Page 66 of The Cottage on Blueberry Bay

In fact, what did her children know about her? They would call and check in, but her daughters lived their own lives. They were self-sufficient. And Ryan, well, he was still in his early twenties and in his own world.

But did she tell them things? Did she just hide her feelings like Remy? Or did they not bother to ask because they knew she would be bitter and angry toward their father?

She needed to call them.

Kyle took off at lunchtime, and Ginny came over midafternoon and began telling more stories about Jacob, about living in Blueberry Bay, and living on Jacob’s “little slice of heaven,” as Ginny referred to it.

“We started the Queen Bees so that we could feed the families who had lost their husbands and fathers in the storm,” Ginny said. “For Jacqueline, for you, my mother, and all the others.”

“For me?” she asked.

“Well, your mom was pregnant with you,” Ginny said.

“The farm took care of my mother and me?” Meredith hadn’t put that piece of the puzzle together.

“After the storm, well, we had to take care of each other,” Ginny said. She pulled out another painting of Jacob’s. “Now look at this one.”

It was of a dark sky and stormy sea, but deep in the corner, along the horizon, was a soft light glowing in the distance, as if leading the ship to safety.

How could someone survive mentally after being the only survivor of such a horrific accident?

“Did he remember what happened?” Meredith asked.

“Jacob stopped talking after that,” Ginny said, her eyes down at her fingers. “Your mother tried her very best, but Jacob was never the same.” Ginny’s face lit up as she remembered something. “That was when your dad came to Blueberry Bay.”

“What do you mean?” Meredith took in Ginny’s words. “Jacob?”

Ginny now appeared surprised. “No, your father, Gordon.”

Meredith blinked a few times, processing what Ginny had said but not comprehending a single word.

“Gordon was in Blueberry Bay at the time of the accident?” Meredith said out loud. She whipped her head at Remy. “Did you know this?”

Remy frowned and nodded. “That’s how he and Mom met.”

“I’m the worst human being,” Meredith said. “I let Jacob live all alone all this time because I didn’t get birthday cards.” Her throat closed at the thought of him dying alone in this house full of paintings, his mind going crazy. “He couldn’t even write the cards.”

Ginny gently placed her hand on Meredith’s shoulder. “He wasn’t well, dear. He got angry sometimes. He never hurt your mother but had become a bit violent. He drank, which exacerbated the whole situation. He was haunted a lot of other times. We know now it was PTSD, but back then, your mother didn’t have the support. She had to stay with us some nights when things got real bad.”

“But you all make him out to be this saint.” Tears sprung to Meredith’s eyes. “He took Kyle out on the water in the boat.”

“He was complicated.” Ginny sat down, sighing as she adjusted her position. “By the time Kyle came around, he was fully medicated. But back when you were a baby, he was very sick.”

Meredith looked at the painting, and a memory so bright came flashing through her head.

It was of her mother and her on the beach, standing next to a man who was holding out his hand, showing off a piece of dazzling blue sea glass. Meredith’s little fingers had reached out for it right away, and the man had given it to her, laughing. She’d held the azure glass up to the sun and looked through it.

“This is a mermaid tear,” he had said to Meredith, squeezing her hands between his own. “You take the mermaid tear and make a wish, then throw it back to the sea as far as you can.”

She hadn’t waited a moment to make a wish, though she couldn’t remember what she had wished for. She knew it was something frivolous, like a new bike or to have some new toy her friends had, because Meredith had been a very happy child. She had a wonderful childhood with a great family.

It had been Jacob who’d been abandoned.

Meredith wiped a fallen tear with the back of her hand. “Did he die alone?”

Ginny shook her head. “Don’t you see?”

Meredith grabbed for a tissue and blew her nose. “See what?”

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