And you are one in theirs. Granny’s voice popped into her head. “Probably.” She nodded.

She fished her phone out of her purse and hit the “Speed Dial” button for her mother, but nothing connected. “Dammit!” she fumed as she picked up the corded phone and punched in the phone number. Lacy answered on the third ring, panting as if she was out of breath.

“Are you there? Did they really cremate Annie?” she asked. “Why are you calling from the store?”

“I am and they did. And remember, there is no service in this spot. And no Wi-Fi, either. Brook is havin’ a fit.”

“Poor baby,” Lacy huffed.

“Did I call at a bad time?”

“No, darlin’. I’d just walked in the door from a two-mile run. I’m not gettin’ any younger, and besides, runnin’ helps the stress. I’m filing for divorce today. Your stepfather has cheated on me his last time,” Lacy said. “Are the two princesses there?”

“Yep, they are. I’m going to manage the store. Harper is helping Uncle Zed in the kitchen, and Tawny has an office set up in her cabin to take care of the business for the place,” Dana said.

“You are jokin’, right? I can’t picture Tawny doin’ anything but sittin’ on the porch with a glass of sweet tea and lookin’ pretty. And Harper cookin’ and cleanin’ up after people? I can’t even drag up a faint vision of that,” Lacy giggled.

“That’s not why I called. I’m worried about leaving Brook at school. It’s worse than when I had to walk away from her in kindergarten.”

“That’s just your mother instinct. Change never hurts any of us. I’ll come see y’all sometime this summer, and I expect by then you’ll be settled in and lovin’ it. You always did like spendin’ time with Annie.”

“I loved her so much.” Dana’s voice broke.

“And she loved you, thank God. If it hadn’t been for Annie and Zed and their help, we’d have never made it. Your father sure never gave us any support. Went off to college and we never saw him again.” Lacy’s voice always got that bitter edge when she mentioned Gavin Clancy. It was as if she had had no part in her pregnancy.

“So you think I’m only a worryin’ mama?” Dana deliberately veered away from a conversation about her father.

“Of course I do. I’ve got to get a quick shower and put on a decent outfit. My lawyer and I are meeting at ten. He’s a widower—very well-to-do,” Lacy said.

“So you’ve got number four already picked out? Who was cheatin’ on who?” Dana asked.

“It’s not who’s cheatin’, but who gets caught. Why shouldn’t I look at the playin’ field?”

“And if you’d gotten caught?” Dana asked.

“Then I’d still be lookin’ at the playin’ field, but with no big fat settlement,” she laughed. “Got to run, darlin’. Talk to you later. If you don’t like it up there, you can always move in with me. I’m going to get the house for sure.”

“Thanks, Mama. Talk to you later,” Dana said and hung up the phone.

Living with her two sisters might be tough, but she’d make it work—no way in hell would she ever live with her mother.

Zed sat down in his recliner that evening and sighed. He glanced over at the other chair and smiled. “Annie, you left me a handful with them girls. Every one of them is fighting a demon. I’m tryin’ to be patient with ’em and learn what keeps them from opening up to each other and bein’ a family, but sometimes I just want to shake some sense into them.”

He sipped at a glass of wine for a few minutes and then frowned. “Okay, I hear you. It’s took a long time for them to get this way, and it will take a while for them to learn to love and trust one another. But you know, Annie, that I ain’t got forever. I’m lonesome without you, and I’ve been ready to leave this old world for a long time now. You could have waited for me, and we could’ve checked out together.”

Another sip of wine. “I understand it wasn’t none of your doin’s. You wanted us to be like that couple in The Notebook and die together holdin’ hands. I shouldn’t bitch and moan, should I? At least you knew who I was right up to your last breath and weren’t like that woman in the movie. I should be grateful for that.”

He finished off the wine and set the glass to the side. “Okay, it’s bedtime now, so good night, my sweet Annie. I miss you even more than I thought was possible.” He blew a kiss toward the wooden box where her ashes were kept. “Keep a candle in the window so I can find my way to you when the good Lord sees fit to turn me loose.”

CHAPTER FOUR

Tawny would never have believed that a place so far removed from civilization would bring in enough revenue to pay Flora’s and Zed’s salaries, much less three more and part-time wages for Brook. But when all the rest of the cabins but one were filled up by four o’clock that afternoon and she tallied up how much they’d make in only a few days, she realized what a moneymaker the place really was.

She was busy checking the schedule for Flora’s room-cleaning hours when she noticed that unit number six beside her would be filled late that evening by a Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Smith, a young honeymooning couple who’d only be there Friday and Saturday nights.