She kissed him softly on the lips. “I’ve been trying to figure out my past for a very long time, Julian. I stopped putting my life on hold for it years ago. At least I thought I had. Until I came here. I’ve become obsessed with reading my mother’s journals, and in the process, I’ve let an important part of myself slip away from me. I had an aha moment today about what happened in the past.”
“What’s that?” he asked, his voice a hoarse whisper.
“It’s not my past.”
Confusion crossed his face.
“That didn’t come out right. Of course it’s my past. I was here. I lived it. But I was merely a child. What happened to me here happened because of the decisions other people made for me, not because of the decisions I made for myself. I’m not to blame for any of it. And being angry at my grandmother is giving her the power to control me all over again. I refuse to let that happen. I’m taking my life back. Next week, I will solve this mystery of my missing sister once and for all. In the meantime, I plan to enjoy my weekend. If I want to spend it having sex with you, then by golly, I’m going to do just that.”
A naughty-boy grin spread across his face, bringing a sparkle to his golden eyes. “Do you?”
“Do I what?”
“Want to spend the weekend having sex with me?”
Again, she kissed him on the lips, this time with more passion. “Damn right I do.”
He kissed her back with increasing urgency. He pressed his body against hers, pinning her against the refrigerator. When they came up for air several minutes later, they noticed two sets of brown eyes looking up at them.
Ellie laughed. “Why do I feel like we’re the teenagers and they’re the parents, and they just caught us making out on the family room sofa?”
“Because it’s not far from the truth.” He nibbled at her lip. “Are you sure this is what you want?”
She let out a soft moan. “Positive.”
“What do we do about them?” He tipped his head at the dogs.
“Give them a treat and lock them in my studio,” she said as she reached for the box of Greenies.
Ellie had never known a man who made love with such tenderness and skill. Not that she considered herself an experienced lover, but she’d been in several long-term relationships. They finally dozed off around three, and she woke an hour later to the sound of the wind howling in the eaves. She slid out of bed, slipped on her robe, and tiptoed down the hall to her grandmother’s room, relieved to find the door still open. She moved to the window and stared out over the trees swaying in the park to the full moon glowing off the harbor. This bedroom offered the best views of the waterfront in the house. She imagined sipping coffee on the piazza in the mornings and making love by the light of the moon at night. Maybe Julian was right. Maybe it was time to breathe new life into this house. If she wasn’t the right person to do it, then maybe her sister would be. Did her sister have a husband and children? She was suddenly curious to know about her potential extended family—her nieces, nephews, and brother-in-law.
She sensed Julian behind her before she felt his breath tickle her neck. “I take it your grandmother’s spirit has exited the premises.”
“Mm-hmm.” She leaned into him. “Apparently so. I told you I don’t believe in ghosts. But I do believe, like the Gullah people believe, that the souls of the recently departed may sometimes have a difficult time moving on to wherever they’re supposed to be. In my grandmother’s case, I shudder to think about where that somewhere might be. I don’t care where she is as long as she’s no longer in this house. With any luck, she’s made atonement for her sins.”
The room filled with the citrusy fragrance of magnolia blooms.
Julian tugged on her arm. “Come back to bed, sweetheart. We have several more hours before dawn.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Ellie
Ellie and Julian spent their weekend like a newly married couple, tackling their to-do list while sneaking kisses and gropes every chance they got. He followed her out to the airport to drop off her rental car and then drove her around to the various dealerships while she shopped brands and models. After much debate, she finally decided on the MINI Countryman. She was torn between Island Blue and Moonwalk Gray, but he convinced her to go with the more subtle color. On the way back to town, they stopped at Hominy Grill for a late lunch on the terrace before returning to the house on South Battery. They appeased the dogs by taking them for a long walk, and then, at Julian’s suggestion, they lugged her bedroom furniture down from the attic to her grandmother’s room.
“Stop thinking of it as your grandmother’s room,” Julian said, as they wrestled her box spring onto her bed frame. “You’ll feel right at home in here, surrounded by all your things. Your father will need somewhere to sleep when he comes. This way he can have the guest room.”
“If he even comes,” she said as she stretched her aching back. “He wasn’t exactly thrilled about me moving to Charleston.”
“Surely he’ll come when he finds out what you’ve been going through.”
“Maybe,” Ellie said with a shrug. “And maybe not. My father is a wonderful man, and we have a close relationship, but he doesn’t think drudging up the past is in my best interest.”
“As a parent, I can see his point. As someone who cares about you, I think you deserve some answers.”
Finding out about her sister was the only answer she needed. She hoped it was the only answer she got.
Ellie was pleased at the results of their efforts. Her furnishings from California wiped away all traces of her grandmother. The patterned rug was a tad too small, but it covered enough of the floor to warm the room and soften the echo. Crystal lamps adorned matching side tables while a Kate Spade striped comforter—with its splashes of navy, orange, and several shades of pink—brightened her gray lattice headboard. Her pine armoire occupied most of one wall, and her dresser and two side chairs filled the other. The builder’s drywall installers repaired the damage caused by the leak. The painters would take care of the rest. She thought about making a dramatic show on the walls by choosing a bold color in a high-gloss paint. Maybe she would hire a decorator after all.
