Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
An Excerpt from Whisper Beach
About the Author
Books by Shelley Noble
Copyright
About the Publisher
Chapter 1
MERI CALDER-HOLLIS, SOON to be Meri Calder-Hollis Corrigan, stood on an antique wooden washtub in the middle of her grandmother’s living room. The tub had seen many incarnations. First as the receptacle for Saturday wash days, then as a bed for several litters of puppies, kittens, and once a wounded fox.
For several summers it held geraniums by the front door, ice for the church picnic, and was even borrowed for a photo shoot for a brochure of one of the mansions Meri was restoring at the time. Today it was covered with a white sheet and served as a platform for the hemming of her wedding dress.
Meri couldn’t help but fidget as Gran and Edie Linscott pinned and consulted and pinned again. Meri’s mother, Laura, had worn this dress when she married Dan Hollis, and in the midst of Meri’s excitement, her eyes would well with tears to think that her mother would never see her daughter wed.
She’d died several years ago, unleashing a secret that Meri thought would upend her life. It had, but in the best possible way. She was getting married to her oldest friend.
Meri smiled at Nora, her soon to be stepdaughter, who was sitting on the couch, hugging a throw pillow and looking starry-eyed. Meri felt a small frisson of nervousness. Stepmother to a seventeen-year-old. And thirteen-year-old Lucas. She’d know them all their lives. She’d even babysat them. But mother? She had no experience and the idea was a bit overwhelming.
“It’s so beautiful,” Nora said for about the fortieth time that afternoon and squeezed the throw pillow tighter.
It was beautiful, Meri thought. She’d stared at this dress through hours of fittings and never got tired of looking at the intricate patterns of the lace on the bodice and the edging that finished the three-quarter sleeves, just like she never tired of following the intricate details of a ceiling or mural in her job as architectural restorer across the bay in Newport.
Only, the dress was more special because she could feel her mother when she put it on. Her mother. Laura Hollis was her mother. Truly. If there had ever been a question about that, there was no longer. A frightened, lonely teenager had given birth to Meri, but Laura Calder Hollis was her mother.
The sound of a car stopping in front of the farmhouse had Nora running to the window. “More presents from Treasures. I’ll go get them.”
She tossed the pillow onto the couch and ran into the hallway to open the front door.
ALAMEDA WEBB OPENED the back of the white-paneled truck with her gift store, Treasures, emblazoned across the side. “Lots of boxes today. Meri and Alden are two popular people here about.”
“They are,” Nora agreed, peering over her shoulder at the contents of the van.
Alameda was short and muscular, what Gran called “a sturdy New Englander.” She was certainly strong, Nora thought as Alameda shoved two heavy boxes out of the way, pulled out a long flat box and handed it to her.
“So Nora, are you going back to live with your mother after the wedding?”
“No. I’m living here with Meri and Dad.”
“Oh?” Alameda placed another rectangular box on top of the first. “You okay with that?”
Nora nodded. “I’m fine. Why wouldn’t I live with them?”
Alameda shrugged. “No reason. I just thought, you know, being newlyweds and all . . . though how nice of them to include you. Here are the last two.”
She handed Nora the last two packages and closed the hatch.
“Can you get those inside okay?”
Nora nodded.
“You tell Meri and Therese I said hello.”
“I will.”
Alameda got into the truck, backed up and beeped the horn as she drove down the car track to the main road.
Nora watched her go. Suddenly her stomach didn’t feel so good. Why wouldn’t she live with Meri and Dad? They never said she should go back to her mother’s house. They hadn’t discussed it at all. Nora had just taken it for granted that she would live with them.
She didn’t want to go back to her mother and Mark. But what if Dad and Meri did want to be alone? They could be alone with her there. Corrigan House had about a hundred rooms . . . well, only twenty something, but that was plenty of room for them all, Lucas, too, when he was home from boarding school.
Dad said Lucas could live with him, too, when Nora came to live with him last spring. But Lucas had this science high school he’d heard about, and it was too far away to commute. He sometimes came home for the weekends, when he wasn’t working on some experiment or project or something.
But maybe that wasn’t the real reason he didn’t come back much. Maybe he didn’t feel comfortable or didn’t want to be in the way. Or maybe he didn’t want them to get married at all.
Nora gripped the packages. She wanted them to get married. Her dad was so happy these days. Well, for him anyway. He never acted silly or laughed until he couldn’t stop, it wasn’t his personality. But these days he didn’t go around all gloomy and deep all the time. They’d always had fun, even after the divorce when he’d visit on weekends, even though he never got to see them without fighting their mother.
These days he was much less . . . solitary. She’d even caught him and Meri singing in the kitchen one morning. Her dad never sang, he was the contemplative type. Or at least that’s what Gran said and what Nora’s psych book confirmed. Introvert. Plus, as a book illustrator, Dad did sort of live in his imagination.
