are all there, other than the truck Daniel has taken to Bee’s, so Michael can’t be far.
Daff finds him, eventually, down at the beach, bobbing in the whaler that he is painstakingly oiling. He doesn’t see Daff as she strips her shorts off, quickly and quietly, wading into the water in her bathing suit without a sound, swimming noiselessly out to the boat.
Michael looks up to see Daff swimming, her hair slicked back, seal-like as she glides toward the boat. He feels an instant mix of desire, warmth, pain, confusion. He can’t avoid her here, so he puts the oil and rag down, extending a hand to help her onto the boat, silently handing her a towel to dry herself off.
“I’m sorry,” Daff blurts out, breathless both from nerves and from the swim. “Whatever it is I’ve done, I’m sorry. I would never do anything to hurt you, not intentionally, but clearly I have. I want you to know that whatever I have to do to make it better, I will do.”
“It’s not what you’ve done to me,” Michael says quietly, not looking at her. “It’s what you’ve done to my mother.”
“What are you talking about?”
Michael finally looks up and meets her eyes. “I heard you,” he says. “I heard you and Mark Stephenson. I heard about the dirty little deal you have with him, the fact that you’ll get money from persuading my mother to sell him the house, except—” he laughs bitterly—“I also heard the part about him reneging because you didn’t fulfill your part of the bargain by getting him the house cheap.”
“Oh Michael.” Daff hangs her head in shame. “I am so, so sorry you heard that. Listen to me.” She stands in front of him and takes his hands. “Mark Stephenson offered me a percentage the night of that party. I never said yes to it, although for a while, I’ll admit, I was tempted. I kept thinking I wouldn’t have to worry about child support running out, I wouldn’t have to lie awake every night worrying about money, about putting Jess through college. Then I realized I couldn’t do it.”
“It didn’t sound like that from what I overheard,” Michael says.
“I know. Because I was about to tell Mark Stephenson I didn’t want his money, didn’t want anything to do with it because it all felt too dirty, and because I didn’t want to lie to you, or Nan, or start this relationship with a betrayal. Before I had the opportunity to tell him I didn’t want the money, he said he wasn’t paying me anyway, and I was so stunned by how unethical he was, I couldn’t even speak.”
There is a long silence as Michael digests what she is saying.
“Do you swear you weren’t going to take the money?”
“I swear to you,” Daff says. “I couldn’t do it, and I wouldn’t do it. And . . .” She takes a deep breath. “This means too much to me for me to fuck it up. I never ever expected to find this, but you’re the best man I’ve ever met. There’s no way I’d do something that stupid.”
Another silence. Daff looks away. When she looks back it is to see Michael grin. “You thought about it, though.”
“Yes.” Daff feels a pang of relief. She knows from his grin it will be okay. “I did.”
“I suppose I can forgive you.” He slides the strap of her bathing suit off her shoulder as he puts his arms around her and pulls her close, burying his nose in her neck, inhaling deeply, loving the feel of her, the smell of her, the taste of her. “You’re only human after all.”
As the pair of them sink to the deck of the boat, the water laps gently around them and the seagulls cry overhead.
“I love this house.” Stephen pauses at the bay window in Nan’s room and looks out at the water, turning to smile at Nan. “I have spent years sailing past and looking at it from the outside. It’s just as beautiful on the inside.”
“Thank you,” Nan says. “It has been a warm and happy home for us for many years.”
“I’ve heard about the parties that used to be held here,” Stephen says as he turns back to gaze at the lawn. “What a shame people don’t throw parties like that anymore.”
“Well,” she says, “perhaps if you buy Windermere you can hold those parties again.”
Keith’s eyes light up. “Oh we do love a good party.” He moves next