For dinner, they ordered takeout sandwiches and salads from Bull Street Gourmet and Market and picnicked in the park while the dogs chased each other and frolicked in the grass.
After they’d finished eating, Julian stretched out on the blanket and placed his head in her lap. “Have you planned what you’re going to say to your father when you call him tomorrow?”
“I’ll just wing it. When it comes to my father, I never plan anything. That’s his job.” Ellie ran her fingers through Julian’s dark hair. “My father is very levelheaded. I’m the one prone to hysteria in the family.” She smiled down at him. “Does that surprise you?”
Wrapping his arm around her neck, he pulled her face to his and gave her an upside-down kiss on the lips. “I’m all for the kind of hysteria you exhibited in the bedroom last night.”
She touched the tip of her nose to his. “There’s more where that came from. Sleep with me in my grandmother’s room tonight, and I promise to show you how hysterical I can be.” As much as she wanted more of what they’d shared the night before, she wanted company on her first night sleeping in her grandmother’s room.
He sat bolt upright. “Let’s go.”
Placing her hands on his shoulders, she pushed him back down. “Calm down, cowboy. It’s still daylight outside.”
“Fine. But once it gets dark, you’d better watch out. My fangs will begin to show.” He returned his head to her lap. “Composed as your father may be, learning he has another forty-year-old daughter might come as a shock.”
The burden of her responsibility weighed heavily on her. “I have no idea how I’m going to break that news. I guess I’ll start by telling him about my mother’s journals.”
Julian made certain her first night in her new bedroom was magical. They made love until well past midnight w
ith the full moon streaming through the bare windows. When the dogs woke them a few minutes before seven, Julian hurried downstairs to let them out and feed them. He returned with a tray of coffee, two bowls of oatmeal, and the Sunday paper. They made love again and lounged in bed until after ten.
She waited as long as she could, but at eleven o’clock, she and Julian headed downstairs to her studio for her to place the dreaded call to her father. He answered on the second ring and listened patiently while she explained the situation. When she was finished talking, he told her he’d call her back in a few minutes.
Julian raised an eyebrow when she drew the phone away from her ear. “Did he hang up on you?”
“He’s going to call me back. That’s the way my father operates. He never raises his voice. When he gets angry, he walks away from the situation until he calms down.”
Julian rubbed the stubble on his chin. “That’s impressive. We could all learn a lesson from his playbook.”
“It’s a coping mechanism he acquired from working with temperamental models and movie stars.”
He furrowed his brow. “He’s not still a fashion photographer, is he?”
She shook her head. “He’s worked for National Geographic for years. As Dad likes to say, he prefers wild animals to wild women. When I was growing up, he was gone for weeks at a time, sometimes months, on long expeditions to remote parts of the world.” She told Julian about how her stepmother took advantage of her, making her do more than her share of the chores and babysit every night for her stepbrothers while she was down the street drinking wine with her neighbor. “Jenny made it sound like her drinking buddy was one of her girlfriends. Turns out she was a he, and Jenny was sleeping with him. I found them in bed together when I came home sick early from school one day. My father was in Antarctica at the time. This was before we had cell phones. I had to wait ten days for him to come home. Longest ten days of my life. Jenny begged me not to tell him about her affair. She laid the guilt on thick, making me feel like I was the one to blame for breaking up their marriage.”
Julian shook his head in disgust. “How old were you when this happened?”
“Sixteen,” Ellie said, looking at him over the rim of her coffee mug.
“How did he respond when you broke the news? I imagine that was one time he lost his cool.”
She snickered. “As a matter of fact, he didn’t even raise his voice when he told her to pack her bags and get out. If you want to know the truth, I think he was relieved to be rid of her. Their marriage had been on the rocks for some time.” Ellie stared down at the phone in her hand. “He’s never taken this long to call me back.”
But when her father finally called back five minutes later, his tone was one of concern. “I owe you an apology, honey. I should’ve never let you go to Charleston alone. How are you holding up?”
“I’m okay, Dad. I’ve made a new friend.” She winked at Julian. “He’s been very sympathetic.”
“That explains the cheerful tone in your voice,” Abbott said. “I hope I get a chance to meet him.”
Julian nibbled at her neck, and she pushed his head away. “Does that mean you’re coming to Charleston?”
“That’s why it took me so long to call you back. I just booked myself on the six o’clock flight tonight.”
Ellie got up and moved to the window. “Thanks for coming, Dad. I know this is a shock for you, but I really need you here with me right now.”
“I wish you’d called me sooner, sweetheart. I have a lot of questions as to how and why forty years have gone by without me knowing I have another daughter.”
She had so much she wanted to tell him, but she thought it best to wait until she saw him in person. “I don’t have much furniture in the house, but I have an extra bedroom if you’d like to stay here. Otherwise, there’s an inn several blocks down.”
