Part 13 (1/2)
”Exactly.” George took a sip of lemonade.
”Well I, for one, am madly in love with the place,” Jamie said, tearing her gaze away from her computer screen. ”There must be thousands upon thousands of stories about the old place. It just staggers the imagination.” Max b.u.t.ted his nose under Jamie's arm, and she reached over to pet him. ”And of course, the idea of hidden rooms in that place doesn't hurt either. It sounds crazy, but just think of all the hidden rooms that we know existed. Anne Frank was hidden away for all the best reasons, and Corrie ten Boom and her family created a secret room where they could help Jews escape the n.a.z.is. Who's to say there couldn't be one at the inn?”
”Suddenly you're an expert on secret rooms?” Sam teased. She sat down across from Gracie and started to flip through a cooking magazine, even though she was totally engaged in her daughter's words.
”You wouldn't believe all that I've managed to find on the Internet about prisoners of war escaping their captors and would-be kings hiding from the chopping block. And then there are subterranean escape routes, hidden doors, mini hiding holes for valuables . . .” Jamie closed her laptop and sat up. ”I don't know about you, but I can think of all sorts of places inside the Misty Harbor Inn where there could be secret doors. As soon as it's yours, you can start searching for good old Hannah Montague. As far as we know, she could have been walled up somewhere. Buried alive.”
”Jamie.” Sam shook her head at her daughter. ”Please.”
”It's possible. Grandpa Folger even said so.”
”I don't mind the inn having a few intriguing stories, but I'm not all that crazy about finding a skeleton beneath my bedroom floor.” Gracie shuddered.
”Now there's a thought.” George grinned.
The phone rang, making them all jump.
Sam grabbed her cell phone quickly and was excited to hear Deborah Greenleaf's voice at the other end. ”I'm so happy to hear that you want to make an offer on the Misty Harbor,” Deborah said. ”I can meet with you on Tuesday-”
”Tuesday?” Sam frowned. ”Not today?”
”Unfortunately, I was called out of town unexpectedly and won't be back on the island until Tuesday around noon. That's the earliest I can write up the offer. I'll need a check for a thousand dollars to show good faith, but please, Sam, don't worry. I will call the owners after I hang up and let them know I'll be faxing an offer to them that afternoon. I'm sure they'll be quite excited.”
Unfortunately, Sam's immediate excitement had rather fizzled.
”Are you one hundred percent positive you want to give up the chance of living in Chipping Campden?” George asked, as he and Caroline waited for his plane to board. ”And you're just as positive that you want to buy the inn?”
”I'm positive.” Caroline brushed an errant strand of hair from her face. ”There's going to be a lot for me to get used to. Living with other people instead of by myself. Keeping regular hours. That might be one of the hardest things for me to get used to.”
”Not hopping on a plane at a moment's notice to fly off to who-knows-where.”
”I really am tired of traveling all the time,” Caroline said. ”But if I get desperate, you can always come to the island and take me sailing for the day so I can feel free and easy for a little while.”
”Something troubling you?” He studied her face. ”I've known you for thirty years, Caroline Marris. You get antsy if you stay in any one place too long.” He chuckled, a soft smile at last touching his face. ”You have trouble finis.h.i.+ng one thing before you start another. None of that's ever bothered me, but I can see that it worries Gracie. I just want you to be sure of what you're doing before you commit to this, because you won't be able to back out once you've bought the inn, especially if you go in on it with your sisters.”
”I am committed. And I'm not going to hurt Gracie.”
George touched her arm with one of his warm, strong hands. ”That's my girl.”
He kissed the top of her head, as he'd done so many times over the years, and when his flight number was called, he picked up his bag and smiled. ”Call me if you need anything.”
”I will.”
”And as soon as that Packard's out of storage let me know. I'm eager to get my hands on it.”
”We're going to have the time of our lives, George,” Caroline said, smiling as she waved good-bye.
”What do you think of this?” Gracie asked her sisters, lifting a soft floral bedspread in pretty shades of lavender and green.
