It was simply amazing.
But maybe, it was just meant to be, she thought.
Chapter Seven
L
IZA woke up late on Sunday morning. Warm sunlight glowed behind the lace curtains in her bedroom, mirroring the happy glow she felt inside.
She thought about Daniel and their time together. It seemed as though she were remembering a wonderful dream—especially their walk on the beach in the moonlight.
She felt as if she couldn’t stop smiling. Maybe he did care for her more than she had thought. It seemed he was trying hard to please her. She knew that inviting her to his house had been a big step for him.
Did she really know that much more about him? Well, not exactly. All she knew was that when they were together, she felt wonderful, her real and best self, shining through. Being with Daniel felt so easy and right.
Despite her hours spent working out in the sun the day before, she felt energized and ready to tackle the garden again. With an early start today, she hoped to finish in back and make it out to the front.
There was a real deadline now, the wedding date. Liza felt the pressure and the race was on to get the inn in better shape, inside and out.
She pulled on some clothes suitable for the dirty work ahead and went downstairs for coffee and a quick breakfast; coffee and a muffin would do for now.
It was so quiet at the inn without Claire. The inn wasn’t any noisier with Claire in it, but her presence resonated somehow. It was always good to know that she was there, ready to listen or give advice or share a cup of coffee.
Liza grabbed her mug and headed out to the porch to survey the work that was needed in front.
It was a brilliant sunny day, growing warmer by the minute, as the sun rose over the broad, blue swath of ocean visible from the porch.
Liza walked around the front yard, making notes on a small pad. She had found some old photos of the inn that showed the garden very clearly, and she hoped to restore some of the beds just as her aunt had originally planted them.
At the front of the property, there was a pretty little flower bed around the post and wooden sign that bore the name of the inn. Her uncle Clive had cut that sign and sunk the post, and Elizabeth had painted the lettering and surrounding vines and flowers.
Liza examined the post and sign. She needed to refresh the paint and lettering—a delicate task for sure—but she would never change it.
The flower bed around the sign had always more or less matched the colors on the sign, tufts of sun-loving lavender, bright white Shasta daisies, and hot pink phlox. Now she saw mostly weeds, with just a few stems of brave, persistent lavender trying to peek through.
Liza knelt down with her tool basket and got to work. It was about half past noon when the sound of a car coming up the gravel drive caught her attention.
She didn’t recognize the shiny black convertible, but was happy to see Jen and Kyle in the front seat. Kyle was behind the wheel and Jennifer waved happily with one hand, holding back her long hair with the other as the car came to a stop.
“We should have called first. I’ve interrupted your work again. I’m sorry,” Jennifer apologized as she walked across the lawn to meet Liza.
“Don’t be silly, I’m glad to see you.” Liza quickly yanked off her gardening gloves, and wiped her hands on a small towel.
“We didn’t have a chance to walk on the beach yesterday. Kyle ran off so quickly to the golf course with my father,” she explained. “So we came back today.”
“I never got to say good-bye or thank you yesterday,” Kyle added. “I’m so glad everything worked out. This is the only place Jen and I ever imagined being married. If we couldn’t get married at the inn, I think we would have just pitched a tent down on the beach and gone through with it anyway.”
“I’m much happier that you’re having it here,” Liza said with a laugh.
“I am, too,” Jen added. “I can’t wait to be married here.”
“Neither can I,” Kyle agreed, putting an arm around his fiancée.
Jennifer leaned against him. They were so easy and comfortable together; they seemed to fit each other perfectly. “Well, we won’t keep you from your garden. My mother said she would call to set up an appointment, to go over more details.”
“Yes, we need to meet very soon. Early this week, I hope,” Liza urged her.
“Yes, early this week,” Jennifer promised. “I know there isn’t much time, but everything will turn out great. How could it not?”
Liza smiled in answer. If only she could bottle some of Jennifer’s sunny outlook. It would come in handy the next few weeks, she was sure.
“So what are you guys up to today?” she asked the young couple.
