All Summer Long: A Novel Part 40

"Dear G.o.d!" Bob said. "I'm completely stunned! I'm so dreadfully sorry! What a terrible shock! What can I do?"

"I don't know," Olivia said. "I don't know where to start. I don't even know what I need."

"Well, look, if you need money or legal help with the estate or anything, Olivia, you know Maritza and I are totally in your corner," Bob said. "You can't go through this alone and you don't have to. And don't forget we've got Le Bateau de l'Amour!"

That wasn't right for Bob to say. It didn't make any sense. In fact, nothing made any sense. But she couldn't stop weeping.

The EMS team asked her if Nick had practiced a faith, and when she said his mother was Roman Catholic, they told her they would take his body to somewhere in Mount Pleasant. A funeral director would call her in the morning to determine whether he wanted to be cremated or buried and to make all the other decisions.

What did he say? Olivia wondered, forgetting his words as soon as she heard them.

If your husband left a will, it would be a good idea to find it. Perhaps his wishes were spelled out for her. They said they were sorry and they told her to go inside the house to a place where she couldn't see his body being taken away.

"Go hide your eyes," a man said.

"What?" Olivia said. "Why?"

Her neighbor gently took her arm and led her to the kitchen and tried to engage her in small talk while simultaneously expressing condolences.

"This is the worst night of my life," she told him. "Please, tell me your name again. I'm sorry. I can't hold anything in my head right now."

"I'm Jack, but it's okay. You've had a terrible shock. Can I get you a gla.s.s of water or something? Whiskey? Champagne?"

Jack was the name of the captain of Bob's yacht. It was a nice name with a solid ring to it. And this Jack seemed awfully nice. But this wasn't the time for champagne!

"Yes, thank you," Olivia said. "Water would be nice."

Then he grabbed her by the shoulders and began shaking her, gently at first and then more insistently, shaking her and shaking her almost like she was a ragdoll.

"Ms. Ritchie? Wake up, ma'am. We're in Charleston."

"What? What? What? Where am . . . Oh! G.o.d!"

She almost jumped out of her seat. It was the worst nightmare of her life. She was covered in perspiration.

"Are you all right?"

"No! Yes!" She looked at him with crazy eyes of panic and wondered if he was telling her the truth. Her dream had been so vivid! So vivid and so terrifying! "Yes, I'm fine."

She was not fine.

"Here, why don't you just sit for a moment. I'll get you a gla.s.s of water."

There was a car waiting for her, another considerate gesture of Bob's. Or maybe it was Maritza who thought of it. It didn't matter. She had been taken care of by Bob, who truly was a new man. At least for that one day. Time would tell, she thought. It was after ten o'clock at night and it might have taken a long while for a taxi to arrive. Wait! Had she not dreamed this? In any case, she was glad to see the waiting car.

While driving to the island she called Nick's cell phone and there was no answer. She left him a message. He was probably fast asleep and the phone was on the other side of the house on its charger or on mute.

It was right before eleven when she arrived at home. Her driver carried her bags and boxes to the door for her.

"Thanks so much! Good night!"

"Any time," he said.

She didn't ring the doorbell because there was a good chance that Nick would be asleep at that hour. The house was in complete darkness, which was odd. But he did not know she was coming in that night. Or did he? His new habit was to rise early and chase fish. She smiled thinking about that. The door was locked, so she dug through her handbag for her keys and let herself in. She took the food to the kitchen and dropped it on the counter and then she took her suitcase to the bedroom, careful not to make any noise that might wake Nick.

To her surprise, the bed was still made. She turned on the overhead light. Nick was definitely not there. Suddenly she was alarmed. Where was he? At this late hour?

"Nick! Nick!" She called his name loudly, not caring then if she woke him up. Maybe he had fallen asleep on a sofa? Or in his leather chair?

He was not in the bathroom or his study or the living room. She turned on lights as she went from place to place. Maybe the porch? She hurried outside, and there he was in his favorite rocking chair wearing his new fis.h.i.+ng hat. She was so relieved.

