The first week of March, Janie and Alexander packed up their things from the little bungalow and drove back north. Alexander asked twice about who Janie was renting the bungalow from and what she needed to do to end the lease. Janie explained that it belonged to a friend, and she had to lock it up and give the key to someone else. That was it. Alexander brushed it off as another quirk of Janie’s easy-breezy lifestyle.
Janie was already sick from the pregnancy. Rather than drive herself all the way to Nantucket in her car, Alexander hired someone to drive Janie’s car for them. This allowed him and Janie to take their time in his car. For days, they moved slowly through Florida and up the East Coast, headed for the frigid spring that still infected the Northeast. Between bouts of her nausea, they spoke about their children, about the White Oak Lodge and the future of Nantucket Island. Alexander’s love for Janie was more profound than ever, especially after what she’d done for him at Christmas. He’d been out of his mind back in Nantucket. He’d needed her. And she’d taken care of him, housed him, and cooked for him until he’d gotten back on his feet. He’d gained all his weight back.
He understood what Janie meant about the money. Alexander didn’t understand how important money was because he’d always had it. They’d decided not to turn their back on it.
When they reached Nantucket, the entire Whitmore family swarmed from the White Oak Lodge to welcome them. Even Allegra threw her arms around Alexander and Janie, overjoyed that they were back. It was like the family had been incomplete till now. Lorelei and Charlotte pulled Janie inside so they could feed her and warm her up. Alexander’s father led him to hisstudy for a glass of whiskey and a conversation about “becoming a man in fatherhood.” Alexander could tell that Benjamin was proud of him. But more than that, Alexander had a hunch that Benjamin respected him for leaving the nuclear family behind in pursuit of his own dreams—and the woman he loved. It hadn’t worked out, but the White Oak Lodge was his destiny anyway.
“You have gumption, son,” his father said, pouring him another glass of whiskey. “You’re like me. You’re like your grandfather. You’re a Whitmore man.”
The idea of being a “Whitmore man” had always been a tremendous pressure on Alexander’s shoulders. But now that he was bringing another Whitmore into the world, he gritted his teeth and told himself he was ready.
Francesca was especially thrilled that Janie and Alexander were back because she said she was more than ready to plan her first Whitmore wedding. “I’m thinking summer 1999. Imagine it. Your white dress, Janie, up against the bright blue of the water, and hundreds of our favorite Lodge guests. There will be a write-up in every paper across the East Coast,” Francesca said conspiratorially, one night, sitting up with Alexander, Janie, Charlotte, Allegra, and Lorelei. Nina was off somewhere, maybe in bed.
Janie laughed. “I don’t need all that pomp and circumstance! And I’ll be a new mother. I’ll probably be too tired for any close-up photographs.”
“We’ll take care of that,” Francesca said. “You’ll have plenty of help and plenty of sleep.”
Janie glanced at Alexander, her hand on a stomach that didn’t yet show signs of her pregnancy. She glowed with health and vitality. They’d already discussed what the summer would bring: light work around the hotel for Janie because she wanted to “earn her keep,” and the same hard labor that Alexander was accustomed to. But Alexander would do that work with love andtenderness this year. He felt as though he was giving back to his future child.
Janie and Alexander stayed in Alexander’s old bedroom but were given an additional room next door so that they could spread out their things and get comfortable. Although they were expected at most family dinners and hangouts, and although their responsibilities at the Lodge were advancing now that it was early spring, Janie and Alexander still managed to steal a few hours every day to hang out in their bedroom, just the two of them. It was there that Janie mentioned Jack, Tio Angelo, and “that kid Amos.”
“What are they up to?” she asked.
Alexander sighed and stretched out his body so that the tips of his fingers hung over the bed, and the tips of his toes hung over the opposite end. “I don’t know,” he said finally, before confessing that he thought maybe Tio Angelo was selling drugs on the island.
“He wanted me in on his operation early on,” he said. “But I think he studied me and realized that I wasn’t the kind of guy to help him.”
Janie was quiet for a few minutes, tracing his hair with her fingers. “You have to help your brother.”
“I don’t know what to do,” Alexander said. “I don’t want anyone to get arrested. I don’t want the White Oak Lodge to be shut down. And it feels like everything is operating as normal, sort of.”
“I saw a few cops sniffing around earlier today,” Janie said.
Alexander groaned into his pillow. After a long time, he said, “All right. I’ll see if I can nail down more details.” He would do it for Jack.
“Why don’t you talk to your mother?” Janie asked.
“Because she loves her brother,” Alexander said. “And I wouldn’t say Italy is the most legal place in the world. They get away with a lot.”
“You think your mother would say who cares about something as sinister as this?” Janie was shocked.
“No. I don’t know.” Alexander’s head spun. He set his jaw. “Like I said, I’ll ask around.”
In the days that followed, Alexander made a point of meeting with a few of his old high school friends to see what they knew about Tio Angelo's activities. He met them for beers at a bar near the port, where they sat around and talked about how much things had changed and how much they’d stayed the same. Alexander was utterly bored with the conversation, and he wasn’t entirely sure if his old friends were happier now than they’d been at seventeen or eighteen. Now that they were all nearly twenty-four, they either had children or had children on the way, and their lives had a way of grinding them down.
One of them burst with news about Alexander’s high school girlfriend, Belle. “She’s working as a model in LA!” he cried. “I saw an ad with her in it. It’s crazy.”
His friends searched Alexander’s face for signs that it bothered him that his ex-girlfriend was now so “famous.” Alexander searched his own mind for jealousy. But he shrugged.
“You could have had her back,” his friend Steve reminded him now. “Remember? She came around Nantucket a couple of summers back, wanting you. I heard she left the Solstice Party in tears because you were ignoring her.”
Alexander’s stomach felt warm with the memory. “That was the night I met Janie.”
His guy friends teased him for his wistfulness, imitating him. “That was the night I met Jaaanie!” they sang. Alexander laughed along with them. He wondered if he’d remain friends with these guys over the years, and whether their children would play together. He asked whether he still liked them or if they were habits he couldn’t break.
Alexander waited for another round of beers to pass before he asked what he’d come here for. “Do any of you know what my Tio Angelo’s up to at the high school?”
His friends lost their smiles immediately. Tension filled the air. For a long time, nobody spoke, as though they were waiting for someone else to fill Alexander in.
