"I think Lexi was taking her to a special place...a beach-"
"Get out!" Clare shrieked. "Sorry, Myrna, didn"t mean to break your eardrum. I know where they are, thanks, we"ll phone you later." She leaned forward. "Adam, Lexi"s taken Jewel to Moon Sh.e.l.l Beach."
Adam gunned the engine and did a U-turn back toward Polpis Road.
"I wonder if Jewel should see me looking like this," Tris said.
"She won"t care how you look, man," Adam told him, punching his shoulder. "All she"ll care about is seeing you. Alive and kicking."
The ma.s.s of contractors" trucks and flashy convertibles and UPS vans and Marine Home Center flatbeds crept at a snail"s pace.
"Tell me about Jewel," Tris said.
Clare was nearly bouncing in her seat. "Tris, she was amazing. She came every single day to wait for you on the town pier. She knew you would be coming home."
"And why is Jewel with your sister?" Tris asked Adam.
"Long story short," Adam said. "Lexi"s back on the island. She"s started her own boutique, a clothing store-"
"Right next door to me!" Clare interjected.
"And Lexi saw Jewel sitting out there every day and she started hanging out with Jewel and they became close."
Tris frowned. "Isn"t Lexi married to that Hardin fellow?"
"She was. They"re divorced. Lexi"s back here for good." Clare met Adam"s eyes in the rearview mirror. "Tris, we had a storm a few days ago. A bad one. Jewel went into the water, and Lexi ran out and saved her."
"Clare helped," Adam added.
"Is she okay?" Tris asked urgently.
"She"s fine. The thing is, Bonnie has forbidden her from ever going out on the town pier again."
"I guess that"s understandable," Tris said.
"So I think Lexi brought Jewel out to a little private beach where we played when we were girls. You can see the harbor from there. Jewel was obsessed with the idea that you"d be brought home by boat, she wanted you to see her waiting for you, she wanted you to know she never gave up hope."
Tris"s shoulders heaved and he rubbed at his eyes.
"We"re here," Adam said. He stopped the Jeep on the side of the road and looked over at his friend. "You okay?"
"There"s Lexi"s Range Rover," Clare said, pointing. "They"re out on Moon Sh.e.l.l Beach."
"Moon Sh.e.l.l Beach?" Tris asked.
Clare opened her door and jumped out. "Come on. I"ll show you."
Her heart was leaping in her throat as she led the two men through the swampy marshland toward the secret path. The land squelched under her feet as she cut through the tangle of cattails, berry bushes, and beach gra.s.s. High overhead in the brilliant blue sky, a gull flew, shrieking. Clare parted the wall of gra.s.ses and stepped out onto the golden curve of sand.
Two figures were kneeling on the beach, making a sand castle. Jewel wore shorts and a yellow T-shirt and her hair was in braids tied with blue ribbons. Next to her, Lexi wore a white T-shirt and khaki shorts. Behind them, dozens of boats bobbed in the idle blue waters of the harbor. Tris came through the tall gra.s.ses, and Adam followed.
"Hi, guys," Clare said, and her voice came out high and squeaky, because her heart was pounding so hard.
Jewel turned and looked up. Her eyes went wide. She jumped up, screaming, "Daddy Daddy Daddy Daddy Daddy!" Sand flew up as she ran toward her father. Tris reached out and caught her in his arms and held her to him. "Daddy, you"re home! I knew you"d come home! We"ve been waiting for you!"
Tris hugged his daughter, kissing the top of her head, smelling her, inhaling her, then looking at her face.
"Don"t cry, Daddy," Jewel said softly.
"Happy tears, Jewel," Tris told her.
Adam came quietly to put an arm around Clare, who was smiling while tears ran down her face.
"Daddy, Daddy," Jewel squirmed, lifting an arm free so she could point to Lexi. "Daddy, you have to meet Lexi. She helped me hope for you."
Lexi had been standing by the water, watching. Now she came forward, her blond hair glowing in the sun.
"h.e.l.lo, Lexi," Tris said, reaching out to shake her hand.
"Hi, Tris," Lexi said, and her smile welcomed him home.
About the Author.
NANCY THAYER is the New York Times bestselling author of The Hot Flash Club, The Hot Flash Club Strikes Again, Hot Flash Holidays, The Hot Flash Club Chills Out, and Between Husbands and Friends. She lives on Nantucket.
ALSO BY NANCY THAYER.
The Hot Flash Club Chills Out.
Hot Flash Holidays.
The Hot Flash Club Strikes Again The Hot Flash Club.
An Act of Love Belonging.
Between Husbands and Friends Bodies and Souls.
Custody Everlasting.
Family Secrets My Dearest Friend.
Nell Spirit Lost.
Stepping.
Three Women at the Water"s Edge.
Morning.
Moon Sh.e.l.l Beach is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the products of the author"s imagination or are used fict.i.tiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
end.