“Oh, no! How is he?”
“They medevaced him to Mass General. I’m here at the hospital right now. I brought Mom up. I don’t know when I’ll be home.”
“Sebastian, that’s terrible! I’m so sorry.” She sat up in bed. “Can you…” Was this too intimate to ask, when they were only just beginning a close relationship? “Is there…any way to tell how serious it is? I mean, I know from my mother that strokes are all different.”
Sebastian was eager to talk, in the way that talking helped to make sense of a catastrophe. “We don’t know for sure, but I don’t think it’s life-threatening. Mom said he woke in the middle of the night and got up to go to the bathroom. He staggered and didn’t know which way to go. She went to him, and he was awake, but he was confused. He couldn’t talk right. He couldn’t understand Mom. She called 911. The ambulance came right away. She called me and I got there just after the ambulance. Mom was so upset because Dad peed himself and she couldn’t change his wet pajamas before the EMTs arrived.”
“Oh, poor Donna.”
“But he didn’t lose consciousness. The doctors told us he had an ischemic stroke. That means a blood clot in the brain. The ER doctor administered an IV of something unpronounceable, alteplase something or other, that breaks up the clot and restores blood to the brain. Keely, I don’t even know what I’m talking about, really.”
“How is your mother taking this?”
“She’s freaked out. She’s been sobbing a lot. The hospital scares her. She can’t deal with seeing Dad with tubes in his nose and arm. I mean, of course, she was in there, talking to him and so was I, but they wanted him to rest, so now Mom’s down the hall, calling Isabelle.”
“Is there anything I can do?”
“I can’t think of anything now, but I’ll keep in touch. We’re really just waiting for the doctors to tell us something. Waiting to see how Dad is.”
“I’m so sorry, Sebastian. This is frightening.”
“Yes, and at this point we can only go from minute to minute. I’ve got to phone Eric and tell him to run the shop today. And Mom wants me to call some of Dad’s friends. And the office. Someone will have to take over his cases. I don’t know how long I’ll be up here. I don’t have a change of clothes…”
“I can help you. I can express mail you some clothes or shaving stuff, whatever you need. I could call some of your parents’ friends.”
“Thanks, Keely. If I stay, I think Isabelle will come up, and she can bring me what I need.” He cleared his throat, sounding on the verge of tears. “Keely, I’m almost more worried about my mother than about Dad. She was hysterical when we got into the helicopter.”
“Flying in a huge noisy machine like that must be scary.”
“No, no, it was because Dad was so helpless and…not himself. He was…making sounds. Sometimes he could get some words out, but they were slurred. We’re supposed to hold his hand, talk to him, and I do, and Mom does try, but it’s difficult for her.”
“I can understand that. Would you like me to have my mother call you? This is exactly the sort of thing she knows about.”
“Maybe. Let me think about it. Let me ask Mom. The doctors will tell us what to do.”
“Let me know if I can do anything. I’m so sorry, Sebastian. I’m praying for you all.”
“Thanks, Keely. I should go.”
Keely rose, pulled a light robe around her, and padded quietly into the kitchen. She made coffee. She took it out onto the patio and sat for a while listening to the morning begin.
Her first thoughts were for Al Maxwell and his family. She still resented the man for the way he’d treated her when her father died. How he had callously told her to leave college. But when she was younger, he’d been nice. Poor Sebastian and Isabelle…it didn’t sound as if Sebastian’s father’s life was in danger, but certainly that his life would change. Should she call Isabelle? But no. Keely wasn’t part of their family. It wasn’t the Maxwells she should be thinking about. She should be thinking about what to do with Gray when he arrived on the island.
Gray. Sebastian.
She had planned to tell Sebastian about Gray, that he was coming for a brief visit to see the island. She had planned to stress that he would be staying in a hotel, not with her. But she couldn’t tell Sebastian now. Compared to what the Maxwell family was going through, Gray’s visit wasn’t even on the radar of importance.
Still, she wished she could let Sebastian know Gray was coming. She didn’t want to seem to keep it a secret from him. She felt unsettled and irrationally guilty.
