For You, Forever

by Sophie Love

  A horrifying reality dawned on Emily then. The three of them had drifted here not for a vacation but for work! Like Daniel, they were all handyman types. Stu was a mechanic and had the most stable employment situation of the three, but Clyde and Evan made ends meet through plastering and painting, putting shelves up for old ladies, and cutting grass. They weren’t just here for a fun weekend or a couple of nights camping, they were here to stay!

  She floundered, not knowing what to say or do. Though they’d grown closer during the wedding, Emily still found their behavior to be a bit on the infuriating side. With her pregnancy would it be too stressful having them around?

  It was Chantelle who made Emily’s internal thoughts known.

  “How long are you staying?” she asked, as she was placed gently on her feet, unscathed.

  “That’s up to your mom,” Evan said, sheepishly.

  “For as long as we’re useful,” Clyde added with a cheeky shrug.

  “I know how you can help!” Chantelle exclaimed. “You can work on the island!”

  By the look on Daniel’s face, Emily could see the suggestion delighted him. So far the two young college guys were on board to do the island renovation, but they hadn’t yet employed any handymen. In fact, assembling a team was next on Daniel’s to-do list, to be completed first thing Monday morning. So really, Chantelle’s idea could kill two birds with one stone.

  “Would you want to?” Daniel asked them. “You’re not too busy with other work?”

  The three of them looked thrilled at the suggestion, like they hadn’t already had it at the backs of their minds before they got here.

  “Definitely!” Stu exclaimed. Evan and Clyde also nodded exuberantly.

  “Amazing,” Daniel said. “We have work all through the winter and into next year. It’s casual so there’s no commitment to stick around for all of it. And you can stay at the inn if you need to. Emily? Are you okay with that?”

  “Is it okay for us to stay?” Stu asked. He was always the slightly more considerate of the three, Emily thought.

  Everyone looked at her hopefully. Emily didn’t feel like she had much of a choice. She tried to look at the positives; any way of reducing Daniel’s stress levels and the amount he had to work was a good thing, and anything that made him happy, and made Chantelle happy, was also worth it in her mind. The downside, Emily thought, was that by allowing the three of them to work for them, her resolution against Astrid lost even more of its power.

  With her hands tied, Emily finally relented. “Fine. You guys can stay here and work on the island. But you have to behave yourselves. Chantelle is back at school and I will not having you sitting on the porch drinking and chatting all hours. Understood?”

  Everyone cheered. Clyde swept Emily into a bear hug. With her face pressed against his broad chest, his musty sweat smell in her nostrils, Emily’s sense of trepidation seemed only to grow.

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  The next morning, Emily woke early, fully prepared to enact her plan to catch Laverne’s mom at the school gates. She showered and dressed for the day and then went into Chantelle’s room to wake her up. The girl murmured unhappily.

  “It’s too early,” she complained, trying to pull her covers back over her head.

  Emily peeled them off. “I know. But we have to get in early today.”

  “Why?” Chantelle complained.

  Emily didn’t want to reveal her plan to Chantelle. She knew the girl would resist.

  “Toby,” she blurted. It was the first thing that popped into her head. “He wants to play a superhero game with you before school starts.”

  Chantelle looked suspicious, but she dragged herself out of bed nonetheless.

  As they headed downstairs for breakfast, Emily texted Suzanna.

  Can I pick Toby up for the school run today?

  Suzanna’s reply came shortly after.

  That would be amazing! But why are you awake this early? I’ve been breastfeeding for the last hour. What’s your excuse?

  Emily laughed and rubbed her tired eyes.

  It’s a long story. I’ll explain another time.

  Then, on second thought, she added: Can Toby wear his superman cape?

  Suzanna replied quickly. Lol. Of course. This is all very mysterious.

  With everything planned, Emily and Chantelle sat together and quickly had a bowl of cereal.

  “Come on, let’s go pick up Toby,” Emily said as soon as their dishes were empty.

  “You’re rushing,” Chantelle said grumpily.

