Keeping Cape Summer (A Pelican Pointe novel Book 11)

by Vickie McKeehan

  Gretchen took a deep breath and remembered Connie’s situation, then Lorraine’s. Things could get a lot worse and life was just too short to pass up the possibilities. “I say don’t waste a minute on regrets. How about tomorrow night? It can’t be Wednesday because I have to set aside time to see Simon and Delaney my last night in town.”

  “Tuesday night’s fine. You can come to my house. I fix a mean grilled snapper.”

  The Tudor-style home on Landings Bay that Kinsey used for her law office had grown larger over the years to accommodate a growing family. Logan had made sure that the space expanded into two wings. One for hearth and home, another for tending to clients, complete with Aaron Hartley’s law library.

  Simon sat in a study surrounded by books. After explaining to Kinsey what was going on, and producing the large check, he watched her reaction.

  “Wow! This is from the woman on Cape Cod? The one who wanted a baby so badly…?”

  “That she slept with me? Yeah.”

  “I didn’t mean it like that.”

  “I know what you meant, but it’s the reality of the situation. Tyler seems to think the adult children of this guy will come after the money.”

  Kinsey shook her head. “Nope. Not happening. That should’ve been done before probate. Although I can check the laws of Massachusetts for you if you’d like, even go so far as to make a call to this Tyler woman myself. But I’m ninety-nine percent certain the window of opportunity has passed. My guess, without having all the facts on hand, is that your Amelia put most of the money he left her in an offshore account, hid it away from these grown children for that very purpose. She had access whenever she needed to draw from the account. These kids likely didn’t know anything about it so they couldn’t very well contest her assets until it was too late. At some point, Amelia must’ve made a lawyer aware of the account so that it showed up in her estate, otherwise you wouldn’t be holding that check. Probably at the same time she made out a will stating Delaney belonged to you and was to go to you if anything happened to her.”

  “Smart woman, but let’s not lessen the fact she was also cunning. Figuring all the angles is what she did best.”

  “She figured this one pretty well, Simon. For her only daughter. She did what she thought was best for her daughter’s future.”

  “I guess. Though it seems…too weird to suit me. I don’t want to cut Delaney out of anything, but the money…it isn’t that important to me and I personally won’t be touching it.”

  “But it might be important to Delaney one day, something from her mother that validates Amelia existed. She’ll never remember her, Simon, not even a slight memory. She’s too young. Do you have any photos from that summer, from your time together?”

  “That’s the first I’ve thought of it. A ton. Amelia didn’t go anywhere or do anything without a camera in her hand. Those pictures have to be somewhere. Although Tyler did tell me I should expect a moving pod to arrive any day now.”

  “Great. Then maybe there are personal effects in there that you can hang onto and show her from that brief time you and her mother had together.” She waved the check in the air. “I’ll get the paperwork started after we take this puppy to the bank. Once the money’s safely there, you pick the name you want for the trust, and I’ll take it from there.”

  “Does that mean you’ll administer the money?”

  “Nope. Not me. That’s you unless you want to change the specifics. Do you have a current will? Because you should probably name someone to care for Delaney if anything should happen to you.”

  Simon twisted in his chair. “Not a bad idea. I do have a will, but I haven’t added anything about Delaney. I should do that.”

  Kinsey leveled a finger at him. “Parents can’t afford to put off that kind of stuff. Amelia is proof of that. You walk out the door in the morning and you never know what’s around that bend in the road.”

  After all his errands were done, Simon caught up with his mother for a late lunch at Longboard’s Pizza. “How’d it go with John?”

  “I’m having dinner with him tomorrow night.”

  “Wow, this guy sounds like a mover and a shaker who doesn’t waste any time. Maybe he could give me some pointers.”

  She playfully punched his arm. “Since when do you need pointers?”

  “Since I got played by a beautiful woman who wanted a baby and didn’t care how she got it?”

  “You have to stop saying things like that, Simon, especially in front of Delaney.”

