Be My Love (A Walker Island Romance Book 1) (8 page)

“I know his family has held a grudge against us for sixty years. Does that sound reasonable to you?”

“You don’t know all the facts,” Hanna shot back.

“Neither do you.”

“Girls.” Ava didn’t need more than one word to stop them. “What have I told you about fighting over this?”

“Sorry Grams,” Emily said, “but Hanna, this sounds less and less like you’re making a simple documentary. It seems that you’re determined to dredge up everything you can with an investigation that no one wants. And now you’ve even started adding in parts that can’t be true.”

“Why can’t it?”

“Poppy Peterson drowned,” Emily insisted.

“There’s no direct evidence of that. We know she took a boat out in a storm. We know she didn’t come back. No one found her or the boat. Plus there are other inconsistencies.” Like a suicide note that seemed far too hopeful to be written by someone who was planning to end her life.

“Don’t you think that if there were inconsistencies, someone would have picked up on them at the time? If there had been any suspicion about it, don’t you think people would have looked into it?”

“I only know that it doesn’t look right, so
I’m
looking into this.”

Emily stood up. “You’re impossible sometimes, Hanna.”

Her oldest sister walked out, going through to the kitchen. Hanna could hear her pulling a tin of flour out of the pantry to begin baking. It was what she always did when she was annoyed.

“I’ll talk to her, honey,” Ava promised. “Right now she can’t see that this is the path you have to go down. But I do, and I’ll find a way to get her to understand that.”

“She thinks that I’m still a little girl who she can tell what to do.” Hanna couldn’t keep a trace of anger out of her voice.

Ava moved to sit next to her. “Your sister did a lot to look after all of you after your mother passed away. Do you think that she’s going to stop caring just because you’re all grown up? Emily just wants what she thinks is best for everyone.”

“And then gets angry when she doesn’t get what she wants.”

Ava shook her head sharply. “That’s not Emily being angry, Hanna. She’s just worried, that’s all. Maybe she’s even right to be, a little.”

Hanna looked straight into her grandmother’s warm eyes. “Are you saying I shouldn’t do this?”

Ava smiled. “We’ve had that conversation. You know I think you should follow your dreams, no matter what. Now, I’m going to go talk to your sister.”

“This would be a lot easier if you’d talk to
me
, Grams, by telling me what really happened.”

Ava put a hand over hers. “We’ve had
that
conversation, too. You know I can’t do that, sweetheart. You wouldn’t want me breaking my promises, now would you?”

Hanna could remember when she was a little girl how she’d been able to say anything to Ava, secure in the knowledge that she wouldn’t tell anyone else. When her grandmother promised something, she kept that promise. No matter what. Grams wouldn’t be Grams if she went around telling secrets.

“No, I wouldn’t.”

Her grandmother gave her a kiss on the forehead before she headed into the kitchen, just as the front door opened and Paige and Rachel walked in, both looking tired: Paige from her dance class, and Rachel…well, she seemed tired and stressed out pretty often.

“Emily’s baking, huh?” Paige said as she looked through to the kitchen. She was dressed in tights and a leotard, the way she so often seemed to be. On the rare occasions she dressed up to perform, it came as a shock even to Hanna just how beautiful her sister could be. “Which means the two of you have been fighting, haven’t you. Is it about your documentary again?”

That was the thing with having so many sisters. The odds on keeping anything a secret for more than a few minutes were pretty much nonexistent.

“I just said that I think there’s a chance Poppy Peterson might not have died and she freaked out.”

“Well,” Rachel chipped in as she sat down on one side of Hanna and Paige sat on the other, “saying that Poppy might not be dead
is
a pretty big bomb to drop on everyone.”

Rachel was the next eldest after Emily, and had always been gorgeous; yet these days she didn’t seem to have the confidence that should have come with her position in the family and her looks. Even the way she dressed, in plain clothes that wouldn’t matter when little Charlotte made a mess of them, seemed designed to avert attention.

“I know it is, but even Joel didn’t react half as badly to the idea as Emily did.”

“Joel Peterson?” Paige asked.