The day became one of those stop-and-start, restless days, when Keely couldn’t force herself to write and instead compulsively checked her phone to see if Sebastian had called. When Eloise drifted from her bedroom at eight, Keely nearly jumped on her, needing to talk with her about Al Maxwell. After that, they were both nervous, wanting to help the Maxwells, resigned to waiting for the phone to ring. The two women agreed it was the perfect time to use their nervous energy, so they gathered all the items they’d set aside for the Seconds Shop and delivered them, then filled the trunk once again with treasures for the Madaket Mall. Eloise kept up a running commentary, recounting all the people she’d seen over the years who’d had strokes and how they recovered and how necessary physical rehab was for the entire mind-body return to health.
Sebastian didn’t phone. Was that a good or bad sign?
In the afternoon, Keely checked her calendar on her phone and discovered there was a fund-raising event for the Maria Mitchell Natural Science Museum that night. She nearly wept with relief. This would be the perfect occasion for her to entertain Gray.
Gray called a little after three to tell her he was on the island and at the hotel.
She told him about the event that evening, cocktails, a full dinner, champagne.
Gray said he’d be delighted to attend with her. He’d pick her up at six-thirty. Keely’s stomach went all funny when he said that. Her mother’s house was so humble. During her visit, Keely and her mother had groomed the yard and planted blooming daffodils in the window boxes, so the place had a kind of cozy charm about it. But compared to Gray’s apartment, the house Keely had grown up in was, at best, modest outside, and as for the inside—well, Gray wasn’t going to set foot in her house!
This gala was the first big charity event for the island. Keely had guessed that some of the stylish summer people would already be on the island, so she’d packed a few evening dresses. Because the night was unusually warm and humid, she chose a chartreuse silk slip dress with a pale lavender silk shawl and her highest heels—wisely, the gala committee did not force their patrons to stand on a lawn. She put her hair up, wore eye shadow for the first time in days, and fastened dangling silver earrings in her ears.
“Goodness!” her mother said when Keely entered the living room. “I can hardly recognize you. My, you look stunning, Keely.”
“Thanks, Mom. Listen, call me if there’s any news about Mr. Maxwell.”
“Do you want me to answer it if Sebastian or Isabelle calls?”
“Yes. Please. Tell them I’m at a benefit. I’ll try to be home by eleven.”
“And Gray is picking you up here?”
“He is. But, Mom, let’s wait for you to meet him tomorrow, okay? I don’t know exactly what my relationship with Gray is right now. I mean, well, you know I’m seeing Sebastian.”
“An embarrassment of riches.”
“Well, certainly an embarrassment. I’ve got to tell Sebastian about Gray, and tonight I need to tell Gray about Sebastian.”
Eloise smiled. “Such problems you have.”
Keely waited outside for Gray to arrive. He’d rented a Mercedes. Of course he had. When he stepped out of his car, she hurried down the walk to meet him. He wore a lightweight navy blazer and white trousers. White bucks, a red tie, an all-American look. She pecked a kiss on his cheek and stepped back.
“You look absolutely ravishing tonight,” Gray said. “Maybe we should forget the benefit and go straight to my room.”
Keely laughed, as if he couldn’t mean what he was saying. “You look rather gorgeous yourself.”
“I’m glad you think so, Keely. I want to do everything I can to please you.”
Keely shook her head, stunned. This was an extraordinary event, this expression of his emotions, the depth of his feelings for her. She was overwhelmed. She didn’t want to thank him—she didn’t want to own the reason for his action.
“I’m speechless,” she said, and that was true.
As they drove out to ’Sconset, they talked of insignificant things. This was no time for Keely to bring up Sebastian, and no time for Gray to get serious with Keely. Once they were at the private club, its spacious rooms leading to remarkable views of the southwest part of the island, they were engulfed by other benefit guests. Waiters came by with trays of drinks. Gray chose a martini, but Keely stuck with prosecco, her old reliable bubbly pal that never got her drunk.