  He scrubbed his hands over his face. “You’re right. I’m sorry. I’m tired and not used to watching what I say.”

  Just as Fischer brought out their order, Gilly sailed into the eatery with a big smile on her face. “Hey guys. Perfect timing. Feed me.”

  “Mama!” Jayden burst out.

  “Hi, baby,” Gilly said, wrapping her arms around the boy before sliding into the booth beside Simon. “Are you being a good boy for Simon and Mrs. Bremmer?”

  “Jes.”

  “Shouldn’t you be sleeping?” Simon asked.

  “Thanks to you, I got in six hours. I’m good.”

  “You hungry?” Gretchen asked, cutting a piece of the pie so that Delaney could use it as finger food. “There’s plenty. We ordered two large so there’d be leftovers.”

  “Yeah. No one wants to cook tonight.”

  After taking a slice off the tray and handing it to Jayden, Gilly took Simon’s chin. “You didn’t get any sleep.”

  “I had errands to get done. But I’m not complaining.”

  “Neither am I,” she whispered. “So what else have you guys been up to?”

  “Mom had a date in the park,” Simon said with a grin. “She took the kids along for protection.”

  Gilly let out a laugh. “Do tell. Who’s this mystery man?”

  “I haven’t kept it a mystery.” Eyeing Simon, she added, “Although I’m beginning to think I should have. His name’s John Dickinson.”

  Gilly took a slice for herself and stared at Gretchen. “I know John. He built the cover over my patio. Logan recommended him, said he was reliable and wouldn’t charge an arm and a leg. Turns out, John did it for peanuts and had the work done within a week.”

  “See? He’s good with his hands,” Simon cracked.

  Gretchen blushed, but sent him a reluctant grin. “You aren’t as upset about this as I thought you’d be.”

  “You want I should go beat him up?”

  “Of course not. I’m not dead, you know. I should have a life.”

  “Not saying otherwise. I think you should get out there and live. I’d like you to do it here around your granddaughter, but I know you won’t budge as long as Lorraine needs you.” He patted his mother’s hand. “I’m not trying to guilt you. Just the opposite. After you leave, I’ll miss having you here.”

  Water formed in Gretchen’s eyes causing her to snatch up a few paper napkins from the dispenser to dab them dry. “I’ve enjoyed getting to know Delaney and spending this time with you.”

  Gilly couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “Hey, you still have two days. Don’t be so down. There’s still time to have fun. You two. Fun.”

  “Well, I did agree to have dinner with John Tuesday night.”

  Simon choked on the bite of pizza he’d just chewed. “I thought you were kidding. You’re going on a date when the clock’s ticking on our time together?”

  Now Gretchen heard annoyance in his voice. “I’ll cancel if you want me to, but the plan is to put Delaney to bed and then he’ll pick me up. We’re going back to his place. He said he’d cook.”

  Simon had to grab his soda to wash down the wad of pie that stuck in his throat. Just as he was about to lose it, he looked at his mother’s face, saw real pain there that he hadn’t noticed before. Hadn’t he just told her she needed to get out there, to live her life? He swallowed his objections and, like Gilly, thought it best to focus on enjoying the rest of his mother’s time here in town. “I talked t
o Nick today and got a firm date for closing. Two weeks from today.”

  “I wish I could be here for it,” Gretchen said, still teary eyed.

  Gilly frowned. “On a Monday? I was hoping to help you out.”

  “Don’t worry about it. I’ll round up the guys and we’ll knock it out in a few hours. I don’t have that much stuff. But I should probably start packing things up.”

  “No, I think I’ll ask Sydney for the day off, give her plenty of time to switch around schedules. We do it all the time. That way, I can at least watch Delaney for you. And it isn’t easy packing with a toddler. Now you’re dealing with Jayden. I’ll help you pack this weekend.” She wiped Jayden’s messy mouth and then turned to do the same with Delaney.

  It was all so normal to sit around like a family, Simon thought, as if it was the most natural thing in the world, as if they’d been doing it forever. He listened to Gilly go over decorating ideas with his Mom. For his house. They were already like a team. This was so surreal. Instead of panicking, his shoulders relaxed. There were no egos at play here.

