Page 49 of Lipstick Kiss

“Morning, Luke. Are you ready for today’s adventure?”

“Oh Lord, where are you two off to today?” Maggie said, turning to look at them.

“Florins,” Luke said.

“There are no florins on this island. The Turners settled centuries after the florins you’re after were in circulation. That’s just a rumour. There are no boxes of Italian florins here on the island. I bet that was floated at the card table when they were betting the island as an extra incentive,” Bailey said good-naturedly.

“All rumour starts with an element of truth, doesn’t it?” Freya asked Bailey.

“Yes, that is true,” Bailey boomed in his low tenor, but if there was any here, I’m sure Luke’s great-great-great-grandfather would’ve found them. He documented the entire island. Every nook and cranny.

“It’s a shame those maps are not in existence anymore.”

“But they are,” Maggie said enthusiastically.

Bailey cleared his throat, and they all looked at him as if he was subtly shaking his head. “The Mistress won’t let them be made public. Jennifer has tried for years to let them be put on display at the museum to show how the island looked back then, but she won’t allow it.”

“We were mapping the graveyard. I have so manyquestions like, what are the odds that all first children were male. We went back ten generations, and all firstborns were male. Until Frederick and Cynthia, only the firstborn survived, passed thirty. There are no cousins, not even removed or long-lost watered-down Turners,” Freya said.

“As far as I know, many died in wars over the centuries. The crown sent our men all over the world to fight our wars. No one has ever accused the Turner men of cowardice. They went off to war and did their duty, and sadly, many didn’t come back. The girls seemed to have not survived infancy or childhood. Some never married, of course, but yes, it is sad that there are not more Turners filling this grand hall.”

Bailey’s face fell for a moment, and then he sipped his tea.

“Well,” Freya said brightly. “Archer is married with a baby on the way. Jason is married. I imagine they’ll start a family soon. Then there is Luke. He won’t be single for long, I imagine. Daisy, I don’t know her well, so I can’t say. Do you want kids, Luke?” Freya asked, looking his way.

“Yeah, I want a big family if my wife is willing.”

“If she’s willing?”

“Well, you can’t help who you fall in love with, so if she didn’t want children, I would accept it.”

“Wow,” Freya said.

“It’s good to hear this Turner generation is more modern,” Maggie said. “If your grandfather were alive, he would have something else to say about that,” Maggie said.

“What could he do?” Luke asked.

No one would dictate who he would marry.

“He was of his time, let’s say. He chose who married who, and no one argued. If they did, there were severe consequences,” Maggie said.

“Like what?” Freya asked, leaning forward, almost whispering.

She grinned at the potential gossip coming from Maggie.

“I couldn’t say,” she replied, giving Freya a wink.

“That sounds like a won’t to me,” Freya said, clapping her hands. “Does it have anything to do with the blank gravestones?”

“I don’t know anything about that,” Maggie said, dropping any humour.

Freya looked at Luke and raised her eyebrows, silently conveying that it was ominous.

“Okay, who wants what?” Maggie asked, looking between Luke and Freya.

“Scrambled eggs on toast and bacon,” Freya said.

“Me too, Maggie. Do you need us to do anything?”

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