She was only slightly surprised that so many people at the party recognized Gray. Many people were from New York, and the luscious women, flashing with diamonds worth more than Keely’s mother’s house, came fluttering up to Gray to kiss his cheek. Their husbands shook Gray’s hand and patted him on the shoulder. They talked about the Yankees, about a benefit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York that coming summer, about the stock market.
Keely studied Gray as he talked. No doubt about it, if he were cast in a movie, he’d definitely be chosen as the lead. It wasn’t just that he was broad-shouldered and handsome. He carried himself with a natural authority, almost a nobleness. And he deserved it.
The New York women eyed Keely cautiously until she told them she had a pied-à-terre in the city (it amused her to think of her tiny apartment in such terms) and that she was a novelist. Some of the women had read her book and loved it.
At the end of the evening, the valet brought the car up to the club entrance. Keely slipped inside and immediately removed her high heels.
“I’m in pain,” she told Gray, laughing. “No, seriously. I haven’t worn such high heels for weeks. I’d forgotten that it’s complete torture.”
“Wear comfortable flats,” Gray suggested as he turned out of the long private drive and on to Polpis Road.
Keely laughed. “No, thanks. I can deal with the occasional high heels when I’m here. Mostly I wear sandals. After all, it’s spring, it’s Nantucket.”
“But what about when you return to New York? I have a fond memory of you in short skirts and high heels.” Reaching over, he took Keely’s hand. “You have amazing legs.”
They were on the curve of road that took them past Sesachacha Pond. The pond was often breached by the ocean storming over the small sand barrier between them. On the other side of the water, several summer houses stood, their lights twinkling like lightships, and every few seconds the beam of the ’Sconset lighthouse would flash.
“Gray,” Keely said impulsively, “pull over here. At that small overlook.”
“It’s a nice spot,” Gray said, turning off the engine and reaching to put his arm around Keely.
She pulled away. He had misunderstood her intentions, and it was her fault.
“Gray, wait,” she said quickly. “I need to tell you something.”
Gray drew back. Immediately, his guard was up, an invisible shield Keely could almost see.
“Gray, I’ve been…seeing someone since I’ve been home. His name is Sebastian Maxwell. He’s Isabelle’s brother. I know I’ve spoken about her. I would have told you about Sebastian before, but I didn’t know that he’d be here, I didn’t know that he…he loves me. I don’t know what’s going to happen, especially because his father had a stroke last night. I can’t expect to talk about the future with Sebastian now, and I don’t want to mislead you.”
Gray stared out at the water, his face impassive. “What you’re saying is that if you have the chance to be with this…Sebastian…you will take it. Between me and him, you choose him.”
Keely looked down at her hands. “Yes, I suppose that’s what I’m saying. I’m sorry.”
Gray was quiet for a long time. Then he said, “You told me about Isabelle. Once, for most of your childhood, your best friend. Then she stole your boyfriend.”
“Yes, that’s right. I was angry with her when she married Tommy. She suddenly just snatched him back, without even telling me. And to be honest, Isabelle was upset with me when Rich Girl came out. Mostly because I sort of won, because I had a book published. Also because she probably thought a lot of the rich girl was based on her, and it wasn’t really, although I did use bits and pieces of her life, her clueless sense of entitlement. But I really hope we’ll be friends again.”
“That family means a lot to you,” Gray observed. “Maybe too much? Keely, I want to marry you. I want to spend my life with you. I don’t say that lightly. I’m not going to run away. I can be patient. I can wait while your friend’s father recovers from his stroke, until you have time to speak with Sebastian about your future.”
“Gray…”
“It’s okay, Keely. I’m okay. We’re all right.” He reached for the ignition button and started up the car. He pulled back onto the narrow, winding road.
After a moment, Gray continued, “And let’s say you marry this Sebastian. Will you live on the island? Permanently?”
“Probably, well, definitely. But it’s not definite that I’m going to marry Sebastian. It’s all very complicated. His father—”
“Listen to yourself. If you marry Sebastian and live on this island, you’ll be constantly in touch with his family. You’ve told me that islanders are close. You told me once that the best thing about living here is that everyone knows you and what you’re doing, and the worst thing about living here is that everyone knows you and what you’re doing.”
