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  “No running or shouting in the public areas, whether guests are around or not,” Scott began as he climbed out.

  Alli climbed out as well and they crossed in front of the hood as he went to release the boys from their car seats, and she went to get Nicole. The moment she opened the back door, a big, toothless grin broke over the baby’s face.

  “Welcome to Pearl Island, sweetie,” Alli whispered in a bright voice.

  Nicole kicked her feet with joy, nearly losing the tiny, white booties.

  “Yes, it is exciting. Your very first visit.” She lifted the little bundle and settled her against a shoulder so Nicole could look around. “What do you think?”

  To her delight, the baby’s blue eyes went round with wonder as she gazed up at the three-story, gothic mansion looming over them.

  “This is the house I told you about.” She adjusted the frilly, white dress. A stretchy headband held a pink bow nestled in the dark curls. “The one that was built for your great-great-great grandmother, Marguerite. She had a daughter named Nicole, too. That’s who you’re named after.”

  As if she understood, Nicole made a little circle of awe with her mouth.

  On the other side of the vehicle, Derrick and Raff sprang free with their usual exuberance. “Brownies!” Derrick shouted in a battle cry and the race for the back door was on.

  “And no brownies until after lunch,” Scott called at their retreating backs.

  She had to laugh as she retrieved the diaper bag. “Sometimes I feel like we’ve unleashed the dogs of war.”

  “An apt metaphor.” He sighed as he came around to help her. “I’m never sure if they’re bent on destroying the world or conquering it.”

  “If they ever stop competing and start cooperating, who knows what they could accomplish.”

  “Hey, they cooperate.” He looked comically offended.

  “Only when they’re tormenting Lauren with garden snakes. Or talking little AJ into some death-defying feat designed to give poor Rory heart failure.” Rory’s two-year-old son, Adrian Jackson, had a dare-devil’s heart that kept the whole family jumping. Naturally, the twins felt compelled to egg him on.

  “They’re boys.” Scott took the pink diaper bag and hefted the strap over his shoulder. “That’s what boys do.”

  “Do you think it’s too late to send them back? The doctors did claim I was having twin girls.”

  “Talk about getting that call wrong.” Scott laughed. “At least you finally have this little one to wear all those girly dresses you and Paige bought for the twins.”

  Cupping the back of Nicole’s head, he smiled at her with a look that tugged at Allison’s heart. Then his gaze lifted to her, and the moment went still.

  “You do good work,” he said softly.

  “I had help.” She smiled up into his eyes.

  “Yeah.” He grinned and lowered his head to brush her lips with his. A tingle of excitement raced through her as she rose up to deepen the kiss. Just as his mouth began to mold and play, Nicole let out a little squeal of happiness and nearly squirmed free.

  “Careful, sweetie.” Alli tightened her hold.

  “Here, I’ll take her.” Scott held out his hands.

  “No, I’ve got her.” She pressed her lips against Nicole’s temple and breathed in the clean baby scent.

  He looked oddly disgruntled, but nodded at the back door. “Shall we go in?”

  “Yes, but let’s go around front. Nicole’s first visit deserves a grand entrance.”

  “It certainly does.”

  His arm went about her waist as they started down the oyster-shell path that lead to the front lawn. Overhead, gargoyles snarled down at them while the turret roof reached for the sky.

  “Isn’t it a grand house?” She shifted the baby so Nicole could see the elaborate architecture. Glancing up, she looked at it with fresh eyes, as if seeing it for the first time. “I can’t believe we nearly lost it.”

  “But we didn’t.”

  “Rory swears Marguerite and Captain Jack kept it safe during the hurricane.”

  “You disagree?” He arched one of his black brows in that slightly sinister expression she still found sexy.

  “Not at all. It’s the only explanation that makes sense.” When they’d received word that Hurricane Ike was bearing down on Galveston, they’d scrambled to move all the furniture to the second and third floors before boarding up the windows and evacuating. From the safety of a hotel inland, they’d watched the news coverage with the rest of her family, all of them praying for the best but fearing the worst. The seawall on the gulf side of Galveston had held, but the reports about the storm surge slipping into the bay and flooding the island had disheartened them. They’d returned, expecting total devastation, but found the mansion miraculously spared from the ground floor up. Only the modern apartment in the basement had needed gutting and rebuilding.

