The Chesapeake Diaries Series 7-Book Bundle: Coming HOme, Home Again, Almost Home, Hometown Girl, Home for the Summer, The Long Way Home, At the River's Edge

by Stewart, Mariah

  “So she still had strong ties here, at least as long as her great-aunt was still alive.”

  “I think she must have.”

  “She was famous, people would have noticed.” Carly leaned forward, her elbows on her knees, her chin resting on her fists. “Maybe while you’re here, you can find the answers to all those questions I know you have.”

  “I’m going to try.”

  “Nothing like a good mystery,” Carly said. “I bet with a few well-directed questions to the right people, you can find out everything you need to know.”

  “I haven’t had much time to think about it, to tell you the truth. I wasn’t kidding when I said I’ve been working my butt off here. I can’t even begin to tell you how tired I am at night. I hit that pillow, and I’m gone.”

  “Totally worth it.” Carly looked around the room from the fireplace to the built-in bookcase that lined one entire wall. “I’ll bet your mom came here every chance she had. It’s a very comfortable house. I can see you snuggled up here with a glass of wine or a cup of something hot, a soft cozy throw, reading a good book, a fire blazing in the fireplace. Dune next to you on the sofa.” She smiled. “Don’t you have the feeling that others have done exactly that? Lilly, maybe even your mother. It seems like a happy house, for all it’s been vacant all these years. It feels like a house that’s been loved.”

  “From everything I’ve been hearing, everyone loved Lilly and her husband. Even the neighborhood kids liked them.”

  “As evidenced by the fact that people who knew them were watching over the house for many years after they were gone.”

  Ellie nodded. “You know, it’s hard to explain, but I’ve felt at home since the first night. Maybe the fact that my mother lived here and spent time here over the years and came back when she was sick has something to do with it, I don’t know. But I think my mother must have loved this house. Otherwise, she would have sold it after Lilly died and she wouldn’t have arranged for its care and maintenance all these years. She wouldn’t have wanted to save it for me.”

  “I think you’re right. And I think that sooner or later, you’ll find the answers to all the questions you have about her time here.” Carly stood. “Now, think of someplace you’d like to go to have dinner while you take me for a stroll around your property. I want to get some pictures while it’s still light.…”

  Chapter 10

  “Lola’S really is a lovely restaurant. The decor is charming and the food was delicious.” Ellie folded her napkin and placed it next to her now-empty coffee cup. “I’ve only been to one other restaurant in town since I arrived but I stopped going when I realized I was eating far too many take-out burgers.”

  “You’re living on the Chesapeake Bay and you’re eating burgers every day?” Carly made a tsk-tsk sound. “With all the seafood they have on the menu here?”

  “What can I say?” Ellie shrugged. “I was going for cheap.”

  “Well, cheap was not on the menu tonight, since we’re celebrating your new home and dinner’s on my dad and mom,” Carly said. “They send their love and wanted you to know how much they miss you.”

  “I love and miss them, too. I’ll never forget how kind they’ve been to me.”

  Carly dismissed the comment with a wave of her hand. “You know they think of you as a second daughter. After all, we’ve been friends for a million years.”

  “I’ll never stop being grateful for that, too, Car. You’ve been the best friend that anyone has ever had.”

  “You’d do the same, and there’s not going to be any more discussion on that subject.” Carly finished the last of her wine.

  “So let’s talk about you, then. How’s everything in your world? How’re things with Todd?”

  Carly gave the thumbs-down sign. “Kaput.”

  “What happened?”

  “It’s hard to explain.” She paused. “Oh, the obvious is easy to explain. I’m pretty sure he has a girlfriend in Toronto. He’s spending more time there than anywhere else.”

  “Seems pretty straightforward. So where’s the hard-to-explain part?”

  “Oh, that’s the part where for some reason, I don’t think I really care. My first reaction was more akin to relief than shock.”