“I remember saying that, yes,” Keely said quietly.
“Maybe you should give some serious consideration to what it would be like to live your entire life here, instead of in New York.”
“I do love the city—”
“I could always buy a house here, Keely. A summer house. We could come here for Christmas, Thanksgiving. You wouldn’t lose your island completely.”
In a very small voice, Keely said, “It isn’t only the island I love.”
As if he hadn’t heard her, Gray said, “And that house. The Maxwell house. I could buy it. I could offer enough money so they’d sell it in a minute. Then you could have that house for your own.”
“That house?” Was Gray trying to bribe her with his money?
“You’ve told me how much you love that house. How you longed to live there when you were a child.”
“But I’m not a child anymore, Gray. I’m a grown woman, and I love Sebastian, for better or worse. Gray, I do care for you. I admire you, I enjoy being with you, and I’m so—”
“If you say you’re so fond of me, Keely, I’m going to stop the car right here and make you get out and walk home in those wretched high heels.”
Keely was surprised at the lightness in his voice. He didn’t sound hurt or angry. He sounded almost amused.
“Gray, please…I do care about you.”
“And I love you, Keely. I think I love the real you. I know you as you are now, an adult, a brilliant, capable, well-read, knowledgeable woman. You’re not the child you once were.”
“You think that being on the island makes me feel like a child again. Funny, because Fiona wanted me to come here to write because she thought it would make my work better, that being here is magical for me.”
“We all have our magic spaces and places,” Gray said. “But real life can’t be magic all the time. Sometimes it’s damned hard work.”
Keely nodded.
“You said that Mr. Maxwell had a stroke?”
“Yes,” Keely said.
“This will change the family dynamics. Some will show their mettle. Some will be unable to deal with it. A health crisis is always unsettling.”
“I understand. I won’t expect Sebastian to make any kind of significant decision in the next few months.” Good Lord, Keely thought. I’m beginning to talk like Gray.
They had arrived at Keely’s house. Gray turned into her driveway, parked, and faced Keely.
“I won’t push you, Keely. I’m willing to step back. I can wait. I’m willing to give you all the time you need. No conditions added.”
“You seem so cool about this, Gray.”
He smiled. “I have learned to be cool when necessary. Would you like me to walk you to the door?”
Keely blinked. So he was not going to try to kiss her? It felt very intimate inside the car, the two of them turned to face each other, the night outside dark, offering privacy.
“No, no, you don’t need to walk me to the door, Gray. But I would like it if you and I and my mother could have dinner together tomorrow night. I’ve told her all about you. She’d love to meet you.”
“I’d love to meet her. I’ll make a reservation at Topper’s. I’ll text you the time and I’ll be glad to drive us there.”
“Lovely. Thank you.” Keely tilted her head, gazing at the handsome, formal man seated so near. “You’ve surprised me tonight, Gray.”
“I hope it’s been a good surprise.”
“I think it has.” In one quick move, she leaned forward and kissed his cheek, then opened her car door and hurried to her house.
From her chair in the living room, Eloise asked, “Did you have a nice time?”
“It was great,” Keely answered, her mind on other things. Keely picked up her phone, collapsed on the sofa, and scrolled through the messages.
From Sebastian: Dad’s doing well. They’re keeping him here one more night. Home tomorrow, we hope. Maybe to rehab clinic on Cape for him. Isabelle’s here. I’m taking care of Mom. We’ll be at the nearest Marriott tonight. I’ll call tomorrow.
From Sally: Hello, ma cherie, how’s it coming with the new book? Want to send me and Juan a few chapters?
From Janine: I loved meeting your Gray at the gala tonight. Your dress was smashing and he is hot! We were totally buzzing about him. Do tell all!
In her bedroom, as she slid out of her high heels and silk dress, her mind spun like a roulette wheel, binary, black or red, two different worlds. New York, Sally and Juan, her new book, Gray. Nantucket, Sebastian and Isabelle, Mr. Maxwell, her mother. She was unsettled and confused. What Gray had said about the Maxwell family and her obsession with them was perceptive and true. Wasn’t it? But her love for Sebastian was separate from her infatuation with the Maxwell family. Wasn’t it?
