“Uh-oh. I assumed he’d told you. I better not say.” The color rose higher into her cheeks. “He’s probably waiting for the right moment. You know, when you can be alone together to talk about future plans.”
What future plans? Ella wanted to ask. Her shrug and the dismissive sound she attempted sounded lame.
“I know he’s hoping to keep in touch.” Now Grace looked embarrassed. “He’s been through a lot, Ella, and you have, too. But I haven’t seen him smile so much in years. He’s almost like the old Ben. The one you...”
She didn’t have to finish. Ella knew exactly where she was going with that, and she also knew she wasn’t prepared for a discussion about the past with Grace. Not here and not tonight. She stood up. “Speaking of Ben... He’s probably wondering what’s taking us so long.” As Ella headed for the bedroom door, Grace suddenly clutched her arm.
“Don’t hurt him, Ella.”
Ella was speechless. Her mind instantly flew back to that summer weekend, and she was tempted to say “Shouldn’t that be the other way around?” but this was not the night for opening up old wounds. She decided not to dwell on Grace’s plea about Ben. She’d meant well and probably thought she was protecting her brother. But from what?
People were clustered in the entryway, removing coats and boots and chatting. Grace rushed ahead as Drew assisted Henry. Ella waited at the foot of the stairs for Ben, a smile fixed resolutely on her face. He soon emerged from the knot of people, a pile of coats layered over one arm.
He flashed a smile as he came her way. “More coat duty.” Then he paused. “Everything okay? I see you’ve been abandoned by my sister.”
Ella lightly touched his cheek. “Do your duty, Ben. I’ll be fine.”
“I’ll be back in a sec, and then I’m yours for the rest of the night.”
She watched him head up to the master bedroom, and as she turned around, Grace and Drew were leading the group into the living room. Ella noticed Henry lagging behind to adjust his tie. “Can I help?”
“You sure can. It’s kinda hard doing this without a mirror. Not that I could anyway. Ties have never been my thing.”
His smile was heartening. As long as Henry Jenkins is around, I won’t feel too much like an outsider. “You look very dashing, though, Henry. I don’t think I’ve ever seen you in a suit.”
“Humph. Took me a while to find the darn thing. It hasn’t been out of the closet since...” His face scrunched up. “Ben’s wedding, I think.”
Ella was straightening the tie and pulling down on it, so she couldn’t see Henry’s face, but she felt a surge of heat in hers. When she drew back to say, “There, that’s better,” Henry clasped one of her hands.
“I suspect this evening might be a tad uncomfortable for you, dear. But remember that there are people who do care a great deal for you. Ben is one of them.”
Ella didn’t know how to interpret this. Was it a reminder, like Grace’s, that Ben could be hurt? Or was he simply reassuring her? When he added, “Keep that in mind,” she decided it was simply Henry’s way of encouraging her.
She handed him the cane leaning against the entry wall and tucked an arm through his free one. “I will, Henry. Now, I bet there are drinks in the living room.”
A couple of young women in white shirts and black trousers were passing around trays of champagne as she and Henry entered the room.
Evelyn spotted them. “Henry Jenkins in a suit! I can’t believe my eyes.”
Ella noted his flush and felt for him but quickly realized Evelyn was teasing as she hugged Henry and kissed him on the cheek.
Then turning to Ella, she said, “Very nice to see you again, Ella, and welcome back to the Cove.”
Her greeting was warm, if a bit formal for someone who’d once hosted Ella for sleepovers and baked cookies for her and Grace.
“Thank you, Mrs. Winters. It’s wonderful to see you and your beautiful home again.”
“I’m happy you could come.” Evelyn nodded toward the sofa. “Charles is over there and I’m sure he’d like to say hello. Why don’t you take Henry to sit beside him? I’ll send over some champagne for you both.”
Ella walked arm in arm with Henry, who used his cane, as well. They slowly navigated around a magnificent Christmas tree, resplendent in yards of tiny, twinkling white lights. A kind of magical ball gown, Ella was thinking as she helped Henry sit next to Charles. A pretty, silver-haired woman Ella didn’t recognize sat on Charles’s other side.
