Sam picked up the large box on the bed and walked to the door. “No,” he said softly. “It’s the price your sister has to be willing to pay to get back her soul.”
Sam decided he rather likedMaine —at least, the area around Keelstone Cove and Prime Point, of which he was getting a firsthand and personal tour. He’d just sat down to his afternoon snack when Jennifer and Cody Bates had arrived home from school, and Jennifer had promptly thanked him for her new truck and boldly asked him to take her driving.
Even though Emmett had promised Sam he was in for a treat when he met Jennifer, the old man had failed to mention that for all of her precocious charm, the girl was also drop-dead beautiful. Shelbyhad blue eyes, but Jennifer’s eyes were more the startling blue of Willa’s. Her long hair was less curly and a bit lighter than her aunt’s and definitely more manageable. But whenever the teenager canted her head just right or glanced over her shoulder with a mischievous smile, Sam got the eerie feeling that he was looking at a younger Willa.
His gut had twisted in a knot as he’d watched Jennifer wolfing down a large piece of cake. What if Willa did marry him and they did have children? And what if they had a daughter as beautiful as Jennifer? He’d never survive her teenage years! Not if the images that came to mind were any indication whenShelby asked her about a particular boy at school. Sam had become positively outraged when Jennifer said she’d heard he was planning to ask someone else to the homecoming dance. Was the boy an idiot? And blind?
“That kid, Steven, I think you called him,” Sam said as Jennifer expertly guided her SUV down the narrow and winding road. “You can’t take it personally if he doesn’t ask you to the dance. Until the age of thirty, all males are self-centered idiots.”
Jennifer briefly glanced over at him, then back at the road. “I rarely take anything personally. That’s my aunt’s infuriating habit.” She sighed. “I really asked you to bring me driving so we could talk, Mr. Sinclair. I think you should know that I’m fully aware of what Abram’s will said.” She darted another quick glance in his direction, this time hitting him full force with her heart-stopping smile. “In fact, your being here means I won the bet. So, tell me, are you planning to find a way out of the bequest, or are you going to try to marry my aunt?”
She knew? And had even placed a bet? On him?
“If you’re about to threaten me with bodily harm if I break your aunt’s heart, you’ll have to stand in line. I’ve already gotten this speech from Emmett and your mother, as well as from Willa’s entire workforce.”
She turned on her blinker and pulled down an even narrower lane to their right. “Don’t underestimate Emmett. He never makes idle threats.”
“Yeah, he told me that, too.”
“So, am I going to get a new uncle?” She gave him a quick inspection, then smiled out the windshield again. “You’d be a vast improvement over my last one. David Sommers looked like a troll and had the personality of a billy goat.”
“How old did you say you are?” Sam asked with a chuckle.
“Emmett claims I’m sixteen going on sixty. You still haven’t answered my question, Mr. Sinclair.”
“I might, if you call me Sam.”
“Okay, Sam,” she said, pulling into the parking lot of a small warehouse perched on the edge of a tiny cove. She shut off the engine and looked over at him. “Please tell me you’re as astute as your grandfather and can see how much my aunt deserves to have somebody love her.”
“There are no knights in shining armor in real life, Jennifer. It won’t matter how much I love Willa, if she’s unable to love herself.”
“But that’s just it. I remember how Auntie used to be. I was only eight, but when Gram and Gramps died and she lost her baby, the light inside her dimmed. Then five years ago, when we had the accident,”
she said, touching her right knee, “that light nearly went out completely. But a tiny spark’s still there; I know it is. I see hints of it every so often, like when she and I go sailing together.”
“Yeah. I saw it, too, on our trip here.”
“She just needs someone to toss fuel on that spark and coax it back to life.”
“And you think I’m that someone?”
“Yes.”
Sam leaned against his door and studied his emphatic chauffeur. “What makes you so sure?”
“Your grandfather talked about his ‘three boys’ all the time, so it wasn’t hard for me to figure out that of all of his grandsons, you’re the most like Abram. And whenever he and Aunt Willa were together, they were like baking soda and vinegar. In the six weeks your grandfather was here, I saw Auntie’s spark actually burst into flame a few times. Abram Sinclair was the first person I’ve seen her get that close to in years.”
“You don’t think she’s close to you? And Emmett? And your mother and brother?”
“Of course she is, but only by default, and only because she can’t very well stop loving us.” She dropped her gaze and shook her head. “I think it was okay for Abram to die, because she knew going in that it was going to happen. But God forbid anything should happen to any of us. I’m not sure she’d survive another tragedy.”
Completely forgetting that he was talking to a sixteen-year-old, Sam asked, “Then what makes you think adding a husband and child for her to worry about won’t send Willa over the edge?”
Jennifer sighed. “My own parents haven’t had a very…mutually supportive relationship, but I’ve had many wonderful examples of the power of true love. Emmett lost his wife, Gretchen, to cancer a little more than three years ago. What I learned from them is that when two people love each other that deeply, anything is possible, even continuing on alone. Emmett misses Gretchen immensely, but every breath he’s taken since she died has been filled with her spirit.”
She lifted her beautiful little chin in exact mimic of Willa. “I don’t intend to settle for anything less than that kind of love for myself. Nor will I let my aunt spend the rest of her life hiding from it. I may have lost my foot five years ago, but she’s the one who was crippled.” She reached out and touched his arm.
“You’re my only hope, Sam. Please, will you help me help her?”
Sam found himself staring into eyes as desperate as the ocean was deep and as old as the earth, and suddenly he couldn’t breathe, much less speak.
“Abram gave you the most powerful tool he had, Sam. His bequest is your trump card, if you decide to play it.”
“It’s also my greatest obstacle, Jennifer. Willa thinks I want to marry her to get those shares and to keep our home.”
He stiffened as several pieces of the puzzle unexpectedly fell into place. “My God,” he whispered. “You helped Bram draft that damn will.”
She looked away. “I don’t know anything about that sort of legal stuff.”
“No, but you know Willa. You certainly knew she’d never let Tidewater fall into the hands of a man who wants to destroy it. You helped my grandfather write his last will and testament in a way that Willa’s conscience wouldn’t let her ignore.”
The teenager brought her gaze back to his, her expression mutinous. “She needed a swift kick in the butt! You have no idea what it’s been like for me these last five years. Guilt can be contagious, you know.” She thumped herself on the chest. “How in hell am I supposed to get on with my life when my aunt won’t get on with hers? I can never be free until she’s free.”
Sam had never considered what Willa’s self-reproach might be doing to those around her. Of course, anyone who loved her would share her pain—especially Jennifer.
“Is your aunt aware of how you feel?” he asked softly.
Jennifer shrugged, then pulled the key out of the ignition and opened her door. “I’ve been waiting for the right man to help her figure that out.”
“Where are we going?” he asked, opening his own door and getting out. She gave him a cheeky grin across the hood of her truck. “I thought you might want to buy some lobsters for your and Emmett’s supper tomorrow night. And since we’re here, I also thought I’d give you a few pointers on courting.” She motioned toward the warehouse, which was a fish co-op. “Steven works here. If I want him to take me to the homecoming dance, I suppose I should ask him to, shouldn’t I?”