She had admired Gray tonight. He was unexpectedly cool, not at all unsettled to hear her say she loved Sebastian. Why didn’t he say goodbye and fly back to the city?
Why was she thinking about Gray at all?
She needed to drink lots of water and take a good long sleep.
“So,” Keely said, returning to the living room and plopping down on the sofa with her legs stretched out on a pillow. “Tonight was fabulous. An open bar, scallops wrapped in bacon, caviar, boned chicken drumsticks in honey and—”
“Oh, for heaven’s sake, Keely. I don’t want to hear about the menu. At least not yet. Who else was there and what were they wearing? How did you get on with Gray? Did you have a good time?”
Eloise had actually clicked off the television, giving Keely her full attention.
“I had a nice time with Gray. He is a true old-fashioned gentleman. And he’s going to take you and me to dinner tomorrow night at Topper’s.”
“Really? That’s extravagant.” For a moment, Eloise seemed to shrivel up again, back into her depression. “Are you sure you want me to go? I don’t know what I’ll wear and I certainly don’t know what I’ll have to contribute to the conversation.”
“Oh, get over yourself, Mom! We’re hardly going to discuss the latest UN resolution. Gray is a very nice person. He’s a doctor. He’ll have a lot in common with you. I promise, you’ll like him and he’ll like you.” Keely stood up. “I’m going to bed now. I’ve got to write tomorrow.”
All that day, Keely stayed in her bedroom, in her T-shirt and boxer shorts, writing and tossing back cup after cup of coffee. She was wound tight, and once she got started, her focus was entirely on her new book. She reread and rewrote the first three chapters, wanting them to be perfect, knowing they couldn’t be perfect until the entire book was finished.
It was a relief when evening came and she could shower and dress and coax her mother into preparing for their dinner out. Sebastian phoned once, to say that the hospital was keeping their father for another night, but not to worry, and that he was staying with his mother while Isabelle flew home to her own family.
Eloise allowed Keely to put a slight bit of makeup on her face. Lipstick, light eyeliner, blush. The style the hairdresser had given Eloise was becoming, slightly longer and bouncier than when she was working. Keely’s mother seemed pleasantly surprised.
Gray arrived, completely swoon-worthy in his navy blazer and white ducks. As he helped the women into the car, Eloise quickly mouthed “wow” to Keely.
The chat was light and easy on the drive out. When they were seated at a table at Topper’s with drinks and orders taken, Gray said to Eloise, “Keely tells me you’re a nurse at the local hospital.”
Eloise looked down. “Well, I was. I’ve retired now.”
“Did you happen to know David Vanbrack?”
Eloise lit up. “Of course I did. He was our only surgeon here for about thirty years. How did you know him?”
“He was a guest lecturer in med school one year. He was a great advocate for pediatric surgical instruments. He used to make rough sketches of the Ballenger sponge forceps and the Metzenbaum dissecting scissors, before they were actually designed and utilized. He would get so worked up talking about them that he’d storm out of the lecture hall down to his office and phone one of the many hospital directors he tormented in those days.”
“Yes, he was an emotional man,” Eloise agreed, nodding. “I worked with him often on difficult births. He really hated C-sections. He had all the latest statistics on the tip of his tongue. Too many unnecessary C-sections were given in the United States. He would roar that while he was getting ready to help a child being born with forceps. He had the most remarkable forearms.”
“I remember that. Large. Sturdy.”
“Like Popeye.” Eloise laughed.
Keely watched, amused and delighted, as her mother blossomed in the light of Gray’s attention. Clearly Gray was charming her mother, and Keely felt her heart softening toward him. Gray was nicer than he seemed in New York. Maybe that was Nantucket magic at work.
Gray said, “In his last years, he was obese. But many of us who work at the hospital eat for comfort.”
