Together, they got into Alexander’s car and drove to Janie’s rental beach house, which wasn’t too far from the White Oak Lodge. He recounted what Amos, Nina, Charlotte, and Vincent wanted to do with the new iteration of the Lodge and mentioned that his mother never wanted to return to Nantucket Island. Janie shook her head. “The Whitmore story was never really over.” And then she asked, “Do you think we’re ready to be a part of it now?”
Alexander said he didn’t know.
When they walked through the door of the beach house, Janie called to their kids upstairs. “Gang? Are you here?” They listened as a television was turned off, and Gwen whispered something to her brothers. Alexander wondered what kind of trouble they were causing. He smiled, wondering if they’d eaten too many snacks or maybe had a sip of their mother’s wine.
He remembered being their age all too well.
When Gwen, Conor, and Xander appeared on the staircase, Alexander felt blown over with love for them. The three of them looked genuinely shocked, as though they’d mentally decided they’d never see him again. Alexander was frightened about what they’d heard. He knew he needed to be prepared to answer any question they might have about the fire.
But suddenly, his three children sprang forward and threw themselves into his arms. Alexander’s heart pounded, and his eyes filled. It was almost like his children were toddlers again, so grateful that he was home from wherever he’d flown off to. He’d flown away too much.
“My kids,” he whispered. “I’m so glad you’re here.”
“Welcome home, Dad,” Xander said. “I mean, this is your home. You’re from here?”
Alexander’s chest stung. “Yes. This is my home,” he said, surprised at how tender it felt to say it aloud.
Chapter Twenty-Three
August 2025
Nantucket Island
The day Chloe finally met her daughter was the day after Nina brought her children back to Nantucket Island and moved them into the house on Madequecham Beach for good. Janie watched from Chloe’s beach house bed as Chloe tried on one outfit after another, too frightened to land on any one dress or any one skirt. Janie understood that Chloe wanted to look the part of a mother, a friend, and someone very sorry for everything, all at once. How could one outfit do all that?
Finally, Chloe put on a pair of jeans and a white T-shirt. “Whatever. This is how I feel the most comfortable.”
Janie hugged her best friend close. “You look incredible, honey.”
“Do I look like a grandmother?” Chloe asked. “Because that’s what I am.”
“You’re the hottest grandmother I’ve ever seen,” Janie said. “The grandkids are going to fall in love with you.”
Chloe clutched the hem of her T-shirt, looking stricken. “I still remember the day she was born,” she breathed. “My only child. But I wasn’t ready. They knew that.”
Janie squeezed Chloe’s shoulder and waited. Chloe still hadn’t told her the entire story of what had happened during and after Chloe’s pregnancy, nor how it had come to pass that Francesca would call herself Nina’s mother, legally speaking and otherwise. But Janie guessed her best friend would reveal these secrets when she found the will.
The problem, of course, was that Nina would probably want to know everything up front. Chloe didn’t seem ready to say it all aloud.
That afternoon, it took a great deal more prodding, but Janie eventually got Chloe out the door and off on her greatest adventure. She watched the car turn the corner and head down the road to Madequecham Beach, where Nina and the kids were waiting.
After Chloe was gone, Janie went to the kitchen window and peered out at the water, where Alexander, Xander, Gwen, and Conor were swimming and paddle-boarding, running and splashing around. She could hear their laughter from all the way up here. It was a perfect picture and almost exactly what she’d imagined, back when she’d thought she and Alexander would raise their children in Nantucket, back before her first miscarriage.
There had been other miscarriages over the years, false starts on the perfect family she saw before her name. She panged with a mix of sorrow for those babies she’d lost and joy for the story she’d been given.
She counted to one hundred before she did what she knew she needed to do next.
Ever since she and Alexander had gotten back together, something had been nagging Janie about not only the nightof the fire, but Chloe’s decision to return to Nantucket this summer as well. Specifically, why was Nina so set on returning to Nantucket to find Benjamin right now? It implied something that Janie wasn’t sure she was brave enough to discover.
It implied that—up until recently—Chloe had been in contact with Benjamin Whitmore.
Was it possible that the way to find Benjamin Whitmore was through Chloe? Maybe. If so, she assumed that he was somewhere nearby, that Chloe had known for sure he would be here, or on one of the neighboring islands. Maybe, in secret, Chloe had been seeing him already. Perhaps that dynamic was too personal for Chloe to ever confess to Janie.
It tracked. Chloe’s relationship with Benjamin preceded her relationship with Janie. It meant that, to Chloe, her love for Benjamin was sacred and something she liked to keep to herself.
Janie hurried upstairs and into her best friend’s bedroom. What she did next was shameful, she knew. But she started going through Chloe’s things, eager to find an address book, a journal, anything that would give her more information. If Alexander’s career was really on the line, if his reputation was going to be tarnished, she knew they needed to find Benjamin and get more information about what happened on the night of the fire. Ugh! It was driving her up the wall.
After a bit of digging, she found—to her surprise—Chloe’s cell phone. She held it like a treasure in her hands. At her age, Chloe still hadn’t gotten into the habit of taking it everywhere like the rest of the world. Thank goodness.