“Mr. Winters, nice to see you again.” She smiled at Ben’s father.
He nodded politely, but his own smile was hesitant. The woman next to him looked with interest at Ella, and Henry made the introductions. “Jane, this is Ella Jacobs. Ella, not sure if you remember Jane Winters, Grace’s aunt?”
And Brandon’s mother. Ella forced a stiff smile. She peered anxiously around for either Ben or the promised champagne and was about to make some excuse to move away when she saw Ben coming to the rescue, holding two champagne flutes.
Her relief must have been obvious. He handed her a flute and said in a low voice, “Not much longer. We’ll be eating soon and you’re sitting right next to me, where you’ll stay for the rest of the night as I promised.” Then he wrapped an arm around her waist as he greeted his father and aunt. “Aunt Jane! Glad you could make it.”
Ella guessed from the woman’s smile that Ben was a favorite. Replacement for a lost son? The unexpected thought stabbed at her. She turned away to sip the champagne and noticed a late arrival. Suzanna. Here to complete my misery.
Suddenly Jane Winters was speaking to her. “Grace has told me you’re a reporter, Ella, and a writer with a new book just out. Congratulations!”
“Thank you, Mrs. Winters.” Ella clenched the champagne flute, as if relying on it to keep her standing up.
Suzanna was weaving around people on her way to the sofa, pausing here and there for a quick greeting. Heads and smiles tracked her path across the room and Ella wondered if the woman had calculated her late entry to time with both the champagne and the full attention of all. Still, Ella had to admit—grudgingly—the woman was resplendent in an emerald green sheath dress that set off her chestnut hair as well as full figure.
Ben’s hand tightened on Ella’s waist as Suzanna breezed up to them. Ella envied her nonchalance as she bent over to kiss her mother, then her uncle. She hugged Henry and, standing up again, said, “Hey, Ben! Glad to see you emerge from your construction lair. I heard your council presentation was great. I hope any resulting increase in the town’s population will spill over to more business for the hotel.”
“Hope so, Zanna.” He looked across the room over Ella’s head. “Uh-oh. I see my mother trying to get my attention. She wants to have the toast to Grace and Drew in here with the champagne.” He gave Ella an apologetic smile. “And since I’m making the toast, I should scoot over to see what she’s trying to tell me.”
Ella watched him go, wishing she could run after him. She sipped more champagne and was about to casually wander off when Suzanna said, “Got a sec, Ella?”
She couldn’t have escaped if she’d tried. Suzanna was nudging her away from the sofa toward the windows. Once they were off by themselves, she said, “I’m sorry about my friend’s comments yesterday at the mall. I spoke to her after, but the problem is she doesn’t know what really happened here that summer. I mean, the truth. Our family does, but no one else, so it was a bit awkward trying to explain why I wasn’t upset about bumping into you and why I was kind of scolding her for what she’d said.”
Ella had girded herself for some uncomfortable looks that night but hadn’t expected this. Especially from the older girl who’d always seemed to treat Ella and Grace with such disdain.
“I wanted you to know. You’ve been through enough.” She gave a quick smile and walked away before Ella could utter a word.
The tinkle of a small bell silenced the room. Heads turned to the front of the room, and there was a bit of laughter as Ben called out, “Sorry, dinner’s not ready yet, but Mom says soon. It’s time for a toast to the soon-to-be-wedded couple, so please make sure you have enough liquid in your glasses.”
The catering staff navigated around the room with opened bottles of champagne and sparkling water. A few seconds later, Ben began his speech, warning that it would be short because everyone was hungry, and besides, his younger sister was the family member known for speaking at length on just about every topic, especially any connected to lighthouses or the Coast Guard. That set the tone for his toast, which Ella barely listened to because her attention was riveted on the engaged couple gazing without inhibition into each other’s eyes, as if they were the only two people in the room.
She had a vivid memory of a long, adoring stare like that, here in this very house, upstairs in his bedroom the day Ben had promised to always be there for her. The miles will be our only separation, he’d sworn. Our hearts will always be together. He was packing for college, and it was the Friday before the end-of-summer bonfire when Brandon had died.
