Page 42 of The Price of Protection

Rose nodded. “It’s been going on for generations. Eleanor Pike is one of many leaders.”

Willow rubbed her knees. “I thought Nantucket was all fancy hotels and sailboats and seafood.”

“It’s much more than that,” Rose said.

“I suppose everything is.”

Outside, another rainstorm had begun to draw still more gloom into the enormous house on the shore. Suddenly, Rose realized that she smelled something delicious coming from the kitchen. Willow noticed, too, and they sprang to their feet, hurrying to the adjoining dining room to find a divine feast. There was roasted duck and fresh sourdough bread, carafes of wine, and platters of cheeses. Some of Rose’s own baked goods sat on a beautiful, glowing china plate, the sort people collected.

“The work of the Legacy Club?” Willow asked.

Rose nodded. “I suppose so.”

They sat at the table, eyeing one another nervously.

Willow lowered her voice. “They aren’t the kinds of people to poison us, right?”

Rose laughed. “I don’t think so.”

“Good enough for me.” Willow picked up her fork and dove in, and Rose followed her lead, realizing that she hadn’t eaten anything nutritious at all that day, that she’d been too lost in her head to take care of herself.

Slowly, Rose pieced out her teenage years, telling Willow that she’d “fallen for an iconic man.” “He whisked me off my feet, you could say,” Rose offered. “I’d just broken up with my high school boyfriend, and then, this handsome, charming, wealthy man took interest in me. He made me feel like I was so much bigger than this small island, than my family, than my past. I had huge aspirations, like most teenagers. We used to spend hours just talking. He made me feel smarter than I was.” Rose set down her fork and felt a gush of love for Nate.

Willow was quiet for a moment. “This is Nathaniel Hawkins you’re talking about?”

Rose’s ears rang. “How did you know that?”

Willow explained that his name was listed in the adoption files, but Rose’s was not.

“I don’t understand that,” Rose said, shaking her head. “The only people who knew his identity were my mother and the Legacy Club.”

“Is it possible that someone wanted something like this to happen one day?” Willow asked.

Rose’s head spun. “I wonder if my mother wrote something on the certificate. I wonder if she wanted to punish him and keep me safe.”

“It sounds like something a mother would do,” Willow offered.

Rose wondered if she should ask her mother for the truth. She wondered if her mother would even have the strength to share it.

“I met someone here on the island,” Willow said suddenly, yanking Rose from her reverie.

“A guy?” Rose asked, smiling.

Willow’s face darkened. “Yes. I thought so, at least. But after a while, it was clear it was a setup. He works for someone in Boston. Someone who wants to take down Nathaniel’s campaign.”

Rose’s jaw dropped. “Harry Orlett?”

Willow nodded. “Yes. He seemed to know you were my mother before I did. But he offered me tons of money to come clean to the press about who I am and what that means about Nathaniel’s marriage and status. Of course, I told him no. But it scared me. I was going to leave Nantucket and go back to Boston. But then, Eleanor called me and said you wanted to meet.”

Rose’s eyes welled with tears. She’d nearly missed Willow.

“Eleanor Pike says she’s working on it,” Rose said, thinking of Harry Orlett, of his sinister smile and his tight jean jacket.

“And you’re sure we can trust her?” Willow asked.

Rose let her gaze shift across the dining room into the kitchen. Someone had made this dinner for them. Someone had arranged this reunion. Was this proof that Eleanor Pike’s heart wasn’t as dark as she’d always assumed? Did it mean there was a softness?

“We have to,” Rose offered. “The island’s ecosystem depends on it.”