A Beach Wish

by Shelley Noble

  But she did need to get their approval for spreading her mother’s ashes.

  “I came here because . . .” She started again. It was hard to say the words. “My mother . . .” Asked me? . . told me? . . . ordered? “Requested that—” She swallowed. Blew out a long stream of air.

  “Take a walk with us.” Henry and Floret turned as he said the words, and Zoe could do nothing but follow.

  As soon as they stepped onto the path in the trees, the chimes began to play. Henry kept them walking while the music surrounded them, sending chills up Zoe’s arms and down her back. The sound ebbed away, but before the last tinkle had faded, a new wave began and then another, until the woods rang with the sound.

  Zoe knew it was a coincidence, but it was hard not to think Henry—or Floret, or both—had summoned them.

  And that’s when she realized that they weren’t on the path to Wind Chime Beach but on the other fork that led past the beach. She could feel the breeze now, more steady than it had been before, as if they were closer to the water. Ahead of them, a keyhole of light beckoned through the trees.

  Henry stopped.

  Floret sighed. “Lovely, isn’t it?”

  They both turned to Zoe, welcoming her question. And she knew it was time to begin the letting go.

  “My mother sent me here to spread her ashes.”

  They didn’t interrupt.

  “In a letter she left with her lawyer.” Saying it aloud stabbed at her. It sounded so impersonal. And so like her mother.

  She’d wanted Zoe to meet her other family, to be the messenger to Eve. Had she been afraid to tell her in advance? Afraid that Zoe would refuse, cause a scene, hate her for lying to her all these years?

  Would she have felt any of those things? Zoe didn’t know. Everything was so confusing. She was glad to find Eve, her sister, but it complicated things like crazy. How would her brothers take it? Would they cast her out of the family? Was that why her mother kept her secret life a secret all these years?

  She cleared her throat. “She wanted to rest here at Wind Chime Beach. If that’s okay.”

  “We’ve known this day would come,” Henry said. “Hoping she would want to return to us. She won’t be alone, Zoe.”

  “She’ll join the others.” Floret laid her hand on Zoe’s back. It was a brief gesture, but Zoe felt a warmth spread within her, a warmth that remained when Floret withdrew her hand. Zoe didn’t understand.

  Henry stepped beside Floret, took her hand.

  Floret smiled up at him and their love for each other was palpable, so intimate it made Zoe want to pretend she didn’t see.

  But Floret turned toward her. Gestured to the woods. “Many lives began here, flowered here, then left to discover other things. Now they’ve begun to come back, the ill at ease, the displaced, the lonely, the old. Our once-thriving commune of free love, joy, and self-discovery has become a house of memory, of refuge, of hospice.” Floret walked a little away from them. Turned back. “She’ll be among friends.”

  “Other people are buried here?” Zoe looked down at her feet. Was she stepping on the ashes of strangers?

  Floret laughed. “They aren’t buried. They’ve merely returned to the earth. They’ve become the earth. Supporting life. Supporting us. They celebrate us. And we celebrate them.”

  “Is that why the professor is here?”

  Henry smiled. “That’s why we’re all here.”

  “What if—someone buys the property, bulldozes it, and builds condominiums?”

  “Someone probably will,” said Henry.

  Hannah Gordon came to mind. Zoe’s own grandmother. Surely she wouldn’t.

  “Everything will work out fine,” Floret said. “We’ll have a grand celebration for our Jenny.” She darted a look at Zoe. “Unless you would rather it be private?”

  Zoe shook her head. “I don’t know.”

  “Well, there’s no hurry. Take time to decide. Unless you have to be back somewhere.”

  Zoe thought about it. Shook her head. “I guess not.”

  “Well, then here comes Dulcie. The professor must be hungry. Let’s get some lunch.”

  Bewildered at their acceptance, the word David had used, she let them lead her back toward the house while she fought the swell of “Circle of Life” in her head. But that’s what it was, birth, life, death, birth, life . . .

  “I’ll make an omelet,” she heard Floret say. “I picked some lovely mushrooms this morning.”

