Twenty
Beck was waiting at the bottom of the deck stairs in a golf cart when they finally made it outside. “ ’Bout time,” he said, grinning. “I was seconds from coming in and dragging you out.”
MJ scowled, and Maddie elbowed him. “What’s for brunch?” she asked as they piled into the cart.
“Not what Junior was hoping for from the sound of it.” Beck chuckled as he sped off from the tree house, and Maddie squeezed MJ’s arm to keep him from a smart-ass retort. “Among other things, Carlos made one of his specialties, huevos rancheros, and Rachael made one of hers. Burnt bacon.” He laughed. “The first time I met her, she made the whole crew breakfast.”
Beck nudged MJ’s shoulder. “Pissed your dad off. He didn’t think us peons should get special treatment,” Beck went on. “He was a real dickhead back then. I don’t know what Rachael did to him, but he’s a changed man.”
None of them spoke for a minute. Maddie grew anxious. “So, Rachael burned the bacon that day?” she said.
“Yeah, she did,” Beck said, his smile returning. “Nobody said a word about it though.” He drummed his fingers on the wheel. “Listen, Junior. I know the news of you had to come as a pretty big blow to your dad. He’ll be calling me any day now to come haul his ass back here so he can catch up on the past twenty years he’s missed with you. I hope you give him a chance.”
MJ rubbed his hands together, frowning. “It’s all good.”
Maddie reached back and took his hand, rubbing her thumb over the top in circles trying to soothe him. It was all good. He and Merrick had taken the initial step toward getting to know each other and Maddie had no doubt they’d continue to bond. But, she could only imagine how he was feeling after meeting Merrick for the first time. All the anticipation. How his insides must be twisted in knots thinking about a future and wondering how much Merrick would be a part of it.
Beck pulled the golf cart under the awning where the others were parked. “I’m going to take a shower,” MJ said. He raised Maddie’s hand to his lips and kissed it before they got out of the cart.
“Okay,” she said, spotting Rachael sitting alone at one of the patio tables with books and what looked to be maps in front of her. “I’ll keep Rachael company.”
They walked to the gate and through to the patio. “Morning,” MJ said to Rachael, who looked up and cast a knowing smile on them.
“Good morning,” Rachael said.
MJ kept walking into the hotel.
Rachael pushed out the chair beside her for Maddie. “Sit down. Have a good night?”
Maddie eyed a glass pitcher of orange juice sitting on a sideboard by the door and poured herself some before joining Rachael at the table. “It was nice. Thanks.”
Rachael grabbed Maddie’s left hand. “I see you still aren’t wearing a ring.”
“No. I didn’t manage to get it back.” She took a small sip of OJ.
Rachael squeezed her hand. “Are you sure you want it back?”
Maddie nodded, yawning, exhausted from her late night with MJ. “I’m not accepting the proposal. I need to give the ring back.”
A smile broke on Rachael’s face. “You and MJ?”
“No. I’m staying single for a while. I have to get my head on straight, find a job and a place to live when I get back to Michigan.”
Rachael studied her for a moment. Maddie knew she was wondering what last night was all about if Maddie wasn’t back with MJ. The last thing Maddie needed was more guilt.
Maddie rested her chin in her hand and tapped the map on the table in front of them. “What’s all this?”
“All of this,” Rachael said, straightening a stack of papers, “is the history of this island. The founder, Archibald Weston, and his wife, Ingrid Burkhart, didn’t leave much information about their life together, but I did find this.”
She pulled out an oversized document, yellowed with age from underneath the map and slid it over to Maddie. A sprawling family tree was drawn in calligraphy on the fragile page with crumbling corners. “It’s the ancestry of their family. The Weston’s owned a sugarcane plantation northwest of here, up by St. Petersburg. Look,” she said, pointing to the limbs branching from where Archibald and Ingrid’s joined. “She and Archibald had five kids.”
“Wow, that’s a big family. Looks like they had…” Maddie ran her eyes over the next set of branches and counted quickly, “seventeen grandkids!”
Rachael spread her arms wide. “And they all would stay here visiting their grandparents. Can you believe that? We’re sitting here today where Ingrid and Archibald sat with their kids and grandkids eating their brunch almost one hundred and fifty years ago.”
Maddie couldn’t quite grasp the level of enthusiasm that Rachael had, but she wasn’t the one who renovated the entire property after all. “It’s amazing,” she said, hoping it conveyed the pride she felt for her new friend.