  “Don’t you want to play with Toby?” Emily said.

  “Of course,” Chantelle replied, dragging her feet as she followed Emily along the corridor. “I just don’t want to see Laverne and Bailey. That’s all.”

  Emily let out a sad sigh. She was right not to mention the real plan to Chantelle. It could easily have caused her to melt down.

  They headed out to Emily’s car and piled in. Chantelle practically fell asleep in the backseat.

  When Emily pulled up outside Suzanna’s, she saw her friend already sitting on her porch in the rocking chair with baby Robin.

  “Do you feed him on the porch?” Emily asked, laughing as she greeted her friend.

  “The fresh air stops me falling asleep,” Suzanna told her. The bags under her eyes were dark. “I swear it wasn’t this hard with Toby. But I suppose that’s the difference between having babies in your twenties and babies in your thirties. And going from one child to two. You’d think the workload would double but somehow it increases tenfold!” She shook her head and cast her gaze at Emily’s bump. “Sorry, you probably don’t need to hear this.”

  “It’s good to prepare,” Emily replied.

  Suzanna stood and went to fetch Toby. As requested, he was wearing his Spiderman cape. He offered Chantelle the Batman one. Then they said goodbye to Suzanna and got back into Emily’s car.

  Emily pulled up in the school parking lot and was pleased to see that she was the first car there.

  “Right, kids, off you go,” she said, ushering them into the playground. To her delight, they instantly began playing a superhero game. Her plan was coming together.

  She kept one eye on the children and the other on the entrance to the parking lot. A car arrived but it wasn’t Laverne and her mom; instead, it was Holly dropping Levi off, her little one, Minnie, in her booster seat in the back.

  “You’re never here this early,” Holly said.

  “Neither are you,” Emily replied with a laugh. Levi ran off to play with Toby and Chantelle, and Emily revealed her secret to Holly. “I’m actually on a mission to meet Laverne’s mom.”

  Holly raised an eyebrow. “Why? I’m hearing bad stuff about that family.”

  “Really?” Emily asked, intrigued. “Like what?”

  Holly folded her arms. “They’re real estate developers who just move where the money is. They have a pretty bad track record as well, of buying up old properties and leveling them to build new, modern apartments that are totally out of keeping with the area. I heard the children have already lived in seven different states, bearing in mind Laverne is the eldest. That’s a new house every year. No wonder she’s so mean. All her friendships must be so temporary.”

  Emily felt bad for the child, suffering because of the actions of her parents.

  “They don’t usually send them to public school, either,” Holly continued. “The others are at Mallory’s, you know the private school on the cliffs. The only reason Laverne is here is because her grade was full so they couldn’t accommodate her. That’s why she’s dropped off so early. The others start at seven a.m. so the mom drops Laverne here straight after.”

  Emily’s eyes widened. She didn’t usually like to gossip but this was all quite fascinating. It certainly went some way in explaining why Laverne was so prickly.

  Just then, a car turned into the parking lot, shiny black with tinted windows.

  “Speak of the Devil,” Holly said under her brea
th.

  The car was driving far too fast. It swung into a parking space and the back door opened. Out hopped Laverne. So her mom couldn’t even be bothered to get out of the car and socialize with them? She was just going to shove her kid out and drive off?

  “Excuse me a moment,” Emily said to Holly.

  Holly gave her a curious expression as she headed in the direction of Laverne’s car. When she reached it, she rapped on the driver’s window with her knuckles. The windows buzzed down and Emily was confronted with a pair of huge, gold-rimmed sunglasses sitting on top of a small, surgically redesigned nose. Pursed pink lips that looked like they’d been injected with fillers opened and said, “Yes? What? I’m in a hurry?”

  Emily held her tongue. “I’m Emily Morey. Chantelle’s mom. Our kids are in the same class.”

  “Right. And?”

  The woman had an abrupt way of speaking and an accent Emily knew all too well. New York City.