“Well, we just went to church and had a visit with Reverend Ben after the service. We’ve started our premarital counseling,” Jennifer reported. “And we’re going up to Newburyport later to shop for wedding bands. We have so much to do, but that’s the only thing we felt like tackling when we checked the list.” She glanced at Kyle, and he squeezed her shoulder. “We don’t have much time together right now. Just the weekends—and not always even that.”
“Don’t worry. The time until your wedding will pass quickly,” Liza promised. And even quicker for me, she realized.
Liza watched the happy couple head toward the beach, hand in hand. She suddenly felt a deep connection to her aunt who, she imagined, had felt much the same when she befriended them and coaxed the romance along.
It was amazing how she had come full circle from Monday morning when Jennifer had appeared at the door out of the blue. Her request had seemed impossible then. But maybe anything is possible, Liza reflected, when you ask heaven for your heart’s desire and won’t take no for an answer. The way Jennifer did.
And the way I did,
Liza reflected,
when I chose to stay on Angel Island.
JENNIFER and Kyle quickly headed across the road and down the steep path to the beach below. Jennifer kicked off her shoes and ran to the water. “I missed you, beach. I really did,” she called out. She picked up the edge of her sundress and waded into the foam. When she finally looked up, Kyle was standing a short distance away, watching her.
“I’m marrying a total nut. But she’s a beautiful one.”
“Thanks, honey. I’ll take that as a compliment.” Jen walked over to him and kissed him on the cheek, then wound her arm around his waist. “So how do you like our beach? Does it look the same to you?”
“Exactly, only better. Because now that we’re going to be married, this place seems even more important to me.”
“I feel the same way,” she said. They walked along the shoreline awhile, their arms entwined and their steps in matching rhythm. “I’m so relieved that my parents finally agreed on the inn. Every time I think of it, I’m just ecstatic,” Jennifer said happily.
“I’m relieved, too,” Kyle admitted. “Now if we can only persuade your mother to keep the guest list down. I’m starting to worry that we’re going to end up with a three-ring circus, Jen. You know that’s not what we wanted.”
“Don’t worry. It will be fine. I’ll talk to her about it, I promise. You have to remember, she gave in on the big thing—the inn. So we may have to compromise a little.”
Jennifer felt Kyle’s body tense but he didn’t say anything. Was this the way it was going to be the entire time she was planning the wedding? She hoped not. The last thing she wanted was to be caught in the middle like this, between what her parents wanted and what Kyle wanted.
“The weekend is passing so quickly,” she said. “I feel as if we hardly had any time together. Maybe I should come into Boston next week and we can have dinner one night or work on the apartment. With the wedding so close, we’ll never get to paint.”
“I can hire some painters; that’s not a problem,” Kyle replied quickly. “Listen, I got an e-mail from Ted this morning. He wants me to go down to New York tomorrow to work on that big project I told you about. I’ll be there a few days, maybe even over the weekend.”
So they couldn’t get together this week in Boston, Jennifer realized. “Do you have to stay there on the weekends, too? That doesn’t seem fair.”
Jennifer didn’t mean to complain. But they had so much to do and only five weekends to do everything. You couldn’t count the weekend of the wedding; even she wouldn’t do that.
But she decided not to make a big deal out of this. Kyle was the only one working right now, and his job was important to their future.
“I’m the low man on the ladder right now, so I have to do what the boss says. And look happy about it,” he added in a joking tone. “Besides, being asked to go to the main office is an honor. Even if I could turn it down, I wouldn’t want to.”
“I understand. You have to seem like a team player and all that,” Jennifer agreed. “You’re so smart, I’m sure they need you there. Just make sure you solve all their problems in New York in time for our wedding, okay?”
Kyle laughed and stared into her eyes. “Don’t worry, I’ll absolutely do that, I promise.”
Then he kissed her hard and swung her around in a circle, right off her feet, splashing with his bare feet in the foam.
Just like he’d done when they were teenagers.
And she knew what he was going to do next, too. “Kyle, put me down!” she called out as he slung her over his shoulder, fireman style.
“Feel like a swim, honey?” he teased over her screams.