“It is,” Rachael said, then frowned. “Now, if I can just find proof that Ingrid is buried on this island.” She returned the family tree to its spot under the map. “I’ve poured over the topography and I figure if her grave is here, it has to be near the tree house. It’s almost the center of the island and the highest spot. She wouldn’t be buried where the water level would rise and wash her away.” She shivered, then glanced up at Maddie, her eyes still lost in the past. “Does that sound right?”
Maddie rubbed her chin. “Makes sense to me. Maybe you should have one of those ghost hunting teams come out and film for their TV show. They might be able to find her.” She was only joking, but her mind slammed back to the night before.
“Oh my God. Rachael!” Maddie reached across the map and grabbed Rachael’s arm. “Last night MJ saw a woman with a flashlight in the woods. What if it was Ingrid? You know how they say ghosts always appear as a glowing orb? That’s what the flashlight could’ve been.”
Rachael’s eyes grew wide. “He’s sure he saw a woman out there?”
Maddie nodded. “He was positive. Ask him.”
Both of their frozen faces cracked into smiles, and then they fell into a fit of nervous laughter. “It can’t be,” Maddie said. “I mean, those ghost hunting shows are all a bunch of made-up crap.”
“You never know,” Rachael said. “Stranger things have happened. This place definitely has a power to it. It keeps you captive. Once you’re here, you don’t want to ever leave.” She ran her eyes over the family tree on the table in front of her and smiled. “Ingrid felt the same connection to this island that I do. It brought her here, like it did me. I wouldn’t be surprised if she was still here.”
Rachael sat back in her chair and gazed up at the sky. “Either way, I need to find her grave, if just to sit with her for a while.” She cut her eyes to Maddie. “I feel like I know her, like I am her. I can’t explain it, but I can’t give up until I know where she is.”
Maddie wasn’t sure she understood Rachael’s conviction to find Ingrid’s grave, but she could tell it was sincere. Rachael wouldn’t give up until she found it. “I’ll help however I can,” she said, leaning forward and scanning her eyes over the map again.
If there was one thing Maddie loved, it was a good ghost story.
Stuffed from the feast Carlos made for brunch and freshly showered, Maddie and MJ strolled behind Rachael who led them down a path toward the water chattering on and on about Ingrid and Archibald and telling the history of Turtle Tear to Heidi and Roger. Sam and Holly trailed behind, bickering and kicking sand at each other. Every once in a while, Heidi would turn around and yell at them to knock it off, but they never actually stopped.
“Makes you want kids, huh?” MJ whispered in her ear.
The thought of kids someday—with him—was overwhelming and sent a pang of love through her so strong, she almost fell over. “Five,” she answered, “like Ingrid and Archibald.”
MJ frowned and looked away into the flowers and trees that lined the path. She shouldn’t have said that. Any kids she had wouldn’t be with MJ. Not like she and he had planned. Back then, she could see their future so clearly, filled with little boys who looked just like him, but that path forked and she’d taken another trail. She wasn’t sure where it led, but there was no going back.
“There it is,” Rachael said, pointing to a brand-new white boathouse by the water. “The canoe and fishing gear is inside.”
The kids took off running. “Watch where you step!” Rachael called.
“Stay on the path,” Roger shouted, jogging after them.
“Huh,” Rachael said, tilting her head. “Beck must’ve brought that speedboat in while I was gone.” A small red and white boat sat right off shore. “Probably so Joan can have an easier time getting to town to find a mall.”
As Roger and MJ helped Holly and Sam fetch the canoe and fishing gear, Maddie sat with Rachael and Heidi at an umbrella table on a stone patio beside the boathouse. Rachael brushed small seedpods off the glass tabletop. “Those Paperbark Tea Trees are taking over the Everglades.” She pointed to a grouping of giant trees with white feathery flowers that looked like bottle brushes. “They drop millions of seeds in each pod.”
Rachael brushed her hands together. “Anyway, sorry this place is such a mess. I should’ve kept the domestic staff on the island all week.” She shrugged. “I left in kind of a rush, so…”
Heidi waved a hand in the air. “It’s just us. No big deal.”
“Yeah,” Maddie said, brushing her side of the table clear of the seed pods, “and I invited myself.”
The three of them watched MJ and Roger help the kids into the canoe, then climb in themselves and launch off the shore. “Catch me a big one!” Heidi called to them.