  “Then maybe the universe did you a favor by removing him from your life. That way, you don’t have to go through any sort of hassle to break up with him.”

  “Exactly what I thought.” Carly nodded. “You’d think that after having been together for two years, it would have been shocking, devastating even. But no. I only felt relieved. It made me realize that I hadn’t been paying much attention to the relationship lately, if the breakup was that painless. In retrospect, I can’t blame him for finding someone else. If I were in his place, I might do the same thing.”

  Ellie shook her head. “You’d do the breakup thing first. You wouldn’t cheat.”

  “True enough. Anyway, that’s done.” Carly signaled the waiter for their check and handed him a credit card. “What? You want to say something. I know you do.”

  “I never liked him,” Ellie whispered sheepishly.

  “I know.” Carly sighed. “Neither did my parents, but they never mentioned it, either, until we broke up.”

  “Sorry.”

  “Don’t be. Water over the dam and all that.” Carly smiled. “Just promise me that next time you don’t like someone I’m dating—if there ever is a next time—you tell me straight out.”

  “I promise.” Ellie crossed her heart with her index finger. “But you need to do the same.”

  “I’ve always pretty much liked everyone you dated. Though there was that guy freshman year who was such a colossal jerk.”

  “The sax player?”

  Carly shook her head. “The football player.”

  Ellie made a face. “After a while, I didn’t like him much, either.”

  “Explains why it didn’t last very long.” Carly sighed. “You know, it’s been years since we were both single at the same time. It could be fun.”

  “True enough. At least it could be if we were in the same place all the time.” Ellie nodded. “However, if I were to guess, I’d say I’ll be single for a lot longer than you will be.”

  “How do you figure?”

  “You’re going to be globe hopping and meeting all sorts of fabulous guys who will sweep you off your feet. I’ll be here in St. Dennis, scraping wallpaper and dripping Corsica White on my head as I attempt to paint the ceilings.”

  “You’ll probably have more fun. Besides, must be some single men around. Watermen. Oyster fishermen. Boatbuilders. Manly types.”

  Ellie thought about that flannel stretched across Cameron’s shoulders. “Contractor.”

  Carly raised an eyebrow. “You mentioned a contractor earlier.”

  “Cameron. He’s pretty hot.”

  “And single?”

  “He asked me out, so I guess he is.”

  “When?” Carly signed the slip the waiter brought. “Ready?” she asked Ellie.

  “I’m ready.”

  The two women stopped at the coatroom to pick up their wraps, then headed out into the evening air and to the parking lot.

  Carly unlocked the doors, and once they were both inside the Porsche, turned to Ellie and said, “So finish. When did this guy ask you out?”

  “This morning.” Ellie settled back into her seat and fought the urge to hold on as Carly peeled away from the curb.

  “And I’m just hearing about this now because …?”

  “It didn’t come up before now.” Ellie shrugged. “We’ve been talking about other things.”

  “So when are you going out with the hottie with the hammer?”

  “I’m not. First of all, the date was for tonight, which was out of the question for obvious reasons. And secondly, I don’t think I should go out with anyone while I’m here.”

  “Why not?”

  “Because when you go out with someone, you talk. And the talk always turns to ‘So,
where are you from? Where’d you go to school?’ and those questions beget other questions. Sooner or later, it comes down to lying or telling the truth, and I don’t want to do either to someone I like.”

  “So you like this guy.”

  “I mean, in a general sense, sure. What’s not to like? He’s good-looking and responsible—did I mention he’s been taking care of my house and property for years just because he liked Lynley’s great-aunt Lilly? Carly, turn at the next street.”

  “But …” Carly put on her turn signal.

  “But when you like people, you want to be honest with them and I can’t be. I don’t want to make friends that I have to lie to all the time. Especially since he knew my mother. I can’t even tell him that.”

  “I understand. But you know, you’re going to get pretty darned lonely if you stay here long enough.”

  “So I guess the solution is to not stay any longer than I have to. Which, as you know, is six months.”