“No, I don’t! It’s too cold and this dress can only be dry-cleaned and—”
“Okay, okay,” he said, laughing. He carried her back to the dry sand and set her down. Then he collapsed on the sand with an exaggerated grunt. “You feel a little heavier than you did in high school, Jen. I’m not even sure I could still throw you into the water.”
Jen made a face at him but she knew he was still teasing. She was, in fact, quite a bit thinner than she’d been as a teenager.
“Maybe you’re just not as fit as you used to be. You really need to get back to the gym,” she teased back. “I don’t want a flabby hubby on our honeymoon.”
He laughed at her comeback. “Good one. We’re even. Now come over here and let’s look at the water awhile.”
Jennifer gladly joined him, sitting close and snuggling against his chest, his arm wrapped around her shoulders.
“We’ll always come back to this beach,” she said quietly. “And we’ll always be together and be incredibly happy.”
“Yes, we will. And we will . . . and we will. I promise you,” he replied, answering each of her vows.
“I promise you, too,” Jennifer said solemnly.
She sighed and stared out at the water, the sound of the waves merging with the beat of Kyle’s heart.
Their love was just as limitless, she thought, stretching out in all directions, like the vast ocean and the blue sky above. Filling all the empty places inside her, like the rushing water. Warming her deep to her soul, like the brilliant sun. Lighting every day of her life.
She and Kyle would always be this happy, she promised herself. Always and forever.
CLAIRE and Liza had just finished breakfast Tuesday morning when Daniel tapped on the back door. Liza jumped up to open it. He had been tied up on another job and, though they’d had a few casual conversations on the phone, she hadn’t seen him since their dinner at his house on Saturday night.
“Good morning, ladies. Do I smell pancakes?” He sniffed the air. “Or is that some amazing new perfume you have on, Liza?”
He leaned perilously close to her cheek, waited a moment, then finally kissed her.
She had to laugh. “I’m sure I smell like maple syrup. But that was totally unintentional.”
Claire was standing at the stove, with her back turned. If she had seen the kiss, she didn’t show it.
“Sit down and have a bite, Daniel,” Claire urged him. “There’s a stack left over, just for you.”
“Claire, you talked me into it.” He smiled and took a seat near Liza. “I had to leave the house very early. I only had time for coffee.”
“That’s not healthy, Daniel,” Claire scolded in a motherly tone, “especially with the hard work you do all day.” She set a plate of hot, airily light pancakes on the table in front of him. “No more coffee for you. You need some orange juice first,” she added, bringing him a glassful.
“Wow, what service. Thanks, Claire. You always take care of me.”
“I do what I can, when I can,” Claire said. “You don’t seem to take very good care of yourself. I’m starting to think you need someone on that job full-time,” she hinted broadly. “But that’s none of my business.”
“No, it’s not . . . but thanks for your interest.” Daniel laughed, pretending to look shocked at her pronouncement.
Liza felt her cheeks warm. Daniel must think I tell Claire about my romantic dilemmas, she thought. That wasn’t really the case, though Claire seemed to have a special radar about these things. So no doubt, she’d already guessed what was going on—or not going on—between them.
“I didn’t expect you this morning,” Liza finally managed to say. “You told me you weren’t going to finish with the porch in Cape Light until Wednesday.”
“I’ve got some guys on it. I thought I’d stop here first before I joined them—just to go over some of the items on this list.”
“That’s good,” Liza said, feeling relieved. “Jennifer and her mother will be here this morning to go over wedding details.”
He took a folded sheet of paper from his shirt pocket, and Liza could see he had made a lot of notations.
“She wants the grout and any broken bricks out back replaced?”
“That’s what she says. She’s afraid it’s too bumpy and people will trip. Women in high heels, you know. I think if we can figure out how to make it look fresher and smoother, that would be okay,” Liza suggested. “Is there some way to do that?”
“The bricks are probably about one hundred years old or more, so they’re going to have a few lumps and bumps. Patching spots with new bricks will stand out like neon Band-Aids. Maybe we can find antique bricks that would match. Sometimes people save them after they renovate or tear down.”