“We have a lot to talk about. If it’s not too much trouble, I’d like to stay with you.”
“I’d like that.” She offered to pick him up at the airport, but when he insisted on getting an Uber, she promised to have a late dinner waiting for him.
“That sounds perfect. I should be there by nine at the latest.”
She told him she loved him before ending the call.
Within seconds of hanging up with her dad, Ellie’s phone rang again, and Midge’s name flashed across her screen. Midge talked for a minute straight without pausing to breathe. “I’ve exhausted all my resources, honey, and I came up absolutely zero on Maddie Washington. I’m over at my in-laws’ house. I haven’t mentioned anything to Bennett yet, because I wanted to clear it with you first. But you really should talk to them. They knew your mother and grandmother. They may be able to tell you something that might help. We’re just finishing with brunch. Can you come over now?”
Ellie glanced at Julian, who was sitting close enough to hear Midge’s voice over the phone. He pointed at himself and shook his head. “Can you give me forty-five minutes?”
When Ellie arrived at the Calhouns’ an hour later, Bennett Junior and Midge had just departed for an open house they were hosting that afternoon. The housekeeper showed Ellie to the piazza where Bennett Senior and Lucille were finishing dessert. “Can I offer you coffee or lemonade, perhaps a slice of Key lime pie?” Lucille asked.
“I’m fine, but thank you.”
Lucille quizzed Ellie about how she’d survived the hurricane and how she was settling into the house on South Battery before excusing herself to see to her staff in the kitchen.
Ellie was careful about what she said to Bennett. She didn’t want to give too much away about her knowledge of all that had happened in her grandmother’s house in the past. “I was wondering, Bennett, if you have any idea how I might get in touch with Maddie. She hasn’t come to work since the day of the hurricane. I’m worried she’s fallen ill or that her house was damaged badly in the storm.”
He knitted his bushy gray eyebrows into one. “Hmm, that’s odd. I understand why you’re concerned. Unfortunately, I don’t have a phone number for Maddie. Whenever I needed to speak to her about Eleanor’s affairs, I phoned her at your grandmother’s house. I’ll double-check my files when I get to the office in the morning, but as far as I know, we don’t have any contact information for her.”
Ellie lowered her voice and leaned across the table. “How much did you know about my mother?”
“Well, let’s see.” He tugged at his chin as he stared out across the adjacent garden. “Not that much, when I think about it. I knew of your mother. She was a celebrity around here during her brief career as a fashion model. She appeared on the covers of all the popular magazines. But she was much younger than me. I can’t say we ever actually met. You can imagine the rumors when she suddenly dropped out of sight. I asked your grandmother about her once, early on in our professional relationship. Your grandmother shut me up with a look that nearly stopped my heart. I never asked too many personal questions after that.”
Pushing back from the table, he stood up, and she followed his lead. “I need to stretch my legs. Shall we stroll around the garden?” He held his arm out and waved for her to go ahead of him.
As they walked through the gravel paths, Bennett pointed out the various plantings, showing off his expertise as a gardener. They arrived at a gazebo and sat down side by side on the teak bench.
“Do you know anything about my mother’s death, like where she might be buried?”
Bennett shook his head. “I never even knew Ashton had passed away until your grandmother asked me to draw up a new will leaving everything to you.”
“Do you remember when that was?” Ellie asked.
His gaze shifted skyward as he considered her question. “Sometime in the late nineties, if I’m not mistaken. Her will is the original will. She never made any changes.”
“How did you know how to find me after my grandmother died? Did she leave contact information for me?”
He chuckled. “That would certainly have made my
job a lot easier. But your grandmother knew nothing about you, aside from your name and your father’s name. Your father was easy enough to find with his impressive résumé.”
Ellie had long since stopped caring whether her mean old grandmother had ever loved her. But hearing she’d known nothing about Ellie’s life aside from her name cut her to the quick.
“I sense there’s something you’re not telling me, Ellie. If there is anything I can help you with, you can speak to me confidentially.”
“I appreciate that, Bennett. It’s nice to have someone I can trust. I’m trying to figure a few things out on my own. If I reach a dead end, you’ll be the first to know.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Ellie
Her father hadn’t changed since Ellie last saw him at Thanksgiving. Then again, Abbott Cohen hadn’t changed much as long as she’d known him. He was trim and fit with the healthy glow of a man who spent a lot of time outdoors. His hawkish nose prevented him from being considered handsome, but with soulful dark eyes and determination etched in his expression, his face commanded attention.
He gave her a warm embrace before reaching for Pixie. He nuzzled his nose in the dog’s fur and cooed about how much he’d missed her. Ellie smiled at his affection for her little dog. She thought of Julian and Mills. What was it about men and dogs?
Clutching Pixie to his torso, Abbott took in the empty hall and living room. “You weren’t kidding when you said you didn’t have much furniture. Do you have any furniture?”
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