“Spiders … No, that’s not it. Web. That’s it. She knows about the Web and can look on there.”
“For your information I also know about the Web, the Internet, and I can assure you that the Valentina Montgomery you’re looking for isn’t on there.”
“It was all a very long time ago.”
Jared got up from the chair and walked to the window to stand by his grandfather and look out at the tourists who were already beginning to arrive. They were as different from Nantucketers as dolphins from whales. However, it was amusing to watch them stumble across the cobblestones in their high-heeled shoes.
“How is this girl going to find what we can’t?” Jared asked, his voice calm.
“I don’t know. It’s just something that I can feel.”
Jared knew from long experience that his grandfather was lying, or leaving out information. There was a great deal more about why Alix Madsen was being given possession of Kingsley House for one whole year, but Caleb wasn’t telling. And Jared knew that he’d never hear the full story until Caleb was ready to tell it.
But Jared wasn’t giving up. Not yet. “There are things about her that you don’t know.”
“Then you must tell me all.”
“I talked to her father last week, and he said his daughter is in a bad way right now.”
“And why is that?”
“She was engaged to be married, or something, but they recently broke it off.”
“Then she will enjoy being here,” his grandfather said. “Her mother has always loved this island.”
“Is that the mother she doesn’t know was here every year?!” Jared was having difficulty getting his anger under control. He waved his hand. “Forget that. This girl just broke up with her boyfriend or her fiancé—one of them, I don’t know. You know what that means, don’t you? She’ll be all weepy and miserable and stuffing herself with chocolate, then she’ll see …”
“A ghost.”
“Yes,” Jared said. “A tall, handsome, never-aging ghost who is so very sympathetic, so courteous, so charming, and she’ll fall in love with him.”
“Do you think so?”
“This isn’t a joke,” Jared said. “She’d be a woman from yet another generation to give up her real life for an empty one.”
His grandfather frowned. “Adelaide never wanted to get married, and her life was far from empty.”
“If you call four tea parties a week fulfilling, then no, her life wasn’t empty at all.”
Caleb looked at his grandson with a face full of fury.
“All right,” Jared said as he threw his hands up in the air. “So I’m off base about Aunt Addy. You know how much I loved her. This whole island did and it wouldn’t be half what it is today if it weren’t for my dear aunt’s hard work.” He took a breath. “It’s just that this girl is different. She’s not from our family. She’s not used to ghosts and family mysteries and two-hundred-and-two-year-old legends. She’s not even used to creaky old houses or islands where you can buy a thousand-dollar jacket but no store carries cotton underwear.”
“She’ll learn.” His grandfather turned to him with a smile. “Why don’t you teach her?”
A look of dread went across Jared’s face. “You know what she is and what she would want from me. You know that she’s training to be … to be an …”
“Get it out, boy!” his grandfather yelled. “What is she training for?”
“To be an architect.”
His grandfather knew this but he didn’t understand Jared’s dislike of the subject. “Isn’t that what you are?”
“Yes,” Jared said. “That’s exactly what I am. But I have an office. I have—I am—”
“Oh,” Caleb said. “I see. You’re the master and she’s the cabin boy. She’ll want to learn from you.”
“Not that you have any reason to know this, but there’s a recession going on right now. A collapse in the housing market. One of the jobs hardest hit has been the architect’s. No one is hiring. It makes recent graduates desperate and aggressive. They’re sharks feeding on one another.”