Driftwood Lane (Nantucket #4)(8)

“Thanks.” Jake fished his credit card from his wallet and handed it to Mary. “Get the quickest flight you can. I don’t care what it costs.”

Jake exited the taxi and shouldered his duffel bag. Nantucket was still in the throes of winter, and he was glad for his leather jacket. Summer Place loomed ahead, big and sprawling under the clouded sky.

It had been a long night of travel, and he still hadn’t arrived before the kids left for school. He checked his watch as he walked up the drive.

Just as well. He needed to get a feel for this Meridith woman. He’d had a lot of time to think on the flight—God knew he hadn’t slept—and he didn’t like what he was thinking.

Why would a woman who’d never bothered to meet her siblings suddenly have an interest in becoming their new mommy? Why would she leave her life in whatever city she lived in to come care for the kids?

Was he supposed to think it was her big heart and tender spirit? They were talking about the guardianship of three kids, for crying out loud. Three kids she didn’t even know, much less love.

He was no fool. Summer Place might be old, but it was over three acres of oceanside property and worth a mint. Did she think she could come here and take so easily what Eva and T. J. had worked so hard for?

Not on his life.

And yet, his sister and T. J. had granted her guardianship. He knew for a fact T. J. hadn’t seen his daughter since she was in school. Why would they leave the kids to her? But Jake knew how important family was to Eva. Having only had each other so much of their lives, blood was key to her. And the kids only had two blood relatives left. Him and Meridith.

But he was the logical choice, wasn’t he? As he turned up the familiar flagstone path, he recalled Eva’s merciless teasing about his being a confirmed bachelor. And he was. He’d told his sister more than once that he wasn’t even sure he wanted kids. But these children were his blood relatives, the only ones he had left. He wished he’d never said those things to Eva.

But none of that mattered now because T. J.’s daughter had legal rights to the kids, according to Noelle. And if he knew anything, he knew how complicated bureaucracy could be. It had stolen too much from him. There was nothing he could do about those years, but no way would he let them bungle his niece’s and nephews’ lives.

When he neared the porch, Piper raced around the corner.

“Hey, girl.” He rubbed behind her ears, then took the porch steps, steeling himself for the fact that Eva wouldn’t be waiting with a gentle hug. Steeling himself for the stranger inside. The one who surely had ulterior motives.

If she’d taken the kids to get the property, she wasn’t going to come out and say so. He had to be smart. Careful. He needed to get a read on her. Wise as a serpent, harmless as a dove, like the Bible said.

He started to turn the doorknob, then his eyes caught on the white paper taped firmly to the door. He read the neatly typed words. PLEASE KNOCK AND WE’LL BE RIGHT WITH YOU. THANK YOU.

What the . . . ? It was a bed-and-breakfast. People came and went all the time.

He guessed the note applied to uncles too. Shaking his head, he dropped his duffel bag on the bench beside the door and knocked. He wondered what other rules she’d implemented. Eva and T. J. had been pretty relaxed.

He rubbed his jaw, feeling the whiskers he hadn’t shaved in a couple days. He was wearing his old Comfort Heating and Plumbing T-shirt and a faded pair of jeans. Maybe he should’ve gone to his loft first, been more presentable. But then, who was he trying to impress?

The door opened, and his eyes lowered to the face of an attractive brunette with wide brown eyes and a guarded smile. She was small with curves in all the right places. She didn’t look crazy, but after researching the illness, he knew the phases of depression and mania could be separated by periods of normality.

“May I help you?”

Before he could respond, her eyes dropped to his T-shirt. “Oh, you’re with Comfort.” She checked a clipboard, and a tiny frown puckered her eyebrows. “I didn’t expect you until tomorrow, but no matter. Come in.”

Jake offered a stilted smile, then stepped over the threshold. He should explain. He didn’t work for Comfort during the winter, though he was sure his buddy Wyatt would be glad to have him back early. Still, he should correct her.

But then he glanced to the left, where the kids’ school photos stair-stepped up the wall. Noelle’s cute freckles, Max’s dimpled smile, Benny’s missing tooth. Then he glanced back at the woman, possibly a mentally unstable woman, who held their futures in her greedy little palms.

Wise as a serpent, gentle as a dove . . .





Five

Raw manpower. Those were the first words that entered Meridith’s mind as the man from Comfort Heating and Plumbing stepped over the threshold and shrank the room in half. She held Piper outside with her knee, then shut the door and pulled the clipboard to her chest, sizing the man up. He had a certain restrained energy. Confident. No, cocky. There was a definite cockiness to his square jawline and direct stare.

And he was staring.

So was she. She cleared her throat. “I’m Meridith Ward.”

He held out his hand. “Jake.”

He had brown eyes. Caramel, really.

His hand swallowed hers in a firm, warm grip, then released it just as quickly. She swiped it down her leg as if she could erase the touch.