The Summer's End (32 page)

Harper stood and walked to the window. She opened the shutter and stared out at the Cove. The bucolic scene, the dock, palmettos, and racing water, pressed a delete button in her mind. She felt her anger leave her body as easily as it had come on.

“Mother, listen to me,” Harper began in a calmer tone. “Mamaw has plans to move to a retirement home. The house is on the market. In fact, an offer has already come in. Mamaw doesn't need me to buy her house. I
want
to buy it, and if I don't move quickly, I'll lose the opportunity. Mother, can't you understand? I love it here. I love this house, the island, the lowcountry. It was my idea to buy Sea Breeze. It's the family house and I am a family member. Why shouldn't I buy it?”

“Because I forbid it. I will not sit idly back and allow you to throw away your inheritance. Or your life.”

“It's my life, Mother. And my inheritance.”

“It's always been like this after you spent time at Sea Breeze. Even when you were a child. You'd get these crazy ideas in your head, and when you came home, you were insufferably rude and selfish.”

“Hardly rudeness, Mother. More speaking my own mind. When I'm at Sea Breeze, I have the freedom to make my own decisions, not have them made for me. If I didn't speak my mind or argue, as you put it, when I lived in New York, it wasn't because I was happy or content. It was because I always gave in to
you
!”

“I see,” she said frostily.

“I'm
not that little girl anymore. I make my own decisions now.”

“Really? You have no idea of what Machiavellian scheming Marietta Muir is capable of. Her son was cut from the same cloth.”

Harper's voice was laced with anger. “Her son was my father. He has a name, Mother. Parker.”

“Defensive now, are we? Well,
Parker
seduced and married me because he wanted me to publish his novel. He chose the wrong victim. I cast him out quicker than the ink dried on our wedding license. After you were born, I never got a farthing from him. He left me with
nothing.
”

“Thank you,” Harper said, deeply hurt.

“Harper, you know I didn't mean it in that way.” Georgiana sounded instantly contrite. “You're my daughter. I care about you. That's why when I hear you talking about throwing your life away, I get frantic.”

“It's my life. I'm twenty-eight years old. I called to ask you for your help. Not your permission.”

After another long silence punctuated with puffs on her cigarette, Georgiana spoke again, now calmly. “You're twenty-eight years old. That's the salient point.”

Harper tensed again. Her mother's calm voice was her most deadly. “What do you mean?”

“You say you're not a child?” Georgiana laughed bitterly. “You've blithely collected your income from the trust fund all these years like it fell from the sky. If you did ever bother to inquire, you'd have realized that your trust fund was set up with ironclad clauses. You can't touch the principal until you're thirty. Even if I wanted to, which I do not, there's absolutely nothing I
could do to get you your money early. You must wait until you are thirty.”

Harper slumped back down on the bed. She couldn't get her hands on her money for two more years. Her hopes of buying Sea Breeze were dashed.

“Will this young man of yours wait until you're thirty?”

“He doesn't care about the money,” Harper said lifelessly. “He doesn't even know about it.”

“Your grandmother Muir certainly does.”

Harper didn't respond.

“Darling, I'm on your side. I know they've put a lot of pressure on you. You have a good heart and you've been made to feel somehow responsible to save the family house. But that most certainly is not your responsibility.”

“What about Greenfields Park? Is that my responsibility?”

“You stand to inherit Greenfields Park. No one is asking you to rescue it.”

“Aren't you?”

“Don't be ridiculous.” Georgiana's tone changed, became more distracted. “My car is here. Harper, I don't have time to belabor this. I'm already quite late for a meeting.”

“We need to finish this.”

“We are finished. Your new job is here waiting for you, but it won't wait for long. You know how busy things get here in the fall. Horses at the gate.” Georgiana waited for a response. When she didn't get one, she asked tersely, “Are you still there?”

“I'm here.”

“You'll feel better when you're back in New York. Get the southern miasma out of your brain. You know I'm right.”

“I don't know that.”

“Enough. I don't
have any more time to argue this. If you do not come home immediately, not only will you not get the principal from your trust fund, but I will make certain you no longer receive your income from it. Do you understand?”

Harper did not respond.

“Let me rephrase it in terms even a child can understand. You will return to New York, immediately, or I will cut you off. From everything. Do you love this boy enough to give it all up?”

Harper sat stunned. She knew that her mother was the executor of her trust fund, but she didn't know that Georgiana could do that. Once again her mother had turned the tables. She demanded that Harper be the good little girl, the obedient daughter, and do as she was told. To do this meant not only giving up the dream of buying Sea Breeze, but relinquishing the possibility of moving to the lowcountry. She would lose Taylor.

“Do you hear me?” Georgiana asked sharply.

“Perfectly clear.”

“Good. Call with your flight reservations and I'll have a car pick you up. Come home, Harper, where you belong.”

Harper stood quietly and felt an odd calm. She did not feel the anger or timid remorse she'd felt after a tirade of her mother's that she had in the past. It was more the way one felt when something turned out exactly as one expected.

Her gaze swept over her bedroom, the one Mamaw had created just for her to make her feel she had her own space at Sea Breeze. To feel special . . . to feel loved. Each appointment—from the muted colors, the schoolroom desk she'd used as a child, to the books—was selected especially for her. Then she let her gaze travel out the plantation shutters to the Cove beyond.
It flowed on, steadily and strong. Her talisman against evil.

“Are you there?”

She heard her mother's terse, impatient voice and knew Georgiana would never change. There would always be an issue, an appointment, a book, a lover, something that would take precedence over Harper. She knew that if there ever was to be a change in her life, it had to begin with her.

