“I have,” Harper said with self-satisfaction.

“What are your plans for it?”

“First I’m going to get an agent. I know several good ones that I like very much. I’m sure they’ll at least give it a read. And, hopefully, it will sell.”

“Oh, it will,” Mamaw said with certainty. “It’s very good.”

“You’re my grandmother. Of course you love it.”

“Not true! I wasn’t a fan of your father’s book. I suppose you think that’s wicked for his mother to say?”

Harper shook her head. “No. Just an honest critique.”

“Your book is wonderful. It will sell. You’ll see. I’m never wrong about such things. And Dora is well on her way. I like Devlin. He’s ever so much better than Calhoun Tucker. That man’s not worth the salt in his bread.”

“And Carson?”

Mamaw thought for a moment. “Carson will do just fine.”

“Will she come back?”

“I hope so,” Mamaw said pensively. Then she smiled. “I believe so. This is her home.”

“And it’s yours.” Harper turned her head to look at Mamaw against the pillows. “It will always be yours. My buying Sea Breeze changes nothing.”

“Why, it changes everything! This will be a family house again, with young children running through the rooms, as it was meant to be. It’s time for the old to move on. To make way for the young.”

Harper sat up on the bed to face Mamaw. This was too important for idle chatter. “You’re not leaving Sea Breeze,” she said firmly. “This is your home.”

“I appreciate you saying that, but I really should give you and Taylor your space. You don’t want an old woman hanging around.”

“Don’t be silly. Of course we do. Mamaw, you are Sea Breeze. Don’t you know that?”

Mamaw’s eyes moistened and her lips trembled with emotion. She looked at her hands in her lap. The large mine-cut diamond that had been her engagement ring shone against her pale skin. “I’ve made plans. . . .”

“Change them. Aren’t you the one that’s always telling us to welcome change? You only planned to move because you couldn’t maintain Sea Breeze any longer. You don’t have to. I’m here. And after we’re married, Taylor will live here. Sea Breeze is in good hands. You have nothing to worry about any longer. Stay here, Mamaw. With us. Where you belong.”

Her eyes were as bright as a bird’s. “If I did, I can’t stay in this room. It’s the master bedroom. Where you and your husband should sleep.”

“It will always be your room.”

Mamaw shook her head firmly. “No. Not any longer. I would feel uncomfortable in here, especially after you’re married. And”—a gleam of amusement brightened her blue eyes—“I’ve always thought your room would make the best nursery.”

Harper smiled at the thought. A nursery . . . “But, Mamaw—”

“No argument about this. I’m quite firm. But . . .”

Harper leaned forward.

“Since you want me to stay, I confess, I would be very happy to. To stay at Sea Breeze would be such a comfort.” A glint of coquettishness sparked in Mamaw’s eyes. “And it would keep me close to Girard.”

“Mamaw . . .”

“Perhaps I can suggest a compromise. I could move into the cottage.”

Harper hadn’t considered this possibility. In her mind, Mamaw was always ensconced in the main house. Her house. The cottage had belonged to Lucille, and Harper had assumed she would keep using it for visitors. Yet, she thought, that arrangement had a certain serendipity.

“Are you sure? I don’t want you to feel you have to move out of the house.”

“Quite sure. I’ve always doted on that cottage. Living there, I will have some degree of privacy. As will you.”

“We will be nearby. And you’ll join us for dinners.”

“Some dinners,” Mamaw replied sagely. She smiled, and her expression was contemplative.

“Then it’s settled.”

“If you insist.” Mamaw smiled. “Now”—she clapped her hands together—“I have something I want to give you.” She looked down at her hands. “I know that you love this ring.” She indicated the diamond on her hand. “It’s been in the family for generations. It’s believed to be the ring that the Gentleman Pirate, your ancestor, gave to Claire. It’s as pure a diamond as you’ll ever find. Flawless.” She smiled warmly at Harper. “Like you.”

Mamaw slipped the ring from her finger. “Back when I’d asked all you girls to choose something you loved from Sea Breeze, I recall that this was all you wanted. As you don’t have an engagement ring . . . here.” She placed the ring in Harper’s palm. “I want you to have it.”

Harper gasped. “I couldn’t. I have Sea Breeze.”

“You saved Sea Breeze for all of us.”

“It wouldn’t be fair to the others.”

“For once, Harper, think of yourself.” Mamaw slipped the ring onto Harper’s bare finger. The faceted diamond sparkled in the morning light.

“Do you like it?”

Harper gazed at her hand. “Oh, yes.”

“Then it’s yours, dear girl. With my love.”

“Thank you.” Harper almost squealed, flopping back against the pillows and staring at the ring on her hand with glee.

Mamaw sat back against the pillows and said with satisfaction, “No thanks necessary. Imogene and I had already discussed this.”

Harper made a face and turned her head on the pillow to look at Mamaw. “Granny James will be cheesed off that you’re moving into the cottage. She loves that cottage. She’ll fight you for it.”

Mamaw’s laugh was a pure thing, as full of light and mystery as the prisms of color dancing on the walls from the diamond. “I’m counting on it!”

Chapter Twenty-Five

Carson’s bags were by the front door. Beside them sat a few more boxes of Dora’s belongings, ready to be carted off to her new house. It was a time of leave-takings. But tonight the women of Sea Breeze were having a farewell dinner. No boys allowed.

Mamaw strolled through the house, flicking on lights, watching the golden light spill out onto the polished floors and cast shadows on the walls. In her mind she heard the voices of the past. So many years spent in this dear house. So many memories. She meandered through the rooms, letting her fingers glide over furniture, her gaze catching a favorite painting, lampshade, figurine, as she made her way to the back porch.