“Especially in a small, isolated hospital like ours,” Eloise agreed. “In the winter, the harbor often freezes over, or we have gale force storms that prevent the freight boat from coming, so fresh vegetables and fruits become rare or nonexistent. We have such long dark winters here, it’s easy to seek pleasure by baking dozens of chocolate chip cookies and eating them while reading by the fire.”
“Well, Eloise, you clearly have found a way to stay in shape,” Gray said. “Excuse me for being too personal, but I can tell from whom Keely gets her good looks.”
“Hey, are you hitting on my mother?” Keely asked playfully.
Her mother blushed, and with diplomatic skill Keely didn’t know she possessed, Eloise said, “So, Gray, tell me about your parents.”
Keely leaned back in her chair, letting the conversation between her mother and Gray flow past her like a spring breeze. Here, tonight, she was witnessing sides of both Gray and her mother that she’d never seen before. Was everyone this way, a kind of benign Jekyll and Hyde? Was she?
“Keely? Earth to Keely,” her mother said.
“Sorry,” Keely said. “I was lost in thought.”
“About your next book?” Gray asked.
“No. No, to be honest, I was wondering if we, especially Gray, you and I, are composed of two different people, and the city brings out one part and the island brings out the other.”
“Go on,” Gray urged.
“Well…you seem different here. Less formal, easier to talk with.”
Gray nodded. “I see what you mean. You’re different here, too, Keely. And maybe it is the difference in location. Maybe it is that here we feel on vacation, less pressured, but in the city we’re on red alert all the time. And maybe,” he added, smiling at Eloise, “it also has to do with our companions. Eloise is especially easy to talk with, not simply because she knows about the medical field. She’s like chocolate, tranquilizing and stimulating at the same time.”
“Goodness!” Eloise laughed, blushing. “I’ve never been compared to chocolate before!”
It was almost midnight when they gathered themselves and left the restaurant for the winding drive back to Eloise’s house. Gray walked both women to the door and told Keely he’d phone her tomorrow.
“Are you leaving tomorrow?” Keely asked.
His face was partly in shadow, and his tone was gentle but also distant. “We’ll see.”
Gray leaned over to kiss Keely’s cheek, and then, to Keely’s surprise, and to Eloise’s, he kissed Keely’s mother’s cheek.
“My goodness!” Eloise said when the two women were alone in the house. “He’s wonderful, Keely! He’s so intelligent and charming and handsome!”
“Mom, I think you’re in love,” Keely teased.
Eloise burst into embarrassed laughter. “Don’t worry, darling. I won’t try to steal him from you.” In the kitchen, she ran cold water into a glass and drank it straight down. Turning, she put her hands on Keely’s shoulders. “My sweet girl, thank you for tonight. I don’t know when I’ve had so much fun.” She hugged Keely. “I only hope I don’t have a hangover tomorrow.”
“I don’t think it’s the wine that made you high,” Keely said.
Eloise smiled with a twinkle in her eyes. “I don’t, either.”
As Keely went through her evening routine, she realized she wasn’t tired. She felt like a child after a birthday party, all wound up and clueless about how to calm down. She knew what she wanted to do, and after tossing and turning in bed, she allowed herself to do it. She called Gray.
“Are you still awake?” she asked.
He laughed. “Are you?”
“Thank you for such a brilliant evening. You made my mother very happy.”
“You seemed happy, too,” Gray said.
“I am. I was.” Keely hesitated. “Listen, I don’t want to make any rash decisions tonight, but could you come over here for dinner tomorrow evening?”
“I wish I could. I’m flying back to New York tomorrow afternoon.”
“Oh.” Keely was surprised at her disappointment. “I thought you were going to be here for three days.”
“Yes, so did I. But things change.”
“Gray—”
“Besides, I’ve been called in to consult about a new patient. It’s urgent. I need to be there.”
“I see. Yes, of course. Maybe some other time.”
“Maybe.”
“Gray, I’m sorry—”
“We had a great evening together, Keely. I thank you for that. I’m off to bed. Good night, Keely.”
“Good night, Gray.”
Keely turned on the small fan on her dresser to allow the white noise of the spinning blades to lull her to sleep. She snuggled down in bed and closed her eyes. But it was a long time before she slept.