They’d stopped singing when Nora came in. Meri said they had been arguing over the words of the song. Did Nora know them? She didn’t. But they didn’t sing anymore after that. Just had breakfast like nothing had happened. And Nora hadn’t thought about it. But she remembered now. Would they have kept singing if she hadn’t come in? Maybe they would have more fun if she wasn’t around. Maybe they really would rather be alone.
Feeling sick, and suddenly cold, she turned to go back into the house. She went straight into the dining room and deposited the boxes on the buffet, where normally she and Meri would unwrap them and decide where to put them on the dining table, which was being used to display the wedding gifts.
Wedding gifts. Her dad was marrying Meri. Nora crossed her arms and pressed them to her stomach. When her mother married Mark, Nora and Lucas had lived with them, and look how that turned out. They started having children and made a new family. That left her and Lucas there, but alone. That’s why she had run away.
But back then she had somewhere to run to. Here. Her home was here at the beach. Where would she go now, if the same thing happened with Meri and Dad?
“Hey Nora!”
Nora dragged herself back to the living room.
“There must have been a boatload of stuff. We were about to send out a search party.” Meri looked down from where she was standing on the washtub. She was so pretty, and like her best friend. Nora was getting to know girls at her new high school, but Meri was always the person she wanted to talk to; to tell her about something funny that happened at school or any problems she had.
Meri stood there smiling, her dark hair piled up on her head to keep it out of the way, all thin and
beautiful in her white dress. And suddenly Nora felt herself outside of it all, like a photograph that was torn in two, and she was the half that had been tossed aside.
“Nora?”
“Huh?” Nora rubbed her arms, trying to get warm.
“Are you okay?”
Nora nodded. “Four, no five packages. You guys are really popular.”
Meri laughed. Her laugh always made Nora feel better, but today it made her feel sick. “Most of them are from Alden’s colleagues and clients who won’t make it to the wedding. You look cold, is it still freezing out there?”
Nora nodded. “I think I have to go.” She looked around for her book bag and jacket, which she’d dropped somewhere when the bus let her off. She’d come straight here instead of home because she knew Meri would be here for her fitting.
“Oh? Tell your dad we’re having dinner at seven tonight, because of the fitting.”
“I will.” She groped for her book bag and headed for the door.
“See ya,” Meri called out.
“And button that coat before you go out,” added Gran.
Nora couldn’t answer. She needed to get home . . . wherever that was.
“THAT WAS WEIRD,” Meri said, turning another inch and trying to catch a glimpse of Nora out the window. “Do you think she’s getting sick or something?”
“Meri, hold still.” Edie Linscott looked up from where she was kneeling on the floor. Edie was the best seamstress for miles and a friend of Gran’s, though twenty years younger—at least twenty. Because though Gran always said she was seventy-something, no one had ever been able to find a birth certificate.
They didn’t have birth certificates back then, or so Gran said. Not when you were born on a farm anyway. Of course, the subject of birth certificates was a volatile one at Calder Farm. Something that was never talked about.
“Gran, can you see if Nora got home okay? She sounded strange. I hope she’s not getting sick.”
Edie sat back on her heels. “Teenagers are always chasing moods. Highs and lows. When my two were growing up, there were tears and laughter, slamming doors, and the silent treatment, following so fast on the heels of one another, sometimes I just had to go sit out in my car till things calmed down.”
“I expect she just wants to see Alden,” Gran said. “With all the preparations and excitement, and with Corrigan House turned upside-down with decorating, she may be feeling a little unsettled.”
“That’s not good,” Meri said.
“But perfectly normal,” Edie said. “Turn.”
Meri turned another inch.
“We’ll have a nice quiet supper tonight, which reminds me, I’d better get the chicken in the oven.” Gran pushed out of her chair. She was still spry and active despite her white hair and sensible shoes.
“Turn,” Edie said. “I wouldn’t worry about it. I saw Cora Miller at the market last week. She said she’d hired on as housekeeper over there.”
Meri nodded. “We had to have someone. Between Alden working at home, and not the most aware housekeeper on earth.”
Edie cracked a laugh.
“And me working in Newport. We needed help.”
“Well, you’ll love Cora. She was housekeeper at the Eddlestons’ until they closed the B and B and moved to Florida. Craziness. But Bess’s arthritis was getting to be too much. They wanted her to go with them, but Cora has family here. I thought she might retire. She living in?”
“Part-time to start. I think she didn’t want to give up her house or rent it out. So we’re starting with a flexible schedule. Mainly we just need someone to organize the household, do some meals, and be able to stay over when Alden and I are both gone.”
“Which might be often, with you two working in different towns and wanting to spend some alone time.”
“Alden offered to move us into a house in Newport, but neither of us really wanted to leave Corrigan House or Gran. But the commute can get long day after day. So we decided to keep my apartment in Newport for workdays and stay put here.”
