“That’s all I ever wanted,” Ellie said. “It still is.”
“What?” Hope looked at her with astonishment. “But you…Sorry, El, but you sort of rebelled.”
“I did what I wanted to do, yes, but I thought…” Ellie glanced at Gemma. “I thought that if Dad could accept Gemma’s career that I could find a way to make him accept mine too. Someday.”
Gemma shook her head sadly. “I think he would have, if things had been different. But our roles are already defined, aren’t they? I’m the smart one. Ellie is the—”
“Black sheep,” Ellie said, frowning. When Gemma and Hope didn’t react, she said, “Face it. I am!”
Gemma couldn’t argue. She glanced at Hope. “And Hope is…”
“Perfect,” Hope said. “Even though I’m not. I was a perfect daughter. Perfect student. And I married the perfect guy. Now I’m just a mother. Not a perfect one.”
“Just a mother?” Gemma repeated. “Hope, you are a world-class mother. Look at you! You had a unicorn at their birthday party.”
Ellie’s eyes lit up with interest. “You did? I can’t believe I missed that.”
“Much like something Mom would have done,” Hope said. She shook her head. “You were right, Gemma. I am just like Mom.”
“No,” Gemma said, realizing her error. “Mom would have had a unicorn for show. You had it to make your girls happy. That’s the difference.”
“I do want my girls to be happy,” Hope said pleadingly, and Gemma reached out to squeeze her hand.
“Of course you do. And they are!”
“Do you think…?” Ellie chewed her lower lip. “Do you think that Dad ever cared if we were happy? Or was it all just about making him happy?”
Gemma looked at her sisters. She wanted to say that of course their happiness mattered, that they had been loved and cared for, and given opportunities for successful lives.
“I think,” she said carefully, “he thought he knew what was best for us. But I do think he knew what he wanted was different. He didn’t like coming here, but he knew we did. So he let us come.”
“Why do you think Dad never liked coming here?” Hope asked. It was something they’d never questioned, but now Gemma saw the situation differently. This house, it was so full of memories, it could soften even the hardest heart.
It had softened hers.
“I think it made him sad,” Gemma said. “Gran moved in full time when her husband died, and I think that was when Dad convinced himself that he hated it here. I think it just hurt too much.”
Hope locked Gemma’s gaze. “This place does have a way of stirring things up.”
“It stirred us up,” Ellie said, flicking them each a glance.
Gemma nodded sadly. “Where do we go from here?”
“I don’t know,” Hope said, “but I hope that whatever we all end up doing, we’ll be doing it for the right reasons.”
“From the heart,” Gemma said. “Even if it is sometimes the hardest path.”
“But it’s the only one worth taking,” Ellie said, sighing deeply. “I have to get back for my class tonight, but I need to get this out first. I think you’re right,” she said, a little breathlessly. There was fear in her eyes, but a determination that Gemma had always loved. “We should sell the house.”
Gemma set down her glass of lemonade and looked at Ellie for a moment. “And here I was thinking that we should keep it.”
Chapter Twenty-Five
Ellie
Ellie loved each part of the island for its own unique reason. There were the lighthouses at the north and south shores, standing tall and proud, a beacon over the lake waters. And the dock, with its boats and activity, and the promise of adventure. She loved Main Street, with its lamps and benches and the buckets of flowers that flanked each shop door. She loved the smell of fudge and waffle cones and the crowd that gathered outside Main Street Sweets to watch the taffy being pulled.
But most of all, she loved Sunset Cottage. Not because it was where she’d lived the past few years. Not because of the summers she had spent with Simon, or even her sisters.
She loved it because it was the one place in the world where she was free to be herself.
And that was why her decision to leave it didn’t come easily.
But once her decision had been made, she stuck to it. That was one thing she was sure of, one thing that she had lived by. She was true to herself. Even when it hurt.
Ellie closed the door to her studio with a sigh. She was lucky that the landlord had been willing to let her break the lease without a penalty since the month was drawing to a close, but then, this was Evening Island, and everyone here looked out for each other.
It was comforting, in many ways. Secure. But as much as she’d dared to follow her own path, she’d always stuck to the safe side of it. Until now.
There was an entire world out there. A world of oceans and mountains and tiny villages that were all waiting to be seen, and captured. And buoyed by her sisters, she was going to do just that.
“Heard you’re leaving!” a voice called out, and Ellie felt her shoulders droop. She’d only talked to the landlord this morning. She’d been hoping to see Edward today and tell him herself before the word travelled, but that didn’t mean it would be an easy conversation.
“Only temporarily,” she said, as he came to meet her.
“But you’re closing the studio?” Edward asked.
“I thought I needed a studio of my own to be a real artist,” she said, setting a hand on the door. “But the truth is that I only need one place on this island. Sunset Cottage.” She grinned, and he gave her a nod of approval.
“That’s a mighty fine house,” he said.
“It’s a wonderful place,” she agreed.
“So where are you headed?” he asked.
“Europe,” she said. Gemma had been the one to offer up that idea. Said that Ellie could use her honeymoon trip, put it to a better use. “I’ve always wanted to go.”
“Don’t stay away too long,” Edward said. “You know we’ll all miss you around here.”
The truth was that she didn’t know how long she would stay. The voucher was open-ended, and without the rent on this place, she had a little money in her pocket. But she did know that she would be back. Even if it was just for next summer.
Ellie leaned in and gave the older man a hug and only wrinkled her nose a little at the smell of fish coming off his clothes. She didn’t mind. Not really. It was the smell of the island. And she loved every inch of it. Even the not so pretty parts.
She gave one last look around her lovely, light-filled studio, with the view of the harbor and the sound of the waves lapping at the rocks along the shore. “I hope whoever ends up taking this space puts it to good use.”
“I’ll see to it that they do.” Edward was a man of his word.
“See you when I get back?” she asked.
“I’ll be here,” he said, and she grinned at that, because she knew that he would. And it was nice to have something to count on. Like Sunset Cottage.