by Kathi Daley
Chapter 7
After logging onto my computer, I decided to look up Arthur and Adora Macalester instead. While I was interested in Warren, I was even more interested in looking at the couple who bore me. I figured that if Arthur really was a wealthy landowner with political clout, then chances were I’d find photos of the couple online. Perhaps there were even photos of their children, which would allow me the opportunity to compare the photos I found online with the one my dad had in his possession.
When the image of a happy couple, who were both blond-haired and blue-eyed, appeared on the screen, I felt as if a Mac truck had slammed into my chest. Tears ran down my cheeks as I ran a finger over the smiling face of the woman who really did look an awful lot like me. The article I’d pulled up was one that was written not long before they wed. She looked so young. Not any older than I was now. The article was an announcement that detailed the plans the young couple had for an October wedding.
As I continued to search, I found birth announcements for both Avery and me. I found dozens of articles about and photos of the happy couple while attending vintner’s dinners and charity events. I even found photos of the family dog, a Newfoundland named Chianti. Perhaps my love of large dogs had been hardwired into my DNA since my parents had apparently preferred giant dogs as well.
I’m not sure how long I sat at the dining table pulling up news article after news article. Of course, most of them were written in Italian, but there were English translations for many of them. At first, I was surprised to find that my father had been fair. I’d found an article that mentioned that Adora had been born in Norway, which would explain her fair skin and hair, but my dad was born and raised in Italy, so I guessed I’d expected that he’d have a darker complexion. Of course, the first Macalester was Scottish, with red hair and green eyes, and Leopold had married an English woman with a fair complexion as well. It was interesting to try to map out all the people Adam had mentioned during our telephone conversation. Perhaps I’d work on a family tree when I had the time.
At some point, the rumbling in my stomach reminded me that I hadn’t eaten. Logging off my computer, I headed into the kitchen to make a sandwich. So far, I’d only been able to pull up photos of Ava and Avery as infants. I was sure that other photos existed. I just needed to dig deeper and see what I could find. I also wanted to know more about the plane crash that killed the young couple. So far, all I’d been able to find was a news article reporting that a crash had occurred while the couple was en route to Switzerland for a ski retreat and that everyone on board had died. Since Arthur would have been well known in the community where he lived, I suspected that additional information was out there to be found. I just needed to know how to find it. Maybe I’d head next door and see if Jemma was around after I’d eaten. She’d have a lot more luck pulling up specific pieces of information rather than the general interest news articles I’d managed to dig up so far.
“Ainsley,” Jemma greeted with genuine affection in her voice after responding to my knock a short time later. “Come in.” She stepped aside. “You didn’t bring the dogs?”
“They were napping. I can grab them later if need be. Is Josie working today?”
“Actually, she is. Her friend Val is here, so Josie had planned to take today off, but two employees called in sick, so Josie offered to go in.”
“Aw, that’s too bad.” Josie worked hard, and I was sorry she wasn’t getting the time she planned with her friend. “If you need to entertain Josie’s friend in her stead, my little research project can wait.” I held up my laptop, which I’d brought with me.
“No,” Jemma insisted a bit too firmly. “This is important. I’m sure Val can entertain herself.”
I didn’t think Jemma had spoken loud enough for the gorgeous woman with silky black hair and pale skin to hear after she’d wandered into the cottage from the back deck, but she had paused when Jemma spoke.
“Val,” Jemma eventually said. “This is Ainsley. Ainsley; Val.”
“I’m so happy to meet you.” I smiled.
She looked me up and down but otherwise didn’t respond to my greeting.
“How are you enjoying your stay in Gooseberry Bay?” I asked, trying again to converse.
Val acted like she didn’t even hear me as she turned and headed toward the kitchen. I glanced at Jemma, who simply shrugged.
“I can’t find the ahi,” Val said as she stood in front of the open refrigerator.
“I don’t think we have any ahi,” Jemma responded.
“There isn’t any ahi?” The woman looked genuinely shocked. “But Josie knows I love ahi. Ahi salad and a high-end brand of champagne are two of the items I always insist on having. Josie has known for over a week that I planned to visit this godforsaken corner of the world. Surely, she would have stocked up on both.”
“I’m sure she meant to,” Jemma defended her friend. “The flu that caused her to work a double shift today has been going around for a while, and Josie has had to work a lot of extra hours.”
The woman slammed the refrigerator closed as her black eyes flashed with annoyance. “I guess I’ll just have to wait to eat until we go out later.”
“I’m not sure Josie will still want to go out, so maybe you should look for something else to eat,” Jemma suggested.
“Not go out? Why wouldn’t she want to go out?”
“She won’t be home until after eight, and even when she does get here, she’ll have just worked a double shift in the kitchen. She’ll probably be exhausted.”
Val rolled her eyes. “She won’t be too exhausted to go to Fisher’s party. We’ve been planning to go ever since I first mentioned I was going to be on this side of the Sound.”
“While that’s true, I don’t think she knew she’d be asked to cover so many shifts.”
The woman left the kitchen and headed across the room. “Unlike some people I know, Josie has her priorities straight. She knows I don’t get out here often, and the last thing she’d want to do is to leave me sitting here in this dump with nothing to do.”
