That time, Murphy did not throw in her two cents.
* * *
Outside, it was a perfect late-autumn day, with the fading sun beginning to yield to a dusky sky. As they turned onto a walking path off North Neck Road, Annie reveled in the beauty of the now-naked scrub oaks and the jumbled vines of bittersweet, their bounty of red-orange berries a well-known harbinger of winter. The stillness of off-season was evident, punctuated only by the crisp brown leaves crunching beneath their footsteps and the churning wheels of the stroller.
Claire and Taylor lagged behind, talking about who knew what.
Bella fell asleep. Francine reached down and tucked a blanket—one of Claire’s hand-knit creations—around the girl’s little legs.
“I need your opinion about something,” Francine asked Annie as she straightened up but kept her eyes on the stroller.
“Anything. You know that.”
“You might not like this one. I want to know what you think about the future.”
Stifling a laugh, Annie asked, “Are you asking if I have a crystal ball?”
Shaking her head, Francine said, “Okay. My future.”
Annie paused. “I think you have a fabulous future. You’re a natural mother. You’re about to have two children—because, let’s face it, Bella is more like your daughter than your sister, and you’re going to have a new baby. Jonas is a wonderful guy, and you seem to have a great relationship with him. And you’ve been working very hard to get the education and skills that will give you a solid career.” She stopped and took a breath. “Is that what you wanted to know?”
“Thanks, but not really. The truth is, my aunt and uncle think my life will be limited here on the island. That the kids’ lives will be too sheltered here, and not in a good way.” She hesitated, then added, “Please don’t tell anyone, okay?”
A boulder the size of the meteor that some people thought had crashed on Chappy eons ago and had carved out Cape Pogue felt as if it had landed in Annie’s stomach.
“Oh,” she said. “Well. Of course, I won’t tell anyone.”
They walked a few more feet.
“Is that the real reason you wanted to come back?” Annie asked. “To say good-bye to us?”
Francine stopped. “No. I told you—I’m nervous about having the baby. I want to be here where I feel like I belong. And Jonas . . . I don’t want to take him away from his heritage, especially since his mother hopes he’ll live here year-round while she and Kevin spend winters in Hawaii.”
That last part, her brother and his wife had been “kicking around,” or so he’d hinted to Annie. She didn’t yet know if it was a sure thing. Something Annie did know, however, was that, unbeknownst to Francine and Jonas, after they’d left the Vineyard for Minnesota at the end of August, Kevin had begun to reconfigure the outbuilding on the grounds of the Inn that had been a workshop for Kevin and a soap-making space for her. He was turning it into a house for Francine and Jonas. And Bella. And for the baby that was due at the beginning of May. The house would be a cozy nest for the young family—and, like Annie’s wedding dress, a surprise. Annie and Earl had agreed it would be a wonderful use of the property; it would be their gift to the young couple to celebrate the baby’s birth. When it was finished, Kevin planned to build a separate outbuilding for his workshop and Annie’s little boutique business, over by the meadow, so that Francine and Jonas would have plenty of privacy.
“How does Jonas feel about this? Assuming you plan to raise the baby together?”
Francine started walking again. “I haven’t told him yet.”
“Do you think the idea has merit? Is that why you’re conflicted?”
“I don’t know.” She scuffed at a small pile of leaves. “Without my aunt and uncle, I wouldn’t have been able to go to college. I know that technically I don’t ‘owe’ them for that, but they never had kids. Bella and I are my aunt’s only relatives. We’re all they have. And the baby, of course.”
Annie paused, then said, “If you don’t mind my asking, how committed are you to Jonas?” Even when Francine had told Annie she was pregnant, she hadn’t addressed the couple’s future. “Do you think you might get married one day?”
Shaking her head again, Francine said, “I don’t know that, either. Everything’s happened so fast.”
Annie knew that knowing someone all of six months wasn’t much time to decide if the person would be a “forever” mate. Still, she didn’t ask whether or not Francine thought they would still be together if a baby wasn’t imminent. The question was too abstract for a realistic answer.
“I told my aunt and uncle I was afraid that what happened to my mother might happen to me. And that I was worried if I’m too scared, I’ll harm the baby. I said it was why I wanted to come back here now. Because it’s quieter. Less stressful. I didn’t add that I’m more comfortable here. Or that you’re depending on me. To help with the Inn come summer.”
Annie stopped and took one of Francine’s hands. “Listen to me, honey. You do not ‘owe’ me—or any of us—anything, either. So please put that out of your head, okay? I’m thrilled that you’ve come home to have the baby. So, get ready, because if you’re planning to be here for the next five months, I intend to totally spoil you and Ms. Bella. After that, we’ll see, okay? But at some point you might want to discuss this with Jonas. He’s kind of important to the what-ifs, right?”
She nodded, and they resumed walking.
Kevin, of course, would be crushed if Francine and Bella moved away permanently, and not solely because of the house he was building for them. Earl and Claire would be heartbroken. And Annie would be, too. Especially because as often as she’d told Francine she’d become a wonderful mother to Bella, Annie had tried to be a substitute mom to Francine, and a designated, alternate caregiver for sweet little Bella. Annie pulled her wool scarf more tightly around her neck, not for warmth, but with hope that the fiddling would help her keep her opinion—and her real feelings—in check.
* * *
