“I don’t understand,” he whispered.
“Who is she with?” Charlotte asked. “Was it a teenage girl? Was it Gwen?”
Nina raised her shoulders. “The other woman didn’t introduce herself. But Amos didn’t say she was a teenage girl.”
Alexander racked his brain, trying to imagine who Janie would return to Nantucket Island with after all these years. The only answer shocked him. Would Janie really do that? Would Chloe? He winced and looked again at Nina, anxiety splintering his heart. She was so naive.
“I think we need to go back,” Charlotte said darkly.
Alexander and Nina spun to look at her. But her statement hung like a dark cloud in the room, unavoidable. Alexander sensed that Charlotte was right. They were killing time in Tuscany, eating massive pasta-and-fish dinners, drinking wine, and catching up. But their real ghosts remained in Nantucket.
Now that Janie was there, Alexander sensed there was more to the story.
“I want Mom to come with us,” Alexander stammered.
Charlotte and Nina agreed.
“I don’t want to be separated from her again,” Charlotte whispered, wiping her cheeks of tears. “I want to go wake her up and tell her to pack.”
“No,” Alexander said, remembering how tiny and tired their mother had looked lately. “Let her sleep. We’ll get flights for everyone for tomorrow. She’ll have time to prepare.”
But when Francesca woke up two hours later, she appeared at the kitchen table like a regal queen and essentially spat on their idea. “Nantucket Island?” she snarled over her coffee. “Can you imagine? No. I won’t be going back there.” She spoke in English all the time now, almost, for Nina’s sake.
“My wife is there,” Alexander said timidly. “My wife and children. You could spend time with your grandchildren.”
“I’ll pick mine up from camp,” Nina promised. “We can have a family reunion. Charlotte’s place probably isn’t big enough for all of us, but we’ll rent something else nearby.”
Francesca shook her head. “You’re not listening to me. I’m not going back to that island. Ever.” There was an air of finality to her words. Obviously, she’d thought about this a great deal over the years.
“I left Italy when I was too young to know what it meant to leave everything behind,” Francesca said, raising her chin. “I built a life in Nantucket. I had children, maybe too many children.” She sniffed, trying to make a joke, but nobody thought it was funny. “But terrible things happened on that island. My heart broke over and over. I’m safer here in Italy, where I understand the rules, the language, and the people. Come back to see me when you can.” She tapped the tips of her fingers against her lips, adding, “But invite your other sisters. Allegra. Lorelei. I’m sure they’d love to join you.”
Alexander bit his tongue to keep from snorting. He imagined that coming to Nantucket with them was the last thing Allegra and Lorelei wanted.
Chapter Fifteen
September 1997
Nantucket Island
Janie and Alexander had fallen in love more than a year ago. Against all odds, and against her every instinct to explore the world and have adventures, Janie had spent the entirety of that time here, on Nantucket Island, waiting for something to change.
Love was a powerful thing.
Alexander was now twenty-three years old: broad of shoulder and strong in intellect. She loved him to pieces, of course. It was impossible not to. He was his father’s right-hand man in all things White Oak Lodge, so much so that Janie was beginning to think Alexander would never be free from the Lodge and never make it to flight school. Thoughts like this sobered her up. She hated the idea of living a life without purpose, just doing things because they were what you were meant to do.
She hated the idea that Alexander didn’t stand for the things that he thought he did.
For the second year in a row, she’d worked at the fish restaurant in the Old Historic District. Throughout the winter, she’d barely made enough tips to pay her rent because so few people ate there. So few people craved a piece of salmon when blizzards railed against the island. The other seasonal workers had thought she was crazy to stay during the offseason, but she’d known that leaving Alexander like that would break her heart. The winter had been cozy, she guessed, and so different from usual: hot cocoa at the Lodge, Christmas parties with the Whitmores and other island elites, horseback riding, and long walks on the wintry beach. Benjamin had been magnanimous throughout, keeping Janie in his corner, perhaps so she didn’t say anything to Francesca. Chloe hadn’t come back after winter was over. Janie hadn’t heard from her since last autumn, when she’d left their fish restaurant job and taken off for who-knew-where. Janie assumed that Chloe’s attempt to get back together with Benjamin had been fruitless.
But now, impossibly, Janie was facing another autumn and winter on Nantucket Island. She felt itchy and out of sorts and suddenly so old. The little apartment she’d rented near the restaurant was grim and dark and filled with run-down, mismatched furniture. She’d begun to dream of leaving Nantucket, running off to have new adventures and new jobs and fresh sunshine.
She decided to pitch the idea to Alexander. They were in love, and he wanted to leave the Lodge anyway, didn’t he? So she said, “I’m thinking of going to Key West. Just for the winter. Come with me.”
Alexander’s face darkened. They were in her terrible apartment, and a strange smell was coming from the pipes. Neither of them had mentioned it. He got up, paced, and hit histhigh with a fist. “Dad’s finally giving me the respect I deserve,” he said. “I have to stay at the Lodge, at least for now. I have to find a way to maintain this connection. It’s the only way I’ll be able to pay for flight school down the line.”
Janie searched his face for any sign that she could convince him, but found none. His family had thoroughly brainwashed him. Probably soon, he’d marry an islander, settle down, and take over as the rightful owner of the White Oak Lodge. Someday, they’d be strangers.
She kissed him and said she had to end it. She was sorry. She watched from the window as he stumbled toward his car and drove back toward the Lodge. She wept all night and all morning, but by noon she had packed her things and left the island. When the ferry left the port, she felt a renewed sense of freedom, but it felt strangely hollow.