“Ah, these new marriages. You just make sure you pay enough attention to him so he don’t go roaming like so many of today’s men do.” Edie shook her head. “Turn.”
Meri turned. The only trouble with Edie was that she had opinions about everything, and always on the pessimistic side, except when it came to sewing.
Gran appeared in the doorway. She’d put on an old white apron with cross-stitched apples along the hem over her twin set and skirt. “Edie Linscott. Next thing you’ll tell her is not to let herself go.”
“Well, it’s true enough.”
“Maybe, but it makes you sound like an old lady. Meri and Alden know what’s what.” She pursed her lips. “Finally.”
Finally, thought Meri. She’d loved Alden her whole life. It just took a while for her to realize that their love had grown beyond friendship into something quite different. And quite wonderful. She sighed.
“Is that a happy sigh or a had enough sigh?” Edie asked.
“Both,” Meri said. “How much longer?”
“Five minutes. Therese, if your chicken is in the oven, come out here and be my second pair of eyes.”
Gran carried her spoon into the living room and sat down. “Looks great. You can’t even tell where you had to let the hem out.”
“Good. I hate when things look altered.”
“Which makes you so good at what you do.”
“Yes,” Meri said. “Thank you so much. I know it was a lot of work, but I really wanted to wear Mom’s dress.” She swallowed the lump in her throat. How could she be so happy and yet so sad at the same time?
“I’m just sorry she didn’t live to see it,” Edie said, struggling to her feet. “She’d be so proud.”
Meri nodded; she couldn’t talk.
“She would,” Gran said matter-of-factly. “It’s beautiful, and you know she’s watching down on every minute.”
“She is,” Edie agreed.
Meri nodded. She just wished her mother were here in the flesh. She had questions. She didn’t know many people who had stayed happily married. Dan Hollis had married Laura Calder when Meri was three. They were happy and would probably have grown old together if her mother had lived.
Gran and Grandfather Calder had been happy, from what her grandmother had said. She didn’t talk about him much, but she visited his grave every week.
Meri loved Alden, she had no doubt of that. But she worried that things might be different. Which of course they would be. But how would they be different?
Would they stay best friends or turn into something else? Would they argue? A memory of Alden and Jennifer fighting, Lucas and Nora huddled outside in the yard, flashed in her mind. Would that happen to them?
“Okay, you’re done.” Edie stretched out her hand to help her down. Meri lifted one side of the skirt while Edie lifted the other with her free hand and her grandmother lifted the train over the washtub.
“Watch that you don’t step on the pins,” Edie told her. “I don’t think I dropped any but my eyes aren’t what they used to be.”
Meri stood in one place on the oval rug while Edie undid the dress, lowered it to her feet, and helped her to step out of it. Meri reached for her sweatshirt and pants and put them on. Though the house was always toasty, she felt particularly vulnerable for some reason. “Wedding jitters,” her friend Carlyn called it. “You’ll get over them.”
Easy for Carlyn to say. She’d never been married or engaged, as far as Meri knew. With no plans to in the near future.
Edie packed up her sewing box, and Meri and Gran saw her to the door. In the distance, Meri could see the lights of Corrigan House, a massive gothic structure that often stood dark and foreboding when Alden had lived there alone. Now, lights blazed throughout the house, thanks to Nora and, Meri suspect
ed, Mrs. Miller.
She sighed. In two weeks Corrigan House would become her home. Alden and Nora and Lucas would become her family. Or she would be become part of theirs. They’d always been part of the Calder-Hollises.
And that’s what made her breath catch, her pulse race, her stomach flip. Would it be like those scales of justice, balanced as long as everything stayed the same; but once the balance shifted, would they all come tumbling down?
And if they did, would they be able to start again?
Chapter 2
NORA STOPPED INSIDE the mudroom door and shed her jacket and boots. They’d pretty much beaten the snow down into an icy path between Corrigan House and Calder Farm, and it had been slow going.
She was cold. Luckily the heat was going, the lights were on, and the kitchen was bright and smelled like lemons. Nora was still shocked everytime she came home to find that the living and dining rooms in the once gloomy, dark old house were painted white, the kitchen a light yellow. Her dad had commissioned it all when he planned to sell last summer.
Thank God Meri had put an end to that idea. Nora had been so grateful and happy then. Now, not so much. She wanted to be happy. But she was scared. Scared she’d be shoved to the background again. She guessed that meant she was selfish, just like her mother always told her.
She walked through the kitchen and opened the door to the sound of vacuuming. Mrs. Miller, the housekeeper, was always cleaning. It should be annoying but it wasn’t. Nora had loved Corrigan House the way it had been, dark and never dusted. It was always a relief to visit after her mother and Mark’s perfect house in the ’burbs.
She hoped that Corrigan House wouldn’t become like that. She’d never even seen the cleaning service from the other house. She’d just come home one day and find her room spotless and everything misplaced or thrown out, and it pissed her off every single time.
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