It wasn't at all what Caroline had in mind for their very own inn's guest rooms, but she wasn't about to tell Gracie that she wanted something simpler. She ran her fingers across a quilted matela.s.se in a pretty shade of pale aqua. It was simple and clean. She hoped to keep the fabrics and the wall treatments simple and let the furniture and the architecture speak for itself.
”It's pretty, Aunt Gracie,” Jamie said. She'd spent her last day on Nantucket following her mother and aunts around from store to store, creating lists of decorating possibilities, but she didn't seem to mind. She had seemed a bit better every day, and she hadn't mentioned Cory in a couple days. Caroline knew it would be a long time before Jamie was over the breakup, but clearly coming here had been good for her.
”I like this,” Sam said, pointing to a nautical striped duvet.
Caroline looked at Sam, and then at Gracie. They were going to have to come to a compromise on the decor, and she guessed it might not be easy. She hadn't thought about how different their tastes were, and how that might make this difficult.
”What are you thinking of doing for pillow shams?” Jamie asked, making a note in her notebook.
”These are pretty,” Gracie said, pointing at a gingham set that coordinated with the floral bedspread.
”Oh, I think we should go with no pillow shams,” Caroline said. ”I was thinking we could have a simple coverlet like this for spring and summer, with crisp white linens and plump pillows, at least three or four per bed.”
Gracie didn't look convinced. ”But you need shams to make a bed look finished. And then, with the bed skirts-”
”Actually, since the beds are made of such beautiful cherrywood and are high off the floor, I bet we could forgo any kind of bed skirt,” Sam said. Caroline flashed her a quick smile of thanks, but Sam didn't seem to notice.
”Not only will that show off the wood, but it'll keep the room fresher looking,” Caroline said.
Sam nodded. ”It'll keep our costs down too. Goodness, the price of bed skirts can be staggering.”
Gracie fingered a plush down comforter in the same floral pattern. ”We could use these in the winter.”
”I was thinking we should reserve winter for family,” Caroline said.
Sam squished the corner of a pillow. ”But we may need to stay open all year to cover our costs.”
”When I talked with Megan at the clambake, she told me that Nantucket's usually dead quiet from the first of November and right through Christmas.”
Caroline took a deep breath. Of course they were going to have to work things like this out. That didn't mean buying the inn was a mistake. It would just take time to get it all sorted out.
Gracie tugged her notebook out of the straw handbag she was carrying and jotted down a few notes.
”That would give us time for a little R & R,” Sam finally agreed. She looked at each of her sisters and smiled. It managed to ease the tension. ”I'm sure we'll need that after our first season.”
”You'll probably need a whole lot of R & R after your first week of cleaning and rehabbing the place,” Jamie said, laughing. ”Thank goodness I'm leaving before that starts.”
They walked out of the linen area and toward dining. ”The first thing we're going to have a do is take a complete inventory of everything in the house-”
”Especially the kitchen and dining room,” Sam added. ”I should have checked out what kind of serving pieces are stored away, but I didn't.”
”Considering all the wonderful decorative pieces that were left behind,” Caroline said. ”I imagine we're going to find a whole host of intriguing dishes in the kitchen.”
”We could do mix and match.” Sam absently fingered through a stack of lacy place mats. ”Different china patterns, or stoneware, as long as they have at least one thing to tie them together, like a certain color. The possibilities are endless.”
”I saw a few thrift stores here in town,” Jamie said, ”if the inn doesn't already have enough dishes, you could probably pick up the perfect mix-and-match items for almost nothing.”
”We can haunt antique stores for the right pieces too,” Gracie added. ”I can see our breakfast table-or tables!-now, with the morning sun s.h.i.+ning in.” It wasn't exactly how Caroline pictured it, but it would work, and she wasn't about to start raising more tension now. ”And crystal water goblets and delicate china sugar bowls and creamers-”
”With the shutters thrown open so our guests can see the view of the ocean.” Sam drew in a deep breath, smiling with satisfaction and excitement.