Chapter One

Monday, February 11, 1991: President Bush, after meeting with top two military advisers, says alliance is in no hurry to begin ground war.

Light sparkled on the cool green water of the harbor. On the second day of bright sunshine after a week of rain, everything had a special, clear brilliance—the sky very blue; tall green grass, the meadow scattered with flowers. Against the sky and the ocean rose the clean, graceful shapes of fishing boats. The waves, the salt-fresh wind in the trees, and bird songs were the only sounds in the wonderful stillness. The entire scene had a soothing calm that eased Jenna’s disappointment over her first sight of the house.

She headed back down the path to appraise it again. It was nothing like the enchanted palace of her dim childhood memories, but it wasn’t so bad. The building appeared to be structurally sound, and it was certainly big enough for her to live comfortably in alone. The exterior needed paint badly, and she could see shingles loose and missing on the roof. The stepping stones she had jumped on when she was four or five were buried in long grass, which left bright drops of moisture on her shoes.

The steps needed repair, but the porch was still firm, and someone had swept it recently. She had played here for hours as a child—how could the space have been so small? The screen door was rusty, and one hinge was very loose. She had been given a small brass key, but the door was not locked.

Inside it was cool and dim, most of the windows shuttered. She opened two of them, letting in the sunlight and fresh air. Except for a few cobwebs, the sparsely furnished living room was in good condition. A bucket strategically placed under a leak in the hallway was half full of water. In the kitchen, water stains were clearly visible on the ceiling. The room held only a small refrigerator, old gas stove, double porcelain sink, and too little cupboard space. It retained a little of the coziness she remembered from childhood, but she was dismayed by the lack of modern conveniences. After living in her efficient apartment in the city, could she manage without a dishwasher or a microwave? Jenna sighed. Such as it was, the house was now hers.

She walked into the master bedroom. The bed had been stripped, but her grandmother’s portrait still hung on the wall. Her grandfather had slept in this bed until two years ago, when he relocated to Carroll City to be near his hospitalized wife. Now they were both gone, but something of their spirits remained, a mixture of her childhood memories and the stamp of their personalities on the furnishings.

They had been married for sixty years and still in love to the very end. Her own parents were still bickering fondly after thirty-two. Only she had failed. Patrick, who had once promised to love her forever, had left her for another woman. She could imagine no more humiliating failure.

Quick footsteps pattered on the porch, and a cheery, feminine voice called, “Hello!” She closed the bedroom door and hurried out to meet her first visitor. The woman on the porch was slender and girlish, with a dark ponytail and laugh lines around her eyes. She was carrying a covered dish. “Hi,” she said warmly. “I’m Rosalie Hayes from next door. Welcome to San Ignacio. We’ve been expecting you for a couple of days.”

“Hi,” said Jenna. She reminded herself that in small towns everybody knew everybody’s business. “I’m Jenna Scott.”

“Pleased to meet you. I knew your grandfather. He was a lovely man.”

“Yes, he was.”

“I was very sorry to hear of his passing, but I’m glad somebody will be living in the house now. An empty house is like—oh, I can’t think what!” She made a self-deprecating gesture, laughing at herself. “I brought you a casserole. It’s hard to think about cooking when you’re moving in and all.”

“Thank you. You’re very kind.”

“I won’t keep you, but if you need anything, holler. We’re just up the hill a ways.” She gestured, but Jenna couldn’t see the house from the porch, only a stand of trees and the curve of a driveway. How remarkable to have a next-door neighbor out of sight. In the city, where you banged on paper-thin walls if the neighbors played their stereo too loudly, privacy was highly valued. Here she supposed she was expected to take an interest.

“Do you have children?” she asked because she couldn’t think of anything better.

“Two,” said Rosalie, smiling fondly. “A boy and a girl. You’ll meet them soon enough. I hope Nancy doesn’t make a nuisance of herself; she does sometimes. Listen, I know you’ll be tired tonight, but tomorrow we’d like you to come up and have supper with us. It’ll just be the family, me and Mike and the kids.”

She hesitated. “Can I let you know later?”

“Oh, sure. When you get the phone hooked up, our number is one off yours, two instead of three at the end? Or you can just walk up any time.”

“Thank you,” Jenna said again.

“Sure. I hope you’ll like it here. It’s a good house.”

“It needs a little work, though,” she said ruefully, gesturing toward a rickety step.

“Yes,” Rosalie said sympathetically. “Houses miss people; they go right downhill. But once you put things to rights, it’ll be great.”

“I should at least get the roof fixed before it rains again,” she said, feeling tired and discouraged. “I don’t suppose you’d know who I could call?” She didn’t think a town like San Ignacio would run to yellow pages.

“Your best bet would be Rick Alvarez,” Rosalie said at once. “He lives about half a mile down this road.” She pointed to the narrow street that branched off the main road and ran along the edge of the water. “He doesn’t have a telephone, but you can leave a message if he’s not home. He’s an excellent carpenter. Gabe Burrows will be up sometime tomorrow morning to hook up the phone for you. Don’t let him scare you; his bark is worse than his bite.” She put the covered dish in Jenna’s hands and backed away, finding the best footing on the step as if she had done so many times before. “I hope we’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Thank you,” she said yet again.