She woke with the morning sun beaming into her room. The rest of the house was quiet. So her mother wasn’t up yet, and it was after eight. Keely realized that she was unconsciously hoping that the dinner last night had changed her mother, at least a little. Eloise had been so happy and talkative. Clearly she had enjoyed herself. Keely prayed Eloise wasn’t retreating back into her solitary state.
Maybe her mother was simply sleeping late.
She brought her laptop out to the patio and began to work. First, she answered emails and checked on Instagram posts, but before long, as it often happened, scenes and dialog for her new book began to intrude into her mind. She opened the document file and wrote.
At some point in the morning, Eloise rose, poured a cup of coffee, and settled into her chair facing the television. Around noon, Sebastian phoned.
“I can’t talk long. I just wanted to touch base. I’ll be up here another day.”
“How’s your father?”
“The doctors say he’s recovering, but it’s not that obvious to us,” Sebastian said. “Poor Mom is beside herself. He needs physical and speech rehabilitation, but when we talk about taking him to the facility on the Cape, he roars and pounds his bed. He wants to go home.”
“I can understand that.”
“Yes, but it makes it harder for the rest of us. Well, for Mom. She’s overwhelmed. I’m afraid she’s going to have a stroke or a heart attack. Dad is a frightening sight. His right side isn’t working well, and the right side of his face sags.”
“Your poor father.”
“I know, but he’s not in pain. He’s going to recover. It will take time, and it will take a lot of work, but he can do it. Every stroke is different, they said, and we don’t know how well he’s comprehending what’s going on, or the future, or even the present.” Sebastian’s voice hitched. “We’ve been told to be gentle with him. Not to rush him. So we’re trying our best, but it’s as if an alien has taken over our father. You know what he was like. So strong, so powerful. Suddenly, he’s a little old man.”
“Oh, Sebastian. I’m sorry.”
“It’s going to change everything, Keely. Everything for him. Everything for us.”
Later, Keely wished she’d asked exactly who was included in that “us,” but in the moment she sensed that Sebastian was focused entirely on his father. Their own relationship was on hold; that was obvious. It wasn’t what Keely had dreamed of happening, but then it surely wasn’t what Al Maxwell had reckoned for.
Did Keely think for even one brief moment that Karma had given Al Maxwell what he deserved for the way he had treated Keely so long ago? She allowed herself to consider that thought. It was shabby of her to think that way. Quickly, she let the thought dissolve, disappear. She was truly sorry for Mr. Maxwell. She wished him well.
Which was a good thing, since she wanted to marry his son.
For the rest of the week, Keely kept to a strict writing routine. An odd sort of dynamism operated inside her, so that she could use the pressures of the real world to fuel her fiction writing. By the end of the week, she sent three chapters to Sally and to Juan. She was anxious about what Sally would say. Would this be the book that Juan hoped for?
Her mother continued to come out of her shell. She had lunch with friends. She volunteered at the Seconds Shop. She tried on the new clothes Keely had ordered and was quite pleased with how she looked. She was happier, and Keely went with her to a movie, and a lecture at the library, and out to the Seagrille again.
It was working, Keely thought. Keely’s presence on the island was cheering her mother, reviving her. She hoped the same was happening for her manuscript.
By Saturday, Mr. Maxwell had been moved from the hospital back to his house, where he insisted, in his own loud but clear way, he wanted to be.
When Sebastian called, he was distracted, clearly stressed out.
“Dad’s home, but they’ve put a bed in the dining room and moved all the dining room furniture into the den until we can have it stored. He has a portable toilet next to his bed! A portable toilet in the dining room! Poor Mom is nearly insane. We’re supposed to spend as much time with him as possible, helping him to speak clearly or remember stuff, and I’m doing that, but I can’t tell if it’s helping him or not.”
“What can I do?” Keely asked.
“Come to my house tonight.”
Keely smiled. “Do you want me to bring some dinner?”
“Sure. Anything. I just want to see you. Well, I don’t want to just see you—”
“I know what you want.” Keely laughed.