  In the circle of life.

  Chapter 15

  Eve wiped sweat from her forehead and brushed it off on her shorts. It wasn’t that hot outside, it wasn’t even that hot inside the basement laundry room, but her back hurt, her head hurt, and her eyes were still swollen and gritty from crying. She’d slept late at Mike’s, had been tempted to spend the rest of the day there, but he worked at the local brewery on Mondays helping with their books, and she didn’t want to be alone.

  She might as well be alone now. Her children were barely speaking to each other and Mel wasn’t talking to Eve at all.

  She tried not to think. To just concentrate on the rhythmic folding of hotel linen as the dryers thump-thumped in the background. It wasn’t easy. She hadn’t had to fold laundry for thirty-six rooms in a long time. She was getting soft.

  Mondays were their changeover days. They’d had a full house over the weekend, and things had backed up. She’d already lost some of her summer staff to college preparation. Two of her usual laundry ladies had had family emergencies. Another was on a scheduled vacation.

  Eve thought she and Mel and Noelle could handle the extra work, but it was not going well.

  All machines, washing and drying, were running at capacity. She pulled a sheet out of the dryer. Noelle took the other half, both feeling around the edges of the fabric while stepping back until the sheet was taut. Noelle brought her corners to Eve, grabbed the bottom edge and handed it to Eve. Eve folded the last section while Noelle reached into the dryer and pulled out the next sheet. Eve placed her folded sheet on top of the pile on the table and reached for her half of the next sheet.

  And felt like screaming.

  None of them wanted to be here today. Mel was on towel duty and was going about her task as if she was the only person in the room. Eve knew she was still smarting over their morning argument.

  She didn’t appear to be speaking to Noelle either, which was unusual. They fought like most sisters . . . at least, Eve imagined they did. Would she and Zoe have sister spats if Zoe stayed long enough to get to know her?

  She handed her half of the sheet to Noelle, who went through the folding process, while Eve reached into the dryer for the next sheet.

  This was mindless work, which she didn’t always resent. It could be very Zen-like, folding laundry, but today it just made her more agitated.

  She should be getting to know her sister. Trying to glue her family back together, so they could be a family and accept a new member. Hell, she could be out seeing the world. All those places she’d meant to visit.

  She stuffed that thought neatly back into the recesses of her mind. She’d given up that plan decades ago and couldn’t imagine why it had chosen to pop out now.

  Maybe because of all the angst over Mel going to college. Really, most young women would give their eyeteeth to learn, to be able to have the wide array of experience in the world before them. Which was why she needed to make Mel understand the importance of education. Mel needed to know her options. Even if she chose to come back at the end, at least she would have had the chance.

  “Mom?”

  Eve snapped her head toward Noelle. The movement hurt her head.

  “Do I need to put a quarter in to keep you going?”

  “Sorry, I just spaced for a second.” Eve straightened out her end of the sheet.

  Oh, for a day off. A day of lying on her own beach without worrying about guests. A day getting to know her sister and half brother.

  The price of success, she th
ought wryly. She had taken a neglected, dying hotel, bought by Hannah for a song, and turned it into a popular destination spa, twelve months a year. Last year they had even stayed open Christmas break. It was one of their most profitable weeks ever.

  But what good were profits if two of your children weren’t speaking to each other, and the other was living two thousand miles away?

  Chris Bascombe stuck his head in the door. “Thought I might find you guys down here.”

  “Am I needed upstairs?” Eve asked. He didn’t look at all like Zoe. He was blond and wiry. His personality was a lot more outgoing than Zoe’s. He must take after his father, George Bascombe.

  “Nope, everything’s fine. The kid—” Chris slapped both hands to his head. “Oh God, anyone under thirty looks like a kid to me—the guy at the desk was playing Words with Friends.” He grinned. “He told me you were here. Seen my sister?”

  None of them had.

  Noelle placed a folded sheet on the stack. “Maybe she went down to Wind Chime House.”

