Page 53 of The Cottage on Pelican Bay

“Tell me about your husband, Margie.”

She was quiet as they continued walking. Then she asked, “What do you want to know?”

“Anything you want to tell me.”

“Okay,” she said with a nod. “Ron and I met at a medical convention. He was a doctor, and I was a nurse. We hit it off, began long-distance dating and got married a year later. We were married for thirty-five years until he died of an aneurysm at his medical office.” She paused and then continued, “There were no signs, no symptoms. It just happened while he was seeing a patient. I worked as his nurse at the office, but on that particular day I had a dentist appointment. By the time I made it to the hospital, he was gone.”

She stopped walking and turned to lean against the railing and gaze at the ocean.

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have brought up those unhappy memories for you,” Levi said.

She looked at him. “I’m fine. It’s been three years.”

He shrugged as he stood beside her and looked out at the ocean as well. “Doesn’t matter. It could be three, ten or twenty. You never get over losing someone you love.”

She watched the water for a few beats, and then said, “Now tell me about your wife.”

He met her gaze. “Lydia and her parents moved to the cove when I was sixteen and in the tenth grade. I’d heard about the new girl and how pretty she was, but when I saw her that day in our English class, I was immediately smitten.”

Margie laughed. “Immediately?”

He laughed back. “Yes, immediately. Her parents were strict and wouldn’t let her begin dating until she was seventeen. I patiently waited. They did allow me to walk her to school and back home. But I never got invited inside. Everything changed when she turned seventeen. I got invited to Sunday dinner.”

“Wow.”

“That’s what I thought, too, and it lasted for every Sunday until we finished school. Then she left for college, and I left for the military. She remained my girl all through that time and then after college, she came home and planned our wedding. By then, my time in the military was up and I returned to Catalina Cove and tried out for the police force, and Lydia was a third-grade teacher here. We were happy during the twenty-four years of our marriage. Like your Ron was a special man, my Lydia was a special woman.”

“Then we were blessed, weren’t we?” she said softly.

“Yes, we were. But Lydia and I had our share of sorrows. Losing our only child, Dasha. She was a beautiful little girl who died before her second birthday from an asthma attack.”

“I’m sorry, Levi. Ron and I lost our first child, too. He was born with a hole in his heart and only lived a week. That was hard on us, so I can imagine how difficult things were for you and your wife.”

They started walking again and for a while they strolled in silence. Then he said, “I’m attracted to you, Margie. I believe you know that. What you might not know is that you’re the first woman I’ve felt anything toward since Lydia.”

When she didn’t say anything, he continued, “I’ve been a widower for close to twelve years. You only lost your husband three years ago. You might not be ready to start seeing anyone, and if that’s the case, I understand. However, I’m hoping we can be friends.”

She smiled at him. “You’re right. I’m not ready for anything other than friendship right now, Levi. Thanks for understanding.”

“Alright, Margie, then a friend-only relationship is what we’ll have.”

For now, he thought, hopeful that one day that would change.

22

Zara sealed up another box and looked around. She would never have thought she still had this much of her belongings at Zara’s Haven. She’d even come across the pom-poms she’d used as head cheerleader. Seeing the crown her father had placed on her head as Miss Catalina Cove High had taken her down memory lane. She could honestly say she’d relished her high school years.

So far, she’d packed over twenty big boxes. Some of the items she would donate to the high school and some to Goodwill. The items she wanted to keep, she’d put in a storage facility here in the cove. Checking her watch, she knew her stomach was growling for a reason. It was past lunchtime. She had leftovers from dinner with Saint yesterday and couldn’t wait to warm them up.

Dinner had been delicious, and he’d shown just what a good cook he was. And he’d been right about those crab cakes. Over the meal he’d told her more about the bayou and she’d let everything he said sink in. You could take the man out of the bayou, but you couldn’t take the bayou out of the man. She liked that about him. He was true to who he was. Just like she embraced the French part of her, he did the same with the bayou part of him.

She headed downstairs, recalling how as a little girl she would use the banister of the staircase as a sliding board. No matter how many times her parents had scolded her for doing so. She hadn’t cared one iota that the carvings on them were originally meant for a castle in Ireland, but thanks to LaFitte and his gang of pirates, they’d ended up here instead.

In fact, she’d been told that a number of pieces in the house had been smuggled in from other countries. That was one of the reasons this mansion didn’t give a Southern feel, like the other ancestral homes in the cove. Everything in the house was fit for a queen...or rather a princess. LaFitte made sure of it when he’d presented this house and its contents to Princess Zara.

A part of her often wondered if Princess Zara ever fell in love with the man who had kidnapped her, or if she had been in love with her intended groom, the Caribbean prince she was promised to. She’d been on that ship to the Caribbean to get married. LaFitte had certainly put an end to that.

Moments later Zara was in the kitchen using the microwave and looking around at the double ovens, stainless-steel appliances and granite countertops. The one thing she loved about this house had been this kitchen. She remembered when her mother had asked that it be modernized, and her father had been quick to accommodate her. After that, the newly enlarged butler pantry had been Zara’s favorite hiding place as a child.

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