But growing up had a way of ripping out everything you’d always thought about yourself and filling in the gaps with what you thought you were meant to be. Children did that. Society did that.
Maybe Janie had gotten too tired to remember what she’d wanted from her life.
“I couldn’t have done any of it without you,” Chloe said to Janie now. “Every time I called, you kept me grounded. Youreminded me that someone from my past still cared about me. You were there when I had absolutely nothing. Before we’d met, I’d spent the past ten years or so reeling, brokenhearted, unsure about where I would end up next. Going back to Nantucket in 1996 was terrifying, but it also fixed everything.”
Janie furrowed her brow. “How did it fix everything?”
Chloe smiled and sipped her drink. She was acting mysterious. “Benjamin finally admitted how wrong he’d been. He set me up. For life.”
“He didn’t!” Janie’s blood pressure skyrocketed. She remembered the bungalow in Key West, all the travels Chloe had gone on, and all the life she’d squeezed from the past thirty years. It had been possible because Benjamin had given her money. But had she blackmailed him?
Before Janie had a chance to ask, Gwen, Conor, and Xander leaped from the boat and into the turquoise waters. “Mom!” Gwen cried. “Aunt Chloe! Get in here!”
Gwen was on her feet, removing her sundress and performing a swan dive. Was she getting away from Janie’s line of questioning? Or was she feeling the same “carpé diem” she had since Benjamin had taken care of things?
But if Benjamin had given her all this money so many years ago, why was Chloe so set on finding out what had happened to him and where he was now? Janie’s head pounded with questions.
“Mom!” Xander called. “Come on!”
Janie got to her feet and untied her dress, revealing her black one-piece beneath. She took a moment to look at her feet, the toenails of which she’d painted a dark blue last night, watching television with Gwen as the boys played video games upstairs.
Conor joined her children in urging her to dive in. Janie forced a smile and peeked over the edge to see that Chloe hadsubmerged again. She was swimming out away from the boat, her limbs long and slender. Her hair glinted in the sunlight.
Right before Janie made up her mind to dive in, she looked at her phone for a time. It was a habit, something she did automatically every thirty minutes or so. Immediately, she wished she hadn’t. Alexander had called her four times in the past hour. But he’d also texted. Ever since he’d left and she’d moved the kids out of their house, his text messages had been vague, asking where she was, telling her they needed to talk. But this time, his words were assertive. They ran right through her.
ALEXANDER: Hey. I just got to Nantucket. Staying on Madequecham Beach. I’d really like to see you and the kids. Can we arrange something?
ALEXANDER: There’s so much I don’t understand about this situation. But I’d really like to explain.
ALEXANDER: And I miss you.
Janie nearly dropped her phone.
How did he know they were on Nantucket? She remembered how sure she’d been that he was tracking her, that he knew, somehow, where she was at all times. Had he tracked her phone? Did he have a private detective stalking them? Oh, but this was Alexander she was thinking about! Not some crazy super spy! She bit her nails anxiously, wondering if she needed to take the kids off the island. But ever since they’d arrived, she hadn’t heard a peep from the airline, nor from the journalists who’d been so sure that Alexander had done something wrong.
What if the story she’d been spun wasn’t true?
Did she really have the strength to let Alexander back in her life?
Before she made up her mind, she heaved herself over the side of the boat and swam under the water, holding her breath for what felt like a full minute before she burst from the surface and gasped. Her children laughed.
Gwen said, “We were worried about you!”
Xander laughed. “We didn’t know you could hold your breath that long!”
Janie’s eyes filled with tears. But here, so close to the water, she knew they couldn’t tell.
Chapter Seventeen
March 1998
Key West and Nantucket Island
The minute Janie told Alexander that she was pregnant with their first child, Alexander’s wants and needs transformed. He was no longer interested in flight school. No longer was he interested in Key West or traveling or that wild, adventurous life that they’d always dreamed of. Instead, he dreamed of his mother teaching his children how to cook Italian recipes. He imagined his father teaching his children how to ride a horse and sail. He knew that his parents had made mistakes, mistakes that had pushed Alexander out, but who hadn’t? Besides, the Whitmore “treasure” wasn’t real, but the Whitmore fortune and heritage sure were. Alexander didn’t want to dismiss that.
What were Alexander and Janie doing in Key West? They had to get out of here.
Janie quit her job the next day, and they celebrated with a night of dancing, dining out, and finally, calling Alexander’s parents to tell them that they were expecting. Francesca andBenjamin were overjoyed, and Alexander was forced to speak to every member on the phone to tell them the news himself. Well, everyone except for Tio Angelo, who wasn’t home. “We’ll tell him later, honey,” his mother said in Italian.
