Cottage by the Sea Read online

  He opened Annie’s gift last. He stared at it for several minutes, unable to look away. It was a long chain with a silver medallion on the end, inscribed with his name and the date, along with an inscription:

  You carry my heart with you.

  He wondered if she had any idea that she carried his heart as well.

  CHAPTER 25

  Britt was waiting when Annie finished work at the clinic. The teenager leaned against the side of the building and straightened when she saw Annie come out. Annie had worried about her ever since she’d learned the girl was pregnant. As best she could figure, Britt no longer worked at Bean There. If she did, she wasn’t part of the morning shift any longer.

  “Hello, Britt.”

  “Hi.” The girl kept her head lowered. “Do you have a minute to talk?”

  “Of course.” Annie slipped her arm around the girl’s thin shoulders. “How are you feeling?”

  “Okay, I guess.” Britt swallowed, glanced up at Annie, and continued. “I don’t know if you heard—my stepfather left town. Mom reported that he was responsible for Logan’s broken arm to Sheriff Terrance.”

  “She did?” Annie was overjoyed. She knew it had taken courage for Teresa to take that step.

  “He emptied the bank account and disappeared,” Britt elaborated. “Mom paid a visit to Sheriff Terrance’s office, and then the man from the state who was here earlier returned to talk to Mom, but by that time, Carl had packed up and left town.”

  “Do you know where he is?”

  “No. Mom told me an arrest warrant was issued for him. Logan doesn’t know that, though. Mom didn’t want to tell him his father is a loser.”

  “Does your mom need financial assistance?” Annie could steer Teresa to resources that would help until she was able to get on her feet.

  “Mom’s proud. She said we’d be fine. She suspected Carl would do something like this and had squirreled away some money.” Britt grinned, pleased her mother had thwarted her stepfather. “I bet Carl was surprised when he went to the bank and saw how little was on deposit. I have my own account, and he didn’t have access to that.”

  It served Carl right, but Annie didn’t say so.

  “What about you, Britt? How are you?” Annie wouldn’t mention the pregnancy unless Britt brought it up first.

  “After I saw you and we talked, I told Jimmy about the baby.”

  It was just as Annie had suspected, Jimmy was the father.

  “How did that go?” she asked, keeping her arm around Britt.

  Britt released a long, slow sigh. “Not so good. He wants us to get married. I told him no, and now he’s upset and won’t talk to me.”

  “Do you love Jimmy?”

  Britt sniffled and nodded vigorously. “I do. More than anything, which is why I won’t marry him. He has a scholarship to the University of Washington that he would have to give up if we were married. I refuse to let him do that.”

  Annie had to admire Britt. It couldn’t have been easy to turn Jimmy down.

  “If Jimmy stays in Oceanside because of me and the baby, it will ruin any chance he has of becoming a dentist. It’s all he talked about when we first started dating. His grandfather was a dentist, and that’s his dream too. I refuse to take that dream away from him because I’m pregnant.”

  “I think that’s wise, Britt.”

  “Maybe, but it isn’t easy, and it hurts that Jimmy won’t even talk to me now.”

  “What does your mom think?” Annie asked.

  The teenager’s gaze went back to the sidewalk. “I haven’t told her yet.”

  “Oh Britt, you need to let her know.” Because Annie knew Teresa, she was confident the teen’s mother would support and encourage her daughter, as Teresa had been in similar circumstances herself as a teenager. Teresa would understand.

  “When I first learned I was pregnant, I knew there were other options, but I can’t get rid of this baby.”

  “Have you thought about adoption?”

  She shook her head. “I don’t know that I could give up my baby, either. But then I think about my mother…” she said, and hesitated. “Mom had me when she was eighteen. It was a summer romance, and the college boy was someone she met on the beach. She wrote to tell him she was pregnant, and he insisted the baby wasn’t his. After that, Mom had no contact with him. I don’t even know the name of my father. He was nothing more than a sperm donor.

  “Mom could have left Oceanside and gone on to school. Because of me, she never had the chance to finish her education. Then she met Carl. At first he was good to us and a hard worker. Everything changed after he was laid off from the mill and he started drinking heavily.”

  The entire economy of this part of Washington state had changed with the decline of the lumber industry. Annie remembered her parents talking about it.

  “Mom did everything she could to make him happy. All he wanted, though, was to drink.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  “I know. It’s only been in the last couple years that he’s started getting physical, hitting us. I was angry when I learned you’d called the state on him, because I was afraid it would only make things worse.”

  “I should never have gone to your home,” Annie added. That had been a major mistake on her part. Her intentions had been good, but that didn’t excuse the risk she’d taken.

  “I’m glad you reported him,” Britt insisted. “Mom is a different person now that Carl has left.”

  “He could come back.” Annie was afraid that once Britt’s stepfather ran out of money, he would return to Oceanside and terrorize Teresa, demanding more.

  “He won’t.” Britt seemed convinced of that. “Not with an arrest warrant filed against him. Mom said he has a brother in Alaska. That’s where she thinks he went. I’m just glad he’s gone.”

  “How’s Logan handling all this?”

