So that left … no one.
She supposed it was against hospital regulations to ask to pay the admin woman to skip out for a while and drive her home.
After another moment of useless pondering, Maddie said, “I don’t want to bother anyone at home; I’ll call a taxi.” She tried to look pleasant and not desperate. Later, she’d call Kevin, tell him what happened, and reassure him that she and the baby were fine, in case he’d somehow heard about the accident through the grapevine. Or from his EMT wife.
On the way to Menemsha, Maddie sat in the back of the cab, stared out the window, and thought—with reluctance—about her father. It was the first time Maddie had been in a car accident; it might be extra hard for him. After all, they were staying in the same cottage, right up the street from where her mother had lain in the road, instantly killed, the clams from her basket strewn around her.
Maddie considered the possibility that each time she left the cottage, Stephen worried that she, too, might not return.
As the car navigated the hills and curves toward up-island, the afternoon light wrestled to peek through gray clouds, while tall trees on either side stood winter-naked, framing the rolling farms. She wondered if she’d needed to have the accident so she could understand that even if her father had writtenthe bizarre notes, even if he was in cahoots with Dan Jarvis, Maddie needed to forgive him because he was her father and she loved him very much.
With that in mind, she rested her head against the back of the seat, and thanked God the baby had been spared.
Stephen’s car wasn’t behind the cottage. A lump swelled in Maddie’s throat. Had he packed his belongings and gone home? She went inside and checked Hannah’s old bedroom; his backpack and valise were there; his clothes remained hanging tidily in the armoires.
She sighed, grateful that he hadn’t left.
Grandma wasn’t home yet, either.
As badly as she’d thought she wanted to be alone, instead she wished there was someone she could talk to. So Maddie decided to walk down to the bookshop and see if her father was there, or if Kevin had arrived. But as she opened the front door to step out, she nearly bumped into Taylor.
Taylor flinched; Maddie recoiled, unsure which one of them had been more startled.
Then Maddie laughed, to break the awkward ice.
“Are you looking for your husband?” Taylor, after all, was not a drop-by-for-a-cup-of-tea kind of person. And now that she knew Maddie was pregnant …
“Is he here?” the auburn-maned woman asked, responding to a question with a question.
Maddie shook her head. “I’m actually heading to the bookshop with paint samples. Have you checked there?” She supposed it was a stupid question; of course Taylor would have first looked for her husband where he was working, not where Maddie lived.
“He’s not there.”
“I saw him earlier at the Chappy ferry; he said he’d be up-island later. Would you like to come in for tea and wait?”Since she’d assured Kevin she would not tell his wife that he’d spilled the pregnancy beans, she had to remember to be careful about what she said.
Taylor hoisted her woven bag higher on her shoulder. “Sure.”
Hoping they might be able to become decent friends—as Rex’s sister, Taylor would be the baby’s aunt—Maddie stepped aside and Taylor came into the cottage and Maddie then hung up their coats. Taylor opted for black huckleberry tea, then sat at the table, and Maddie moved to the kitchen.
It was all somewhat awkward, but that wasn’t a surprise.
“I was in a minor car accident today,” she said as she filled the kettle. “At Beetlebung Corner.”
Taylor harrumphed, or something like that. “That can be a bad spot,” she said.
“It was my fault. I pulled over to make a call. When I hung up, I didn’t pay attention, and I drove straight into the side of a pickup.”
“Anyone hurt?”
Ah, Maddie thought and wondered if the baby subject would—or should—arise after all, or if they both would smoothly circumvent it.
She shook her head. “The young man in the truck didn’t have a scratch. My air bag went off in my face, which was good, but I do feel like I have a sunburn. The EMTs came, and took me to the hospital where I got the all-clear. So, no, no one was hurt.” She took a breath of relief.
“My brother would have been a wreck if you were hurt.” Then Taylor fiddled with a button on her cardigan, evading the unspoken subject. “I don’t know if you know it, but I’m an EMT, too. In case you’re ever in Edgartown and need one.”
Indeed, she was evading.
“They’re lucky to have you right there on Chappy.”