With that, she stomped up the stairs.
“Wow,” I said as she disappeared from sight.
A few seconds later, I heard the she-witch screech. “Jemma!”
“What?” Jemma called back.
“I told you to keep these cats out of my room.” She stomped into the hallway that led to the landing and held up a tiny dress. “They were sleeping on the bed and got cat hair on my new outfit.”
“The room they were sleeping in is not your room,” Jemma reminded the beautiful yet seemingly soulless woman. “It’s Josie’s room. They’re used to sleeping in there. If you don’t want them in the room while you’re staying here, close the door. If the door is left open, they will go in. I already told you that.”
“Well, I never…” She turned and stomped back into the bedroom. We heard the door slam, and then a few seconds later, Stefan and Damon came running down the stairs as if the devil himself were chasing them.
My face must have mirrored the confusion I felt. Jemma bent over, picked Stefan up, and then handed him to me, so she could comfort Damon.
“You’re wondering why Josie is friends with someone like Val,” Jemma said.
“Actually, that’s exactly what I was wondering.” I hugged the frightened kitten against my chest.
“Honestly, I have no idea. When I first came to Gooseberry Bay, Josie and Val were roommates. I met Josie first, and we really hit it off, but then I met Val and pretty much found myself asking whether I wanted to be friends with someone who’d take on a roommate who was obviously a self-indulged sociopath. That might have been the end of my friendship with Josie, but then Val got a job offer out of state and moved away. I really hoped I’d never see her again, but the woman seems to show up for these little visits a few times a year.” Jemma set Stefan on the floor and then continued. “Josie is a strong, intelligent, confident woman who doesn’t take crap from anyone. Anyone other than Val, w
hich has caused me to suspect that Josie feels like she owes Val something. I really have no idea why she would put up with her unless she felt she owed the woman a debt of some sort.”
“Have you tried talking to her about it?” I asked.
“I have. Josie made it very clear that the subject of her friendship with Val is a subject that should be considered private and off-limits.”
I glanced toward the stairs. “How long is Val going to be here?”
Jemma shrugged. “I don’t know. Josie said a few days, but she always says a few days. Sometimes that really does equate to a few days, but other times, a few days really means a couple weeks. I’m not sure Josie even knows how long Val will be in town.”
I glanced toward my computer. “I heard from Adam and have news, but maybe this isn’t the best time.”
“It’s a perfect time, but let’s take the cats and go to your place.”
“Okay.” I agreed that heading to my cottage sounded preferable to staying here with such an obnoxious woman who may or may not make another appearance.
“Do you have wine?” Jemma asked.
“Actually, I do.”
“Okay. You grab Stefan, and I’ll grab Damon. Just a fair warning, I may end up staying until Josie gets home.”
“You’re welcome to stay as long as you want.”
Once we’d gotten the kittens settled in front of the fire with the dogs, Jemma and I settled on the sofa with my laptop.
“You said you had news.”
“I do.”
“Okay, What have you found out?”
I hesitated. “It’s a lot, and it’s complicated.”
A look of concern crossed Jemma’s face. “Okay. Go ahead and tell me what you know and I’ll stop you and ask questions if needed.”
I nodded. “First of all, I found out who Marilee is and how she’s related to Adam.”
Jemma’s eyes widened. “You don’t say. How are they related?”
“Marilee is Darwin Hollander’s niece.”
“Darwin Hollander?”
“Olivia’s husband.”
Jemma still looked confused, which was understandable since she didn’t have the Winchester family background that I’d been assembling over the past couple of months. “Let me start at the beginning,” I suggested. “I guess you know that a man named Bram Hemingway built the house on Piney Point in nineteen forty-six.”
“Yes, I do know that. Bram was married to a woman named Anastasia, and they had two daughters named Charlotte and Scarlett. Scarlett moved to England, and Charlotte stayed here in Washington and married a man named Ashton Winchester. They had three sons: Kingston, Conway, and Carlton. Kingston, who married a woman named Chelsea, was Adam and Archie’s father. I assume that Marilee comes from the English side of the family, which, quite frankly, I know nothing about.”
“Marilee is descended from Scarlett,” I confirmed. “Scarlett married an Englishman named Baron Rycroft, and they had four children: Olivia, Diana, Evelyn, and David.”
“Ah,” Jemma said. “I do remember hearing something about that. The man who came at Christmas, Wesley, was one of Evelyn’s sons.”
“Yes, that’s correct.” I inhaled softly. “Olivia is the aunt we’re interested in at this point. She married a man named Darwin Hollander. He had two sisters: Joslyn and Amber. I guess that Darwin isn’t close to his sisters, and Adam has never met them, but they do play an important part in this whole story.”
“Okay,” Jemma said. “I’m listening.”
“Amber married an American named Kent Wentworth. The couple lives in Massachusetts. They had two or three children. I don’t remember how many, but I do know that one of their children was a woman named Marilee.”
Jemma’s eyes widened. “So they must know what happened to her and why she was here with two little girls in the first place.”
