Wild Hearts

by Vivian Wood

  “Mama Mae? Caleb? How you know them?” George asked.

  “Well, I’m . . . I’m kind of staying at Greystone.”

  “No shit,” George said. “Pardon my language, ma’am. You mean you booked a room there? Or . . .”

  “No. I mean, they got looped into the whole inheritance thing somehow. I guess Mae was close with Lydia? Or . . .”

  “Yeah, yeah, I got you. That whole island’s intertwined in one way or another. Well, Miss Capshaw, let me do something. I’mma write down a figure here. Now, keep in mind it’s just a sight unseen bid, but I’m very familiar with those properties. An’ you have a think on it.”

  When he reached for the pad of paper, his leg pressed against hers, but he didn’t move it. Faith saw it as a challenge and pushed right back.

  She watched Alex cover the Mustang. The entire ride back from lunch had been awkwardly quiet. Whatever his problem was, this whole brooding, angsty teen thing was too much. Why couldn’t he lighten up? The few glimpses of being a normal guy she saw at the barbeque joint were rare.

  “Coming?” he asked curtly as he made a beeline for the ferry.

  Faith sighed and followed. They were fifteen minutes early for the last ferry, and no crew members were on-site. The only other passengers were a group of fat, mean-looking rednecks.

  She didn’t think much of the motley crew until they reached the boarding area and Alex abruptly stepped in front of her. “Faith?” one of the men said meanly. His knuckles were covered in faded blue tattoos, and his neck was so big it merged his head with his shoulders.

  “Yes?” she squeaked. How does he know my name?

  “Get out of the way, Caldwell,” one of the others said. Alex didn’t move, but Faith peered around Alex’s broad shoulders at the group.

  The first man spit a stream of reddish brown chew into the dirt. “Ain’t you Gonna give yo’ cousin a hug, baby girl?” asked one of them.

  “Excuse me?” she said.

  The group broke out in cruel laughter. “She ain’t even know,” said the second man.

  “We yo’ cousins, Cousin,” said the first man.

  “I, um, I don’t . . .”

  “Yeah, you don’t know shit is right,” said the first man. He eyed her up and down the best he could behind Alex. “Yo’ great-aunt, Miss Lydia? Crazy ol’ bitch done left you the estate when she know good an’ well it belong to us.”

  “You knew Lydia?” Faith asked. She stepped to Alex’s side. He grabbed her forearm to keep her from getting any closer to them.

  “Know her? Sweetheart, we a hell of a lot better related to her than you ever be.”

  “Yeah,” agreed the man with the menacing tattoos. “And we none too pleased you come up in here like some uppity princess and steal our inheritance.”

  “Your inheritance? Listen,” Faith said as she held up her hands. “I have no idea why she left everything to me. But that’s the way it is.”

  “Oh!” squealed one of the men. “She done gone lawyer on yo’ ass.”

  “You listen here,” said the first man. “That property ain’t yours. You hear me? And I’ll be damned if yo’ Gonna take it.”

  Alex cleared his throat. “Y’all best leave,” he said. “I think the sheriff will be plenty interested in the fact that you threatened her. Sheriff’s just looking for reasons to lock you up, is what I heard.”

  “Yeah, Caldwell?” asked one of the men in the back. “You Gonna tell on us? Well, now ain’t that a surprise. That Becca fucked you up real good, right? Ain’t got nothin’ better to do than run round snitchin’ on everybody.”

  Becca?

  The men shuffled for a moment but eventually left with scowls plastered across their faces when Alex didn’t budge. Most looked over their shoulder at Alex and Faith. “I be watchin’ you,” the first man called to them from across the street, where they climbed into an old Bronco with a massive lift kit. “Cousin,” he added.

  It wasn’t until the Bronco was out of sight that Faith realized her heart had started to slow. “What the . . . what the hell was that?” she asked Alex. She gazed up at him, but he wouldn’t look her in the eye.

  “Just a li’l domestic dispute,” he said.

  Domestic dispute? Are those monsters really her cousins? She wanted to push and ask more but knew it would be impossible with Alex. She held her tongue and told herself she’d ask Mae.