  “Six months can seem like an eternity when you’re alone.”

  “I don’t have a choice about that.”

  “Have you given any thought to where you’ll go from here?” Carly pulled into Ellie’s driveway and cut the engine.

  “Not really.” Ellie released her seat belt. “Carly, this car is just amazing. I wish you tons of luck with it.” She opened the car door and got out.

  “Thanks. She is a sleek little beast, isn’t she?” Carly emerged from the driver’s side, locked the car, and patted the hood. “You can always stay with me, you know. I’d love the company when I’m home, and when I’m off on a trip, you’ll have the place to yourself.”

  “Thanks, but sooner or later, I have to get a job.”

  “Any idea what you might want to do?”

  Ellie shook her head. “I have no options. I spent years doing a great job in PR, but that ship has sailed. The only company I ever worked for belonged to my father, so I have no references.”

  “You have me. I could be your reference.”

  “I never worked for you.”

  “I could say you did. I know the quality of your work, I watched you for years. Besides, you were the one who gave me the ideas for several of our most productive marketing plans.”

  “Still, I didn’t have a hand in implementing them and I wouldn’t ask you to lie.”

  “You’re not asking me. I’m volunteering. If your future is on the line, I’d have no problem saying that you worked for Summit Galleries International. And please, no protests. You’d do the same for me.” Carly paused in the driveway. “Actually, I could hire you to do PR for the galleries.”

  Ellie shook her head. “That would bring me right back into the world I left.”

  “True. But think about it. We could set you up in a different city. Boston, maybe. You’ve always liked Boston.”

  “Thanks, Carly, but I don’t know if I want to get back into that game again.”

  “It’s up to you. Now let’s take a walk on your beach. There’s still some light left.”

  “Give me a minute to get Dune. She should be ready for her walk right about now.”

  Ellie disappeared into the house and emerged moments later, Dune on the end of a shiny red leather leash.

  “I was afraid to walk her off the property without a leash and collar, so I picked these up at the grocery this morning. Honestly, the pet food options are just staggering. It took me twenty minutes to figure out what to buy, but she seems to like the organic chicken and rice.”

  “I like organic chicken and rice, too,” Carly noted.

  “Probably not the same stuff she eats.”

  They walked the short distance to the dune and stopped to take off their shoes.

  “Watch out for the grasses,” Ellie told her. “They’re trying to preserve the native plants along the Bay. I read about it on the town’s website.”

  “I like your little beach.” Carly stood with her hands on her hips and gazed out across the Bay to the western shore, where the sun had all but disappeared.

  “It’s not exactly the Riviera.”

  “True. But it’s nice. Different, but nice.”

  “The sand is really coarse along here, but you’re right. It’s a nice little beach.” Ellie sat on her rock. “I come here most mornings and drink my coffee and think about things.”

  “What things?” Carly made Ellie scootch over so that they could share the rock.

  “Well, lately, I’ve been thinking mostly about ripping up the kitchen floor.” Ellie smiled. “And pirates.”

  “Pirates?” When Ellie nodded, Carly grinned. “I’ve always had a thing for pirates, ever since Peter Pan.”

  Ellie pointed out toward the Bay. “Back in the 1800s, pirates used to come up the Bay, drop anchor out there in the middle, then row ashore in small boats and terrorize the residents. They burned down a house that once stood on my property.”

  “Any chance they buried some of their loot in your backyard?”

  “Sadly, no. Apparently they just came into town to bully the populace until they were run back out to their ship by the locals.”

  “Too bad. Pirate booty would come in handy right about now.”

  “True.”

  They sat and watched the small waves unfurl quietly onto the sand.

  Finally, Carly said, “You know, all things considered, you ended up in a really good place, a place that feels right. You have a great house that’s loaded with character. I know you feel connected to your mother’s spirit here, and that’s a good thing. I think you’ve needed that for a long time.”

