The Beach House Read Online Free

to those who knew her well. But her daughter knew the price that ready smile had cost her mother over the years.
    “How are you?” Cara asked, searching her face. “Are you well?”
    “Oh, I’m fine, fine,” she said, dismissing Cara’s tone of concern with a flip of her hand. “Nothing much one can do to stop the ruins of Rome. I’ve given up trying.” Her eyes brightened as she looked up at her daughter. “But look at you. Don’t you look wonderful!”
    Cara looked down at her rumpled white shirt and dark jeans that pinched her waist. She’d woken before dawn that morning, splashed cold water on her face and dressed in a hurry, not taking the time for makeup and allowing her dark hair to hang in disarray to her shoulders.
    “I do not. My clothes are a wreck and I smell of fast food.”
    “You look wonderful to me. I can’t get over it. You’re here! I about fainted when you called to say you were coming. Thank the Lord.”
    “Mama, the Lord had nothing to do with it. You wrote me a letter asking me to come and I came.”
    “That’s what you think. I’m old enough to know better. Now let’s not argue,” she chided, linking arms, squeezing gently. “I’ve prayed that you’d come back home and now my prayers have been answered.” They began to walk slowly toward the house. Lovie turned her head to peer into Cara’s face. “Why do you look at me like that?”
    “Like what?”
    “Like you’re in shock.”
    “I don’t know. You seem different. So…happy.”
    “Why, of course I’m happy! Why shouldn’t I be?”
    Cara shrugged. “I dunno…I guess from your letter I expected you to be rather lonely. Maybe a little depressed. It hasn’t been that long since Daddy died.”
    Lovie’s expression shifted and, as usual, Cara couldn’t read the emotion behind her smile.
    “I didn’t mean for my letter to sound sad. Wistful, perhaps.”
    “Do you miss him?”
    She brought her hand to Cara’s cheek. “I miss you. Especially here. We had good times on the island, didn’t we?”
    Cara nodded, touched by the emotion in her mother’s voice. “We did. You and me. And Palmer.” She refrained from adding her father’s name. He’d rarely come to the beach house, preferring to stay in the city or to travel. And though it was never discussed among them, it was quietly understood that the summers were all the better for the arrangement.
    “Oh, yes,” Lovie said with a light chuckle. “And Palmer, too.”
    “How is my wild and crazy brother?”
    “Neither wild nor crazy. More’s the pity.”
    Cara’s brows rose. “Well, that’s a bit out of character for you. I seem to remember you and Daddy holding tight the reins whenever Palmer rode the wild roads and waves of his youth. I’ll have to mull that one over—once I get over the shock of you criticizing the royal heir.”
    Her mother only laughed. “How long can you stay?”
    “A week.”
    “Is that all? Cara, dear, you’re always so busy. Please stay a bit longer.”
    Cara slowed down to consider. She really had no deadline and her mother seemed so anxious. It might be nice to relax a while. “Maybe I can take a bit more time. That’s what’s nice about driving. No ticket to ride.” She paused. “Is it all right to be open-ended?”
    “It’s more than all right. It’s perfect.” She patted Cara’s arm, leading the way across the sand-strewn path into the house. “Come inside. You must be exhausted after your long trip. Are you hungry? I don’t have a meal ready but I’ll scrounge around and find something.”
    “Don’t go to any trouble. I’ve done nothing but nibble in the car for fourteen hours.”
    “What time did you leave Chicago?”
    “Before five,” Cara replied, stifling a yawn.
    “Why push yourself so hard, dear? You should have taken two days, maybe three, and stopped at a few places along the way. The mountains are so beautiful this time of year.”
    “Yeah, well, you know me. Once I’m on the road I like