Page 33 of The Cottage on Plum Island
“Do you want to know something really silly?” Jennifer hiccupped, resting her cheek against his chest.
“What?” Harley dipped his head slightly to look at her.
“After my operation, my mom, dad, and aunt all told me I had to take care because I had a very special heart.” She drew in a shaky breath. “When my mother was in heart failure, I wondered why they couldn’t find her a new one, and my aunt told me that she couldn’t just have any heart. She needed a special one.”
“Did your mother have a rare blood group or something?” Harley asked.
“She was O-positive,” Jennifer said, “The doctors couldn’t find a match for her.” She closed her eyes and let the steady rhythm of Harley’s heart comfort her.
“I don’t see where any of that is silly,” Harley stated.
“No, there’s nothing silly about that,” Jennifer agreed. “The silly part was that I couldn’t understand why they couldn’t give her my special heart.” She swallowed as Harley stayed quiet, and she continued. “My aunt told me it was because it was my special heart, and my mother wouldn’t take it away from me.”
The tears started to fall again, and her voice wobbled. “I wondered why the lovely lady who fixed me couldn’t fix my mother and thought it was my fault because I got the last of the special hearts.” She swipedat her tears. “The silly part is that a part of me still thinks it was because of me that my mom died and didn’t get her special heart.”
“Hey.” Harley gently pushed her away and held her by the top of her arms. “You were a child, and that’s not silly at all.”
“No, it’s only silly because the first thing I felt was guilt when I saw Andrew standing there,” Jennifer admitted. “Like it was my fault he’d left and my mother died.”
“You went through a traumatic event watching your mother fade away,” Harley’s voice was filled with compassion, and his eyes resonated with understanding. “You never got a chance to speak to Andrew about what happened. No one explained that there was nothing anyone could do for your mother.”
As their gazes locked, Jennifer’s surroundings blurred and faded away until all she could see were Harley’s piercing aquamarine eyes.
She felt her breathing quicken as his gaze intensified, and they both leaned towards each other. It was as if an invisible force was pulling them together, drawn by their shared vulnerability, unspoken longing, and the burden they’d each carried. Fate had intertwined their lives creating a powerful connection between them.
Just as their lips were about to touch, Caroline’s voice shattered the bubble Jennifer had felt enveloping them, pulling them away from each other. They stood wide-eyed and blinking in confusion, trying tomake sense of what had just happened. Just before Caroline rounded the corner of rocks that hid them from the rest of the cove, they quickly pulled away from each other as Caroline appeared, breathless and flushed as if she’d run a marathon.
“Oh good, you’re here,” she said, leaning against a rock as she caught her breath. “Betty called me to let me know that Andrew was back?”
“Uh—“ Jennifer coughed nervously. “Y... Yes.”
“Are you okay?” Caroline looked worriedly at Jennifer. “That must’ve been such a huge shock to you and Liam?”
“It was,” Jennifer said, her mind still reeling from hers and Harley’s almost kiss.
She glanced nervously at him. He was staring at her as if in a trance.
“Harley?” Caroline’s brows shot up as she looked at him. “What are you doing here?” She glanced at Jennifer, her eyes narrowing, before looking at Harley again. “You two aren’t arguing again, are you?”
“What?” Jennifer and Harley said in unison, guilt washed over Jennifer.
“No, we’re not,” Jennifer blurted out. “Harley came to find out if I was okay after my altercation with Andrew.”
“Altercation?” Jennifer’s brows furrowed, and she looked at Harley questioningly,
“What happened?”
“I got stuck in the attic,” Harley explained. “The ladder fell.”
“You know how sound travels up there,” Jennifer reminded Caroline.
“Okay…” Caroline’s brows knit more tightly together. “So… Harley overheard your argument with Andrew?”
“It was more like an attack on Andrew,” Harley said and immediately looked at Jennifer. “I didn’t mean that the way it sounded.”
“It’s okay,” Jennifer said, making Caroline’s eyes widen in surprise that Jennifer hadn’t erupted in an angry, blazing ball of fury at Harley. “Harley’s right.”
“Whoa!” Caroline’s chin dipped, her head drew back, and she shook it as if she’d heard things. “Did I hear right?” She pointed from Jennifer to Harley. “Did you just agree with Harley?”