  “I have. I always adored my mother, but over the past few years I’ve come to realize how little I really knew her. Partly because she was always off someplace else, partly because when I was younger and so full of myself, it never occurred to me that I didn’t know her the way I should have. Being here does make me feel closer to her.”

  “That’s a good thing, El.” Carly went on, “And when you’re ready to put the house on the market, I think you’re going to be surprised by how much you’ll get for it. The location couldn’t be more perfect.”

  “I’ll do really well when the time comes,” Ellie agreed. “Assuming I can do the work that it needs to pass inspection.”

  “You will. And you know, it’s good that you’re having time away from everything and everyone from the past, time to cleanse your palate, so to speak.”

  “There’s no question that I need to put all of that behind me. This last year has been hellacious.”

  “Do you hear from Henry?” Carly asked.

  Ellie shook her head. “I hope I never do.”

  “I think he cared about you, El. I really do.”

  “He cared about me to the extent that he could gain access to my father. He cared about being ‘the son Clifford Chapman never had,’ as the newspapers called him. He didn’t so much care about me.” Ellie drew a circle in the sand with the toe of her shoe. “He never even apologized. He never said he was sorry for his part in the whole scam. It didn’t seem to register with him that he’d played a huge part in ruining a lot of lives. Mine was only one of them.”

  Carly rubbed Ellie’s shoulder. “Well, he’s behind you now. Your life is far from ruined. And hey, there’s your contractor.…”

  “He’s not my contractor,” Ellie protested.

  “We’ll see.” Carly stood and pulled on Ellie’s hand. “Let’s go back to your house and make coffee and look through some of the books on those shelves in the living room. I’m dying to see what’s there.”

  “Ice cream first.” Ellie tugged on Dune’s lead, and the dog trotted obediently, a piece of driftwood in her mouth. “I stopped at One Scoop or Two this afternoon. That’s the local ice-cream place where everything is handmade in small batches right there in the shop.”

  “What flavor did you get?”

  “Maple walnut surprise.”

  “What’s the surprise?” Carly caught up with her.

  “I guess we’ll fin
d out.”

  Ellie came into the living room with a tray that held two bowls of ice cream, two spoons, a pile of napkins, and a bowl of pretzels, Dune dancing behind her with joyful anticipation.

  “I found out what the surprise is,” Ellie was saying. “It’s cranberries. I cheated and took a taste. It’s amazing.”

  Carly stood with her back to the door, staring at one of the paintings on the wall. “Ellie, this painting …” she said without turning around.

  “What about it?” Ellie placed the tray on the coffee table. Dune patiently stared down the bowl of pretzels.

  “It’s signed Carolina Ellis.”

  “I know. There’s a bunch of her stuff hanging throughout the house.”

  Carly turned slowly. “There are more?”

  “A half dozen or so.”

  “Ellie, do you know who Carolina Ellis is? Was?”

  Ellie shrugged. “No. But it sounds as if you do.”

  “You could say that. Carolina Ellis’s work was ‘discovered’ by the art world about twenty years ago, but she’s since been recognized as one of the more important women artists of the very early twentieth century. Her Life Along the Chesapeake hangs in the Met.”

  Ellie tilted her head. “So, her work’s valuable?”

  “The last painting to come up to auction sold for a bundle.”

  Ellie frowned. “I wonder how Lilly came to own them.”

  “Them?”

  Ellie pointed to the opposite wall. “There’s another right there.”

  “Holy crap.” Carly all but sprinted across the room and studied the painting for several minutes before asking, “Ellie, notice anything different between the two paintings?”

  Ellie walked to the other side of the room and stood in front of the painting. “This one is darker than the other. In that one,” she pointed back to the first painting, “the colors are much lighter, the feel of the painting is lighter.”

  “I’ve only seen one Carolina Ellis painting where the colors and the subject matter are this dark,” Carly told her. “The few that have come to auction over the past few years have all been painted during her lighter period.”