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“Who were you talking to?” her mom asked.
“Nobody.”
“I heard your voice.”
“Must have been the radio,” Kelsey said.
Her mother’s gaze narrowed. “You’re lying, Kelsey, and you’re not very good at it, so don’t do it.”
Kelsey winced. “It was just a friend from school.”
“The baby’s father?”
“Why would you...?”
“You’re actually talking to the father of the baby?” her mother continued as if Kelsey hadn’t even attempted to deny it. “Why?”
“I never said—”
“Kelsey, how does this man feel about your being pregnant? What kind of man leaves you to deal with something like this all alone?”
“Mom, you don’t know what you’re talking about, so drop it, okay?”
“After your father, I think I do know a thing or two about men who can’t handle responsibility. You don’t want someone like that in your life, Kelsey. Forget about him now. You have your grandmother and me. We can see you through this.”
“This isn’t your life, Mom, and Jeff isn’t Dad. Far from it, in fact. I’m the one who doesn’t want to get married. I’m the one who’s having trouble facing all this. I don’t want a baby now. I’m not ready. I’d have an abortion, but Jeff got furious when I even mentioned the possibility, so I promised him I’d think about everything before I did anything that drastic.”
Kelsey felt awful when she saw the look of dismay that crossed her mother’s face. “I know you don’t believe in it, either, but how can I bring this baby into the world under these circumstances?”
“Sweetie, we don’t always get to choose the circumstances, but a child is a blessing, no matter when it comes along.”
“Really? Tell that to some poor woman who’s been raped.”
“Kelsey!”
“Well, it’s true. There are circumstances when it’s not a blessing, when the timing’s all wrong or the people are all wrong together or a thousand other reasons. Shouldn’t I have the right to say this is not right for me?”
She could tell her mother was struggling to be fair, to be impartial, even though she had very strong opinions of her own. And the truth was, after her initial desperate reaction to the pregnancy, Kelsey hadn’t been able to see herself getting an abortion, either.
“You do have a right to make your own choice, but only when you’ve weighed this very, very carefully,” her mom said. “This is one of those times when you can’t go back and undo an impulsive decision. You have to live with it for the rest of your life. And, to be honest, I’m probably not the best one to help you decide. We’re talking about my grandchild here. I might not have chosen this moment for him or her to come along, but that’s life. Things happen. We deal with them.”
Kelsey felt tears welling up. “I don’t want to deal with them. I don’t want to deal with this,” she said, and threw herself into her mother’s arms. “How did I screw everything up so badly?”
“I think we both know the answer to that,” Hannah said, a hint of levity in her voice. “Why don’t you tell me about Jeff? That might be a good place to start. You’ve never even mentioned him before, but he must be important if the two of you are about to have a baby together.”
Kelsey didn’t know how she felt about Jeff anymore. A part of her loved him. Another part was furious with him for his role in this predicament. Because her feelings about him were so conflicted, she said, “Could we go for a walk on the beach, instead? I think that’s what I need right now.”
Her mom looked as if she wanted to insist that they sit right here and talk, but eventually she relented. “Maybe a walk will do us both good,” she conceded. “Watching the waves come in, knowing they’ll still be doing the same thing tomorrow and the next day and long after we’re gone helps to put things in perspective. Problems never seem as huge and overwhelming by comparison.”
Kelsey gave her mom a wry look. “I was just thinking that maybe for a little while it would make me feel like a kid again.”
Hannah grinned. “Okay, that, too.”
“I remember the last time I was here, not for Grandma’s funeral, but before that. I was a junior in high school, I think, and you let me come down by myself during spring vacation.”
“Hardest thing I ever had to do, watching you get on that plane,” Hannah admitted as they slipped into sandals and walked across the street to the beach. “I knew you were old enough and responsible enough to travel alone, but it was terrifying for me. We’d never been separated for more than a couple of days before. I sat at the airport until the plane was in the air and then sat by the phone at home until you called me that afternoon. That was, without question, the longest week of my life.”
Kelsey regarded her with surprise. “Really? I thought you were glad that I was spending time down here, getting to know Grandma and Grandma Jenny.”
“I was. I wanted you to know the rest of your family, to feel that connection to them.” She gave Kelsey a rueful look. “I think I was scared you’d fall in love with Seaview Key. A lot of people who leave New York in the middle of winter and discover it’s possible to be warm in February develop an infatuation with Florida. And to someone who didn’t grow up here, Seaview Key does have its charms.”
“Like being able to walk to the beach from your house and having everyone in town know who you are,” Kelsey said, pausing to kick off her sandals and dig her toes into the cool sand at the water’s edge. “I couldn’t believe it when I went to the store with Grandma and every single person said hello and called me by name. They all knew who I was. At least, the locals did. It was kind of cool.”