  It felt like hours before the ferry came into view. “You enjoy your day in town, ma’am?” the security checker asked.

  “Oh, uh, yeah,” she said. “It was great.” Alex raised a brow at her. Not gonna blab about the fat cousin brigade? he seemed to ask.

  “Seems y’all my only customers,” the clerk said. “So we Gonna get goin’ straightaway.”

  Instead of leaning against the railing like he had in the morning, Alex started to circle the small deck area. Faith heard him swear as he fumbled with a pile of something pushed under a storage seat and wrapped in a gray cloth.

  “Hey!” she called to him as he picked up the bundle and tossed it overboard. “What is that? What are you doing?”

  “Nothin’,” he said. “Just some stupid booby trap.”

  “Booby trap? But how did you know? Was it for me—”

  “I just knew. Okay? Now drop it.”

  “There’s no way in hell I’m going to drop it. What was it? A bomb?” she asked. She looked around the ferry to see if anyone was watching, but the small crew was nowhere to be seen.

  “I said drop it,” he repeated. Something in his voice made her listen.

  A chill crept through her. When they were five minutes from docking on Saint Rose, Alex finally came and stood beside her.

  “Cold?” he asked.

  She shook her head. “I just can’t believe there’s been so much friction. I’ve only been here two days! I didn’t even know about those guys.” She couldn’t bring herself to say cousins. There was no way she was related to those creeps.

  “Maybe you should think about whether or not it’s worth your while,” Alex said, stone-faced. “You’re just here for a short while, anyway.”

  Is it just her, or is he trying to get her to leave?

  Faith didn’t want to argue with him. What was the point? Getting information out of Alex was a painstaking process.

  On the other hand, maybe he was right. She didn’t have to be on the island to handle the estate. That’s what estate attorneys are for, and there were no rules that she had to keep the property anyway. Surely it could be sold. Not for a huge profit, maybe, but for something. Besides, the real windfall was in the cash inheritance, not the house.

  Faith inched away from him as Saint Rose came into view. In some ways the rednecks were right. Who was she to inherit everything? She hadn’t even known the woman had existed until the attorney had contacted her.

  She sighed. The estate attorney who’d called her about the inheritance only lived a bit away. Maybe it was better to get things handled sooner rather than later.

  Chapter 8

  Alex

  Alex returned from his morning run late. Instead of the usual single loop, he’d pounded through two. If running couldn’t give him peace of mind, the least it could do was wear him out.

  As he rounded the last curve of the trail to home, he heard splashing in the pool. It was rare these days for anyone to make use of the Olympic-size pristine water. As children, he, Caleb, and Lee would spend summers racing through the water, but that was long ago.

  He saw Faith finish a lap at the deep end. She hoisted herself out of the water with hair that looked even darker and longer than usual. Jesus Christ, no woman should be shaped like that. She had legs for miles, taut and toned in the high-cut bikini bottom. Amazing tits, too, he thought. The red two-piece showed off every curve, and the halter top emphasized her perfect hourglass shape.

  Faith looked in his direction and caught his stare as she wrapped a white towel around her tiny waist. He looked down quickly and walked faster toward
the house. This was way too much of a distraction.

  He’d never realized before just how small the inn could be. His entire life, it had seemed huge. But now? With Faith there, it was like he couldn’t avoid bumping into her. All morning and into the afternoon he busied himself with tasks around the house.

  “Since when do you cut the firewood?” Caleb called to him. Alex winced. It had taken him ten minutes to get into the meditative, repetitive motion of chopping wood. “Besides, it’s summer. How many fires do you think there will be?”

  “There’re always bonfires,” Alex said to himself. After a few minutes, he felt Caleb’s presence disappear. Half an hour later, he caught sight of a bright-yellow figure on one of the trails. Matt and Faith walked side by side while his cousin pointed out the wildlife.

  But Faith seemed to be looking directly at him. Is that right? It was too far away to tell for certain.

  By the time Alex had moved on to mowing the manicured front lawn, even at his mama’s insistence that the gardeners would be there in two days, all doubts were erased. Faith sat on the front porch sipping sweet tea. The heat of the day had forced her to draw her long dress up over her knees while her feet were perched on the railing. He felt her eyes on him the entire time.