"Nick? Hey, baby! I'm home!"

There was no response. Was he asleep?

She was doubly panicked as she hurried around him to wake him. He was slumped to the side, fis.h.i.+ng hat askew, stain on his s.h.i.+rt. This was her dream. Oh G.o.d. Was he dead?

"Nick? Baby? Wake up. I'm home."

As though he had been holding his breath for weeks, here came a long whoosh of an exhale. To Olivia's enormous relief, Nick was very much alive.

"Well, hey there! I missed my woman! Come here to me."

He pulled her onto his lap and kissed her face.

"Oh Nick!" She burst into tears.

"Whoa, Nellie! Hold on there! Whatever is the matter?"

"Oh! I had the most vivid and terrible dream."

"Come on, now. I'm here with you and everything is okay."

"I know, I know." Olivia said and realized again how tired she was. "Thank G.o.d you're okay."

"Rough trip?"

"Maritza gave Bob religion. I brought you tomatoes."

"Ah, my lovely girl! Let's go make a sandwich."

Epilogue.

Labor Day, Nantucket Olivia would never find better friends than those she had. She knew it and she treasured each one of them, especially Roni, despite her youth, and Bob and Maritza. And life's curve b.a.l.l.s didn't always result in a black eye. The first thing that happened in that very tumultuous August was that Roni's mother finally gave up the ghost. Olivia flew to New York and did everything for Roni that she could. To be honest, Roni was more relieved than bereft. Her mother had suffered so terribly for so long.

And things between Roni and Jason had gained sufficient momentum and heat for her to move to Charleston. She found a small apartment in the historic district south of Broad Street and moved in. Next, the old salts on Nantucket who had decided they couldn't part with their twenty-six-million-dollar white elephant changed their mind. Their matriarch who held the deed died too, and suddenly the heirs were screaming b.l.o.o.d.y murder for their inheritance. Bob picked up the bargain for a mere twenty. The real estate business was good, but it wasn't that good.

So Olivia had a gold mine on her books again and the foreseeable future looked pretty darn bright. Immediately following the closing on the Nantucket house, Olivia threw herself into her work. She and Roni were down to punch list details on the New York job, and by Labor Day, with Jason and Roni's help and a lot of expediting, the Vasiles were moved in and able to host a house party. It was to be just family, with the exception of Nick and Olivia, whom Bob had adopted except for the paperwork.

"Think of me as your ugly big brother," Bob said to her.

"You're not that ugly," she said with a laugh.

"Oh, thanks a whole lot!"

On Friday of Labor Day weekend, Maritza's mother arrived and so did Betty and Ernest. So of course Kitty and Daniel were there. They were having a barbecue that night and had invited a few locals to come by for a c.o.c.ktail-the McKerrows, with whom they had become very friendly during the construction and the Philbricks, because Bob wanted to get to know Nat and what he knew about Nantucket.

As unbelievable as it seemed to Olivia, Bob was going to grill the steaks himself, but that was how the idea for his first restaurant came to him thirty something years ago. He said he could grill one h.e.l.luva steak.

"Well, you look like you know what you're doing!" Olivia said and laughed.

There would be steamed corn, the last of the summer, and sliced tomatoes from Mississippi, also the last of Martha Ann's b.u.mper crop. Olivia brought fresh basil from their magic garden on Sullivans Island. Well, she called it that because the rate of growth of her herbs seemed insane. And the tomatoes she planted late in the season were perfection-plump, juicy, and delicious. So she brought tomatoes to Nantucket as well. She, who had never thought of herself having anything close to a green thumb, tended her tomato plants like they were precious babies in an ICU, enlisting Nick to keep them watered when she ran back and forth to Nantucket.

There would be no housekeeper or crew to deal with the aftermath of dinner that night or all weekend. Maritza made the announcement that the Nantucket house would be their family's refuge, not a place overrun with a big staff. Everyone loved the idea of that kind of privacy and freedom to be themselves. Maritza had the novel idea that it might be good for them to have one place to go where they could act like a normal family. Olivia silently applauded it. Kitty and Daniel announced they would take kitchen duty off the hands of all the old folks. And Kitty did make a cake of Old Glory. Even Gladdie wanted to help.