“I didn’t think so when I was a kid and every one of those people would call my house if they saw me misbehaving,” her mom countered. “I’d walk in the door and your grandmother and Grandma Jenny would be waiting for me, ready to let me have it.”
“I guess that would suck.” Kelsey grinned. “Did you misbehave a lot?”
“Enough,” Hannah admitted.
“Tell me,” Kelsey begged. “Come on, Mom, spill everything.”
“I am not going to give you ammunition to use against me,” Hannah retorted indignantly, but she was grinning.
“I’ll just ask Grandma Jenny,” Kelsey threatened. “I bet she remembers every bad thing you ever did.”
“I don’t doubt it. She always took great pleasure in telling me I’d messed up.”
Kelsey’s mood sobered. “Mom, you know she and Grandma really loved you and were proud of you, right?”
Hannah stared at her. “What makes you think that?”
“They told me. When I was here, they asked a million questions about your job and your friends and all the places we’d been. I wish they’d visited us more in New York.”
“I invited them, but they hated it the one time they came,” her mother replied defensively. “I offered to send them plane tickets every single Christmas, but they always came up with an excuse and it always had something to do with the inn.”
“It was their business, Mom,” Kelsey said impatiently. “You, of all people, should understand about responsibility. Until you got sick, I don’t think I ever remember you taking a real vacation.”
“We traveled all the time,” her mother protested.
“Only if you had to go somewhere for work. I hated those trips. When I was little, you’d leave me shut up in the hotel with some babysitter. When I was older you let me go sightseeing, but it was no fun doing that all alone while you were working.”
“It wasn’t like that.”
“It was exactly like that,” Kelsey insisted. “Sure, we went to all sorts of exciting cities, but you never had any fun and I was always lonely.”
Her mother looked crestfallen. “I’m sorry. I never realized you felt that way. I always thought how amazing it was that you were getting to travel to places I’d never even dreamed of when I was your age.”
Kelsey felt guilty about ruining her mom’s memories of those trips. “It wasn’t all bad,” she told her. “Room service could be pretty awesome. It certainly spoiled me for staying in your basic motel.”
Her mom groaned. “Make me feel even worse, why don’t you.”
“Mom, I didn’t say any of that to make you feel bad. I was just trying to make a point about you being as much of a workaholic as your mother and Grandma Jenny. I think you have more in common with them than you realize.”
“I don’t think so. We always argued about everything. You don’t know what it was like.”
Kelsey chuckled. “Really? Come on, Mom. Think about it. You and I have our moments. It comes with the territory. It wasn’t until the past couple of years, when we’ve had some space between us, that we stopped arguing and started treating each other like actual people, instead of mother and daughter. You just moved away from here so I don’t think that ever happened between you and your mom. She was actually pretty amazing.”
“Well, I know that,” her mother responded, that defensive note creeping back into her voice.
“Do you really? Did you know she was on her college swim team? Did you know that she was the first woman president of the Chamber of Commerce here?” Kelsey saw the flush in her mother’s cheeks. “You didn’t, did you?”
“No. How do you know that?”
“Because we talked, just like you and I are doing now. Every day I was here, we would walk on the beach and she’d tell me stories about this place and her life. And at night, on the porch, Grandma Jenny would tell me things about her past, too.”
“Such as?”
“She won a prize once for doing the tango in a dance competition.”
“Grandma Jenny? You have to be kidding.”
Kelsey chuckled at her stunned reaction. “Not kidding. It’s true. She and Great-Grandpa could really dance. He sang, too.”
“In the church choir,” her mother said slowly. “I remember hearing him when I was little.”
“Not just in the choir. With a band. They played all over Florida. She showed me pictures.”
Her mother turned to her with a bewildered expression. “How did I miss all this?”
Kelsey shrugged. “Maybe you never asked or never listened.”
“Probably not.”
“Let’s never be like that, Mom, okay?”
“Never again,” Hannah said pointedly.
“I love you,” Kelsey said impulsively, giving her a fierce hug.
“Love you more.”
“Thanks for letting me come here. I know you’d be happier if I were in school, but I need this time to think and I needed to do that here. Not even in New York, but right here with you and Grandma Jenny.”
Maybe on Seaview Key she could start to understand who she really was and where she came from in a way that would be impossible anywhere else. Maybe she could figure out what family was supposed to be, so the thought of creating one of her own wouldn’t be so absolutely terrifying.