  “Probably. I’m trying to get her to kick back. But she’s on a mission.” Chris abstractedly took a towel and began folding it. “I know she’s anxious to get the whole thing over with, but . . .” He placed a perfectly folded towel on the stack.

  Chris looked up to see the three women watching him. “I’m an actor. It’s Monday. It must be laundry day. What can I say? It’s a glamorous life.”

  “Are you saying she didn’t want to come?” Eve asked.

  “What? Well, not at first.” He took another towel from the pile. “I mean, it’s cool she found a whole other family we didn’t know she had. Hell, I say the more, the merrier.”

  “Then what?” Mel asked in her first communication of the day.

  He stopped midfold and looked at her, then at Noelle and Eve. “Oh, it’s not you. She didn’t even know you existed. She’s over the moon about having a sister and nieces and stuff. So am I. It’s the other family.” He frowned at them. “You know. Over the ashes.”

  “What ashes?” Mel asked, growing pale.

  Chris shot a panicked look at Eve. “Sorry, I— She didn’t tell you? Not like her, she’s usually very organized, like our mother.”

  “Like our mom,” said Noelle. “But what ashes?”

  “I imagine she didn’t want to hit you with everything at once,” Chris said. “That’s how she found you. Mom designated her as the one to bring her ashes to Wind Chime Beach. None of us had ever heard of the place. Everybody at home is pretty pissed at her. That’s why I came. I figured she could use the support. I didn’t know I was going to find a whole other family.” He clutched the towel to his chest. “Don’t hold it against her. She’s in a pretty unenviable position right now.”

  “Man,” Noelle said. “Do you think we have aunts and uncles strewn across the country?”

  “Our mother was not that kind of woman,” Eve said.

  “But Granddad was,” Mel shot back. She yanked the towel from the pile and snapped it in the air.

  “Stop it.” Noelle snatched the towel from Mel and put it on the folding table. The two sisters glared at each other.

  Chris took the towel and folded it.

  Noelle turned to Eve. “How weird is that, to find out that you’d grown up with a man who you thought was your father and then turned out not to be?”

  “God,” said Chris. “She hasn’t even mentioned that. I wonder if she has even thought about it.”

  “Who? Thought about what?” Zoe walked into the room, stopped, and looked at the others, who had all stopped in a freeze-frame.

  “Nothing,” said Chris, and came forward to meet her. “I told them about Mom’s ashes. I didn’t realize they didn’t know.”

  Zoe’s eyes widened and her mouth slackened.

  Eve hurried toward her. “It’s okay. Just kind of a shock.”

  “I was going to tell you. But I thought there was so much else to say, and take in and . . . well.”

  “It doesn’t matter. I’m glad you brought them.”

  “But where is she?” Mel asked.

  “In my hotel room.”

  Noelle burst out laughing. “Sorry, but what if the maids throw her out by mistake?”

  Zoe’s mouth smiled against her will. It was a ludicrous possibility. But one she’d thought of before. “She’s in a ceramic urn in the closet. I bring her out at night. I know that’s crazy, but it seems mean-spirited to keep her in the closet. Plus, it’s such a nice view.”

  Noelle snorted. “You’re definitely our aunt. Too bad Harmony lives so far away; she’d love you.”

  “So, what are you going to do with her?” Mel asked.

  Eve was anxious to know herself.

  Zoe leaned her elbows on the folding table. “She didn’t give me specific instructions. Just to take her ashes to Wind Chime Beach. At first I thought I would just come, find the beach, and when there was no one around, I’d say a few words and spread them, but things got more complicated. Floret and Henry want to do a big ceremony with you all there. If you’d want to come—or not. David Merrick said half your family doesn’t want me. I guess that would be my father and grandmother. But who else?”

  “Not us,” Noelle said. “Right, Mel?”

  Mel looked up from her folding. “Right.”

  Noelle made a face. “Don’t mind her, she’s sulking.”

  “Am not.”

  “Don’t start.” Eve shot a commanding look from one daughter to the other.

  “It’s just like being at home,” Chris said. “Oh, shit. Are you going to ask the bros to come?”

