without the embarrassment gene,” Nan says with a chuckle. “Sarah, let’s leave the packing for now. There’s still so much to do for the party.”
“There really isn’t.” Sarah smiles. “Stephen and Keith have sent over their party planners and the caterers are setting up in the garage. Keith’s outside with a walkie-talkie telling people where to hang the lanterns. I honestly don’t know how we could help.”
“Isn’t this so much fun!” Nan claps her hands together. “Finally throwing a party like the ones we used to!”
“And, more to the point, throwing it with the new owners.” Sarah laughs. “I love that they’re insisting on paying for other people to do all the work.”
“I’m going to take a rest upstairs before I start getting ready,” Nan says. “I can finish packing my clothes up while I’m at it.”
Nan walks up the stairs slowly, running her hands over the mahogany banisters, feeling every nick and groove, thinking about all the years she has spent in this house, loving it, thinking she would never leave.
And yet, now that the time has come, it feels easy. More than easy, it feels right. Not that she was forced to sell it. The day before going to contract with Stephen and Keith she discovered she was a beneficiary of Everett’s will.
He had finally done the right thing.
He left her more than enough money to do the repairs at Windermere and live out the rest of her days here, but once she had made up her mind she knew there was no going back.
Now she truly is a wealthy woman, and most of Everett’s money has been put in a foundation that will fulfill the work the Powell family started on the island, making Powell once again a great Nantucket name.
There was some put aside for investment purposes, hence the repeated calls from Andrew Moseley, but Nan no longer wants to put her money into stocks and shares, things she doesn’t understand. Instead she has bought a couple of rental houses, knowing that with the prices on the island going up as they do it is a far safer bet than risking anything on the stock market.
The money from the sale of the house has gone into building a cottage on the other two-thirds of the land, half of which she is keeping, and half of which she has deeded to the town, to preserve as conservation land and a bird sanctuary, in perpetuity.
The phone rings again as she walks into her bedroom, and this time she is genuinely delighted when she picks up.
“Daniel! How I’ve missed you! Are you back? Are you on island? More important, are you ready for tonight?”
“I wouldn’t miss it for the world,” Daniel says with a smile. “I’m on my way to Michael and Daff’s. I can’t wait to see you.”
Michael walks up behind Daff, who is standing in the kitchen washing up the leftover breakfast things in the sink, puts his arms around her and kisses her shoulder. She smiles, looking at their reflection in the window, and turns, careful to keep her soapy hands off his clothes, letting herself be drawn into a long hug and kiss.
She watches him as he moves around the room, his long, muscled legs striding confidently through the little kitchen, and she can’t help but smile as she thinks how happy she is, how she didn’t know she deserved a relationship like this, didn’t know what love was until a year ago.
Nor did she dream she could be so happy, so settled, in so short a time. She moved up here permanently two months ago, bringing Jess with her. Richard and Carrie agreed that for now Nantucket seemed to suit Jess, and Carrie was pregnant, Richard busy focusing on his new family. Jess would be going back to them for the holidays.
Although Daff didn’t ever want anything to come between the relationship Jess had with her father, she also knew Jess could be happy, happier, on Nantucket. The beach life suited her, the simple life; she adored Nan, and was still helping Bee babysit the girls some afternoons and weekends.
Jess was busy, and happy, feeling both needed and wanted. She had found, in short, her place in the world, a firm footing on this island, which she had never felt before.
When Michael first found out he was a beneficiary, he and Daff bought a pretty house that came with some run-down cottages, run as bed and breakfasts, just outside town. Together they have renovated