So, at 5:01 in the afternoon, the bar was open and Bob was pouring wine. The Philbricks and the McKerrows appeared. Martin McKerrow was sporting navy Bermuda shorts with tiny kelly green whales on them and Nat Philbrick was wearing kelly green Bermuda shorts with tiny navy blue whales and they couldn't stop laughing at themselves and each other. Maritza took pictures of them standing next to each other.

"I had such a great time with Nick," Nat said.

"Nick's the greatest," Olivia said.

"He is one of the most learned and exuberant historians I have ever known. His students adored him."

"We hear from them all the time."

"I'm not surprised. Well, is he here with you?"

"Yes, he was down on the dock with Bob's son looking at Bob's new submarine" Olivia said.

"Submarine? You're kidding!" Nathaniel Philbrick said.

"No! I'm not kidding! Isn't that the wildest thing?" Olivia said. "Go see! I think they're still out there!"

"Well, now, that beats all!" Nat said and walked away. "That's going to drive the IRS crazy!"

"Sometimes I think they live to torture us," Olivia said, thinking luckily her own investigation had ended before it started, but not before it cost her over four thousand dollars in legal and accounting fees.

Toni McKerrow tapped her on the arm. "Hi, I'm Martin's wife, Toni."

"Oh! I'm so happy to meet you! Martin is so great to work with!"

"He's as much a part of this island as anyone! We've been coming here for generations."

"Oh! How lucky for you!" Olivia said. "I adore Nantucket."

"Well, we think we're lucky! I just wanted to tell you what an incredible job you've done with this house. We've been enjoying parties here for years, and you really brought it back to life so beautifully!"

"Gosh, thanks! So you knew they prior owners well?"

"I sure did. The family's great-grandmother Ethel, who was my grandmother Sarah's mother-in-law, was a real stickler about everything. Even though this house is worth a fortune, old Ethel was a notorious tightwad. She made her children beg for every nickel she gave them. So when she went, that was it! They grabbed their inheritance before the flowers from the funeral even had time to droop!"

"That's so funny. Yes, Bob told me the sale closed in the blink of an eye."

"It did. But again, you did a beautiful job! Congratulations!"

"Thanks so much!"

What a nice lady, Olivia thought, and hoped she'd become a friend to Maritza. Maritza needed friends like her.

Eventually the McKerrows and the Philbricks made their way into the night and Bob began grilling the steaks-prime bone-in rib eyes, of course, brought in from one of his restaurants. Daniel had his eye on Bob, watching him carefully and eventually hanging over his shoulder.

"What's up, son?" Bob said.

"Um, I gotta talk to you about something."

"Sure thing. What's on your mind?"

"Um, I need a job, Dad. Kitty said I have to get a job."

"Why? What's happened?" Bob flipped the steaks on the grill. "You can't be out of money."

The entire gathering on the deck became quiet to hear what Daniel was going to say.

"Um, um . . ."

"Come on, spit it out!"

Daniel whispered in Bob's ear so no one could hear. Bob gasped and then started to laugh.

"Well, I'll be d.a.m.ned! Congratulations!" Bob stepped back, grabbed Daniel's hand, and shook it as soundly as he could.

"I'm having a baby," Kitty said, and burst into tears. She had just stepped outside with the platter of steaming b.u.t.tered corn. She looked like she might drop it.

"Oh, dear Lord! How wonderful!" Betty practically flew from her seat to Kitty's side. "Let me take that platter, sweetheart."

"Wonderful!" Nick said.

"Congratulations!" Olivia said, thinking, Well, this was inevitable!

"G.o.d bless you, sweetheart," Ernest said. "You went forth and multiplied!"

"Darling child!" Maritza cried out. "This is the best news in the whole world! Bob! You're going to be a grandfather!"