One Summer

  back in a ponytail. On the way out she looked in on both her brothers, who shared a room at the end of the hall next to her dad’s bedroom. They were both still asleep. Cory was sprawled on his stomach, while Jackie was on his back, but with both legs bent so his covers made a tent.

  She smiled as she listened to her brothers’ gentle snores.

  As Mikki passed her dad’s room, she could hear him stirring.

  She rapped on the door. “Dad, I’m going running. I’ll put the coffee on. Be back in about an hour.”

  “Okay. Thanks,” came his sleepy response.

  She put on the coffee and laid out two mugs for her dad and Sammy. The men got their own breakfast, but Mikki had been making her brothers’ meals. Sometimes it was just cereal. But other times she’d pull out the black skillet and whip up eggs, bacon, and something called grits, apparently a Southern thing, which her brothers had instantly loved but she couldn’t stand.

  She bounced down the steps and passed through the dunes to the flat beach. She did a more thorough stretch and started her run. She kept to the hard, compacted sand, and her long strides carried her down the beach at a rapid clip. About a half mile into her run, Blake joined her. They talked as they ran. All normal subjects that teens gabbed about. She found herself liking him more, in spite of his association with someone like Tiffany Murdoch. He made her laugh.

  He said his good-byes a few miles later and jogged back up to the street.

  Mikki made her turn to head back toward the Palace when she saw someone out in the surf.

  “Liam?”

  She jogged down closer to the edge of the water as he stood up and waved.

  “Early-morning swim?” she asked.

  He high-stepped through the surf to stand next to her.

  “Musicians and short-order cooks come here to keep in shape. And I’m not into running.”

  She smiled and looked out at the water.

  “My mom taught me to swim in a wading pool in our backyard,” she said.

  “Always a good skill to have.” He brushed sand out of his hair. “You look like you’re working out. Don’t let me interrupt you.”

  “Just a few more miles to go.”

  “Miles! I’d be puking.”

  “Come on! You look like you’re in awesome shape.”

  “If I keep eating at the Little Bit, they’ll have to start wheeling me out of the kitchen.”

  “My dad says the soundproofing is coming along.”

  “Then we can really jam. And my mom won’t kill me.”

  “Looking forward to it.”

  Back at the Palace, Mikki showered and changed her clothes. Her dad had surprised her by making breakfast for everyone. Pancakes and ham.

  “I help,” announced Jackie. He proceeded to pour about a gallon of syrup on his dad’s pancakes.

  Before her dad and Sammy left, Mikki ran back up to her closet to get some things to take down to the beach later with the boys. Her bag spilled over, though, and when she started crawling around the floor picking things up, she noticed a loose floorboard near the rear of the closet. When she pressed the board up, she saw the edge of the photo. She pulled it out and studied the images. She went downstairs and showed her dad, who was finishing up his breakfast.

  Jack looked at the picture of Lizzie as a young girl. She was surrounded by her family. A much younger Fred and Bonnie. And her siblings.

  “See, Dad,” said Mikki. She pointed to one of the people in the photo.

  “Yeah, honey, I see.”

  “That was mom’s twin, right? The one who died?”

  “Yes. Her name was Tillie.”

  “Is that why they left here? Not because of Gramps’ job? But because it was so sad with her dying and all?”

  “Yeah,” admitted Jack. “I guess that was part of it.”

  “I don’t know what I’d do if something happened to Cory or Jackie. And to lose a twin. It’s like you lost a part of yourself in a way.”

  “I think you’re right.”

  He held out his hand for the photo, but Mikki drew it back.

  “Do you mind if I keep this?”

  “No, sweetie, I don’t mind at all.”

  33

  “Bonnie?”

  When Jack had opened the door in answer to the knock, his mother-in-law was the last person he expected to see.

  She was dressed casually in slacks and a turquoise blouse, with sandals on her feet. She slid off her sunglasses and said, “Can I come in?”

  “Of course.” He moved aside and looked behind her.

  “Fred didn’t come with me,” she said.

  “When did you get in?”

  “A couple of days ago. We’re renting a house on the marsh.”

  “Here?”

  “Yes. This is my hometown.”

  “Of course. I was just surprised.”

  They sat on the couch in the front room.

  “I have to say, I was surprised that Mother left the place to you,” she began.

  “No more than I was.”

  “Yes,” she said absently. “I suppose not.”

  Jack hesitated and then just decided to say it. “I heard Lizzie tell you she wanted to bring the kids here after I died.”

  Bonnie shot him a glance but said nothing.

  “That stunned you, didn’t it? Her wanting to come back here?”

  “Where are the kids?” she asked, ignoring his question.

  “On the beach. I can call them up.”

  “No, let’s talk first.” She looked around. “I noticed the new boards on the porch and steps, and the yard looks good.”

  “Sammy and I have been doing a little work to it. Electrical, plumbing, roofing, some landscaping.”

  “Probably more than a little.” She stared at him. “I suppose that’s why she left you the place. You could fix it up.”

  “Like I said, it came as a total shock.”

  “She left me a letter that explained things.”

  “She left me one too.”

  “Mother always did think of everything,” Bonnie noted dryly.

  “I’ve been thinking about fixing up the lighthouse too. Lizzie’s Lighthouse.”

  “Please don’t do that. Do you know she became obsessed with that damn thing?”

  “She told me about it,” said Jack. “But she was a little kid.”

  “No, it lasted for years. She would go up in that lighthouse every night. She would make us turn on the light and shine it over the sky looking for Tillie.”

  “Heaven,” said Jack.

  “What?”

  “Lizzie said she was looking for Tillie in Heaven.”

  “Yes, well, it was very stressful for all of us. And then the light stopped working and she became very depressed. When Fred got the job offer in Cleveland, we jumped at it to get away from here. And to answer your question, I was stunned when she told me she was thinking of coming back here.”

