SIXTEEN

The hotel lobby hummed with activity as guests arrived for check-in. Claire sat with her grandmother on the sofa in front of the soaring stone fireplace while her father went to have the hotel car take them to the ferry. They were meeting Ric and his family at a restaurant in Winter Harbor for more merger discussions. Her mother and grandfather stood beside her father in front of the big glass doors, and Claire could speak without fear.

She put her hand over her grandmother’s age-spotted one. “Grandma, you’ve been avoiding me. Why won’t you talk to me?”

Her grandmother’s hand twitched. “Your father is the one who has to explain it all to you. It’s none of my business.”

“Are you saying he knows where I was during that year?”

The older woman placed her other hand atop Claire’s. “You’re not going to pressure me, child. I love you dearly, but this isn’t something I can get involved in. Your grandfather would be very upset if I did.”

Claire glanced at her grandfather, who had turned the other way to speak with her father. “He’s not listening. Where was I for that year, Grandma? And what repercussions do you fear?”

Her grandmother’s hazel eyes filled with tears. “I fear this family is about to reap the whirlwind, Claire. The whirlwind.” Her voice was low and choked.

The phrase sounded biblical. “What does that mean?”

“Sometimes we dabble in sin and think it will never come back to haunt us, but it does. It comes back so much worse than if we’d just been honest from the beginning. I’ve told your father this, but he doesn’t listen. From the moment I met him, I knew he was hardheaded, intent on having his own way.” Her grandmother pulled away her trembling hand. “We must all be strong enough to weather what’s coming. Especially you, Claire. Reach deep to find the bedrock of your faith as the winds begin to blow.”

“Grandma, you are making no sense at all. Don’t talk in riddles. Tell me plainly what’s wrong.”

Her grandmother’s gaze searched hers. “Always remember who you are, Claire. You belong to your heavenly Father and no one else. All that you are is found in him. Don’t let anything shake that knowledge.”

“You’re scaring me, Grandma. What could be so terrible that you won’t tell me?”

She looked over Claire’s shoulder, and a fixed smile appeared. “They’re ready for us, honey.”

Claire followed her to the door, held open by the valet. She couldn’t even begin to figure this out on her own. Maybe it was time to press the matter with Mom. Her dad always knew how to sidestep every issue, but her mother was bound to cave if she pushed hard enough.

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With her newly dyed red hair, Kate hardly recognized herself in the mirror of The Fisherman’s Inn bathroom so she doubted her father would give her a second glance. She’d be able to observe him and his precious family.

“I can’t believe I let you talk me into following them.” Shelley’s eyes were anxious in the mirror.

“We won’t get caught.” After a final glance, Kate crossed to the door and marched toward the dining room with her head high. Shelley followed her.

The Fisherman’s Inn in Winter Harbor was practically an institution on the Schoodic Peninsula and had been in business since 1947. Though housed in a white wooden building with plain furnishings, the food was the real star, especially the smoked salmon spread served as a free appetizer. The restaurant looked out on the harbor at Winter Harbor. The windows were set high at the booths. The scents of seafood and smoked meats teased her nose, and Kate’s stomach rumbled. She spotted her target in the back dining room. There were nine people at the far table, and her father, his expressive hands moving as much as his mouth, sat in the center.

She smiled at the hostess, Kathy Johnson, who ran the restaurant with her husband, Carl, who cooked up the fare in the kitchen. “Could I get that booth there, the one overlooking the harbor?” It was the first dining room, but she’d be able to get a clear view of her father since he was just through the opening into the second dining room. She planned to sit with her back to his table. Close enough to eavesdrop, but with her face obscured.

Kathy, an attractive middle-aged redhead, picked up two menus. “Of course. This way please.” She led them to the booth and placed the menus down. “Vivian will be your server tonight. Enjoy your dinner.”

Kate slipped into her booth before her father looked her way. “He might recognize you. Sit here beside me so he doesn’t see your face.”

Mumbling under her breath, Shelley slid into the booth beside Kate. “This is crazy, Kate. What do you hope to find out?”

“I just want to know more about all of them.”

Harry’s father-in-law picked up his wine glass. “I told Harry that company was ripe for the plucking, and it was. It was really what launched our business into the stratosphere.”

Kate wrinkled her nose. She had no real interest in hearing of her father’s wealth and power. That wasn’t anything new. She wanted to know what made the man tick, why he would abandon his own daughter and treat her so coldly.

Footsteps came her way, and she looked up, expecting to see the server. She gasped. “Mom, what are you doing here?”

Her mother’s hair was disheveled and out of its usual ponytail, her face furious. Mud stained her pink T-shirt, as though she’d heard what Kate planned and immediately dropped what she was doing. “Keeping you from destroying our lives. Come with me right now,” she hissed.

“I’m not going to talk to anyone. I just want to see what his family is like.”

Her mother’s face crumpled, and tears slipped down her cheeks. Kate nudged Shelley out of the booth. “We’d better step outside before he notices us.” The women quickly went out the front door and stood in the salty breeze off the water.

Her mother stepped to her car. “Your father is not someone to mess with. He can destroy our lives. You don’t know what he’s capable of doing. You have no idea how he’s hurt all of us.”

Something in her mother’s tone caught at Kate’s heart. “All of us?”

Her mother hesitated. “Us—you and me. Harry Dellamare holds what’s his with an iron fist. He’s ruthless, and he doesn’t care who he hurts.” She hugged herself. “I’m afraid he might take you away from me.”

“How did you even get mixed up with him, Mom? Didn’t you know he was married?” Kate didn’t mean the words to sound so accusatory, and her mother winced. Kate reached to take her mom’s hand. “I’m sorry, that came out wrong.”

“Of course I knew he was married, but I thought . . .” She bit her lip and looked down. “Men will tell you whatever they think will get them what they want. I was starry-eyed.”

Kate calculated her mother’s age at the time. Twenty-five wasn’t all that young. Maybe desperate would be a better word. “Did you get pregnant on purpose?” She whispered the question before she stopped to think.

Her mother’s green eyes widened, and she wrung her hands. “Did he tell you that?”

Kate read the naked truth in her mother’s face. “You really thought he’d leave his wife if you were pregnant? Mom, that’s so . . . naive. What did he say when you told him you were pregnant?”

Her mother lifted her chin. “He laughed, thinking it was a joke. It was terrible timing. He’d just found out that she was expecting—his wife. I knew then he’d never leave her.”

Kate filed that information away. She had a sibling. “What did you do?”

“He offered to provide for me. What else could I do? I had no other job, no way of providing for a baby. I had to accept his terms. And I still held out hope that he’d realize he loved me, not her.”

“But he never did. He’d never intended to leave his wife for one minute.”

The entire situation sickened her. Kate’s head was pounding, and her limbs felt heavy and weak. A trip to see the doctor was long overdue with the way she’d been feeling. She dug into her purse for her keys. “Let’s go, Shelley. This was a stupid idea.”