Maggie laughed and shook the sand out of her blanket. “Lids, I’ve been thinking. If you married Tuck and someday Gracie married Linc, would that make you her mother-in-law?”
“And if Nat marries Chris, Maggie’d be his mother-in-law, and Emma, you’d be Natalie’s.”
“Oh my God, my head just exploded.” Emma laughed as she gathered up the empty paper cups.
“Yeah, that all sounds incestuous.” The sand back on the beach where it belonged, Liddy wrapped herself up again as the wind whipped across the beach.
“That would be an amazing turn of events.” Maggie nodded. “We’d need another tattoo to commemorate if all that happened.”
“That’s a lot of what-ifs. Let’s see how things play out. I don’t know if I want to marry Tuck. I don’t know if I ever want to marry anyone again.”
They started walking in the direction of Cottage Street.
“So, what, you just plan on having a ‘relationship’ forever?” Emma’s fingers made air quotes.
Liddy shrugged. “Maybe. I kinda like the idea. It’ll keep everyone guessing.”
“Especially Tuck,” Maggie said.
“Well, it would keep him on his toes,” Liddy acknowledged.
“It’ll keep you on your toes if a certain pesky widow in town figures he’s fair game. I read something online the other day,” Emma told them. “‘No ring? Not a real thing.’”
“Oh, it’s a real thing, all right. But this time, it’s going to be on my terms. My timeline.” They reached the sidewalk, and Liddy stamped her feet, hoping to jiggle some of the sand from her shoes. She gave up, took off her shoes, shook out the sand, and put them back on.
“Tuck’s okay with that?” Maggie stopped and waited for Liddy to catch up. “With you calling all the shots?”
Liddy smiled, a true Cheshire cat smile. “It was his idea.”
“Aren’t you lucky to have found someone who gets you so completely?” Emma grinned.
“No doubt about it. I’m the luckiest woman alive.”
AUTHOR’S NOTE
As a parent, I cannot fathom any pain more devastating than losing a child, but to lose a child by his or her own hand must be soul crushing. If you’ve lost a loved one of any age to suicide, you have my deepest sympathy.
Through my own family research, I discovered my great-grandfather, a French immigrant—a onetime French professor at an Irish university, a business owner, and an apparent popular international sportsman who was well regarded and respected in his adopted home of Philadelphia—took his life on the first day of August in 1899 at the age of forty-nine. The available records give no hint as to why he chose to go down that path. I’ve often wondered how my great-grandmother coped with his death and all the questions she must have had while raising their seven children alone (and how she managed to talk her Catholic parish into permitting him to be buried in a Catholic cemetery, suicide being a grievous sin). Thinking about her, a woman whose name I carry, is what led me to create the character Jessica Bryant and to imagine the cause and effect of her actions. I have tried to handle the subject of her death as sensitively, respectfully, and realistically as I could. I understand that the reason an individual chooses to end their life is deeply personal, and may never be fully understood by their family and friends, but in this book, I wanted to give Jessie’s grieving parents a path toward eventually understanding their daughter’s choice.
The statistics relative to suicide in the United States are eye-opening. Did you know that suicide is the second-leading cause of death among individuals between the ages of ten and thirty-four (from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)?
Or that elderly people commit suicide twice as often as young people?*
Or that it’s the tenth-leading cause of death overall in the United States?*
If someone you know—including you—is having suicidal thoughts, please, please, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline 24-7 at 1-800-273-8255. (If you’re a veteran, call that number, then press 1.) All calls are confidential. The Crisis Text Line offers emotional support 24-7—text HELLO to 741741.
*Statistics: The National Institute of Mental Health
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I have been most fortunate to have worked with amazing professionals at every stage of my twenty-six-year career, and I’m grateful for every editor, publicist, marketing team, cover artist, production manager, and salesperson—everyone who helped turn my manuscripts into books. It’s been pure pleasure to work with the entire Montlake team on every phase of the process. From my acquiring editor to that final proofreader—folks, this is a highly professional, author-friendly, hardworking, talented, smart crew, and I love working with them. So many thanks for all you do—Anh Schluep, Maria Gomez, Ashley Vanicek, Jillian Cline, Lauren Grange—you’re “the best of the best of the best” (direct quote from Will Smith—Men in Black). Holly Ingraham, you’re a joy to work with—I couldn’t have asked for a smarter, sharper, more talented editorial partner for this book (and the last). And special thanks to the art department for the gorgeous covers that exemplify the setting and mood of my books!
Huge thanks for all the support to my readers—those who have been with me since my first book was published in 1995 to those who have just discovered my writing. In particular, to my Facebook friends and family—you have been phenomenal! When I needed names for some secondary characters for Goodbye Again, so many of you stepped up to suggest names or to volunteer your own, I had to toss them all into a hat and pull out names when I needed them! So a special shout-out to Edith Faye Kosloski Butler, Doreen Jones Rick, Neva Kress Kreger, Bernadette Sikorski, Cindy Bickley, Janet Friesner, Gretchen Smith, Deborah K. Allen, Angelet Davis, Karyl Davis, Marcy King, Tami Sellers, Christal Gayle Ozanich, Linnea Priest, and Jeannie Brightcliffe (okay, I sneaked her in as a surprise). I hope you all enjoy the roles your names played.
Thanks to TLC Book Tours and all the bloggers and reviewers for their kind words about my books, and to the book angels who’ve helped spread the word on my behalf through the years, especially Maureen Downey, Helen Egner, Marilyn Rowe Harper, Jo Ellen Grossman, Maudeen Haisch Wachsmith, and Dede Frederick (with apologies to anyone I’ve missed). Writer friends who try to keep me sane—thanks to Robyn Carr, Dana Marton, Nancy Herkness, Chery Griffin, Terri Brisbin, and Marianne McBay.
And to my family: my husband, Bill; our daughters, Kate and Rebecca; their spouses, Michael and David, respectively; and their offspring—Cole, Jack, Robb, Camryn, Charlotte, and Gethin—you have my heart.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Photo © 2016 Nicole Leigh
Mariah Stewart is the New York Times, Publishers Weekly, and USA Today bestselling author of several series, including Wyndham Beach, The Chesapeake Diaries, and The Hudson Sisters, as well as stand-alone novels, novellas, and short stories. A native of Hightstown, New Jersey, she lives with her husband and two rambunctious rescue dogs amid the rolling hills of Chester County, Pennsylvania, where she savors country life, tends her gardens, and works on her next novel. She’s the proud mama of two fabulous daughters, who—along with her equally fabulous sons-in-law—have gifted her with six adorable (and yes, fabulous) granddarlings. For more information visit