  With the kind of life he’d lived, nothing he’d ever imagined would have brought him to this point, to this woman. And yet, here he was, listening to the woman he loved…

  Whoa. Where had that come from? Loved? He glanced over and stared at Gilly, watching her interact with the kids. She was so good at everything she did and so down to earth. When exactly had he fallen off that cliff?

  He knew she was like a burst of bright sunlight, someone he enjoyed being around. He’d even fallen for her kid. He glanced over at Jayden’s face, messy again from tomato sauce. How had he gotten a ready-made family so fast? And why didn’t it scare the bejesus out of him?

  Twenty-Four

  There wasn’t a lot of time for Simon to sort out fears like that.

  Early Tuesday morning, a truck rumbled up the lane and dropped off the pod from Boston containing all Delaney’s stuff. It took Simon and his mother three hours to make sense of what was inside.

  Gretchen stood, hands on hips, surveying all the various items that hadn’t been packed away in cartons but rather loaded into the storage container and left to tumble around on the cross-country trip here. “Everything’s a mess. It’s like whoever packed up her townhouse crammed it all in here without tying anything down.”

  “I wonder if Margaret Tyler was even there to supervise the removal of this stuff. I blame her for this.”

  Gretchen huffed out a breath. “At least you can give Gilly back her stroller. There are two in the back there. Did you notice that?”

  “I like Jayden’s stroller better than these, although one is pink and white, girly, but it looks like a luggage cart.”

  “Honey, those must’ve cost at least a thousand dollars apiece.”

  “You’re kidding? Why would anyone pay that for a stroller?”

  “Beats me. But apparently money was no object for your…”

  Simon cut her off. “I wish people would stop using that word. Your. It irritates me.”

  “Would you prefer that woman?”

  Simon ran a hand through his hair. “Not really. But Amelia wasn’t mine. We had no future together. Not ever. If she and her lover had lived, I wouldn’t even know I’d ever had a daughter, until a stranger, a grown female at that, showed up at my door thirty, forty years down the road.”

  “You’re still bitter about that.”

  “Angry,” he corrected. “You try learning you’ve fathered a child, standing in the living room at the B&B. It was…”

  “Humiliating?”

  “Yeah. And then some. But I need to let it go and stop bringing it up, don’t I?”

  She rubbed his arm. “Too many other more productive things that need doing right now. Are you okay to sort this mess out after you move in?”

  “After I get this thing over to the new place, I’ll unload it bit by bit into the garage and go through it then. The toys she had have to be in here somewhere.”

  “She’s doing fine with what she has. This, a truckload of stuff, isn’t what she needs right now.”

  He knew it was true. Delaney seemed like a happy little girl, a fact that meant he was doing something right.

  He couldn’t explain the thrill he felt at the sight of her holding out her arms to him when she wanted to be picked up. Any parent could relate to that deep emotional connection running through their veins when their child needed them.

  Gilly knew. She understood. But it wasn’t their only bond. The sex had been incredible. And wasn’t that the best boon to it all. Without much effort, his mind drifted into that memory of mating, slipping into her body and sharing that link.

  He forced himself to shake out of the fogbank of sex and focus on the task at hand. Getting movers lined up was a helluva drop from thinking about Gilly’s curvy body and how he wanted to explore every inch of it the next time they were together.

  Gilly didn’t have time to think about sex. She’d arrived for her shift to find it busy and hopping. She’d just given Zach Dennison, who’d almost lost a finger using a table saw at his workplace, a shot of lidocaine before Dr. Nighthawk sutured the wound.

  “When’s the last time you had a tetanus shot?” she asked.

  “Don’t know. Don’t remember. Don’t like blood. Don’t like shots either.”

  Gilly patted his arm. “Then don’t look. But you’re getting a tetanus shot before you go home.”

  She’d just cruised out of his exam room when she spotted her mother teetering this side of the automatic front doors. She darted toward her and watched as her mother collapsed in the waiting area.

