Page 29 of An Island Summer
“It’s bigger without all his things in it,” Tess said, clapping her hands free of dust.
“Yes.” Meghan swiveled around as she sized up all the blank space. “I think I’ll keep it minimal in here to highlight the view out of the double window,” she said, pointing to the sparkling Atlantic under the moonlight, the seagrass swaying in the night breeze.
“You have an eye for art,” Tess told her.
“We’ll see,” Meghan said with a grin. “On to the closet.” With a deep breath, she went over to it, and she and Tess began pulling out Pappy’s hanging clothes, lumping them on the sofa in the living room. Meghan gathered up Pappy’s favorite flannel shirts that he used to wear fishing when the fall temperatures began to plummet. She ran her thumb over the wooly feel of it, recalling how it brushed her skin when he hugged her. They stacked his dust-covered shoes along the wall by the front door.
Carefully, Meghan began to remove the things from the shelves at the back: more fishing hats, his watch, a couple of belts. She took it all over to the kitchen table and set each one down, handling it as if it could shatter at any moment.
“Hey, Meghan?” Tess called from the room. “You might want to come in here and see this.”
Meghan headed back into Pappy’s room to find Tess, head-first in the closet. “What is it?” She peered around her friend.
“Well, that’s one way to get extra storage,” Tess said, as the two of them gazed into the hole in the wall that had previously been hidden with the things on the shelf. From the looks of it, Pappy had cut out a section of drywall and stashed things inside it, behind his shelves.
She gazed into the dark space, full of who-knows-what that Pappy had decided to store there, her nerves buzzing with an electric charge at finding this unexpected surprise. “Maybe that’s why Charlie was rooting around in there the other day,” she said, reaching in and pulling out a large cardboard box.
Upon hearing his name, Charlie perked up from his spot by the headboard. Meghan took the box over to the bed and opened it up, more dust puffing into the air in the white moonlight coming through the window. Charlie sniffed the edges of it, his tail wagging.
“Oh, it’s more of my grandmother’s dresses,” Meghan said, pulling out the garments wrapped in plastic. She lifted the protective bag and peered down at the stunning 1940s shiny green strapless dress with an A-line skirt, tailored bow at the waist and matching shawl. “I’ve never seen this one before.” She slipped the plastic off completely and inspected the tag. “Triana-Norell,” she said, holding it up to her, spinning around in the middle of the room. “It’s so beautiful.”
“It’s just gorgeous,” Tess agreed, pulling out her phone and typing in the name. As the results of her search came up, she gasped. “I just typed in Triana-Norell… Norman Norell was a famous designer. Until 1960, he’d partnered with Anthony Triana and then he went out on his own. Norell was known for his elegant evening wear.” She looked up at her friend in astonishment. “His dresses are on display at the Met.”
Meghan looked back down at the incredible garment. “Oh, wow… I can’t believe Nanna would wad it up in a box and shove it at the back of the closet.”
“Unless your pappy did it, not knowing. That dress is probably worth a thousand dollars or more by now, I’d guess, looking at the others on this page.” She scrolled, her interest returning to her phone.
“I should take it to the specialty cleaners in Manteo and have it professionally cleaned and stored properly.”
“It looks like it could fit you.”
Meghan held it up to her, the hem falling just right. “We’ll play dress-up later,” she teased. “What else is in here?” She pulled out a matching pair of pumps, setting them next to the dresses. Then she grasped a small glass bottle, lifting it from the box. “Chanel Number Five,” she said, holding it up to the lamp, the liquid having long evaporated.
“That’s fancy,” Tess said.
“My grandmother was an elegant woman,” Meghan explained. “She was born into money, but married for love.” Meghan smiled as she removed the cap and inhaled, a faint scent of perfume still lingering. “That’s one of the things I remember about her. She told me that once when I was really little. She’d grown up with money because my great-grandfather worked in the oil industry. He told her that if she ran off with a fisherman, he’d cut her off financially. She married Pappy anyway, telling me that no money in the world could replace the feeling of true love.”
Tess sighed. “I wish I could find someone to sweep me off my feet so much that I’d give up my fortune to live out my days by the sea with the man I love.”
Enchanted by the thought, Meghan set the perfume in the windowsill. “I’m ready to give up my fortune,” Meghan teased. “All $986 of it.”
Tess laughed.
Meghan reached into the box once more and pulled out a piece of paper. Confusion swimming inside her, she turned it around to show Tess the message:
One day, I’ll come back. I promise.
“Where did she go?” Tess asked.
Meghan ran her finger over the swooping letters. “I’ll bet it was when they first met. She said she’d come for a week and fallen head over heels for him, but her father made her go home to Texas. She spent every day after that trying to figure out how to get back to him.”
“Dreamy,” Tess said.
“The only thing we really need is love,” she said, repeating Pappy’s sentiment and wondering if she’d ever be so lucky as to find it herself.
TWELVE
The next morning, before taking her grandmother’s dress to the cleaners, Meghan decided to go see Rupert. With the early summer sun casting its long shadows along the palm tree-lined street, she’d decided to take the long way, driving with the windows down to let in the salty air.