  It’s not like it’s the worst thing for my ego to be looked at by a woman, he told himself. Especially someone that looks like her. Alex paused and pulled his shirt over his head. As he wrapped the T-shirt around the handlebars of the old push mower, he was well aware of the show he put on. Thank God for a diligent workout regimen.

  Alex stole a look at her through his sunglasses. Her own aviators partially hid her gaze, but he could feel her stare like a heat probe.

  She could be a model. Or an actress, he thought. But a lawyer? In some ways, that made her even hotter. In others, it reminded him that she was a world away from him.

  By the time he’d finished with the lawn, Faith had gone back inside, and the sun was starting to set. He was soaked in sweat, but the manual labor of the day gave him a type of energy he hadn’t felt in years.

  The foyer and sitting rooms were clear, though he heard clangs in the kitchen. Alex took the stairs two at a time and hit the shower. Already, he could feel a minor sunburn had soaked into his shoulders and chest. While he lathered up, he refused to think of Faith. Not now. Even a fantasy could get him into trouble.

  Downstairs, he heard laughter and hushed tones. Mama and Faith were huddled in the kitchen at the breakfast table while Gwen and Jessie hunched over the stove. “What are y’all doin’?” he asked.

  “Oh, just looking at some old family photos,” Mama said.

  “What—what family photos?” he asked. He recognized some of the old, thick photo albums Mama had laid out on the table. A couple were historic photos of the inn and Saint Rose from circa 1900. Other albums weren’t as familiar.

  Faith was totally absorbed in the books and didn’t even look up when he walked in. “Who’s this?” she asked Mama.

  “That’s my great-aunt. She swore the secret to a long life was two gin and tonics plus half a pack of cigarettes every day. Of course, she died at sixty-three.”

  Alex rolled his eyes and peeked over Gwen’s shoulder. “Collard greens?” he asked.

  “Yeah, wit’ pork, baby,” she said. “Now, you know how I feel about having noncooks in my kitchen. Get. Y’all Gonna eat real soon.”

  “Yes, ma’am,” he said. There was nowhere to go but the table.

  Mama had pulled out yet another album, and this one was newer. Alex still didn’t recognize it, but Mama was always archiving family photos. She refused to switch to digital, though he and Caleb had been trying for years. “And what am I supposed to do when the computer crashes again?” she’d asked.

  “Mama, if that happens, the pictures will be safe in the cloud.”

  “In the what now?”

  He shook his head at the thought. Some things never changed.

  “Now see, here’s the whole family ʼbout seven years ago,” Mama said. She pointed to a posed shot of the extended family from Alex and Rebecca’s rehearsal dinner. “Flew in from all over the world! Alex ʼn Caleb’s aunts and cousins from Luxembourg, right here. And this—”

  Alex’s heart quickened. He knew what Faith’s next question was going to be. He remembered the shot well, with him and Rebecca right in the center. It couldn’t be another page or two before it became obvious that it was his wedding album.

  “Hey, Mama, think dinner’s ready yet?” he interrupted. It was a stupid question, but it was the first thing he could think of.

  “Hey? Hay is for horses,” Mama scolded him. “And didn’t I just hear you bothering Gwen about it anyway? Why are you asking me?”

  “I just thought—”

  “Dinner’s ready,” Gwen said as she turned off the gas.

  Mama sighed. “Saved by the bell, you are,” she told Alex. She snapped the album shut. “Go get your brothers. I’ll help Gwen serve.”

  “I’ll set the table,” Faith said and jumped up.

  “Well, bless your heart, that’s real sweet of you,” Mama said. “You could learn a thing or two from her,” Mama said to Alex. “Real helpful. What you been doing all day, anyway?”

  Alex opened his mouth to tick off the list of nonstop chores but then snapped it back shut. What was the point?

  He ran back upstairs and called out to Caleb, Matt, and Lee. It didn’t take much to get them to rush downstairs for Gwen’s collard greens. She wouldn’t even give the recipe up to Mama. It was the one dish she cooked completely by herself.