  “Dr. Nighthawk!”

  Gideon, who’d been about to tend to Zach, rushed over to where Connie had crumpled. “Get Sydney. We’ll need help getting her onto a stretcher.”

  But Sydney had already heard the commotion and come running. All three managed to lift an unconscious Connie and transferred her to a gurney.

  Sydney wheeled her into another exam room. “You stay out here and take care of Zach,” Sydney told Gilly. “You know the rules.”

  “I do.” But Gilly had to calm down enough to do her job and stitch up Zach’s sliced finger, all the while her mother was on the other side of a blue curtain.

  She slapped on latex gloves, brought over the suture tray and got busy.

  She estimated Zach’s ring finger would take seven stitches. Normally, a piece of cake. She took her time with each suture, not wanting to rush. Before she was finished, Bree and Troy pushed back the curtain to check on his progress.

  Gilly was used to dealing with worried family members who wanted to hover, but at this juncture, she was having none of it. “Visitors wait outside until we’re done. Your brother’s doing fine, Bree. Aren’t you, Zach?”

  Zach nodded.

  The couple backed out without an argument, either because they didn’t want to see the procedure or didn’t want to upset the person holding the tapered needle.

  Thirty minutes later, she finished up with Zach, complete with tetanus shot and extra bandages, and discharged him to his waiting family.

  She took care of half a dozen other chores, seeing to patients down the hall, until finally Dr. Nighthawk emerged with news.

  “She’s fine,” Gideon assured her. “She’s developed an infection which is quite common in shunt recipients. I’m admitting her, so we can pump enough antibiotics into her and deal with it.”

  “I’d just checked on her before I came to work. You’re sure she’ll be okay?”

  “I think so, yes. You know as well as I do that infections related to shunts can develop rapidly, cause the body to go into shock. That’s what happened to Connie.”

  Gilly dropped into one of the chairs near the reception area. “Thank goodness she was able to get herself here. I looked up and…there she was. I watched her collapse right in front of me.”

  Gideon put a hand on her shoulder. “And like the professional you are, you went on to do your job. We’re tra
ined to keep our heads in a crisis. I think you exemplified that just now.”

  “Thanks. When I can see her?”

  “Sydney’s wheeled her into room 2. Take your break now and tend to your mom.”

  Her mother looked pale and fragile, but at least she was awake. “Hey, Mom. How’re you feeling?”

  “Like I’ve walked ten miles uphill.”

  “Why didn’t you call me?”

  “I didn’t have my phone with me. I started out on a walk, got halfway down Crescent Street and began to feel sick, you know, dizzy like I could pass out. I didn’t have much choice but to try and make it here.”

  Gilly squeezed her fingers. “You did a great job.” She had to be grateful her mother hadn’t fainted anywhere along the route.

  “Am I going to be okay, Gilly? Tell me the truth. I’m not used to this, not used to feeling sick.”

  “You’ll be fine, Mom. From now on we’ll monitor your white cell count for infection on a more regular basis. Stay on top of anything that doesn’t feel quite right.”

  “I’m sorry I upset you with Jayden the other day.”

  “It’s okay, Mom. You haven’t been yourself. But we’ll make you better. I promise. Now get some sleep.”

  After leaving her alone, Gilly leaned up against the wall in the hallway. She reached out to the one person she could, not through text, but she needed to hear Simon’s voice.

  Simon was in the middle of the floor, wrestling with Jayden when his phone buzzed. “That’s your mom,” he told the toddler. “Time out.”

  He answered the phone in a mocking voice. “Hello, this is Jayden’s latest victim. I need help. The boy is strong and keeps knocking me down. Help. Come save me.”

  In the background, Gilly could hear Jayden giggle and make zooming noises. And she laughed, grateful for this part of her world. “I’m Nurse Grant coming to the rescue.”

  “How’s everything going? Work okay?”

  She told him about her mother.

  Instantly, he was up off the floor. “Do you need anything?”