“Come now,” Theo said. “This fall.”
She looked at him. “If you think I have the wherewithal to make a trip to Italy, why do you believe I need to sell my house?”
“Don’t be angry with me.” He linked arms with her to guide her down the stairs.
“I’m not sure I’m angry. I’m really asking.”
“It’s worth raising, isn’t it? You’re so social. If you moved to one of those places, you’d have friends all around.”
“I see them now. They’re three minutes away. I go over to those places. They’re not for me.”
They stepped onto the gravel and headed out the drive. “Ma, I don’t want to go against my brothers.”
Polly stopped and turned to search his face. “Is that it?”
He took her hand. “Uh-huh. But I do want you to do what’s right for you.”
“So you are caught in the middle. I’m sorry for that. Frankly, I wasn’t expecting to be put out to pasture, though.”
Theo nodded. “No. Too soon for the pasture. What do you think you do want to do?”
He was sincerely curious. He was the child who’d always sat on the kitchen counter to talk to her when he came home from school.
“Oh, sweetie, I’m eighty-one. My options are limited.”
“What about Dad’s papers? Wasn’t he looking for a publisher?”
The question astonished her. How had she forgotten?
“I haven’t thought about that at all. He was working on a revision of The Pacifist’s Primer. I couldn’t find his revisions in Haverford, so they must be here.”
Of course they were here! He’d been working on the revision the summer before. How had it evaporated from her thoughts? She certainly couldn’t reveal that.
“That’s a good idea. It might be a good time for it. And did he ever find a library to take his papers?”
“I think he made an arrangement with Penn—he gave some already—but the rest are still here, or in Haverford.” Embarrassment traveled her body. She looked up at Theo. “Thank you for reminding me. I have been so out of it and also so busy. It’s hard to explain. I do have my work cut out for me, don’t I?”
“I think so, Ma.” He put an arm around her shoulders and they began to walk again. The ocean lapped at the shoreline, and the buoy bell clanged.
“Well this is certainly a new lease on life! He asked me to help him. We’d just gotten started, really.”
“Get going on that. Forget we ever brought this up.”
So he was rooting for her. He would help her behind the scenes. “Ah. Excellent point. You might have been a diplomat.”
“I live with four women. My whole life is diplomacy.”
They’d reached Point Path. Lights shone in the houses across the harbor. She squinted and made them elongate and shimmer.
“I really want you to come to Italy! Please please please? I dare you not to love it.”
“I’ll see. I’m sure I’d love it.” Why hadn’t she gone alone? She’d never considered it. Now it seemed nonsensical that she’d held back. It wan’t fair to Theo.
“Listen, Ma—the house is yours. Don’t do anything you don’t want to. James is just being like Dad.”
She flinched. “What do you mean?” She had that sense of suspension between life and death at the mention of Dick’s name—even as Dad.
His eyes widened but not to the point of alarm. It was a minor gaffe. “James doesn’t give you enough credit sometimes.”
“Oh.”
“I’m sorry. That came out wrong.”
He was nervous because she was not smiling or reassuring him it was all right. It wasn’t that she was holding back from him. She was thinking of Dick. It was true. He didn’t give her enough credit sometimes. She had worked her way around that. She was sorry Theo knew it, though.
“I understand, dear Theo. You have never offended me in your whole life.”
“Nor you me.”
Her eyes swam. “Do you think we should get back? They might be worried.”
“Oh, soon. Not yet. Are you good to walk down to the Sank? Let’s go listen to the owls.”
Polly shrugged. “Why not? What’s the worst that could happen?” She poked him in the rib.
“Ouch! You’re strong!”
“You’re making my point.” She lifted her gaze toward the Sank and there was Lydia, about twenty feet ahead down the road. Polly immediately hoped she’d remember to be cautious on the slippery rocks at night. She had on a green Fair Isle sweater and jeans. She waved. Internally, Polly waved back.
“Theo—what do you remember about your sister?”
“Oh, Ma, so much. I think about her all the time.”
“You do?”
“Maddie thinks she’s all around here.”
“She does?”
“Well, you know, Maddie’s got powers. She’d like to live among the psychics at Camp Etna.”
Lydia picked up a stone and skipped it over the water. Then she faded away.
“On second thought,” Polly said. “I really am tired. Do you mind if we go back?”
He took her arm and steered her around in the opposite direction. There was Meadowlea, lit up and floating on the grass like an ocean liner.
“Do you want to keep the house?” Polly asked. “If we break the Fellowship agreement and keep the house, you’ll have an equal share.”
“I’ll come to Maine no matter what,” he said diplomatically. “It’s in my bones.”
“Yes. It is.”
When they returned to the house, she asked Theo to send Maddie up to her room for a chat. Polly had to know more.
“What is it, Nanny?” Maddie hesitated in the bedroom doorway.
“Come in, come in. Have a seat.”
Polly had taken a spot at one end of the chintz chaise, and she gestured Maddie to join her. Maddie flopped down and stretched her long legs out. She pulled her hair forward over one shoulder and fiddled with it. These girls with their easy ways. Polly half wanted to correct her and half envied it.
“How are you doing, dear?” Polly began. It was hard to bring up a ghost.
“I don’t want to leave,” Maddie said. “I like it here.”
“That is good to hear. I do too.”
“Are you and Aunt Agnes really going to give it away?”
“We want to be certain the Sank is protected. Beyond that, no decisions have been made.”
“Oh.” Maddie split an end expertly and dropped the peeled wisp in the scrapbasket. “You should tell Uncle James. He thinks we’re losing Meadowlea.”
“Always ask me about such things. I’ll tell you the truth.”
“Okay, Nanny, sounds good.”
“Maddie, I have a question for you.”
“Uh-huh.”
“Your father tells me you sense spirits on the Point.”
Maddie dropped her hair and sat up. “What about it?” Wary. Well, Polly didn’t blame her. Women had been burned for such perceptions.
“I’d like to hear about it, if you don’t mind. Because I sense spirits, too.”