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Kate had always thought her life was defined squarely by two phases: before she had children and after. This is what everyone had led her to believe, and it’s what she indeed knew to be true.
After all, giving birth and taking on the role of motherhood was life changing.
Once Ben and Will were born and Kate and Paul had found their new normal—their lasting normal, by all accounts—phase two finally began in earnest. Kate took solace in raising her little family, and found the chance to part with Nora, Amelia, Megan, and even sweet little Clara to be easier than she’d ever imagined.
Living all the way up on Apple Tree Hill, away from Birch Harbor, didn’t hurt, either. There, she’d made a new life. She paid bills, changed diapers, and organized mother meetings in her front room. There, she washed the dishes every night and sorted and stowed fresh laundry each morning. Then, once the boys left for college, life tipped again. She was still, of course, their mom. And at that point, she was also still a wife.
New normal became book club and floral arrangements and gardening. Then, eventually, Kate discovered the working world. First with a secretarial position at the sanitation company Paul managed. Then as an underling at an upstart realty company. Currently, she was still very much an underling, since during Paul’s sickness and subsequent death she was forced to take so much time off that she had to start over again from the beginning when she'd finally grieved enough to return.
Kate had always predicted she’d one day become a comfortable widow far down the road and well into old age. Comfortable financially, thanks to wise investments and helpful children. Comfortable in her new town, which always somehow felt like a new town. Never a hometown.
But she was stripped of that luxury. No comfort. Too young. Too mired in debt from poor investments and expensive college tuition times two. Of course, Ben and Will were worth every penny. But she’d like to have some money to spare. Some to cover the mortgage on the house the boys had grown up in, for starters.
Then again, even that felt wrong. Kate didn’t actually want to stay in that beautiful house with casement windows and high ceilings and a lush garden. She wanted soul.
She wanted a home. And, in fact, Birch Harbor was the only home she’d ever known, even if it came with the heartache that a true home often knew.
The two phases of her life—before children and after—weren’t the full story. It would appear that there was about to be a third phase: The Great Unknown. The preview to her golden years, should she be lucky enough to enjoy them. And, the handling of her mother’s death and her needful sisters. But God didn’t stop there, no sir. He had to throw in a monkey wrench. A twist. A problem.
Kate’s biggest worry for the moment was not, in fact, sharing the truth with Clara.
It was whether Amelia and Megan were going to cooperate in light of that truth.
Then again, perhaps the letter, that sweet, sickening letter, meant they wouldn’t have to. Maybe, just maybe, there was another way out.
Presently, she and her sisters sat at Matt’s table, their lips in tight lines and eyebrows furrowed heavily.
Kate spoke. “I’ll take the cottage. We’ll split the house, since it wasn't mentioned. You two can fight over The Bungalows and the land. That’s the plan, okay?” She started to pull her hand away from Matt, but something stopped her. “Speaking of which,” she continued, slipping her hand out from his and returning it primly to her lap. “What did you plan to offer for the house, Matt?”
She felt Amelia’s and Megan’s eyes bore a hole in her, and she caught Matt’s uncomfortable reaction. But this was down to brass tacks. The will—and Clara’s exclusion from it—was irrelevant if they could fetch a pretty penny on the sale of the house. Or, at least, find another option that would provide Clara with something.
He cleared his throat. “Kate,” he started, holding up his hands defensively. “I’m not sure now is the time to discuss that. Are you sure you want to sell it?”
“You showed up there, right?” Megan pressed, suddenly on Kate’s side.
He nodded. “Yes, but, I didn’t... I didn’t realize things were sticky. I would never want to intrude. If I can help, then I will help. But I’m not about to come between you three—or, um... you four. And that place is a legend. I mean... ” He was rambling, and it made Kate smile. He always used to ramble, even as a teenager, a fumbling teenager who asked permission to so much as kiss Kate on the cheek.
“Listen, I’d be happy if we sell it. I’m in New York now, and—” Amelia was on the precipice of launching into some well-meaning lecture about her unavailability and big dreams and high hopes, but Megan cut her off.
“Oh, please. Amelia, you haven’t had a real part since you left Lincoln, Nebraska. Nothing is keeping you in New York, and you know it.”
Kate’s eyes widened in horror as her sisters opened the same argument that they’d gone rounds with since the funeral.
Amelia put up a good fight. “I have Jimmy. And Dobi. And a great studio apartment,” she protested.
Megan rolled her eyes, landing them squarely on Kate. “Are you hearing what I’m hearing? She actually plans to stay in the city?”
Kate shook her head. “I never thought she was leaving the city. And why do you care, Ms. Suburbia?”
Megan clicked her tongue. “I’m not sticking around there. Not unless I get the house, and even then... well, I’ll probably sell it.”
“So you’re coming back to Birch Harbor?” Kate pressed.
“Maybe,” Megan replied. “Maybe I’ll take the cottage. It’s the right size for Sarah and me, and then... just me, once Sarah graduates.”
“You’re not taking the cottage,” Kate answered, her eyes narrowing on Megan, her spine lengthening into a rod.
Matt held his palms up at the three of them. “Ladies, come on. We have bigger fish to fry than who gets what, right?” His eyebrows twisted up and he looked at Kate. She swallowed and her body relaxed.
But he was wrong. Nora’s letter, the revelation, the truth, and the will—all it came down to was who was getting what.
And Matt was now part of the puzzle, but he didn't seem to realize it.