“As for the fire,” she continued, “I don’t know if she set the fire or if it was a coincidence. Rex doesn’t know yet, either. All he said is that she’s quirky. I guess we can ask her the rest . . . if I decide to meet her.”
“If?” Rafe asked. “You’re not seriously going to go home without meeting her, are you?”
She opened her pill bottle, shook one out, and gulped it down without water.
“I don’t like feeling that she played me,” she said. “But I do understand that she wanted to see me again.” She leaned toward her father. “Dad? You’re the one who might have a bigger reason for us to leave. I know what happened to my mom—and Rafe, I’ll fill you in later—but I won’t meet Nancy if it’s going to upset you. I came here alone because I naively thought I could meet with the attorney, settle the estate, and slip back to Green Hills without having to drag you into it. I had no idea it would get so complicated. Not to mention that I’d land in the hospital. Twice.”
Her father studied her a moment, then fixed his eyes on the quilt. “Yes. I heard about your second incident. In fact, I snuck into the hospital and saw you in the middle of the night. Evelyn insists that you’re okay now?” It was sweet that he said that as if it were a question, as if he wanted to be sure it was true.
“I’m fine, Dad.”
“Good. And, yes, your grandmother and I have a ‘history.’ We actually got along well until your mother died. I think Nancy was as tormented as I was, maybe more. I know she felt guilty. We both did. I felt like my life had been ripped apart—well, it had. Your mother and I had wanted to have more children. ‘Three more!’ she said just before she kissed me goodbye and the two of you left for the island that last summer.” He stopped speaking then. The only sounds in the air were from the crickets as they moved closer to the cabin, getting ready for autumn.
“Oh, Dad.” Maddie turned onto her side and reached for his hands. “I’m so sorry.”
He sighed. “You would have had a big family by now.”
She brushed a tear from his cheek. “I have all the family I need.”
Rafe said nothing.
Then Stephen cleared his throat and resumed his explanation.
“Your grandmother and I acted like we were in a game of tug-of-war for you. Which was immensely juvenile. But I didn’t want you to be caught in the middle. And, yes, it bothered me that you didn’t know your Wampanoag heritage. But sometimes the longer someone waits to right a wrong, the easier it becomes to procrastinate. At some point, I convinced myself it was too late, and that, in reality, no harm had been done. I’m so sorry, Madelyn.”
Maddie understood. She’d put off asking Owen for a divorce; she’d tried to keep the “happy family” ruse alive for Rafe. But even at three years old, their son had sensed the growing hostility. Once, after he’d heard a late-night argument, he asked her if Daddy was mean. Though Owen was not right for her, he wasn’t an evil man—and he was Rafe’s father. She knew it wouldn’t be right to deprive them of each other. And that divorce would be the best way to protect their son from his parents’ toxicity.
“I don’t know what to do,” she said now, feeling her own tug-of-war growing inside her. She wanted to say that in one way, she was afraid to meet her grandmother, afraid she’d want to stay. And never see Green Hills again. But she couldn’t, wouldn’t say it.
Rafe twitched in the chair, crossing and uncrossing his legs, biting a fingernail, which he rarely did. Maddie figured he’d opt for her to meet Grandma. He likely wanted to meet her, too. She was, after all, his great-grandmother. A full-blooded Native American. Who had passed so much of her spirit on to him.
“Where is she?” Rafe asked.
Maddie shrugged. “I don’t know. Rex is out looking for her. He made me promise to wait here until he finds her. But he won’t bring her here unless I agree.”
The room was quiet, the sky was drifting into twilight—the “gloaming” her father called it, a word from old Scottish dialects referring to the light that lingered after sunset. And Maddie thought,I am half Wampanoag and half British and Scottish. What a marvelous feeling it is to know I am a blend of ethnic groups who were once enemies, that I am a symbol not only of diversity but also of global peace and forgiveness.
It almost seemed unbelievable.
Chapter 31
“We can’t find her,” Rex said. He and Joe had come into the guest room and were squeezed between Rafe and the closet. Maddie hadn’t been in such close proximity to so many men since she’d mistakenly wandered into the wrong locker room at the college.
“What do you mean, you ‘can’t find her’?” her father asked.
“She didn’t go to Joe’s, and she’s not at the tribal center.”
“I haven’t seen her since yesterday,” Joe said. “We even checked Winnie Lathrop’s. She’s got a big house in Aquinnah that people could get lost in, and she’s a friend of Nancy’s. We looked in a few other houses on tribal land where we knew she’d be welcome to take shelter. But she’s not there, either.”
“She can’t be far,” Rafe interjected. “This is anisland.”
“It’s a big island, son,” Joe told him.
Maddie grew impatient. “Did you go to the cottage?”
“I was just there, Mom. Remember? The only other person there was the policeman who was guarding the front door. He wouldn’t let me in, but he got our stuff. There’s now red tape across the kitchen doorway where the back door used to be, and a ‘No Trespassing’ sign is posted there.”
Maddie suspected that a sign would hardly stop her grandmother, especially since it was her house.
