caught her hand. Slanting her a brief smile, he pressed her fingers, then let her go. Sorry...and thank you. That brief and silent communication between them was as intimate as any kiss.
She was smiling as she followed Duncan and Oliver into No. 8, where she found Tess standing over a bowl of pancake mix and cracked eggs. "Looking for this?" she asked, handing over the milk.
"Yes, thanks." She scattered some Cheerios on the tray of Russ's high chair at the same time that she instructed the bigger boys to turn down the volume on the TV.
"You guys got over your flu?"
Tess smiled. There was no doubt she'd always been a striking beauty, but now there was a serene glow about her. She'd lost the brittleness that she'd shown the past couple of weeks. "We got over a lot of things."
"David's next door," Jane said.
"He was here last night. Was the real deal when we needed him."
Jane nodded. "I wanted to come, but Griffin insisted on calling him. According to your brother, your husband made a land-speed record from your house to here."
A little smile crossed the other woman's face. "He's a by-the-book sort of man, but if his family's threatened..." She poured milk into the mixing bowl and began stirring the contents with a wooden spoon.
"I'm happy for you, Tess. It sounds as if you two worked things out."
"The cove has a way of making good things happen." Duncan and Oliver came clomping into the kitchen, swim fins on their feet. They were out of their pajamas and into swim trunks, mask-and-snorkel combinations perched on the tops of their heads. Tess easily dodged them as one chased the other, Frankenstein-style, arms reaching. "Despite David's and my troubles, the kids have had a great time here."
Jane had to grin at the small boys. She ruffled Duncan's hair as he staggered past her. The touch stopped him. "Hey," he said, as if a lightbulb had gone off.
"Hey back," she said, still smiling. Griffin claimed they were destined for a life of crime due to their unceasing energy and incessant curiosity, but she figured they were more likely headed for careers of adventure and excitement like their uncles. With their dark hair and blue eyes, Tess's boys were prototypes of the children that Griffin might have someday.
"Don't be sad," Duncan said.
She realized she'd dropped her smile. With effort, she pinned another back on. "Okay."
"'Cuz I'm going to make you happy today." He hitched up his board shorts in a move that looked just like his uncle's. "You said you'd love to."
"Hmm." She mentally walked back through her memory. "I said I'd love to...what?"
"Get buried in the sand." His voice lowered. "Me 'n' Oliver are going to bury you alive from your crumpy bitty toes to your scrawny chicken neck."
The words sounded like something from a story, but his tone was so bloodthirsty that Jane wondered if Griffin might be right about their criminal tendencies. "I remember that now. It's going to be today?"
"Has to be today," Duncan said. "'Cuz we go home this afternoon."
"Oh." She glanced over at Tess for confirmation.
"Yep. I have flower beds that have been neglected, and it's easier for the kids to do all their activities from our regular home base. Rebecca's ecstatic at the idea of closer proximity to her friends."
"I'll...I'll miss you," Jane said, realizing how true it was. The other woman had become a friend in the days they'd been neighbors.
"Me too," Tess said. "But we can get together beyond the cove too, you know."
Could they? Because once Jane left here and ended her working relationship with Griffin, she didn't know how it would be to see his sister on a regular basis. Would it be weird or even...painful?
From the onset, she'd settled in her mind that the period to all this was the day she left Beach House No. 9. Without speaking, she watched Tess pour circles of batter into a heated frying pan and then retreated toward a corner to keep out of the way when she called Rebecca to set the table. "I should be going."
"Stay for breakfast," Tess offered. "We're going to make it a leisurely one, and then we'll get serious about packing for home. Which reminds me...I found a few of your things when I started doing some organizing this morning. Will you want to bring them next door or should I leave them here?"
Jane froze. That's right. When Tess and company headed home, that would free up this cottage.