Rachael’s eyes focused on Heidi with intensity. “You knew about him all along and never told Merrick.” Her accusatory tone made Maddie cringe. Rachael had been waiting until Roger and MJ were out of hearing range with the kids to pounce. “He has a son, and you never told him.”
Heidi sucked in her lips. Her red-rimmed eyes shined. “I couldn’t. You have no idea what my father is like.”
“I do know what he’s like!” Rachael slammed her hand down on the table. “I don’t care. If you loved your brother at all, you would’ve told him the truth!”
Maddie’s throat burned like she’d swallowed hot lava.
There were some things you couldn’t tell.
Rachael had no idea the power Enzo Rocha held over them all.
“I do love my brother!” Tears rushed down Heidi’s cheeks. “I wanted him to know MJ, to raise his son. My father wouldn’t allow it. He said it would ruin Merrick’s future. He’d never go to college, never become successful. Whatever you think of my father, he only wanted the best for Merrick. He wants the best for MJ, too.”
“Well, that’s clear.” Rachael leaned back and let out a derisive laugh. “He went as far as stealing Merrick’s entire life to prove that point.”
Heidi wiped her cheeks, anger seeping into her eyes. “My father is making sure MJ gets an inheritance. Merrick can’t be trusted to provide for him—for anyone but himself. You should remember that.”
Rachael shot out of her chair and leaned across the table toward Heidi. “I don’t know what you’re implying, but I don’t need Merrick to provide for me. I’m not some gold-digging whore, thank you. I love him.” Her voice broke on the word love, making Maddie want to stand and wrap her arms around Rachael, to tell her everything would be okay. But would it?
“Then don’t imply that I don’t love my brother,” Heidi said, her voice edged in ice.
Rachael sank back into her chair. “Are there any other secrets about Merrick’s past I should know? Let’s get everything out in the open.”
“None that are mine to tell.” Heidi shoved her chair back and eyed Maddie.
Maddie shrank under Heidi’s gaze and replayed her last statement. None that are mine to tell. Did Heidi know Maddie had been guarding a secret for over a year? It sounded that way.
Heidi stormed off down the path back toward the hotel.
It felt like Maddie had been kicked in the gut.
She gazed out over the sun-sparked water. MJ was a miniature in the far off canoe. She could tell he was laughing and holding a fishing pole. He’d been hidden away for so long from his cousins, from his father, from the truth. Being here had to be affecting him more than she could ever realize. He played it off so well, acted like it was normal to go through a situation like this.
“Your mind is racing,” Rachael said.
Maddie cut her eyes from MJ out on the water to the observant, caring brown pair across the table. “I want everything for him. I’d do anything to make him happy.”
Rachael brushed a few lingering seed pods from the table. “What about getting back together? Is that what will make him happy?”
Maddie’s stomach clenched. She needed space. Needed to breathe and think. “I’m going to take a walk. Be right back.”
The tall trunks of the Paperbark trees were shedding, their grainy bark peeling off in long strips. Sunlight dappled through their leaves, lighting on the white, feathery seeds floating down from the canopy.
This island was magical, and Maddie needed magic in her life. Magic or miracles.
She pulled three long strands of bark off a tree and braided them together as she strolled aimlessly over the soft leaves and mulched earth. Her mom always braided her hair when she was little—before her mom left. One long, thick braid down her back. She’d called it Maddie’s horsewhip.
Maddie never got to ask her mom what she knew about horses. Probably nothing, but she’d never know for sure now.
Questions needed answers. If she told MJ what she knew, he could get his answers if he wanted them. At least he’d have the choice. Keeping a secret from him didn’t give him the opportunity she wished she had.
She tossed the braid on the ground. It would be helpful if she knew her own mind, knew what she wanted—what she would do in his situation. She wavered on everything. Always had. Every single decision. Teaching after she got her education degree, searching for her mom, Talan…
She wished she was more like Kara. Like Rachael. They were both so sure of themselves, strong and convicted in what they believed.
Maddie lacked conviction, lacked faith in herself to do what her heart knew was right.
“Leave the island,” a woman’s voice said from behind her.
She darted around. Off in the distance, a woman stood against a tree, watching her. Maddie gasped. “Who are you?”
“Stay away from him,” the woman said, “and leave this place.” She turned and disappeared behind the tree she’d been leaning against.
Maddie jogged in her direction. “Wait! Who are you?” She had the strangest impression that she’d seen the woman before.
It was no use. Maddie stopped chasing her. She was gone.