  “He’ll be better off. He’ll understand it all when he gets older.” Britt shrugged, as they continued walking toward the beach.

  Annie had removed Logan’s cast a week earlier, and he’d seemed quiet and withdrawn. On the bright side, his broken arm had healed nicely, and he was glad to be free of the cast.

  “How can I help you, Britt?” she asked, wanting to do whatever she could for the teenager.

  The girl’s steps slowed. “Would you talk to Jimmy for me?”

  Annie didn’t feel that was her place, or that anything she said to the young man would help. “I don’t know that I should. The two of you need to sort this out yourselves. It’s more important that you tell your mother and get her advice.”

  Britt covered her face with both hands. “But it’s hard. She’s going to be disappointed in me.”

  “Your mother, of all people, will understand. Give her the benefit of the doubt.”

  Britt grew silent. “I know I should. You’re probably right about her understanding. My mother wanted better for me.”

  Annie gently hugged the girl. “This pregnancy isn’t the end of the world, Britt. If you want to consider adoption, I know of an agency that can help you find a couple who would welcome this baby into their lives. Your child would be a blessing to them. It’s something to consider.”

  “I’ll think about it.”

  “The choice is yours and Jimmy’s. All I’m telling you is that there are loving families who would love your baby beyond measure.”

  Britt had tears in her eyes as she spoke. “I’m so glad you moved to Oceanside.”

  “I am, too.” Annie had come here because it was her happy place, and it had become so much more in the months since she’d found the cottage. It had turned into her healing place, also.

  * * *

  —

  After her short walk along the beach, Annie arrived home. Seeing her, Ringo woke from his nap and stretched his legs out, le
tting his claws sink into the rug. He’d grown since Keaton had brought him to her, and she’d come to love her special gift.

  Picking the kitten up, Annie gave him attention before feeding him and headed outside to water her garden. The lettuce continued to thrive, and the other plants were starting to bud. She was looking forward to fresh tomatoes and cucumbers.

  The door off Mellie’s kitchen was open, and the screen door as well, which was odd. Annie had never seen either door open, other than the time Keaton delivered an injured animal. She saw Teresa scoot a heavy box onto the porch. Annie watched, transfixed, as the first box was followed by a second and then a third. She couldn’t imagine that Mellie had approved of this. Teresa was a brave woman to cross her employer.

  Just as she suspected, a few minutes later Annie heard her landlord howl.

  “What are you doing to me?” she screeched.

  Teresa continued, undaunted. “Getting rid of this junk.” Another box was set onto the porch.

  “Bring everything back in the house right this minute,” Mellie bellowed furiously.

  Teresa stood with her hands on her hips just outside the kitchen door. “Tell me what you need with twenty-year-old newspapers?”

  “Not your business.”

  “I’m making it my business. I can’t clean if you keep ridiculously old newspapers and magazines all over the kitchen. Enough is enough.”

  “Fine. You’re fired. Leave now.”

  “If that’s what you want, then pay me what you owe me, and I’ll be on my way.”

  Teresa wasn’t giving in. Annie admired her for holding fast to what was good for Mellie.

  Mellie stomped her foot. “Bring back those boxes first.”

  “If you want them, then come get them yourself.”

  Mellie paced back and forth before the open door like a soldier on parade. “You’re the one who put everything on the porch. Now bring everything back.”

  “I no longer work for you.”

  “Okay, I’ll rehire you. Bring those boxes back inside.”

  Teresa crossed her arms and stood just outside the door, tapping her foot. “I quit.”

  “You can’t quit.” Outraged, Mellie stopped pacing.

  “I just did.”

  Annie was tempted to intervene but decided against it. Setting the watering container down, she sent a text to Keaton.

  Looks like war has erupted between Mellie and Teresa.

  No way. What’s happening?

  Teresa cleared out the kitchen. Boxes are stacked on the porch.

  Mellie furious?

  Yup. Fired Teresa then rehired her. Teresa just quit.

  Wish I was there to see this.

  She could feel his amusement matched her own.

  It’s worth the price of admission.

  Annie put her phone in her pocket as the two women continued the battle of words. Teresa refused to budge. No way was she letting Mellie keep those ridiculous piles of old magazines and newspapers. Annie silently applauded her tenacity. It couldn’t have been easy with Mellie shouting demands at her from inside the house. Teresa made it clear: If she couldn’t properly clean the kitchen, then she was quitting.

  Trying to be invisible, Annie continued watering her plants, giving all the garden plants a cool, refreshing drink until she heard Mellie screech across the yard.

  “Annie, help!”

  She pretended not to hear, and cheerfully continued to water her plants.

  “Annie, do something!” Mellie tried again.

  “She’s not helping you,” the housekeeper insisted. “Annie agrees with how silly it is to keep this garbage.”

  “It is not silly, and everything inside those boxes is not garbage. They belonged to my grandfather.”

  Teresa remained unmoved. She stood on the porch, arms crossed, with her foot tapping impatiently. “Other than magazines and newspapers you should have tossed years ago, tell me what’s in these boxes,” she asked calmly, testing Mellie.

  “I don’t remember,” the other woman cried. “Bring them back inside this instant or I’m calling Sheriff Terrance.”