The house seemed even emptier when Rosalie had gone. Jenna carried her drafting table and two cartons in from the car and then returned to savor the view again. To the natives, the harbor was ordinary and practical, she supposed, the source of income from fishing and tourism. Her grandfather had gone out on a trawler almost every day of his adult life, and he had always been happy—as Rosalie said, a lovely man. Her memories of him were part of what gave the lines of hulls and rigging such poignant beauty.

She returned to the house and found a sketchbook and charcoal pencil in one of the cartons. Her wedding ring was in the box too, and she contemplated flinging it into the ocean. She had decided in the beginning that the only way to keep her dignity was to behave more like an adult than Patrick had. She put the ring in a drawer and returned to her view.

Nothing in life had ever given her as much joy as capturing on paper the beauty in ordinary things. Light, shadow, shapes—the spirit was always present somewhere. She spent a blissful half hour sketching boats, the wharf, the bait house, and the trees that hid the neighbors’ house. Finally a distant white cloud with a gray edge reminded her roofs could leak. Fixing up the house seemed a daunting prospect, but she knew she would feel better once she made the first step toward action.

Rosalie had said Alvarez, the carpenter, was only half a mile away, so she decided to walk. Even if he wasn’t home, a stroll along the shore on a lovely, sunny afternoon would be a pleasant diversion. Asking a stranger to repair her roof couldn’t be any worse than dealing with the surly apartment house manager.

The walk did lift her spirits. Birds twittered in the trees, and a profusion of unfamiliar blossoms lined the road. She might be out of place here, but it was a perfect place to heal a broken heart. She was almost there before she thought to worry about Rosalie’s not very explicit directions. More than one house might lie roughly half a mile along this road.

Where the road started to turn back away from the water she found an open gate and a mailbox with ALVAREZ neatly lettered on the side. The house was small, but predictably in good repair. A gray Ford pickup was parked in the driveway. A small, dark-haired boy sat on the steps with his elbows on his knees and his chin in his hands, apparently disconsolate.

“Hi,” she said. “I’m looking for Mr. Alvarez.”

“Hi,” he said. He didn’t smile, but he got up at once and went into the house. Jenna slowly climbed the steps, unsure whether she should follow, knock, or wait.

A man appeared in the open door, wiping his hands on a rag. He stuffed it into the pocket of his jeans and held out a hand. “Hi. Rick Alvarez.” He was about five ten, Latino, probably in his thirties, good-looking in a stern, unsmiling way.

“Jenna Scott,” she said. His handshake was firm and impersonal.

“Bill Scott’s granddaughter,” he said with a knowing nod. He had a pleasant voice and no accent.

“Yes. Rosalie Hayes recommended you. The house needs a lot of work. I don’t know if I can afford to do all the repairs right away, but I want to get the roof fixed as soon as possible.”

“I’ll give you a fair price,” he said matter-of-factly. “I could come by tomorrow and at least give you an estimate.”

“I’d appreciate it,” she said, relieved to find the transaction so easy. He didn’t growl like the apartment house manager.

“Is it okay if I bring my boy? It’s a school holiday.”

She hesitated, dismayed. If she said no, she might have to find somebody else. He didn’t seem to notice her hesitation. “Yes,” she said. Would she be expected to entertain him? She didn’t know very much about children and was in no mood to begin learning. He was what—six or seven? He hadn’t come back out, and she remembered only his dark eyes and down-turned mouth. “He didn’t look very happy,” she said.

Alvarez smiled slightly, not enough to soften his face, and said, “He’s sulking. It won’t last long.”

“Ah,” she said. She didn’t ask why. He seemed friendly enough, but not very inviting. A man who lived apart from his neighbors and without a telephone was not seeking easy intimacy. “I’ll see you tomorrow,” she said and took a step backward.

“I’ll come in the morning if I can,” he said. His tone suggested it could not make very much difference to either of them. Only in a small town.

The sense of having accomplished something gave her enough energy to carry the rest of her belongings inside and make up the bed. She uncovered Rosalie’s casserole and glanced around automatically for the microwave. She would have to buy one later, next time she was in Carroll City. The house had electricity, which it hadn’t when she visited as a child. The stove was ancient, and it took her a while to figure out how to light the oven with a match. At least the matches, kept in a stoneware box, were dry.

The casserole smelled and tasted delicious, with chicken, cheese, noodles, and a rich, creamy sauce. She sat at the kitchen table and sketched the Alvarez house from memory while she ate. She wasn’t very good at portraits, but she put in a small figure on the steps. A sad little boy with big, dark eyes and his father’s strong cheekbones.

She lay awake for a long time in her grandparents’ bed, staring at the ceiling, too tired and keyed up to relax. She had thought the house would feel familiar and safe, but it only felt strange. What if she couldn’t live here after all, even for a short time? What would the people here think of her? They had been kind so far—because she was Bill Scott’s granddaughter? What about Gabe Burrows, whose bark was worse than his bite?