People were smiling as Ben finished. “To my sometimes-irritating but always-loving sister and her besotted fiancé, Drew. Welcome to the family, brother.”
Ella’s eyes welled up and she ducked her head, gazing down into her half-empty flute. There was jovial bustling all around her as Evelyn invited everyone into the dining room, but Ella hung back. By the time Ben reached her, she hoped all trace of tears was gone.
“Have I told you how beautiful you are?”
Ella smiled. “I’m all ears if you want to say it again. And I haven’t told you that charcoal gray becomes you.”
“Even if I was wearing a gray sweatshirt?”
“I haven’t seen you in a sweatshirt since we were teenagers. And by the way, Grace mentioned you had some good news.”
“I was waiting for a quieter moment to tell you, but yes, I do. Dad’s handed complete control of the company over to me. I am now President and CEO of Winters Building Ltd.” His face flushed with pride.
“Oh, Ben, that’s so wonderful. Congratulations!” Ella flung her arms around him.
He gazed deep into her eyes. “Maybe a private celebration later?”
She felt a blush creep up her neck. Then voices rose in the other room as people took their seats.
“Come on, gorgeous. Let’s go eat,” he murmured, grabbing her hand.
Ella’s spirits lifted. She could get through this dinner party. Even Grace’s friend Julie, who constantly avoided looking her way, couldn’t dampen her mood. Ben was attentive throughout dinner, and when Henry and Drew joined Charles in the den to watch the end of a hockey game on TV, he chose to sit with Ella by the fire in the living room. Evelyn and Jane Winters were sitting near some bookshelves at the other end of the room.
When Ella’s cell phone pinged from inside her purse, Ben asked, “Work messages already?”
She must have looked startled, because he quickly added, “Just teasing, of course. Go ahead and answer if you want.”
“No, I hate when people do that in social gatherings.”
“Then, you’re an anomaly.” He reached for her hand, weaving his fingers through hers. “But you always were, even as a sixteen-year-old.” He leaned a bit closer. “Let me know when you’re ready to leave. We don’t have to stay till the end.”
There was something suggestive in his tone, and Ella felt like that teenager all over again until she reminded herself that she was as far from that girl as the earth was to the moon. “Maybe now? I’m sure your parents and Henry must be tired, and I bet Grace and Drew are anxious to have some time alone.”
“Sure.” He helped her to her feet, his hand still wrapped around hers.
“Are you leaving already?” Grace asked, rising up from the sofa where she’d been sitting with Suzanna and Julie.
“Busy day tomorrow.” Ben hugged his sister. “Congrats again, sis. You made a good choice.”
She arched an eyebrow. “Shouldn’t it be Drew who made a good choice?”
He laughed, hugging her tighter. “Ah, but did he have a choice? That’s the real question here.” He uttered an “ouch” as she lightly punched his shoulder.
“You’re coming to the ice sculpture judging at Town Hall tomorrow, aren’t you?”
“Wouldn’t miss it for the world,” he quipped.
He really is a golden boy here, Ella was thinking, noting the fond smiles from the three women. But as she and Ben passed them, Julie deliberately turned her face aside so she wouldn’t have to acknowledge Ella. Ben paused to make some joking comment to Suzanna, completely oblivious to the slight. Ella was about to continue into the hallway when a surge of frustrated anger stopped her cold.
Incidences like these are just going to keep happening, she told herself. No one outside the family is going to know the truth until someone decides to make that happen, and since Grace hasn’t stepped forward, that someone will have to be you. She wheeled around.
“Forgive this interruption, but I have to get this off my mind once and for all.” She was staring at Julie, but everyone turned her way. Ella saw Ben step toward her but didn’t dare look at him for fear of losing her nerve. “Since I’ve come back to the Cove, I’ve had people treating me as if I’ve committed a crime and gotten away with it.” She saw surprise in some faces but pushed on, her voice losing its quaver as she continued. “I couldn’t even go to a mall in Portland without being accosted by a complete stranger—a woman I’d never met—telling me I had no right to come back to the Cove. Ask Suzanna, if you don’t believe me. She was there.” Now they were looking at Suzanna, who nodded.