  “But she was a grown woman with three kids. She wasn’t going to be searching the sky for Heaven and her dead sister.”

  “Can you be sure of that?”

  “Yeah, I can.”

  “How?”

  “Because I know Lizzie.”

  Bonnie looked away but did not appear to be convinced.

  Jack decided to change the subject. “You and Fred are welcome to use the place anytime you want. It’s certainly more your home than mine.”

  “That’s very nice of you, but I really couldn’t. It took everything I had just to come here today.” She stood and went over to one doorjamb that had horizontal cuts in the wood. “I measured the kids’ heights here. Lizzie grew faster than her older sisters. Drove them crazy.”

  “We saw that,” said Jack. “I was going to start doing that for Cory and Jackie.”

  Bonnie went over to the window and gazed up at the lighthouse, and then shuddered again. “I can’t believe the damn thing is still standing.”

  She sat back down. “I’d like to see t
he kids while Fred and I are here.”

  “Of course. Anytime you want.”

  Jack started to say something else but then caught himself. They were having such an unusually pleasant time together that he didn’t want to shatter it. However, Bonnie seemed to sense his conflict.

  “What is it?”

  “The tabloid story about the Miracle Man?” he said.

  “Disgusting. If I could have found that reporter I would have strangled him.”

  Jack looked confused. “If you could have found him?”

  She stared at him, and then what he was thinking apparently dawned on her. Her face flushed angrily. “Do you really think I would have spoken to a trashy gossip paper about my own daughter?”

  “But the things in the story. Who else would have known about them?”

  “I don’t know. But I can assure you it wasn’t me. They made Lizzie out to be… well, someone she very clearly wasn’t.”

  “But you never called about it.”

  “Why would I? I knew none of it was true. Lizzie cheating on you? As preposterous as you cheating on her. I knew you never would have suspected that about her.”

  “And her going back out that night for the meds? You brought me the bag of pills. You seemed really angry about it.”

  Bonnie looked embarrassed. “I was angry about it. But I knew it wasn’t your doing. I called Lizzie thinking she was home. She was at the pharmacy. She told me you hadn’t wanted her to go out, that you could do without them. I only acted that way toward you because… well, I’d just buried my daughter, and I was hardly thinking clearly. I’m sorry.”

  “Okay, I completely understand that.”

  “I care about the children. I want the best for them.”

  “I know; so do I.”

  She drew an elongated breath. “Jack, this is hard, but hear me out.”

  Okay, here it comes, thought Jack. The real reason she’s here.

  “I’ve spoken with numerous doctors since your recovery.”

  “Why would you do that?” he said sharply.

  “Because they are only one parent from becoming orphans; that’s why.”

  “I’m alive, Bonnie, in case you hadn’t noticed.”

  “Every doctor I talked to said it’s not possible. The disease you have is fatal, without exception. I’m sorry, but that’s just what they said.”

  “Had. I had the disease. I don’t have it any longer. I was given a clean bill of health.”

  “Which these same doctors—and one of them was from the Mayo Clinic—said was also impossible. It does not go away. It may go dormant, but it always comes back. And when it does, the consensus is that you won’t have more than a few weeks.”

  “Bonnie, why are we having this discussion? Look at me. I’m not sick anymore.”

  “Those three children have been through so much. You on your deathbed. Lizzie dying. Having to be uprooted and moved around the country.”

  “That was your doing, not mine.”

  “And what choice did I have exactly? Tell me that.”

  Jack looked away. “Okay, maybe you didn’t have a choice. But I don’t see your point now.”

  “What if you get sick again? What if it comes back? And you die? Do you have any idea what it will do to them? A person can only take so much misery, so much sorrow. They’re only children; it will destroy them.”

  “What do you want me to do? Give them back to you? Go crawl off in a corner and wait and see if I get sick again?”

  “No, but you could come and live with us in Arizona. You and the kids. That way they can get into a stable routine. And if something does happen to you, we’ll be there to help you, and the kids will be used to living with us.”

  Jack looked askance at her. “Are you telling me that you’re willing to take me and all three kids?”

  “Yes. Even though Mother left you the Palace, she also left me quite a bit of money. We’re in a position to purchase a larger house and have the resources to support all of you.”

  “I appreciate that, but I can support my own family,” he said firmly.

  “I didn’t mean it that way.”

  “Okay.”

  “I’m just looking to help you.”

  “I appreciate that.”

  “So you won’t consider my offer?”

  “No, I’m afraid not.”

  Bonnie stood. “Well, I guess that’s that. Can I go and see the children now?”

  “Absolutely. I can take you down there. And I want you involved in the kids’ lives.”

  “I want that too.”

  34

  On Sunday, while Sammy took his motorcycle for a spin, Jack piled all the kids into the VW and drove into Channing. He’d been working hard at Jenna’s house and a few other jobs, and the kids needed a break from the Palace. Jack had gotten hold of Ned Parker, and he’d agreed to give the family a behind-the-scenes tour of the playhouse.

  Parker met them outside the theater, and over the next hour he took them through the darkened spaces. He showed Cory how to manipulate the house lights, lift and lower scenery, move equipment on stage dollies, and work the trapdoor in the middle of the stage that would allow people to seem to vanish. Jackie in particular thought that was very cool.

  They left the theater and walked along, looking at various restaurants. Someone called out to Jack from across the street. He looked over and saw Charles Pinckney hurrying over to them. He was dressed casually in khaki shorts and a short-sleeve button-down oxford shirt with a T-shirt underneath it; leather sandals were on his feet.

  “Taking the Sabbath off to enjoy some sunshine and the pleasures of Channing?”

  Jack nodded. “Get away from the house for a bit. See the town.”

  “You hungry?”