Page 73 of The Beach Hut on Plum Island
“Not much,” Finn said. “Only that she never wanted to get engaged to him, but King Titus manipulated her to get engaged by emotionally blackmailing her with Alex and her grandfather’s health while dangling Gladstone Acres as the carrot.”
“She gave you what she calls her cliff notes version of the story, which is the version all her friends know,” Julie told him. “I don’t usually do this because it’s Harriet’s story to tell. But you broke a confidence by telling me about the trees on Joyce Isles.” She frowned. “Off the topic quickly—is it only the olive trees that have to be destroyed? Did Titus mention the name of the disease?”
Finn knew it wasn’t right, and he’d probably pay for it later, but he really wanted to know what Julie was going to tell him about Harriet. He’d already broken King Titus’s confidence. If he was going to be beheaded for treason or whatever it was called, he might as well tell Julie what she wanted to know. “Xylella fastidiosa, and it’s affected a lot of the other fruit trees on the island.”
“That old fool!” Julie hissed and shook her head before looking at Finn. “Thank you for telling me, Finn.”
“As long as you know that when I get shot or beheaded for breaking a king’s confidence, I did it for Harriet,” Finn told her.
Julie chuckled. “Oh, Finn, I already think of you as my new son.” She reached over and patted his hand. “As you may have realized by now, I protect my children andgrandchildrenlike a momma bear.”
“Thank you,” Finn said with a smile, realizing she had already thought of Tucker and Maggie as her grandchildren. “But I first have to convince your daughter that I’m not joking when I tell her I love her.”
“I told you I’d help you with that,” Julie promised. “Now, back to Harriet’s story.”
Finn listened as Julie told him about Alex being Harriet’s first love. Julie told him that Alex and Harriet had been in love with each other since they met when they were toddlers. But after they ran away and got married against their parent’s wishes, they started to realize that the deep bond and friendship they once shared had changed. While Alex claims Harriet broke his heart, and she did, Harriet’s heart had been broken too.
Harriet wanted her friend Alex back and knew that as long as they stayed married, that would never happen. But before she could end things, Harriet found out she was almost four months pregnant. While Harriet was trying to come up with a solution that would be best for her, Alex, and their baby, meningitis hitthe college. Harriet didn’t want to tell anyone she was pregnant and was trying to find out if it was safe for her to get vaccinated without hurting the baby when she got meningitis.
Julie’s words broke Finn’s heart for Harriet and Alex as he listened to the story. Harriet had been isolated while her body fought against the infection. But the doctors couldn’t save her baby, and she miscarried. The doctors had told Julie and Pat, who had been by her side only through a glass window since she had been taken to the hospital, that Harriet would’ve miscarried anyway.
They found ovarian tumors, and there were complications during the miscarriage, which was severely impacted by the meningitis, causing severe hemorrhaging. Harriet had nearly died. Julie, Pat, and the doctors hadn’t known Alex had snuck in to see Harriet. They didn’t even know how he’d managed to find her, but he had.
Finn looked at Julie when she stopped talking, and he noted her voice had become hoarse with emotion, and there were unshed tears sparkling in her eyes.
“I hate myself for this,” Julie told Finn. “I would never wish that disease on anyone, but after Alex visited Harriet, even though she didn’t consciously know he was there, I’m sure subconsciously she did.” She wiped her eyes. “But a couple of hours after Alex left her, she woke up.” She sniffed. “I hate that Alex got meningitis, but I love how his love for her overrode everything else just so he could see her one last time.” Her voice was barely a whisper. “For that, I am forever in debt to him.”
“Wow!” Finn said, swallowing a lump in his throat and silently congratulating himself for not tearing up. “I can see how close Harriet and Alex are. Even when they hated each other, they were still close.”
“Another manipulation by Titus,” Julie informed him. “IlikeTitus, but that man has no qualms about doing whatever ittakes to get what he wants. That Idon’tlike. Especially when it involves my family.”
Finn nodded but pushed the conversation back to Harriet. “What happened with Harriet?”
“It was the worst time of my life,” Julie admitted. “The worst part was that I couldn’t even hold my baby or touch her. We had to stand behind a glass window and watch her. If we went into the room, we had to wear hazmat-type suits.”
“How awful,” Finn sympathized. He couldn’t imagine having to do that and would probably have done what Alex had.
“When she was strong enough, we had to tell her that not only did she lose the baby, but they had to remove her ovaries.” Julie swallowed and wiped another stray tear from her cheek. “Harriet loves kids, Finn. She always wanted to be a mom. So you must know how that news broke her. A double barrel heartache.” She breathed out and let her head drop back for a few seconds as she composed herself. “Do you know what that’s like as a parent? Knowing your child has a hurt tearing her apart, and there is no way you can heal it?”
“I can only imagine,” Finn said softly.
“So Pat and I decided not to tell Harriet about Alex,” Julie told him. “Titus, however, saw it as an opportunity to swoop in and get what he wanted.” Her green eyes flashed with anger. “With one sentence, he nearly destroyed Harriet’s fragile peace she’d managed to find by letting her know that Alex had contracted meningitis.”
“What?” Finn felt her anger at what King Titus had done. “How dare he?”
“That was one of those rare days that the true king put the stand-in one in place!” Julie told him, making Finn frown.
“What do you mean by stand-in king?” Finn asked, confused.
“Titus is only the stand-in-king,” Julie explained. “While it isn’t practiced, Titus is only a figurehead, so the island has a kingon the throne. Pat is the true reigning monarch, and the only reason Titus hasn’t managed to change anything on Joyce Isles is that Pat always has the final say.” She raised her eyebrows. “Why do you think Titus is so desperate to get Gladstone Acres?” She cocked her head. “Because he thinks that their father will finally make him the true king so he can finally be free to make the changes he wants to make.”
“What are those?” Finn was afraid to ask.
“Joyce Isles is an absolute monarchy,” Julie explained. “Which means the king has absolute control over all aspects of the island’s governance.”
“Oh!” Finn nodded. “I didn’t know that.”
“It’s not because the king has ruled with an iron fist. It’s because we leave it to the people on Joyce Isles to vote for what they want,” Julie explained. “The people have always wanted to keep the island’s governance as it is. In fact, one year, they wanted Harriet to rule.” She laughed, lifting the somber mood in the room. “But Titus, he wants to change that. He wants Joyce Isles to become a constitutional monarchy. And the people don’t want that.”