  “And… I think they’ve gotten off to a bad start. Laverne’s made friends with Chantelle’s best friend so there’s a bit of jealousy. And dare I say bullying? Laverne thinks my daughter has a stupid accent.”

  The woman sighed roughly. “This always happens,” she muttered. She leaned out the window. “LAVERNE!”

  The little girl stopped and hurried back to her mom, clearly well trained to be obedient. Emily spotted Chantelle looking curiously in their direction. She beckoned to her but Chantelle shook her head resolutely.

  “I hear you’re being mean,” Laverne’s mom said when the girl was beside the door.

  Laverne dropped her head but not out of shame, she was hiding a smirk. Emily felt rage take hold of her.

  “No,” Laverne said. “I just pointed out that Chantelle has a Texan accent. That’s all. It wasn’t an insult. It’s just true.”

  Emily took an instant disliking to Laverne. She had a haughty attitude and a smug expression. But she remembered what Holly had told her and tried to be sympathetic. It was Laverne’s circumstances that made her unpleasant, not the child herself. And with such an awful mother it was to be expected.

  “We spoke about this,” Laverne’s mom said. “Sometimes it’s not what you say but how you say it. Did your tone imply that Chantelle was stupid because of her accent?”

  Laverne just shrugged.

  “LAVERNE,” her mom snapped. “I do not have time for this. I have a meeting with the bank today. I don’t want to be late. So just cut the crap, okay?”

  Emily’s eyebrows rose. Laverne’s mom was quite fierce.

  “Fine,” Laverne said to Emily. “I’m sorry I was mean. I don’t think Chantelle is stupid.”

  Emily nodded, though she didn’t think the child really meant it. “I think maybe Chantelle might want to hear that from you directly,” she said.

  Laverne huffed. She stomped across the playground and stopped underneath the climbing frame where Toby and Chantelle were pretending to rescue Levi. She watched as Laverne looked up at them and spoke. Then she saw Chantelle turn her gaze toward Emily. Emily braced herself, wondering whether Laverne really had apologized or whether she’d just said something equally mean. But then Chantelle grinned at Emily and Emily knew that it had worked.

  She turned back to Laverne’s mom, satisfied. “Thank you,” she said. “It’s always best to nip these things in the bud.”

  “Sure,” the mom replied, sounding bored. “I have to go now, though. A meeting in town.”

  “Is this about your real estate work?” Emily asked.

  The woman glanced over the top of her sunglasses suspiciously. “News travels fast in small towns,” she said in a dry voice. “Yes. I’m buying that old oceanfront inn. You know, the one that’s falling apart.”

  Emily knew it. It was a magnificent old place. It hadn’t been used as an inn for dozens of years, although she vaguely remembered it being in business when she’d visited Sunset Harbor as a child. It was a huge place, a magnificent old Victorian manor house, with a substantial amount of land around it.

  “You’re moving in?” Emily asked. This woman would need to be rich to turn it into a family home, but she was very familiar with the sort of wealth that could come out of New York City.

  “God no,” the woman said, laughing. “We’re tearing it down.”

  Emily was horrified. “But why?” she cried, shocked.

  “I prefer modern architecture.”

  “So you’re turning the space into apartments or something?” Emily asked.

  She was still reeling with the news that the gorgeous old piece of history was going to be destroyed. She remembered how Trevor had wanted it to be turned into a museum but had been consistently voted down by the other members of the zoning board. There’d even been discussion about it since his death, of making it a historical museum in his honor. But there just wasn’t the money right now. Clearly Mayor Hansen had now given up on the possibility of the money ever being there, and had given the go-ahead to have it sold into private hands.

  “No, I’m going to start an inn. I read this article about how Sunset Harbor is up and coming. And Roman Westbrook lives here now so I figured I would capitalize on that while I could. You never know when the next financial crash is coming, know what I mean?”