  Teresa swept her arm toward Mellie. “By all means, call the authorities.”

  “You’re taking my things away from me. That’s stealing. Unless you do as I say, you’re going to end up in jail.”

  “I am not stealing. It’s all right here on your porch.”

  Mellie was clearly at her wits’ end.

  “I’m not unreasonable,” Teresa said. “I’ll tell you what I’ll do. If you can tell me one item in those boxes that is of sentimental value, then I’ll return the entire bunch.”

  Mellie jumped on the offer as if it were a lifeline. “Those old magazines. My grandfather saved all those. They’re National Geographic…I think,” she said desperately.

  “And what, exactly, do you intend to do with these priceless issues?”

  Mellie looked flustered and angry. “I…I don’t know.”

  “My guess is the library would love to have them. Don’t you think your grandfather would have wanted to see them read and enjoyed rather than rotting away in the kitchen?”

  Mellie remained stubbornly silent.

  “That’s what I thought.” Teresa had heard all she needed to hear. “I’ll pull out the National Geographic magazines, but everything else is going to the dump.”

  “The dump. No way!” the woman cried, as if Teresa had threatened to dispose of priceless family heirlooms.

  “Mellie,” Teresa said in a calming tone. “If whatever it is you have stored in these boxes is that important to you, then come and get them yourself.”

  “I can’t…You know that.”

  “Then that’s all I need to know.”

  “I fired you,” Mellie reminded her.

  “But you changed your mind, remember?” Teresa stated calmly.

  “You quit.”

  “I have since changed my mind.”

  Annie leaned over and turned off the faucet. When she suggested Teresa for Mellie’s housekeeper, this was exactly what she’d hoped would happen. Being around Mellie helped Teresa, and Teresa helped Mellie. They were good for each other. This arrangement couldn’t have worked out better. Even more encouraging was the fact that Carl Hoffert was out of the picture.

  CHAPTER 26

  Teresa solicited Keaton and Annie’s help to haul away the accumulated boxes stacked on Mellie’s porch. Annie knew that Mellie had already carefully gone through the remainder of the boxes before they left the house, where she had found many Reader’s Digest books from the 1970s, which were then donated to the library. Teresa had already dropped those boxes off. Keaton parked his pickup as close to the big house as he could get, and the three of them hauled the other boxes onto his truck bed.

  Annie was grateful for time with Keaton. She’d barely seen him since Sunday, and when she did, she instinctively knew he was troubled. Whatever it was, though, he kept it to himself. It’d started right after his birthday party. He’d gone back to answering her in short sentences, which was indicative of his worries.

  Mellie stood framed on the other side of the doorjamb, fuming, as the three hauled boxes from the porch to Keaton’s truck.

  “Traitors, that’s what you are,” she cried out. “The lot of you. Some friends you turned out to be.”

  “Don’t you like all the room you have in your kitchen?” Teresa asked, not the least bit perturbed by her employer’s censure.

  “No,” Mellie insisted. “I liked everything exactly the way it was before you showed up.”

  “You’re too stubborn,” Keaton insisted, breaking off his words. Looking inside the open doorway, he seemed shocked. “The table has four chairs.”

  Mellie ignored the comment.

  The difference in the kitchen was night and
day. Annie was amazed when she’d looked inside the first time. Teresa had taken away the boxes and cleared off the countertops. Annie had no idea where she’d stored the multitude of appliances Mellie had collected over the years. The floor sparkled, along with the polished faucet and the stainless-steel sink. The room resembled the way it had looked when Annie had visited the elder Munsons as a preteen and teenager.

  “Don’t you dare think you’re going to do this in the rest of the house,” Mellie spat at Teresa. “You’re not touching anything else. I want that understood right now.”

  “Depends on what you want me to clean,” Teresa returned, huffing with the effort to lift the boxes.

  “I only want you to clean the kitchen,” Mellie informed her. “Nothing else from here on out.”

  “Thought you said something about changing your sheets and cleaning your toilets,” Teresa reminded her.

  “I’ll do that myself.”

  “No need for me to clean, then,” the housekeeper argued.

  Both Keaton and Annie stopped to glare at Mellie. The other woman scowled back. “Why are you two looking at me like that?” she demanded, hands on her hips.

  Keaton and Annie ignored the question, seeing that the answer was obvious. They carted the last of the boxes and set them in the truck bed. Once loaded, they would deliver them to the dump. After a quick inspection, they didn’t find anything of value—certainly nothing worth saving.

  After thanking Annie and Keaton for their help, Teresa made her excuses and headed home to her children.

  Arms folded and looking glum, Mellie remained standing in the doorway. “I’ve had about all I can take for one day,” she muttered and slammed the door. As soon as Teresa was out of sight, another rusty old truck rolled into the driveway and parked next to Keaton’s.

  Annie saw that it was Preston.

  Keaton met Preston as he stepped out of the truck. “You’re late. We’re finished.”

  Preston grinned, removed his cap, and pushed an unruly patch of hair off his forehead. “Brought you that thing you’ve been asking me about,” he said, and glanced sheepishly toward Annie and then the house.