Page 34 of An Island Summer
“I’m so happy to hear that.”
“Good. But areyouhappy?” he asked, the bed creaking as he leaned forward, the creases deepening between his brows. “Sometimes I wonder about you—worryabout you.” His eyes suddenly glassed over with tears, his lip trembling. “You’re my best friend. And while I wanted us to be more—and I know we can’t—I still love you.”
Meghan sat down on the edge of the bed and took his hand. “I guess happiness is being content in the present moment and not spending too much time thinking about the past or the future,” she said, not sure of how else to answer. She definitely couldn’t answer for herselforfor Hester on that one. “So, what did you want to talk to your grandson about?” she asked, changing the subject to something she was better versed in.
Rupert brightened, blinking away his tears. “I think he’s met someone, but he won’t admit it.”
“Oh?” she asked, suddenly interested.
“Yes. He’s never talked about another woman since Mary.”
Meghan stared at him, wondering if she should take this information as valid.
“You know, when Mary left us,” he continued, his gaze so clear that she forgot where they were for a minute, “I thought it had broken him for good.” Rupert hung his head, his lips set in a deep frown. “When he asked me if it ever got better…” He let out a sigh. “I told him he will go on. Part of him will always be tied to her, but his soul will find a way to live again.”
“By ‘left,’ do you mean…?”
“They were only married a year before the accident,” he said. “Her death, along with his parents’, was the biggest jolt to our family that I’d felt in a very long time. Not since my own Elaine had passed. It was unbelievable.” Rupert blinked, tears falling down his cheeks. “He’d stayed back at the ski lodge and the three of them had headed for the slopes…”
Meghan closed her eyes, her fingers finding her lips for a second to stifle the shock, and she knew in her gut that there was truth in his words. The pain of death that she was so familiar with scratched its way back up into her consciousness, and tears pricked her eyes. She wrung her hands on her knees as she sat on the crisp sheets of Rupert’s bed, digesting this news.
This tender moment of what seemed to be clarity coming from Rupert had her mind jumbled with whether or not to believe him, but as she looked at his coherent face now, his message so clear, she knew she probably should. Every glance that Toby had given her now took on new meaning. What did that tell her about the rumors she’d heard? Could this tragedy have hardened him into a man that would steal from his own family?
“I had no idea,” she said in a whisper.
“How could you?” Rupert asked. “You’ve been in California.”
Oh yes, I’m Hester.She swallowed, angry at the disease again.
“You remember Elaine?” she asked, yearning for more of the truth.
“Of course,” he said. “Butyouremember her?”
“No,” she answered honestly, her mind still on their earlier moment about Toby and his late wife.
Rupert nodded, that look of confusion settling in the lines between his brows.
If what Meghan had heard about Toby and his wife was true, she would have to tread lightly. And she wasn’t so sure she was strong enough to deal with the pressure of something that heavy. After all, she was still trying to heal herself.
“We’re down a person,” Tabitha said as she whizzed by Meghan and Tess. “Can one of you take on section two today? Meredith is doing three and seven.”
“Of course,” Meghan said, grabbing the chock-full wipe-off table map and showing it to Tess. “It’s a full house today.”
Meredith, who’d just come out of the swinging kitchen doors, stopped at the podium to check her next table. Meghan handed her the table map. “It’s crazy. We’ve got a wait list of an hour. Oh! And Tabitha said she forgot to tell you two. Our big summer party is tomorrow. I hope we can accommodate everyone…”
Tess lit up. “Summer party?”
Meghan took the map from Meredith to get her table list.
“It’s our annual black-tie Midsummer Night’s Dream party for guests and staff. You’re invited. Would you like to come?”
“Of course!” Tess said, eyeing Meghan elatedly. “Coincidentally, Meghan just took her fancy dress to the cleaners and everything.”
“It’s my grandmother’s dress,” Meghan added.
“Perfect timing then,” Meredith said.
It certainly did seem perfect. The idea that she’d actually get a chance to wear a dress that elegant lured her right in. Her mind went back to those days she’d put on her grandmother’s dresses as a child. This was Meghan’s turn to feel glamorous. Now, she just prayed she could fit in it.