  Others in Galveston hadn’t been so lucky. Fortunately, like New Orleans, the historic district had survived and could be repaired, but so much else had been lost.

  “It’s hard to believe we’ve been through so many storms in such a brief span, between Katrina, Rita, and Ike. Yet here we are, Pearl Island and Galveston, still thriving.”

  “I know.” He squeezed her waist. Sunlight washed over them as they reached the front lawn. The crepe myrtles that lined the path to the beach had lost their blossoms, but they held the first hint of fall color while pansies bobbed their colorful heads from the flowerbeds. Such a peaceful contrast to the fury that had slapped at them in the hours before Ike struck. “When I started writing The Storm right after Katrina, I had no idea we’d be living our own personal version of it a few years later. I can safely say, I got my main characters’ emotions spot on. Other than when the twins were born, I’ve never gone through that many hours of non-stop stress.”

  “Which is probably why The Storm is still your bestseller to date.”

  “Personally, I think it’s because a percentage of the proceeds go to rebuild New Orleans.”

  “Or maybe because it happens to be a gripping story,” she ventured. “You really poured your heart into it, Scott, and it shows.”

  Rather than shrug the compliment off as he usually did, he grew strangely serious.

  “Alli, I’ve been thinking.” He stopped at the base of the steps to the veranda to face her. “Maybe it’s time I poured my heart into other things.”

  “What do you mean?” A sense of foreboding settled over her.

  He looked straight into her eyes. “You want to know the real reason I don’t want to do the book signing?”

  “Yes, I do.” She searched his eyes for the answer.

  “You’re here!” Rory’s voice sang out from the doorway. Scott looked up to see his sister-in-law rushing across the veranda. She stopped on the top step and plopped her hands on her hips. “We’ve been waiting all morning. Then the twins come rushing in and I think you’re right behind them. But no. I see you strolling around front. No fair keeping the baby to yourselves.”

  “I wanted Nicole to see the house,” Alli told her sister.

  “I don’t care. I want baby time.” Aurora Chancellor skipped down the stairs with her boundless energy. “Gimme, gimme.”

  The sisters met on the bottom step and made the careful exchange.

  “Oh, look at that cute dress.” Rory fussed with the lace. “You look so sweet, I could gobble you up.”

  Nicole wiggled with happiness as her aunt nibbled her neck.

  “I wanna see.” Seven-year-old Lauren appeared on the top step, bouncing up and down. White-blond curls tumbled about her petite body dressed in hot pink.

  And so the fight over the baby begins, Scott thought.

  “Wait your turn, squirt.” Chloe strode out of the door on legs long enough to walk a fashion runway. “I’m the elder cousin here.”

  Rory protested, but relinquished the baby to Scott’s tomboy niece. Except, the tomboy had somehow morphed into a young woman whi
le he hadn’t been looking. How had that happened? She’d worked at the inn every summer since he and Allison had married, and had decided to take a semester off from college so Allison could stay home longer.

  “Oh man.” Chloe made a face as she looked at the baby in her arms. “Do they have to dress you in this girly shi—er—stuff.”

  “It’s adorable,” Rory insisted.

  “Don’t worry,” Chloe whispered to Nicole. “I’ll buy you some killer baby-on-the-go gear. As long as you don’t drool on it. Deal?”

  Nicole waved her arms with glee as Chloe carried her up the steps.

  “I like her dress,” Lauren protested.

  “That’s because you’re a little diva.” Chloe tweaked Lauren’s nose.

  The huddle of females moved in mass toward the door, like a wave carrying Nicole with them.

  “Hold it right there!” Scott called louder than he’d intended. The women turned and frowned as if he’d lost his mind. He didn’t care. Enough was enough. “Where do you think you’re going?”