  Zoe pushed away from the folding table. “Ugh. I don’t know. I want them to. But first I have to tell them I’m not even their whole sister. Maybe they’re going to hate me.”

  “Nah. You’re their sister.” Chris’s face fell. “But it may take them some time for them to get used to the new development.” He turned to the others. “Very straight-laced, our brothers. Beautiful wives. Two point nine children. McMansions on cul-de-sacs. The whole nine yards. But nice people.” He got an unholy gleam in his eyes. “Hey, Dil, want me to call them for you?”

  “No!”

  He stretched over and spun her around. “Just like Fred and Adele,” he said. “We’ll do it together.”

  She pushed him away. “I guess I have to tell them. What if they don’t want me in the family anymore? And what about Dad?” Her eyes widened. “Oh my God, my dad isn’t even my dad. What will I say to him?”

  No one spoke. Even Mel quit folding.

  “Well, you know what they say,” Chris said.

  Zoe shook her head. “What?”

  “If it were done when ’tis done, then ’twere well it were done quickly.”

  Zoe groaned.

  “Come on, let’s text them now and schedule a conference call for ASAP.” He guided her toward the door, casting a look back at Eve, Noelle, and Mel that would have been funny if the situation wasn’t so dire.

  Zoe stopped at the door. “Have you ever thought about using a laundry service?”

  Chris gently pulled her out the door. “Come on, girl. No procrastinating.”

  “Do you think they’ll disown her?” Mel asked, looking at the empty doorway.

  Was she actually thinking about someone other than herself for a change? Eve wondered. Or was she worried about her own future with her family?

  This all had to stop. Eve was sick of dissension. Her father’s bitterness, her grandmother’s feud and anger toward Eve and Zoe’s mother. Hannah’s determination to make Floret and Henry pay for something that had begun long before Zoe Bascombe had entered the scene. And Hannah, Eve had no doubt, would punish Mel if she dared enter into an alliance with Eli Merrick.

  Eve shoved the sheet she’d been clutching for the past few minutes at Noelle. “I’ll be back in a few.”

  “Wait? Where are you going?” Noelle asked.

  “I don’t know. I have to think.”

  “About hiring a laundry servic
e?” Noelle asked.

  “Among other things.”

  Mel ducked her head and concentrated on the stupid towel she was folding until she heard the door close behind her mother. Then she threw the towel on the folding table.

  “Where are you going?” Noelle asked.

  “To the bathroom.”

  “You better not think of skipping out and leaving me to do the rest of the folding.”

  “Why don’t you get a job?”

  “Why don’t you get a life?”

  “I will, and you can stuff this laundry. Zoe’s right. We should hire a service.”

  “‘We’?” Noelle gripped the sheet she was folding in front of her. “What ‘we’? Do you pay for it? Do you work ten- or twelve-hour days to keep this place running? No, you don’t. You sit at the reception desk streaming videos for a few hours a few times a week, and you have to fold a few towels when things get backed up.”

  “Well, what about you? Mom didn’t pay for you to go to college just so you could come home and mooch off her. A lot of good it did you.”

  “At least I have options.”

  “Doesn’t look like it to me.”

  “Then go. Get out and go have some fun.”

  “I will.” Mel headed for the door. Stopped at the threshold. “You’re wrinkling the towel.”

  “Just go.”

  And Mel went, but not before she saw Noelle’s face start to crumple.

  Mel’s stomach lurched, and she turned away and ran down the hall, her sister’s expression seared into her mind. Not just anger, but something else that made Mel blush hot with shame. Her sister was scared. Of what?

  Mom being angry? What was going on with Zoe Bascombe? Because Noelle couldn’t get a job? Because she thought she was letting them all down?

  She wasn’t. Noelle was really talented, and she’d studied hard and graduated cum laude. She was just having a hard time finding a job. It wasn’t her fault. She would get a good job in the end, Mel was sure of it.

  She ran until she was out on the back lawn in the sun. Her steps slowed. She should go back and tell Noelle not to worry. Besides, she couldn’t really leave her to finish up alone.