“And it’s just ‘Joel’ now?” Rachel said. She and Paige glanced at one another. Hanna could guess a lot about that look, or maybe it was just the way
she
was feeling about him that made her feel they could see right through her.

“There’s nothing going on between us.”

“But that’s not for want of you wishing there was, right?” Paige guessed with a smile.

Hanna could feel herself starting to blush, and that was just as telling as anything she could have said.

“We’re not blind, you know,” Paige said. “We can
see the way you look every time you mention him.”

“She’s had a crush on him since school,” Rachel added. “Used to follow him around everywhere.”

“I’m
right here
, you know.” She thought about standing up and walking out, but not only would that have been childish, it also wouldn’t stop the others from just following her. Anyway, it was almost a relief to be able to talk about Joel.

“Is this just an extension of the crush you had on him when you were younger?” Paige asked. “I mean, he’s quite a few years older than you.”

“Seven years isn’t that big of an age difference,” she protested, “and this isn’t some schoolgirl crush.”

And yet, it was only as she said the words aloud that Hanna realized just how strong her feelings for Joel were growing.

“Plus, he’s a Peterson,” Rachel said.

“Who cares?” Hanna exclaimed, more frustrated than ever about the family feud that had taken over the island in the 50s and only seemed to grow in power with every decade that passed. “Do either of you actually think that there’s something wrong with Joel just because he’s a Peterson?”

“Well, no,” Rachel admitted. Paige also shook her head.

“It seems to me like half the time, everyone is more concerned about what they think we
ought
to be feeling than with what we
do
feel.” Hanna turned to Rachel. “Joel told me that when you had parties down near the bluffs, you’d keep to the opposite end of the party from him. Did you do that because you hated him?”

“No, but he was still a Peterson. I mean, it’s just…
there
, isn’t it? In any case, does he feel the same way about you?”

Hanna hesitated. “I don’t know.” She sighed. “Maybe.”

“He hasn’t said, or done, anything though?” Paige asked.

Hanna shook her head. She’d come back to the house tonight so excited after finally looking through the historical documents in the archives, yet now she felt on the verge of breaking into tears. Paige and Rachel seemed to sense that at the same time, because they both reached out to put an arm around her.

“Just because he’s holding back now, doesn’t mean he will hold back forever,” Paige assured her. “You’re amazing, Hanna. He’s got to see that.”

But Rachel, in typical Rachel style, took a different approach. “And if things go wrong, we’ll be here for you.”

Emily came back in then, but before Hanna could say anything, Paige let her know, “We’ve just been talking about Joel...and Hanna’s feelings for him.”

Emily simply stared at Hanna, before finally saying, “Couldn’t you pick someone better to have a crush on?”

“It’s not a crush!” Hanna insisted again. Just because she was the youngest didn’t mean she didn’t know what was inside her own mind and heart. “You don’t know him, Emily. He doesn’t have what we have together. He doesn’t have a family to support him, to laugh with him, to cry with him. Can you imagine how lonely that would be?”

“There are days when I think it would be quieter,” Emily said with a faint smile. “But yes, I can see that it would be hard to be all alone like he is. Still, though, I just don’t see how it can work between you. Not with all of this family history, and all of these issues with Grams and what happened to his great aunt in the way.” Emily paused and pinned Hanna with a very serious look. “Is this part of why you’re so adamant about continuing to work on the documentary? So that you can be close to him?”

“Of course I want to be close to him,” Hanna said, knowing there was no point in denying that now, “but even if he doesn’t end up feeling the same way about me that I feel about him, I’d still need to finish my research and filming. Because I’m not the only one who needs to know what happened. Joel needs to know too, and I just want to give him the truth. I want to give
all
of us the truth, whatever it turns out to be.”

“Come on, Emily,” Paige said. “Lighten up a little.”

“You can see how she feels about him,” Rachel agreed.

Emily sighed, but sat down next to them all on the sofa. “I still think that this is a really bad idea. I don’t want to see you get hurt. Any of you.”

“Hadn’t you noticed?” Rachel said. “We’re all grown up now. We get to make mistakes and get hurt.”