  “Inside,” Chloe said.

  “Not so fast.” He climbed the stairs. “If you don’t mind, I’d like to be the one to carry Nicole inside.”

  “Why?” Chloe scowled.

  “Because it happens to be her first visit to Pearl Island. As Allison pointed out, that deserves a grand entrance.”

  “What, I’m not grand enough for you?” The scowl turned to a smirk.

  After handing the diaper bag to Rory, Scott came toe-to-toe with his niece, and realized she nearly matched him in height. “If anyone is going to carry Nicole inside this house for the first time, it’s going to be me.”

  “But—”

  “Chloe.” He lowered his voice. “Hand over the baby and no one will get hurt.”

  Alli snickered beside him. After a bit more grumbling, Chloe relented.

  Finally, Scott thought as he took Nicole into his arms. The tiny body settled perfectly against his chest. He pressed his lips to the top of her head and she let out a peaceful sigh. “Okay, now we can go in.”

  He felt Allison’s arm slip about his waist so that they entered together. The moment Rory closed the front door, they all stopped. The dark, cool interior of the central hall enveloped them while sunlight streamed through the stained glass above the landing of the grand staircase. Silence stretched out.

  “So, like, what...?” Chloe said. “Are we expecting something momentous, like the ghosts to appear?”

  “Chlo-e.” Rory scowled. “Just because you’ve never felt Marguerite and Captain Jack doesn’t mean they aren’t here.”

  “Sorry.” Chloe held up her hands. “You’re the ones who say you freed them from their curse, or whatever, when Adrian fond the sunken treasure.”

  “We did.” Rory glanced about the hall, smiling. “But they still come around every now and then.”

  Scott didn’t want to admit he had hoped to feel...something. Something to let him know that Marguerite understood his gesture. He might be related to the man who had made her life, and her daughter’s life, hell but he was not that man.

  “I promise,” he told Nicole, “you will know nothing but love inside these walls.”

  A crash from the kitchen broke the poignant moment.

  “Aurora!” Chance shouted a moment before he appeared in the doorway to the back hall. “Help!”

  “Coming!” Rory took off after her husband, who’d already disappeared.

  “What are the twins up to now?” Chloe followed.

  “It’s probably AJ.” Lauren hurried after them.

  “What was that about Mondays being quiet.” Laughing, Allison started forward.

  “Alli, wait.” Scott managed to grab her arm before she escaped. “Rory and Chance can handle the twins. Lord knows they’ve had enough practice.”

  “True,” she agreed, but looked torn.

  “Could we sit?” he asked. “For just a moment.”

  To Allison’s surprise, he went to the stairs rather than the sitting area before the fireplace. Taking a seat on the third step up, he placed Nicole on his thighs, so the baby could look up at him.

  “O-kay...” The sense of foreboding returned as she went to join him. Taking a seat, she tucked her skirt about her legs. “Is something wrong?”

  “Actually, no.” A smile turned up one corner of his mouth. “It’s just that...well, everything that just happened is the reason I don’t want to go to New Orleans for a week.”

  “Because the twins and AJ are causing God-knows-what sort of disaster in the kitchen? Scott, I told you—”

  “I know.” He pressed a finger to her lips. “You can handle it. I know you can. But maybe I can’t.”

  “What?” She pulled his hand away.

  “If I were gone, I’d be missing this. Maybe it’s selfish, but I don’t want to miss a thing this time around. I did that too much when the boys were babies. And now that they’re about to start school, this is my last year to have them home all day. I don’t want to spend it locked up in an office over the garage.”

  “What are you saying?”

  His chest expanded with a deep breath. “I want to step back from writing.”

  “You mean quit?” Alarm shot through her. As his wife, she wouldn’t mind having him more to herself, but as a reader, she hated the idea.

  “No, not quit. Just ask for a longer deadline with the next book so it doesn’t consume my life. The deal is, when I first started writing, it was a way to escape the real world, because basically, my real life sucked. For the past seven years, though, all I want to do is get the writing out of the way so that I can get back to reality. Allison—” he cupped her face with one hand “—I love you so much. I love my life with you. I love our boys. And I love, absolutely love, this little thing right here.” He smiled down at Nicole.

