* * *
Thirty minutes later, Colette, Simone, and Gemma circled the chair where Gracie sat, awaiting her reaction to the slip of paper.
“I told you to look in my desk,” Gracie said, seeming to want extra confirmation on the chain of events. “Which you did. And you found this there?”
“Yes,” Colette answered.
“Very good. Well done, all of you.” Gracie turned an expression of pink-cheeked admiration up at them. “I think thisiswhat was niggling in my brain.” She smoothed the paper again and again with bony fingers. “I can picture myself sitting at the desk and writing this out.”
“What does it mean?” Colette asked. “What type of code is this?”
Gracie pondered that while commercials ran on her silent TV screen. “I'm afraid I can't recall.”
“Until we found this,” Gemma said, “we hadn't realized that you knew any codes.”
Gracie released a sound of amusement. “Ididn't realize I knew any codes. How mysterious of me.”
“Do you have a sense ofwhyyou would have hidden this in your desk?” Mom asked.
“No. I wish I did.”
“Does anyone know someone who's knowledgeable about codes?” Colette asked.
“I might,” Gemma said. Jude was FBI and if anyone had code experts on the payroll, it was them.
* * *
Fiona Camden loved having her sons under her own roof, the way she did tonight. It was her favorite thing. Even ahead of an excellent manicure, perfectly done Botox, and a full-body massage by a strong-handed man named Hans at Groomsport Country Club’s spa.
When Jeremiah and Jude weren't under her roof, which they almost never were these days, her worried subconscious liked to remind her that the two most important people in her life were missing. When her sons were physically here again, the way they had been for all those years when they were little, those anxious reminders were vanquished. Jeremiah and Jude brought a unique dynamic into her home. One of deep familiarity, humor, love, comfort,family. A sense of completeness.
Jude helped her carry the last two serving platters to the table. Tonight, she’d seated her guests in the dining room of her storybook cottage of a house. Like the rest of the rooms, the dining room testified to the beauty of a monochromatic color scheme. The table, chairs, curtains, rug, and paint surrounded them with shades of white, cream, and blush. The centerpiece and place settings were elegant. The meal of cioppino, sourdough bread, and salad would hit just the right warm note on this very cold Sunday.
“Do you all have everything you need?” Fiona asked.
They replied that they did.
She really was an excellent hostess.
Artfully, Fiona took her place at the head of the table and draped her linen napkin across the lap of her gray cashmere sweater dress. “I’ll say grace.” She’d been raised in an Irish-American family and grace before dinner was nonnegotiable. She finished the prayer with, “Amen.” Then looked up to smile at the faces around her.
Jude asked Jeremiah's girlfriend, Remy, about her current wood sculpture in progress, and the talk flowed easily from there as they passed the dishes.
Fiona preferred even numbers for dinner because, clearly, symmetry was best. Tonight, however, she had seven. In addition to Jeremiah, Jude, and Remy, Fiona’s friend Burke was present. As was Remy’s elderly friend Wendell and his girlfriend, Marisol.
Everyone complimented the food, and she pretended humility in the face of their praise.
She really wasn’t feeling humble about anything tonight because she—she!—had raised these two sons.You’re welcome, Remy. You’re welcome, woman-who-Jude-will-marry-one-day. You’re welcome, future, beloved grandbabies.
Jeremiah was one of the most eligible bachelors in America—
She was being too modest. He was one of the most eligible bachelors in the world. Remy Reed was a quirky, unknown wood sculptor who spent most of her time on one of Maine’s remote islands.
Looking at the two of them sitting side by side at her table, though, you wouldn’t know that Jeremiah was the famous one and Remy the anonymous one because Jeremiah treated her like the sun rose and set for her. It was extraordinary. He loved her and had fixed the full power of his focus and determination on her. Fiona had never seen him like this, not even when he was dating, engaged to, and newly married to Alexis. God rest her soul.
Fiona tended to be suspicious by nature and back when she’d first met Remy, she’d thought she might be after Jeremiah for his money. Luckily, she’d only voiced that concern to her son once. Not only had she been wrong about Remy, but had she continued to harp on that, she’d likely have driven a wedge between herself and Jeremiah.
“Remy,” Jude said, “Jeremiah was miserable, sad, and lonely after he met you and before you agreed to be his girlfriend. So thank you for taking one for the team and becoming his girlfriend.” He raised his glass. “Cheers.”