  Emily found the woman’s attitude disgusting. At the same time she was terrified about what a new inn in town would do to her business. The sight was prime real estate, far better located for the harbor and town amenities than Emily’s inn. Plus, it was in the same part of town where Roman lived, so if people were only coming to Sunset Harbor hoping to spot him then that was a better place to do it than the inn was.

  As these thoughts raced through Emily’s mind, she suddenly realized that she already knew what Laverne’s mom was planning on doing in Sunset Harbor. She’d heard this story before; a New York City lady reading Colin’s article and coming to Sunset Harbor to open an inn. It was Jayne who’d told her.

  “Raven?” Emily asked, as it dawned on her. “Raven Kingsley?”

  The woman snapped off her sunglasses. “Yes. Do I know you?”

  “Emily Jane Mitchell. From college. I’m friends with Jayne.”

  “Oh jeez, I see it now!” Raven exclaimed. “I didn’t recognize you with the, you know…” She pointed at Emily’s protruding stomach. “And your name is different. You’re married?”

  Emily nodded. “Yes, six months now.”

  “Still in the honeymoon phase,” Raven said, drily. “Enjoy it while it lasts. ’Cause it gets bad. It gets so, so bad.”

  Emily was shocked by the turn of events. As she said goodbye to Raven Kingsley and headed home, her mind was spinning.

  To make matters worse, as she pulled into the parking lot at the inn, her phone began to ring and she saw, with horror, that it was Patricia calling her.

  Her instinct was to ignore the call. She’d made it quite clear during the party on Saturday that she’d had enough of her mother. Did her mom really think she’d change her mind within two days about that?

  As she deliberated over accepting the call, the flashing screen suddenly blinked to darkness. Voicemail had picked it up. Emily watched, looking at her cell to see whether her mom would leave a message. She didn’t usually. But sure enough, a minute later, she received a notice saying she had a message.

  Feeling a bit shaky with anxiety, Emily dialed her voicemail and listened to the robotic voice telling her she had one new message.

  “Emily, it’s Mom. I know you said that you didn’t want to speak to me again, but listen. What you said about Roy has really shaken me. I’m getting old, as much as I hate to admit it. And I dread dying with us fighting and hating each other. So, I’m sorry. I was wrong. Can I try again? I want to be a good mom. I want to be a grandma. Take your time to think about it, but let’s not leave it as we did.”

  There was a long pause then, the call still connected but Patricia saying nothing. Then she spoke again, words that Emily rarely heard from her mom, words that she’d always so
desperately craved.

  “I love you.”

  Then the message cut out. Emily slumped forward, her head on the steering wheel, and wept.

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  By the time Columbus Day arrived, the nursery was complete. Amy had been a great support, helping Emily prepare everything. She put the final load of folded towels into the bottom drawer of the dresser and straightened up.

  “That’s it.” She beamed at Emily. “Everything’s set now. Just the baby to come.”

  Emily could hardly believe that Charlotte was due to meet them in just two months. She already felt like she’d reached full term. It was impossible for her to grow any bigger, surely!

  She rested in the nursing chair, putting her feet up on the stool.

  “Thanks for all your help,” she told Amy. “With Daniel busy running Jack Cooper’s and overseeing Stu, Clyde, and Evan for the island construction, I don’t think I could have done it without you.”

  She buttoned her lips once she’d finished speaking, realizing that she was putting a lot of pressure on Amy with the statement. Amy hadn’t been sure whether she was going to stick around in Sunset Harbor and Emily didn’t want her pregnancy to be a factor in Amy’s decision making.

  But Amy smiled as she perched on the stool by her feet. “Anything.” She smiled. “You’re my best friend.”

  They hadn’t spoken much about Harry for a while. After Emily had left Amy behind in New York City, there’d been something of a lull to that particular conversation. Amy had avoided talking about it and Emily assumed she was just trying to sort her own thoughts out without the constant opinions of everyone else clouding her judgment.

  As though reading her mind, Amy said, “Things are good between me and Harry now.”

  Emily let out a breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding. “It is? Oh good. That’s a relief.”