  A lump rose in Allison’s throat.

  “Which is why—” he looked at her “—I want to trade spaces with you?”

  “Trade spaces?”

  “I know you were looking forward to having your own time at home with the boys and the baby while Chloe is here to help out, but when you’re ready to get back to work, I want you to take the new office over the garage. With the way your online gift shop is taking off, you need a command center for packing and shipping.”

  “What will you do?”

  “Write at the kitchen table.” He shrugged.

  “Are you serious?”

  “I am.”

  “Oh, Scott!” She throw her arms around his neck. “I love that idea. I love working here at the inn, but you’re right, the online gift shop is taking off. Mostly thanks to Rory and her gift for Web design. Working over the garage would be wonderful. I can even set up a playpen in the corner for Nicole.”

  “Well, we’ll have to talk about that.”

  She looked at him, seeing past his tough guy veneer, which had grown decidedly thin over the years. “How did I get so lucky?”

  “Marguerite’s charm?” he suggested.

  “I really do love you.”

  “Same goes.” His mouth met hers in a kiss that started tender and sweet but quickly deepened. Just as the heat rose between them, a blast of cool air blew down the stairway, as if someone had thrown open a window in the middle of a windstorm.

  “Whoa!” Scott jerked back.

  Gasping, Alli whipped her head from side to side, glancing about. Small rays of light danced through the stained glass, like sunlight through a wind-tossed tree.

  Then, everything settled back to normal.

  “Wow.” Scott exhaled in a rush. “That was...dramatic.”

  “Marguerite,” she whispered in awe.

  “Did I do something to piss her off?”

  “No, she’s happy.”

  “How can you tell?”

  “I can feel it.” She glanced down at Nicole, and found the baby practically giggling. “So can she.”

  “Okay, so, she’s happy with Nicole,” he said. “That’s a given.”


  “And you.”

  “Why me? I’m a LeRoche. I’ve always thought she merely tolerated me.”

  Alli cupped his jaw, enjoying the feel of his trimmed beard against her palm. “You are everything she hoped for when she married Henri LeRoche, but didn’t find until Captain Jack Kingsley walked through that door and into her life.” She pressed her lips to his. “You’re my Captain Jack.”

  “Hmm.” Delight flashed in his eyes an instant before he took her mouth in a hungry kiss. A quick sizzle of pleasure shot through her. Looping her arms about his neck, she tipped her head for better access. Her moan of desire turned to protest as he pulled away.

  “Oh, man.” Breathing hard, he rested his forehead against hers. “Unless we want to find an empty room upstairs, I think it’s time we see what havoc our sons have caused in the kitchen.”

  “In other words, we’ll finish this later?” She gave him a suggestive grin.

  “Oh yeah.” Standing, he cradled Nicole on his shoulder. “We will definitely finish this later.”

  His arm went warm and familiar about her waist as they headed for the door to the private area of the inn. As they reached it, Allison glanced back over her shoulder.

  Thank you, Marguerite, she silently offer. For bringing us so much luck. And love.

  Return to Pearl Island, Part Three

  Adrian and Jackie

  Ten Years Later

  “Why are all the lights off?” Jackie stopped in the stairwell that led down to the family apartment in the basement of the Pearl Island Inn.

  “I have no idea,” Adrian said from behind her. A shaft of light came through the door to the back hall, spilling down the stairs. She heard him flip the switch a few times, but nothing happened. “Maybe the bulb is burned out.”

  “But all the lights are off downstairs.”

  “Then let’s go down and turn some on.”

  Running a hand along one wall, she made her way halfway down before the door closed, shutting out the light. She stopped as blackness engulfed them.

  “Daddy, it’s dark,” their five-year-old son, Taylor, whispered, clearly thrilled by the prospect.

  “Yes, it is,” Adrian whispered back in the same tone. “You better hold my hand.”