During the day, she barbequed spare ribs, coating them heavily in her special sauce. She took over some cold Whale’s Tale Pale Ale and bowls of guacamole and salsa and a giant bag of chips. They ate in front of the television, watching the Red Sox battle the Yankees.
Afterward, Sebastian said, “Man, it’s good to relax.”
“Do you want to talk about it? I mean, about your father?”
“No. Not tonight. He and Mom are in my mind enough. I want to be purely selfish. I want to focus on my own needs.”
“I think I can help you do that,” Keely said.
Later, as they lay in bed together, watching through the bedroom window as the light faded from the sky, they talked.
“Isn’t it odd?” Keely said. “I came home to help my mother, and now you’re helping your father.”
Sebastian groaned. “That’s the easy part for me. I don’t mind spending time with Dad or helping him into his wheelchair, eventually helping him do easy exercises so he doesn’t lose muscle. I’m glad to do that, and the doctors and nurses have been brilliant, telling us what to do.”
“What’s the hard part, then?” Keely asked, and she knew she was being vain when she thought, silently, that Sebastian would say the hard part was being away from her.
“Mom,” Sebastian said. “She’s not tolerating all this change very well. She’s angry—I think anger is often a kind of recycled fear. She…sometimes she’s not as patient with Dad as she should be.”
“Is there any way I can help?” Keely asked.
“I don’t know. Let me think about it. He’s known you since you were a kid, so he would probably feel comfortable with you. On the other hand, Isabelle might feel funny about you being there.”
“She knows you and I are seeing each other, right?”
“Yeah. She just needs more time to adjust to having you on the island again.”
“Well,” Keely said softly, struggling to keep any bitterness from her voice, “it’s not exactly her island, is it?”
Sebastian turned and burrowed his head into his pillow. “God, Keely, let’s not fight. I wish you and Izzy were friends again. It doesn’t feel right having you estranged. You don’t hate her because of Tommy, right?”
“Of course not. I don’t hate her at all.”
“I don’t think she hates you, either, Keely. I think she’s jealous of you, because you’re a novelist now. She hasn’t gotten anything published yet. I think she’s given up trying. I know she’s happy with Tommy and she’s crazy mad in love with Brittany. But I don’t think her life is complete without you.”
Keely ran her hand over his back, his beautiful, long, broad-shouldered, muscular back. “Okay,” Keely said softly. “Okay. I’ll think about what I can do…” She lay there quietly a moment, gathering her courage. “Sebastian?” She kept her hand on his back, keeping a physical connection between them. “We’ve all been so worried about your father, so I didn’t tell you, because really, it’s not worth bothering about, but Gray Anderpohl came here for a few days. I didn’t invite him. He came on his own. He had some leave from the hospital. He didn’t stay with me, he stayed at the White Elephant. I took him to a Maria Mitchell gala one night, and he took me and my mother to dinner at Topper’s one night.”
She felt Sebastian’s muscles tense as she spoke, but he didn’t say anything.
“I told him I didn’t want to see him anymore. I told him it couldn’t happen between us. He went back to New York the next day.”
Sebastian didn’t speak. He lay so still that Keely was afraid he’d fallen asleep. Could he really be so indifferent to her?
“Sebastian…say something.”
Sebastian turned toward Keely, pulling her against him so that her face nestled against his shoulder. He held her tightly, as a man would who was about to jump from a burning building. “I know you needed to tell me. But no more talk of Gray, okay? I can’t get through this summer without you. I can’t get through my life without you, Keely. I love you.”
Keely smiled and hugged him tightly. “I have been waiting all my life to hear you say that.”
“And what about you?”
“What? Oh, Sebastian, you know I love you.”
“Still, it’s nice to hear.” He took her face in his hands. He kissed her slowly, firmly, for a long time.
“Okay,” Keely whispered. She felt in Sebastian’s body how he was struggling to control his breathing. She sensed his alarm, and she recognized how he calmed himself as he held on to her, not speaking, preserving his pride, not moving but lying pressed against her, making her his, making the two of them one. She held back her own tears. Oh, how she loved this man, and she respected his confession and his need. She would never betray him.