Julia shrugged. “Okay.”
Upstairs in the hallway bathroom, there were more problems. “How does this work?” Julia asked. The girls were standing with toothbrushes in hand. A dribble of paste lined Pippa’s mouth.
“What’s wrong?” Wendell asked.
She pointed to the toilet. It had an old-fashioned pull in the center to flush.
“Oh. Here, let me show you.” He demonstrated, and Pippa laughed. “What’s so funny?”
“You pull the gold chain and down it goes!” She was getting giddy, whether from fatigue or from the toilet, Wendell couldn’t say.
“Okay, okay. Time for bed.”
When both were in their pajamas and washed up, Wendell knocked at the bedroom door. “May I read you a story?” he asked.
Pippa nodded sleepily. She was a tiny thing under the new comforter set and looked snug as a bug.
“What’s the title?” Julia asked.
Wendell decided to sit on Pippa’s bed. There was more room, and he didn’t want to crowd the teenager. “It’s an old book. One my parents used to read to me. It’s calledCorduroy the Bear.”
Julia groaned. “Another antique?”
Wendell swatted the edge of her bed playfully with it. “Yes. Another antique.” But this time she giggled.
Despite her cynicism, Julia stretched out on her bed and turned in his direction as he began to read. Beside him, Pippa’s eyelids fluttered. When the book was done, Julia smiled. “That wasn’t so bad.” She yawned. “Actually, it was kind of cute.”
Pippa was quiet, and when Wendell pulled the corner of her blanket away from her face, he saw that she was sound asleep. Her expression filled him with a deep sense of accomplishment. Very gently, he pulled the covers up around her and eased off the bed. As he tiptoed out of the room, he glanced over at Julia. “You can stay up a while, if you’d like. But be sure it’s not too late.”
“Okay. But one more thing.”
Wendell paused in the doorway. “Yes?” It was such a strange sight, the two girls in his and Wesley’s old beds, under his roof for the night. Despite the unfamiliarity of it all, it was also really nice.
Julia whispered, “Sometimes Pippa wets the bed.” She looked worried.
“Oh.” Wendell thought a moment. “If that happens, come get me. I’ll change the sheets, and maybe you can help her change pajamas.”
“You won’t be mad?”
Wendell shook his head. “Of course not. You know, my little brother, Wesley, used to do that sometimes. But my parents understood.” He shrugged. “Accidents happen.”
“Right.” Julia smiled. “Thanks, Wendell.”
He smiled. “Good night, Julia. Sleep tight.”
As he headed down the hall, Wendell paused outside the closed door of Wesley’s room. Until that day, Wendell rarely went inside. Now he opened the door and looked around. Aside from the missing bed, it was just as Wesley had left it when he enlisted. On the closet door hung a David Ortiz Red Sox jersey, and over his desk was a Green Day poster. The bookshelf in the corner was lined with novels he probably never read for his high school English classes,a stack of music CDs, and a couple of middle and high school basketball trophies. His old Converse sneakers were lined up by the foot of the bed, toes pointing out. Wendell shook his head. Despite the years, it felt as if Wesley could just walk back in the door at any time. Ask Wendell to borrow his car. Give him a hard time about what a softie he’d become.
Wendell leaned against the doorframe. “What would you think of me taking in these girls?” he whispered to the empty room.
ThirtyGinny
Ginny prided herself on being a people person. Normally, she enjoyed working with clients and developing relationships with them; it was a critical factor in doing her job well. But Candace was a vault. She was not going to open herself up one bit.
As surprising as the development had seemed initially, now that the Lancaster girls were staying with Wendell, Ginny thought it wasn’t such a bad idea. For a man who preferred complete solitude and avoided relationships the way most people avoid contagions, the mere idea of him taking care of two orphaned girls was preposterous. After Wesley died and Wendell returned to Saybrook, he’d made one thing clear: he wanted to be left alone. She, more than anyone else, knew that.
But there was something about this new arrangement that was breaking through to him. In the little time she’d gotten to know them, she couldn’t deny it: Julia and Pippa’s story was heartbreaking, and the two were so sweet, only a person with a stone-cold heart could help becoming attached. Wendell Combs was not immune, and that said everything.
But Candace was. And for the life of her, Ginny could not figure it out. White Pines was one of the most beautiful places she’d ever set foot on, and since she’d grown up in picturesque Saybrook,that said a lot. However, Candace remained unmoved by both the family estate and the children. There had to be a reason why. But it was not Ginny’s job to figure it out. Her job was to remain professional with a woman who was difficult to please and whose property could mean the survival of her parents’ agency. Which was why Ginny decided to keep her connection to Wendell and the girls separate from her role as broker.