“And we also get to make seemingly crazy choices,” Paige added, “like Hanna falling for Joel, that might end up being the right ones.”

“Looks like I’m outvoted then,” Emily said.

Hanna knew that no one but her actually got a vote on her love life. Still, it was nice to know that her sisters approved. Or, if they didn’t exactly approve, they were at least willing to back her up.

Had Joel ever had that kind of support? Had he ever had anyone willing to go along with him even if they thought he was wrong, the way Emily was? Or to fight for his choices like Paige and Rachel had? Or to love him through right and wrong the way Grams did, no matter what?

“It’s good to see you girls getting along again,” Ava said from the doorway. “Does that mean that you’ve decided what you’re doing next, Hanna?”

“I’m going forward with the documentary. And Grams, I know you won’t talk to me about what happened, but do you have anything from that time? Joel’s family kept all of Poppy’s old notebooks, so maybe you have something like that?”

“You know what, I might have something. You’ll have to look through quite a lot of my old things, though.”

Ava led Hanna upstairs to her bedroom and opened her closet, revealing an old trunk at the bottom. “I suspect there will be one or two letters or photos in here that will interest you. Take it down to your sisters. I’m sure they’ll want to help. I’m going to stay up here and head to bed. Goodnight, honey.”

Hanna kissed her grandmother goodnight, then hauled out the trunk. It was heavier than it looked, but that was a good thing because it meant that there was more inside.

A lot more, as it turned out when she got it down to her sisters. Mementos from practically Ava’s whole life. There were scrapbooks with clippings about the dance studio, photo albums filled with pictures of the five of them, and before that, pictures of their mother and father. There was even an old program from a club in Seattle, and a few letters that Hanna scanned one by one, looking for something relevant to Poppy’s disappearance.

The others seemed to be enjoying the chance to go through Grams’ old things just as much, but they didn’t have the same sense of purpose as Hanna. Every so often, Paige would stop to comment on some of the dancers’ costumes in an old picture from the school, or Rachel would ask a question about someone mentioned in a note. Emily, meanwhile, seemed satisfied with collecting the pictures of their mother.

Hanna finally found what she was looking for near the bottom, tucked away in an envelope. It was a single, unframed photograph, showing a much younger Ava standing with an arm around another woman’s shoulders. Without the research she’d already done, Hanna wouldn’t have recognized that second woman.

But now she knew Poppy Peterson immediately.

Still, she couldn’t keep from saying aloud, “How can this even be
possible
?”

Why would Ava ever have her arm around Poppy? They should have hated one another. Poppy should have hated Ava at least. Yet there they were, both smiling. As far as she could tell, the picture wasn’t taken anywhere on the island. Where could they have met?

Hanna stared at the photograph, looking for clues. There were buildings off to one side, on an angle, but it was the far background Hanna was looking at. The skyline had obviously changed a lot in the decades since, but she was
sure
that was the historic Times Square Building just visible in the corner. There might be no Space Needle or skyscrapers behind it, but this picture had definitely been taken in Seattle.

“Hanna?” Emily called after her when she immediately stood up and headed for the door. “Where are you going?”

“I have to tell Joel that I just found a picture of his great aunt and Grams together,” Hanna explained, holding up the photograph. “And then…I think I’m going to need to go to Seattle in the morning to see if I can figure out exactly where they were.”

“Seattle? Just like that you’re leaving?” Emily threw up her hands in obvious surrender. “Okay, I’m not even going to argue. We both know you’ll end up doing what you want, just like you always did when you were little.”

Hanna turned around to give her big sister a hug. “I love you, you know. Even if you are the bossiest, most overbearing big sister in the world.”

“I love you too,” Emily said. “Even if you have always been the most troublemaking little sister in the world.”

And as Hanna headed for the door, just for a moment she wondered if Emily had ever wished that she could run off to Seattle on a moment’s notice, rather than taking care of the half-dozen things she probably had planned to take care of around the house and yard tomorrow? Somehow, though, Hanna doubted it. She and Emily had always had different dreams and goals for life.

But Emily was still the best sister Hanna could have asked for.