“Yes, I'm here. I am right where I belong. I'm sorry to disappoint you, Mother, but as I said, I won't be returning to New York. Really must go. Ta!”

With one movement of her thumb, a fraction of an inch, Harper disconnected. “Enough,” she said, repeating her mother's words.

Stepping out into the hall, Harper heard the murmur of voices and clinking dishes in the kitchen. Needing her sisters now, she followed the sound but hesitated at the door when she heard her name mentioned. She peeked in to see her sisters at the sink, washing dishes. She ducked back to listen.

She heard Carson's voice. “Sure I'm glad she's buying Sea Breeze. Of course. Only . . . let's face it. Being invited back as a guest isn't the same.”

“The same as what?” Dora said over the sound of running water in the sink. “You're a guest now.”

“Yes and no. It's Mamaw's house. We're all on equal footing. What will it be when Harper buys it?”

“It will be Harper's house.”

“Exactly.”

“Don't tell me you're
mad at Harper because she is getting the house?”

“Not mad. Jealous,” Carson confessed.

“I am, too. I wish I could buy it. Who wouldn't want to live here? But it is what it is.”

“I wish I had the James money bankrolling me.”

“Hey, Devlin is bankrolling me!” Dora said with a laugh. “What's your point?”

“He is not. You're paying rent on the cottage.”

“Not enough. . . . You're splitting hairs. Look, it's the luck of the draw at birth. The flip of a coin.”

“Harper got heads and I got a kick in the tails.”

Dora laughed. “Good one.”

“I wasn't being funny.”

“Cheer up. We've been very lucky to be able to come here all these years. It's more than a lot of people get. We have to count our blessings, not our losses. Trust me, I've learned this summer that life is a lot more fun when you see the glass half-full.”

“I just wish Mamaw could have left the house to all of us. So it could all be the same as it always was.”

“But she can't. We've known that all summer. Did you come up with the money to buy Sea Breeze? No. Did I? No. Harper did. And lucky us! At least we'll still be able to visit.”

“Will we? It'll be where she lives full-time. Someday she'll be married, have a husband and kids here. She won't want us crashing in all the time.”

“Honey, Harper'll put out the welcome mat. But be realistic, Carson,” Dora added with a hint of frustration. “Of course you won't be able to just drop in unannounced and expect to
stay for a couple of months like you did with Mamaw. Sorry, precious, but those days are over.”

“Shut up.”

There was some movement, the sound of cabinets opening and closing. Harper peeked in to see Carson putting dried dishes back into the cabinets. Dora was scrubbing one of the new stainless-steel pots that Harper had just purchased. When Carson turned back, Harper ducked behind the door.

“Now I know why she bought all these pots and pans,” Carson said begrudgingly.

“Stop it,” Dora scolded.

Harper heard the sound of water being turned off.

Dora continued, “We all know you've felt a special ownership over this place all your life. Think about it a minute. You lived with Mamaw as a little girl and came out here all the time. Harper and I just visited in the summer. You have the biggest bedroom, and you know I was jealous of that.”

Harper heard Carson's short chuckle.

“Naturally,” Dora went on, “I thought I should get the best room because I was the oldest. But I didn't. Mamaw sat me down and told me flat out that it was your room and I simply had to live with that fact. And I did. So did Harper.” Dora's voice changed to almost pleading. “Carson, now
you
have to live with the fact that Harper will buy this house and will, in effect, have a bigger room. But trust me, you will always feel ownership of the house because your memories are rooted here. Nothing can change that. And don't you think I'm doing the happy dance because I know Nate can keep coming here? And someday you can bring your children here?”

Harper heard a pot fall in the sink.

“Oh, Carson, I'm sorry,”
Dora blurted out. “I didn't think.”

“It's okay,” Carson said, but she sounded as if she were breaking into tears. “It's just . . . I did see this place as my home. The problem is, I still do.” She sniffed. “Being invited back somehow isn't enough when you don't have a home of your own.”

“Aw, honey.” Again Harper heard movement and guessed they were hugging. “I know how you feel. Being homeless sucks.”

Carson made a noise that was a cross between a choked cry and a laugh. “Just what Harper needs.
Another
house.”

Dora laughed at that. “Yeah . . .”

Harper's temper flared as the arrows of their words struck true. It was one thing to be reamed out by her mother for her wanting to buy Sea Breeze. It was another to be attacked by her sister for trying to save the place. On top of the phone call, the hurt felt so unfair, so unjust! Her already short fuse had burned to the quick. Harper blew into the room and stood before her sisters, her hands on her hips and her eyes sparking flames. Dora and Carson stared back, their eyes wide with the surprise at just being busted.

“I've got news for you, Carson,” Harper cried out, pointing her finger at her sister. “You don't have to worry about my getting
another
house. Or any house, for that matter. I just had it out with my mother. The Ice Queen. I tried to get my inheritance money so I could buy Sea Breeze. Something I was doing for
us.
But not only didn't I get the money, I'm getting cut out of my inheritance if I don't go home pronto. So guess what? You got your wish. I'm leaving! Just like you.”

Harper could feel her face heating up, sure that it was as red as her hair. She pushed on, shouting now, letting all her pent-up
frustration burst out like a volcano. “I'm
not
buying Sea Breeze. Sea Breeze will be sold to strangers. Are you happy now?” She turned on her heel and stormed out of the room. She passed Mamaw, who stood at the entry, one hand on the frame, her face ashen.