Chapter 6
Luke managed to avoid Hannah for most of the day. First, he’d gone to the mainland with Grandma Jenny to exchange the paint she and Hannah had bought. When they got home late in the afternoon, he made an excuse about needing some time to himself and walked into town.
Seaview’s official downtown, which was a few blocks farther away from the inn than the mom-and-pop grocery store he’d walked to the night before, had grown over the years, but it still wasn’t much. There were two or three new restaurants, maybe half a dozen clothing boutiques and gift and antiques stores, and a couple of places that called themselves art galleries. He was no expert, but the works on display seemed more like some of the crafts his kids brought home from school than high-end art. Still, it made him smile to see that Seaview had gone upscale. In the old days, those spaces had sold bait and tackle and cheap T-shirts.
Though he’d had no particular destination in mind when he’d left the inn, he found himself in front of The Fish Tale, an unpretentious place that used to offer the best grouper sandwiches he’d ever tasted, along with ice-cold beer. The memory of that particular combination drew him inside.
He aimed straight for the bar and was stunned when he recognized the man behind it. Jackson Ferguson—Jack to his friends—had opened the place thirty years ago. Luke could remember the occasion as if it had been yesterday. As rustic as it was, it was the first real restaurant, besides the local diner and a couple of hot dog and hamburger stands, that catered to beachgoers. There’d been one bar that had catered to a rowdier crowd, but for too many years the full-time population of Seaview had been too small to support anything more.
There’d been balloons out front to celebrate The Fish Tale’s opening, a small room with pinball machines off to one side to keep kids entertained, and a determinedly family atmosphere throughout. No one ever got drunk and unruly on Jack’s watch. If anyone had a few too many before Jack caught them and put a stop to it, they were escorted outside and tucked into the island’s only cab for a hasty ride home. If the cab driver—former New York cabbie John Blake—had gone home for the night, the cop on duty would provide the shuttle service.
Right now, Jack was busy at the far end of the bar, so Luke had a minute to study him. He still looked tanned and fit, though his face was more weatherbeaten than Luke remembered. He was filling orders with the alacrity and friendliness of someone who loved talking to people. When he spotted Luke, he blinked and then a grin spread across his face.
“Luke Stevens, I never expected to see you back in Seaview.”
Luke reached across the bar and shook his hand. “I never expected to be here, either. How’s Greta?” he asked, referring to Jack’s beloved wife, who’d worked this place by his side.
Jack’s expression fell. “Lost her last year,” he said gruffly. “Heart attack. Damn near killed me, too, but this place doesn’t run itself, and in the end, it saved me.”
“I’m sorry. How about your kids? Are they still in Seaview?”
Jack pulled a draft and set it in front of Luke without asking if he wanted it. “Bill left right after high school, same as you. He had big dreams. Made good on ’em, too. He’s a lawyer now. He works over in Biloxi. His home got hit hard by Hurricane Katrina, so the family came here for a couple of months, then went back to rebuild.”
“And Lesley Ann?”
“You stick around tonight, you might see her. She’s pregnant with her third baby and about two minutes from her due date, but that hasn’t slowed her down any. She’s over here once a day like clockwork to pester me about working too hard, telling me to hire more help.” He shook his head. “That woman can nag worse than her mama.”
Luke grinned. He’d had one memorable date with Lesley Ann and she’d done the same thing to him, nagged him from start to finish. Apparently some things never changed. “I’d like to meet the man she married,” he said. “He must be very tolerant.”
“That man worships the ground she walks on. He just lets all her talk roll right off his back. Maybe that comes with marrying later in life. They were thirty when they met, eloped two weeks later and never looked back.” He shook his head. “Listen to me going on and on. Did you want something to eat to go with that beer?”
“You still have fried grouper sandwiches and fries?”
“Put us on the map,” Jack said. “Of course we do. You want a table, you’d better get one now. This place’ll be crowded in another half hour or so.”
“I’m good here,” Luke said.
“I’ll put in your order and check in on you from time to time.”
“Thanks, Jack. It’s good to see you.”
The older man started toward the kitchen, then turned back. “You staying at Seaview Inn?”
Luke nodded.
Jack shook his head. “I feel real bad for Jenny. She loves that place, but I don’t see how she’s going to keep up with it now that her Maggie’s gone. I hear Hannah’s here now, but that she’s not staying.”
“That’s my impression,” Luke said.
“It’s a shame when there’s no one left to take over a family business. I’d figured on leaving this place to Bill, but ironically it’s Lesley Ann who’s taken to it. Once she has this baby, she’ll be back here full time, pestering me to modernize this or to experiment with the menu.” He shook his head. “I hope I don’t live to see the day when she refuses to serve fried food. She already carries on about transfats.”
Luke laughed. “I hear you.”