“And at the town meeting, some people were whispering and pointing at me, including you, Julie. Even tonight, you’ve been acting as if I don’t belong here, as if I’ve crashed the party honoring your best friend. But Grace is my friend, too—at one time my very best—which is why I’ve kept quiet all these years about what really happened the night Brandon Winters died.”
Ella hesitated at the shock wave she felt rolling through the room. Ben inched closer, gently pressing a hand on her shoulder. But she couldn’t—wouldn’t—stop now. “And finally, after seventeen years, Grace has told the truth—that she and Cassie Fielding came up with a stupid and thoughtless joke on me and Brandon, sending us notes to make me think I was meeting Ben and to make poor Brandon think he was meeting me. That I was interested in him.”
Someone in the room was sniffling and blowing a nose, but Ella was afraid to pause any longer than it took for her to catch her breath. “That Labor Day weekend didn’t only affect me, but my family, too—my parents and my younger brother. They had to put up with the whispers and rumors, as well, along with the stress of being questioned by the police, and even though everyone knew Brandon’s death was an accident, I was blamed. My family carried that burden, too, you know. They loved their summers here, but I refused to come back. Their marriage fell apart—maybe not only because of all that, but there were arguments between them for weeks after. Arguments about whether to believe me or not.” Ella’s voice rasped against the lump in her throat. She scanned the room, taking in their still faces and Grace, staring down at her hands twisting in her lap. Ella felt a surge of regret for her friend, knowing she’d ruined her engagement party.
“Grace didn’t trust that people would forgive her for what she did, so she was afraid to tell the truth. I get that.” Ella focused on her friend. “And I’m so sorry, Grace, that I’ve spoiled your special night. I just...I just couldn’t take any more.” She swiped the back of her hand against her eyes. “I apologize, Mrs. Winters, for ruining your party, but I have to ask why you and the rest of the family failed to clear my name. You’ve all known for months now, and yet no one has spoken up. Not even you, Ben.” She craned her neck to see h
im behind her, his ashen face saying far more than words possibly could.
She couldn’t go on. She left the room, tears blurring the way along the hall to the front door, where she stood, perplexed, as if she’d run out of ideas about what to do next.
“Wait here. I’ll get our coats.” Ben stood grim-faced at the foot of the stairs, and then he was gone, taking them two at a time.
Her adrenaline surge eased, and Ella sagged against the door. She didn’t know what was happening in the living room or how the women were reacting, and she didn’t care. Her relief at finally shedding the pent-up emotions of the past several days—seventeen years—was immense. Then she heard heels clicking along the hallway and Evelyn Winters appeared. She stopped a few feet away from Ella, who stiffened, waiting for an outburst of anger.
But Evelyn surprised her. “You haven’t ruined our evening, Ella. Not mine and not Grace’s. She’s feeling a bit...startled...right now, but I’ve come to tell you that we needed to hear what you so bravely revealed. Please try to forgive all of us. Especially Ben.”
Too stunned to speak, Ella watched her walk back to the living room. Ben was descending the stairs as his mother disappeared down the hall. He didn’t say a word as he helped Ella into her coat, but when he closed the front door behind them, he clutched her elbow.
“Would you like to go back to my place? To talk?”
His voice was quiet and warm. Whatever he was feeling right then, it wasn’t anger.
Ella shook her head. “Thanks for that, Ben, but I’m all talked out. I’d just like to be alone.”
He didn’t argue, and by the time he dropped her at Grace’s apartment, Ella was too exhausted for more than a muttered good-night. Just before she climbed into bed, she checked her cell phone and found a text from her editor.
Liked your piece. Nice take on a small-town controversy. Gone to press. Merry Christmas!
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
BEN WOKE EARLY Saturday morning and decided he needed to go for a run. His head was still spinning from last night. He wished he’d noticed the slights Ella had mentioned but guessed he’d been too wrapped up in his own problems with the company fraud and the town-council pitch. He didn’t blame her for saying what she had, though he wished she’d chosen a different time and place. Maybe she’d waited long enough to get all that off her chest.
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