon and I promised to make dinner.”

  “You two seem to have hit it off,” Jared said.

  “Very well,” she said, smiling.

  “I’m sorry for dumping so much on you today. You must think—” He stopped talking as he looked out onto Kingsley Lane. It was usually a quiet little street. The only busy house was Sea Haven Inn and parking for it was entered through another street.

  But now Kingsley Lane was anything but quiet. Delivery trucks were bumper to bumper and side by side. They had to drive over curbs to be able to pass one another. The signs on the trucks were of florists, caterers, a seafood shop, a wine merchant.

  The deliveries could mean only one thing. Victoria had arrived!

  In a state of shock, Jared just stood there and looked at all the chaos. He had no idea how she had managed to get all these places to deliver to a private residence. In between the trucks were half a dozen cars with male drivers. Two kids on bicycles had baskets full of flower arrangements.

  “Hey!” one of the boys on a bike yelled at Jared. “You know where Kingsley House is?”

  Jared was frowning too hard to answer.

  “It’s number twenty-three,” Jilly answered and pointed. “The big white house.”

  “Thanks,” the boy said as he got back on his bike and rode away.

  Jilly looked up at Jared. “Is someone having a party?”

  “Yes and no,” Jared said. “Only Victoria arriving could cause this much commotion.”

  Wide-eyed, Jilly looked at the long line of vehicles. In the distance there were two men angrily shouting at each other. She looked at Jared, who was standing in place, staring at the trucks and seeming to be immobile. “Will there be a fight?”

  “Probably,” Jared said. “There usually is around Victoria.” He turned to her. “Why don’t you go through that fence to the back and walk to the guesthouse that way? Let me deal with Victoria first.”

  “Good luck,” Jilly said as she crossed the street.

  Jared stood there for a moment as he tried to collect his thoughts. They had just over two weeks before the wedding. He knew Victoria well enough that there would be no way he could get her to leave before the wedding of a young woman she cared about. And besides, distance wasn’t going to stop what might happen.

  Jared looked up at the sky. Such a beautiful day, but each thought he had was more dismal than the one before it. What if he told Victoria what he feared? Right away, he knew that wouldn’t work. If he told Victoria the truth about his grandfather, there was no doubt that she’d want to see Caleb. Talk to him, interview him, ask him how he felt about everything. “How did you fee
l when you drowned?” “How did you feel to know you’d caused the deaths of hundreds of your friends and relatives?” Victoria would say her painful questions were for her novels—as though that was all the justification she needed.

  And then there was the magnificent love story. All his life he’d heard of the love between Caleb and Valentina. His father had told the story, Aunt Addy had, and his grandfather had told him. Each telling had contained different elements, but they’d all been the same when it came to the great, deep love that Caleb and Valentina had for each other. A love so deep, so true, that nothing on earth could break it. Neither death nor time had been able to stop their love.

  As Jared watched the trucks moving slowly, dropping off their deliveries then leaving, he wondered if he’d ever seen his grandfather with Victoria. Caleb often occupied a chair nearby when Ken was there, but what about when Victoria was near? Jared couldn’t remember. He did remember his grandfather saying that he’d watched Victoria undress. “But only Victoria,” he’d said.

  As another boy rode past with yet another bouquet in the basket on the front, Jared ran his hand over his face. He had no idea how to handle this. He took his phone out of his pocket and held it for a moment. What he wanted to do was call Alix and suggest that they fly up to Maine. Now. Maybe he could persuade her to stay with him there until after Izzy’s wedding. Lexie could be the maid of honor. They’d return when it was all over.

  He put his phone away. Kingsleys weren’t known for cowardice and he wasn’t going to start.

  He put his shoulders back and slowly walked to his house, pushing his way through the many delivery men. There were three of them waiting inside the kitchen. Jared took out his wallet, gave them all tips, and told them to leave the flowers, booze, food, whatever, and go.

  It took a while, but he got rid of them. He could hear Victoria’s laughter drifting in from the front parlor and he grimaced. How in the world was he going to get her to go away without telling her the reason?

  After Jared put the food that had been delivered in the fridge, he looked at the cards on some of the flowers. “Now the summer can truly begin,” one said. “Same place, same time?” It wasn’t signed. A huge bouquet that took up the whole table was from Lexie’s boss, Roger Plymouth. Jared didn’t know Victoria even knew him. “My jet is yours.” “Could you please do an autographing for us?” “I dream of you …” was another one that wasn’t signed.