lace, fabric, and trimmings were carefully stitched to the pages.
Ivy wondered how Amelia might have felt as she compiled this list of treasures. Perhaps she was elated, or maybe she approached this new chapter of her life with trepidation. Ivy turned the page.
There before them was a rendering of the ivory gown and lace coat they had discovered, along with the accompanying swatches of silk and lace.
And on the opposite page was a shadowy sepia photograph of the bride in the same silk charmeuse gown wearing the beaded lace coat with ropes of pearls. In her hands, she held a bouquet of calla lilies.
“She looks so young,” Shelly said.
Ivy waited as her sister stared transfixed at the old photo for a long time. “Perhaps we can have these entries translated,” Ivy said.
She scanned the pages. The last entry had several squares of black cloth stitched to the page, along with another entry she couldn’t read.
Ivy shook her head. “I don’t see anything about Gustav, but maybe she had a pet nickname for him.”
“Did they do that back then?”
“Probably. I doubt we invented nicknames.”
“Maybe Aristotle was just Ari to his buddies.” Shelly grinned and turned the page. As she did, a photo slipped out onto the floor.
Ivy picked it up. Amelia and her husband posed in this one, both of them staring unflinchingly into the camera. “I wonder what year this was?” She turned the photo over. On the back was an inscription. “Amelia and Josef.”
Shelly inclined her head. “Not Gustav?”
“No. Josef.” Ivy considered this discovery. “It looks like Amelia was married before Gustav.”
“I wonder what happened,” Shelly said.
A cool sensation swept through Ivy, and she shivered slightly. “Megan needs to see this.”
Megan Calloway was the documentary filmmaker working on Amelia’s story. Megan and her husband had moved to Summer Beach during the past year. She was recreating Amelia’s life from the old film Ivy and Shelly had found in the lower level of the house. Nan and Arthur had contributed history they had gleaned from newspaper clippings for a book they wrote about Summer Beach and its residents for the historical society.
But what Ivy and Shelly held in their hands predated any of what Megan had discovered in her research. As she stared at the old photograph, Ivy felt compelled to find out who Josef was and what had happened to him. And yet, as with so many of the mysteries they’d discovered in the house, she had a feeling they would find only partial answers. Someday, perhaps, the pieces of Amelia’s fascinating life would coalesce.
11
Bennett deposited his surfing gear on a dune. Sure enough, Mitch had beat him there. His friend rose early every morning before sunrise to surf before he opened Java Beach for breakfast. In the afternoon, Mitch still took sightseeing and fishing charters on his boat a few times a week. The kid had designed quite a nice life for himself. Bennett was proud of him for that.
Bennett was warming up, stretching his torso from side to side. “How are you doing with Darla?”
Mitch shrugged. “She hasn’t been back to Java Beach since the blow-up with Shelly and Ivy. But she’ll get over it. She always does.”
“You should reach out to her,” Bennett said. “She’s probably embarrassed, especially about Charlie taking bets. I talked to him, and he said that Darla suggested that, though I don’t know if that’s true.”
He sank into a runner’s stretch to warm up his legs. With a marine layer on the beach, the weather was cool. The sun was rising, and thin rays illuminated the waves rolling onto the shore. By late morning, the sun would warm the coastline and beachgoers would emerge. But for now, the beach was bathed in solitude.
Mitch was pulling on his wetsuit, and Bennett was glad his friend had brought one for him, too. The Pacific Ocean waters were cool. Mitch had brought an extra surfboard for Bennett as he had lost his surfing gear in the fire. If he kept this up, he’d reinvest in a board and wetsuit.
The last time Mitch had dared him to go surfing, it had been years since Bennett had been on a surfboard. Since the waves hadn’t beat him up too badly, he’d figured he’d do it again. As Ivy’s father once said, If not now, when?
Sterling was referring to their planned voyage around the world, but that applied to many things in life. Still, Bennett had to balance his bias for action with patience, especially where Sterling’s middle