Page 31 of A Nantucket Wedding

Felicity held her breath. Alice was seven, a year younger than Daphne, and until now had followed the older girl’s lead. Both girls had strong personalities—Felicity hoped they wouldn’t argue.

“You’re right,” Daphne agreed. “We’ll play hide-and-seek in the house.”

Poppy stood with her hands braced on her back. “I’m exhausted. I need a nap.”

Alison yawned. “I could use a nap, too.”

“Well, I’m taking charge of tonight’s dinner,” Ethan announced. “It’s time everyone tasted my delectable eggplant parmesan.”

“We don’t have any eggplant,” Alison told him.

“I’ll go buy some,” Ethan told her. “Want to come along, Felicity? You could help choose salad makings.”

“Sure, I’ll come.” Felicity smiled, absurdly pleased to have been chosen instead of Jane. “But the children—”

Patrick spoke up. “Jane and I can watch the children. We’ll give them some time in the house, and if the sun comes out we’ll take them down to the beach.”

“Is that okay with you, Jane?” Felicity asked.

Was Jane’s smile a bit too bright? “Sure!”

Daphne gathered the children into a cluster and was seriously giving them the rules of hide-and-seek. “I’ll hide first,” she said, and raced into the house.

“How are you going to get any sleep?” Felicity asked Poppy.

“Are you kidding?” Poppy asked. “You could prop me against a post at a rock concert and I’d fall asleep. Hormones.” She blew a kiss at her husband, called “Thanks!,” and went into the house, followed by Alison.

“I’ll just check on the Red Sox.” David went inside, heading toward the den.

“Felicity?” Ethan swept an arm toward the open passenger door. “The front seat is yours.”

Dear Lord, he is handsome,Felicity thought.

—

Ethan drove them back into town and down Polpis Road to Moors End Farm, where Felicity found an abundance of ripe tomatoes, eggplant, onions, lettuces, carrots, and red and green peppers. They stashed the bags in the back of the Jeep and headed into town to buy red wine. In the liquor store, Ethan held out various bottles, asking Felicity’s opinion, as if she were sophisticated enough to have an opinion about red wines.

On the drive home, Ethan said, “I hope you’ll help me prepare dinner, Felicity. That will give Alison a break, and besides, that way I’ll get to know you better.”

Felicity almost melted into the leather car seat with pleasure. Ethan wanted to get to know her. So he wasn’t a flirt, after all. He was simply a good guy trying to make connections between his father’s family and Alison’s. It was only that he was so handsome that he seemed to be flirting.

—

Back at the house, they each took bags from the Jeep to carry inside.

The sun was slowly creeping out from behind the clouds and the air was humid. They carried their groceries down the hall and into the kitchen. They found the family gathered there, all of them with terrified faces.

“What’s happened?” Felicity cried.

Poppy said, “It’s okay, Felicity, we’ll find him. While I was napping, the kids played hide-and-seek, and we seem to have misplaced Luke.”

Felicity’s heart lurched. “ ‘Misplaced’him? What do you mean?”

Everyone talked at once. Ethan took Felicity’s bags from her and went toward the refrigerator.

Patrick raised his voice. “Let’s have some quiet. We only now found out. Daphne, you’re the oldest, so can you tell us what happened?”

“That’s not fair,” Poppy snapped. “You can’t blame it on her.”

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