  As they settled down in the formal dining room, Mama and Gwen glided into the room with arms full of steaming home cooking. Dishes of blackened catfish with Cajun spices, jalapeño-infused cornbread, slices of tomatoes from the garden with salt and pepper, and pimiento cheese were spread out across the table.

  “This looks amazing,” Faith said. All four men remained standing until both Mama and Faith sat.

  “Gwen’s amazing,” Mama said. “I swear, she and I are nearly the same age, but I learned more about cooking from her than I ever did my own mama.”

  “Thank you much, ma’am,” Gwen said as she delivered the last dish to the table, baked mac ’n’ cheese with bread crumb topping.

  “I heard Alex took you for some barbeque in Savannah,” Caleb said to Faith.

  “Yes! My first time. It was fantastic. I’d never had hushpuppies before. Or, you know, real southern food.”

  “You never had hushpuppies?” Lee asked. “What they servin’ out in California?”

  “Oh, you know,” Faith said as she speared the greens. “Kale was huge for a while, kale everything. But that’s not really trending anymore. I still love a good quinoa bowl for lunch. Local sashimi is great. And I guess avocado toast is having a moment, but I just can’t bring myself to order that at brunch when I could make it for two dollars at home.”

  “All right. I understood about half of that,” Lee said with a laugh.

  Faith followed suit. “I guess it does sound pretty pretentious,” she said. She closed her eyes and let the flavors of Gwen’s greens take over. “But trust me, even the best sushi in California can’t compete with this.”

  “Next time you go to the mainland, I’ll take you,” Matt said. “I know this great little New Orleans Creole-style restaurant. It’s got just the right amount of French influence.”

  Alex rolled his eyes. Of course Matt would try to impress her at one of the most expensive restaurants in town.

  “That sounds great,” Faith said with a smile.

  Alex surveyed the table. He could tell all three of them were into her. The flirtations were passed around like hors d’oeuvres.

  “Mama?” he asked suddenly. Alex didn’t care if he interrupted the game between Faith and the rest of them. “I was thinking, I’m going to move back into the cabin.”

  “What on earth for?” she asked.

  He shrugged. “I just need a little more s
pace. Plus, I can get up for my morning runs and make breakfast in the morning without worrying about waking anyone.”

  “Alex, I just don’t see the point,” Mama said as she cut off a piece of catfish. “The room upstairs is perfectly fine.”

  “So is the cabin,” he pointed out. “Besides, it’s not being used, and Jessie cleans it every weekend for no reason. It’s just on the other side of the property.”

  Mama sighed. “Fine. Get as far away from the family as you can. But if we get any booking requests for it, you best bet you’ll be outta there quicker than a fox out a henhouse.”

  “Yes, ma’am,” he said. No guests had requested the cabin in three summers. Most came to Saint Rose looking for the full plantation experience. A log cabin that looked like it belonged more in North Carolina than a Georgia island wasn’t exactly what anyone had in mind.

  “Where’s the cabin?” Faith asked. She looked around the table, but it seemed like her eyes lingered on his.

  “Oh, just at the end of the trail that heads toward Alex’s plane. Remember how it forked, and one trail was bark chips while the other was pavement? You just follow the bark chips,” Mama said.

  “And it’s usually just empty?”

  “Well, didn’t used to be,” Mama said. “Their daddy built it as a caretaker home when we thought we’d be retiring elsewhere. But here we are,” she said with a smile.

  Alex finished up the last of his greens. While he sopped up the juices with the last of his cornbread, he watched Faith toss her head back and laugh at something Caleb said.

  “May I be excused?” he asked the table but stood up before anyone could argue.

  “Think you done made up your mind ʼbout that, already,” Mama said pointedly as she sipped her tea.

  Alex shoved the contents of his dresser into a tote bag and jogged to the cabin. I just can’t be in that house with her anymore. Something about Faith just got to him. There was no way he could sleep two doors down from her. He’d be up all night.

  In the cabin, the lights bathed the rooms in warmth. Jessie had kept the cabin flawless for years, dutifully cleaning, dusting, and changing the bedding every weekend without fail.