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When Aunt Cassandra claimed to have already packed Anne’s bags, Anne assumed that her aunt had meant from Anne’s own closet. It wasn’t until she opened the suitcases in her temporary room that she noticed what her aunt had really done.
Shorts, sundresses, two-piece swimsuits. Everything was modest, but it revealed more than Anne normally showed. The two-pieces were tankinis and halter tops, but she normally went for one-pieces without a low back. Her shorts were normally an inch or two longer. As for sundresses... those were not even in her vocabulary.
“Aunt Cassie?” she called out. “Where are my pants?”
“You won’t need pants, my dear,” a voice from the other room called out.
“What if we go out to eat or something somewhere that I can’t wear shorts.”
“Then you wear one of the dresses I picked out for you,” Cassandra called back with a no-nonsense tone in her voice.
“But I don’t wear dresses. Or skirts.” She had just found the small pile of skirts that had been hidden underneath the dresses.
Entering her niece’s room, Aunt Cassandra shook her head. “We are not at Kellynch Place anymore,” she stated. “You don’t have to be the shy and quiet middle daughter of Walter Elliot. There is no Beth or Mary to overshadow you or leave you with all of the responsibility.”
“By that reasoning, there is no more Mama,” Anne whispered, a tear escaping and rolling down her face.
“She will be coming down in the next week or so to visit, to make certain that you are making an effort to be a carefree seventeen-year-old.”
Releasing a sigh, Anne went back to hanging up the clothes her aunt, and possibly her mother had picked out for her. She was thankful she had the foresight to pack a few of her own essentials: an e-reader and her drawing supplies. She didn’t have enough time to do either of her hobbies lately. Maybe this vacation would be a good thing.
Watching from three houses down, Derek Worth observed the new summer renters moving in. It looked as if a slightly older lady and her daughter were inhabiting one of his brother’s beach house rentals. The girl looked to be about his age, but it was possible that he could be wrong.
It wouldn’t be the first time. And probably not the last.
“Derek!” his older brother’s wife called from inside their - not rented - house.
Ava Martin Worth had been married to Derek’s older brother for three years and frequently had her little brother, as she called him, over to give her widowed father-in-law a break. Truthfully, she knew how overwhelming the Worth’s military - Navy - minded father could be. Admiral Worth was one in a long line of Navy men and he’d hoped at least one of his children would carry on the tradition.
Edward Worth owned rental property to supplement his real estate business income. Even though he was outside of his usual area, he had figured out early on the value of vacation rental property and had invested in five houses either on or near the beach. A few needed some renovations, but Ava’s brother was a licensed contractor and that helped to make things a little easier in the long run.
As for Derek... he was fascinated by history.
He appreciated what his sister-in-law did for him. Getting him out of the Worth household for several weeks during these past three summers meant time away from their father and the Naval Academy Preparatory School.
Yay for boarding school in Rhode Island when your father was in Washington, D.C. and your siblings were in North Carolina! Derek rather wished he was in a public school, although he did have to admit that his education was better at NAPS than it would have been in a public school.
“Derek!” Ava called again, this time while standing in the doorway. “Where are you?” His tendency to daydream was concerning. Even she knew the life her father-in-law had planned for his third child.
“Did Ed tell you who moved in the blue house?”
“Oh,” Ava said, nodding her head slowly. “You were distracted by a girl.”
“Well?”
“Cassandra Russell and one of her nieces, Anne, I think,” Ava answered her brother. “We’ll go welcome them in a few hours since Ed had to go into Jacksonville.”
“Why’d he have to go there?”
“He didn’t tell me.”
However, he didn’t get the chance to tag along with Ava when she went to visit the new tenants. Ed had needed Derek’s assistance with the car when he returned and Derek was covered in oil and grease when Ava had gone across the street.