“Actually, I didn’t ask Adam that question. He shared so much during our telephone conversation that, quite frankly, I was totally overwhelmed. What I do know is that Darwin’s other sister, Joslyn, married a man named Leopold Macalester. Leopold was the son of Nicolas Macalester, a major landowner living in Northern Italy.”
I paused and considered how much to share. I wasn’t sure I needed to share everything Adam had told me, but maybe understanding the history was really the only way to understand the present.
“After Joslyn and Leopold were married, Nicolas died, and Leopold took over as head of the family. The couple had one child: Arthur. Arthur married a woman from Norway named Adora. Together they had two daughters: Ava and Avery.”
Jemma gasped. “Ava and Avery. Arthur and Adora are your parents?”
I nodded as the tear I was trying to restrain slipped down my cheek. “They were my parents. Adam said they were killed in a plane crash when I was three.”
Jemma reached over and hugged me. She hugged me long and hard. I hadn’t even been aware of the need for comfort until Jemma reached out to comfort me. When she did that, the dam broke, and all the tears I’d been holding at bay spilled out. I’m not sure how long we sat there on the sofa, hugging and crying, but we eventually pulled back and dried our eyes.
Jemma poured the wine while I headed to the bathroom to wash my face. When I returned, she quietly waited for me to continue or not. I could sense that she was letting me set the pace.
“I’m sorry,” I finally said. “I have no idea where that all came from.”
She reached out and took my hand. “I do. You found and lost your parents in a single minute. That’s a lot to deal with.”
“Maybe, but I think I’ve suspected all along that my parents were dead. If they were alive, they would have been looking for me.”
“Perhaps, but suspecting your parents are dead and knowing they are is an entirely different thing.”
I swallowed hard. “Yes, I guess it is.” I glanced toward the computer.
“We can take a break if you want,” Jemma offered.
“No,” I decided. “I want to continue.”
“Okay.” Jemma picked up her wine and took a sip. “Your parents were killed in a plane crash, and then what? How did you and Avery end up on Piney Point?”
I took another sip of my wine as I organized my thoughts. The situation really was complex. When Adam had gone back to the beginning to explain how Livingston Macalester inherited the land and why he set up the trust the way he had, I thought the explanation was excessive, but here I was going over all the same things with Jemma. By the time I got back around to the controversy of the birth order relating to twins, Leopold and Leora, I think we both felt like we’d been put through the wringer.
“Wow,” Jemma said. “That really is a lot to take in.”
“It really is,” I agreed. “To be honest, I feel totally overwhelmed. While I want to know everything right now, at this very moment, I also want to slow things down so my mind and my emotions can catch up.”
“I get that. I really do.” Jemma glanced at the computer we’d yet to touch. “Was there a specific reason you came over to talk to me today?”
Was there? To be honest, I really wasn’t sure. “I don’t know why exactly. I guess I had this overwhelming need to know everything there was to know after I spoke to Adam, but I didn’t even know where to start. I pulled up some photos of my parents. Do you want to see them?”
She smiled. “I do.”
For the next thirty minutes, Jemma and I looked at the material I’d already found and saved in a folder. There were photos of and biographies for my parents, their wedding announcement, my birth announcement, and a photo of Avery’s christening.
“May tenth, nineteen ninety-two,” I said aloud.
Jemma just looked at me.
“May tenth, nineteen ninety-two is my birthday,” I said. “I’m twenty-eight years old, and in all my life, I’ve never known that my actual birthday was on May tenth.”
“You never celebrated your birthday?” Jemma asked.
I nodded. “My
dad found me on December twenty-fourth, so we decided that would be my foundaversary, which was like a birthday. It was Christmas, so I got gifts anyway, but in addition to those, we always did something to celebrate the day we became a team.”
“Is December twenty-fourth the date on your driver’s license?” Jemma asked.
I frowned. “No. The date on my driver’s license is May tenth, nineteen ninety-two.”
Jemma gasped. “The date on your driver’s license is your actual birthday?”
I nodded. “Apparently. I really have no idea where that date came from. I mean, I always knew it wasn’t my real birthday. I knew that no one knew what my real birthday was, so I guess I just assumed someone assigned me a birth date during the adoption process. Dad and I never acknowledged that date as being significant.” I sucked in a deep breath as I felt the tears threatening to return. “It was just a date,” I said as the first tear slid down my cheek. “I thought it was just a meaningless random date that someone had assigned to my legal paperwork.”
“But it wasn’t,” she said. “Meaningless or random, I mean.”
I glanced at the computer screen. “No, I guess not.” I took a deep breath to steady my nerves. “And it appears, based on what I’ve been able to dig up, that I was never adopted, which means that some judge arbitrarily assigning me a birthdate could never have happened.”
“What do you think happened?” Jemma asked.
I slowly shook my head. “I have no idea.” I closed my eyes and tried to imagine my dad’s smiling face. “What I do know,” I continued without opening my eyes, “is that my dad had a photo of me with Avery and Marilee, and he somehow knew my actual birthday.” I opened my eyes. “I don’t remember the fire or the warehouse. No one remembers seeing me there. It appears I was never taken to a hospital to be checked out on Christmas Eve as my dad told me, and it appears that Dad never contacted social services.”