Driftwood Point (31 page)

Diary~

I always look forward to my mornings with my friend Ruby—she is just a font of knowledge. Besides the obvious—if she doesn't know about it, it never happened on Cannonball Island. Naturally, since my nephew and her Lisbeth have finally found each other—and didn't we wait long enough for that to happen!—we got to talking about family: Ruby about her Kathleen, and me about my brother Cliff. He was such a good man—imagine him, a lifelong bachelor, taking in a young boy the way he did. Daniel and I were set to bring Alec to the inn to raise him along with our three, but Cliff said no, Alec was meant to be with him. And so it was, and it was best for both of them. Next to Alec, I don't think anyone mourned Carole the way Cliff did, but that's not what's on my mind tonight.

Thinking about Cliff got us thinking about Eb Carter—I guess because Eb used to spend so much time hanging around the boatyard, passing the time of day with Cliff, having a beer or two, and chewing the fat, as my brother liked to say. Of course, everyone knew about Eb's lost love, Annie Gregory—the love of his life, the woman he'd named his skipjack for—and how she disappeared one night and was never heard from again.

Anyway, the conversation this morning went something like this:

Me: You think they'll ever find out what happened to Annie?

Ruby (without so much as the blink of an eye): I know what happened to her.

Me: You do?

Ruby: Course I do. Annie took off with one of the Mason boys, I forget which one. Andrew, maybe. Or Peter. One of them.

Me (aghast): Huh! Eb always swore that Annie just disappeared out of that house in the middle of the night, like she'd been spirited away.

Ruby: Annie never wanted to marry Eb in the first place.

Me: Here he always said he didn't know what happened.

Ruby: Well, I don't think he did.

Me: You didn't tell him? Wasn't he your Harold's brother?

Ruby: Sure enough he was, but what good would telling that tale have done? Man's heart be broken, don't need to know why. Long as he don't know, he can put the blame on someone else.

Me: But he might have moved on, found someone else to love.

Ruby: Not Eb. He never had eyes for anyone but Annie. Sometimes it's best to just let things find their own way.

Which is Ruby's way of saying that things will always turn out the way they're supposed to without any interference from anyone else. In other words, best to mind your own business—something that's deeply ingrained in Ruby's philosophy of life.

“Nobody's business but theirs,”
she likes to say.

Which is probably why it's taken Alec and Lis so long to find each other. There have been times when I've been tempted—
so
tempted—to move fate along just a little tiny bit. Now, I'm not talking about a grand spell here. I just thought maybe a pinch of this or a little of that (nothing I haven't done successfully before, mind you, and always with the best intentions). But no, Ruby said. “They be together, by and by. Don't be meddlin', Gracie. They'll find their way.”

Well, when Ruby says don't meddle, I don't meddle. I didn't, and she was right, of course. They're finding their way.

So was I surprised when that nephew of mine asked me if he could open the safe-deposit box? Hah! Of course I gave him the key, and of course I knew what he was after. He held up the ring Allen had bought for Carole so long ago and asked me if I thought it would be all right if he gave it to Lis. Well, I told him that I knew his mother was standing right there, smiling, and I don't mind saying that we both shed a tear or two.

And for the record, my sweet sister was there, and she was smiling to see her boy finding his happiness, just as she had found hers. Love is a celebration of life, and I know that wherever she is, Carole is still celebrating with Allen and Cliff.

Now, the big news everyone's been talking about is that there's going to be development on the island. Of course, we've been discussing it, Ruby and I have, since we saw the winds of change picking up about a year ago. It won't change the character of the island, but it will bring new people in, and that can be a good thing.

Ruby's Owen is back and he'll be staying longer than he thinks he will—Ruby says he has a “comeuppance” on the way, which is long overdue, if you ask me. That boy was a wild one when he was young. No reason to believe he's changed, but Ruby says all will be well in its time. He'll be around to take over the store when Ruby . . . well, when she's moved on.

Now, she can't see how much more time she has, but lately, I've had glimpses. I wish I didn't know, wish I hadn't seen what's coming—it makes my heart so very sad. Even though it isn't imminent, I cannot imagine not having her counsel and her friendship. Ruby always says that she'll always be there if I need her, on this side or on the other, but it won't be the same.

That's life, I suppose—and since Ruby isn't leaving us anytime soon, well, as she would say, I won't be worrying about what I can't change, what's past or what will be.

Grace

PS. Of course, Lis and Alec will move into the cottage when it's finished, but that doesn't mean my brother Cliff's house will be empty for long. Ruby says Owen will be staying there for a time—not all of that time alone. I, for one, can't wait to see how that will play out. As Ruby would say, there be mischief afoot . . .

More heartwarming, charming romance from Mariah Stewart's Chesapeake Diaries series!

Jamie Valentine is the wildly successful author of self-help books, but when she finds out her own life has been a lie, she'll set out on a journey for truth that will upend everything she thought she knew, and let her open her heart to a new truth—and a new love.

That Chesapeake Summer

AUTHOR PHOTOGRAPH BY NICOLE LEIGH

MARIAH STEWART
is the award-winning 
New York Times
 and 
USA Today
 bestselling author of numerous novels and several novellas and short stories. A native of Hightstown, New Jersey, she lives with her husband and two rambunctious rescue dogs amid the rolling hills of Chester County, Pennsylvania, where she savors country life, tends her gardens, and tries to avoid running the Amish buggies off the road with her SUV. Visit her website at
www.mariahstewart.com
, and on Facebook at
www.facebook.com/AuthorMariahStewart
.

OTHER POCKET BOOKS
BY MARIAH STEWART

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That Chesapeake Summer

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Brown-Eyed Girl

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A Different Light

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This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author's imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

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ISBN 978-1-4767-9259-0

ISBN 978-1-4767-9260-6 (ebook)