Page 78 of The Cottage on Blueberry Bay

“We want to start off the meeting by saying a small prayer, followed by a moment of silence for our brother Jacob O’Neill,” Pauline said. She began the Lord’s Prayer, and then she looked at Meredith. “There were a lot of stories shared about Jacob O’Neill over the years, mostly legends at this point.”

The crowd murmured in agreement.

“But I will never forget, after I lost Michael that day, how scared I was,” Pauline said. “Scared about paying my bills, scared about raising two children, scared I wouldn’t be able to even shovel my driveway. Michael had done everything.”

Quinn saw Remy pull out a tissue as she sat beside him. When he saw tears in Meredith’s eyes as she listened to Pauline, he couldn’t help but be more enamored with her. Here was a woman who had been beaten down by life, yet she was empathetic as she sat there among the Queen Bees.

“Then winter came,” Pauline said, looking directly at the sisters with tears in her eyes. They were the only ones who hadn’t heard the story.

The other women hummed out different sounds in agreement, nodding and waiting for Pauline to continue.

“That’s when we got hit by the nor’easter, and the whole town lost power.” She looked out at the crowd and smiled. “And who was out there plowing before anyone woke up?”

The ladies all said his name in unison. “Jacob.”

“And who put money in our mailboxes that winter to feed our children?” Pauline said.

“Jacob,” the women said.

Pauline nodded at the small crowd. “So ladies, tonight let’s dedicate this meeting to our dear friend Jacob. May he finally rest in peace.”

And Meredith closed her eyes and quietly said, “May he rest in peace.”

After Pauline passed the floor to Ginny, she sat down in the seats with the other ladies as Ginny introduced Meredith.

“This is Meredith Johnson,” she said correctly. “She’s Jacob’s daughter. She’s now the owner of the estate. She’s agreed to allow us to continue with our season as usual.”

All the ladies smiled at this.

“How wonderful,” Hazel said, clapping her hands together.

“However, we cannot continue on as normal.” Ginny narrowed her eyes at Carolyn. “We must respect the new owner and not treat the property like we have with Jacob over the years. We can’t go inside without permission.”

Carolyn made a face. “Sorry, girls.”

Meredith waved her hand at Carolyn. “It’s fine. Just make sure we’re home before going in?”

Quinn couldn’t help but laugh at Meredith’s polite response. He leaned forward in his seat. “Ladies, you should only be using the fields and the barn. If you need to use a restroom, Ginny and I have always been happy to provide that for you.”

“Oh, if you need a restroom—” Meredith began to say, but Quinn held out his hand.

“If they need a restroom, use Ginny’s place for now,” he said, shaking his head at her. “Our house is closer anyway.”

“We’re not saying you’ve been impolite,” Remy threw out. “We have been completely welcomed into the community. My sister and I are just in awe at all you’ve done to take care of one another over the years.”

“We didn’t have a choice,” Ginny said. “We needed one another.”

Quinn looked out at the women. All of them were later in age. How long could they continue working as Queen Bees before they all couldn’t do it anymore? Most of them had passed away.

“Now we’ll want to start thinking about this year’s yield and next years,” Barbara Roberts said.

“Now that she’s moving the paintings out of the barn, maybe we can use it,” Hazel said. “Set up in there for the festival like the old days. That way we can keep the equipment for the spring right on the property.”

“Well, I, um—” Meredith began to say.

“And we could store the trimmers there for the winter,” Carolyn said, leaning over to Remy. “We got a heck of a deal about five years ago.”

“Has it already been five years?” Ginny asked, and every one of the women began calculating the time by events in their lives.

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