Reclaimed Hearts: A second chance, forced proximity romance

Hearts Reclaimed

Epilogue

1

Aweek after I almost passed out in Eleanor’s private residence wing, I was back on my bike, the wind in my hair.

This time, my belt bag was safely secure around my chest and I vowed not to look at my phone. The last thing I needed was another crash.

I had my swimsuit on under my tank and jean shorts. When I got to Reid’s I bypassed the front door and went to the side gate, letting myself in and finding Reid by the pool.

We didn’t get in right away, instead opting to hang out on the lounge chairs.

“What’s up with you, my love? You’ve been quiet lately. Still processing the check?” Reid asked after we had been sitting for a bit.

That wasn’t it. On the way back from the mansion, we swung by the bank and asked to see a manager. I already had an account, but we figured with such a large deposit, privacy was best.

The manager didn’t even blink when I handed him the check. It was almost like he expected it, which didn’t make sense, but we didn’t question it. He got it all set up, and we were on our way shortly after.

The conversation with Grandmum took way longer than the bank had. She wasn’t angry, which I had feared. When I offered her a lump sum, for taking care of me and all, she almost got offended. She told me to keep my money and do something with my life, something better than my parents had done. To which she had then added the date they were coming—the last week before school started.

The same week Reid would be going home.

“No… actually I had a random thought earlier and haven’t been able to get it out of my mind.”

“What’s that?” Reid asked, rolling onto his side, and propping his head up on his hand.

“I was thinking about this summer, about how crazy everything’s been, and one thing keeps popping up. I know neither of us wants to talk about it, but… Declan.”

Reid’s face immediately hardened. His onyx eyes stormed over.

“What do you know about him?” I asked quickly. I needed the answer, but also wanted to get out of this conversation quickly.

He sighed and flopped back onto his back, lacing his fingers together and placing them behind his head.

“I know you said it didn’t matter but—”

“Last summer, on my last day here, I was on the beach behind the house, just hanging out with Noodle. There was a boat out on the water, some Baysiders messing around. They were jumping off the boat, doing all sorts of stupid stuff. Then, someone pushed another person off. There was a scream, but then the boat took off.”

I held my breath, unable to even blink as he spoke.

“The only people I got a good look at were Declan and Smitty. The next day, word got out that Gabrielle had a broken leg. And they just left her there in the water.”

“Left her? And she—”

Reid shook his head. “No, another boat grabbed her a minute later. But I knew it was Declan. When I saw him, here in the kitchen the day I came back, with you… well, I had to know what happened to him.”

That explained the text. And the phone call I thought had been his parents.

“When I found out he got away with it, that no one suspected him, I knew I had him. So when he messed with you, I used it as leverage. He knows I know because I shot him a text a few days before. A picture of him on the boat and Gabrielle in the water, right after he pushed her.”

My jaw dropped. Reid blackmailed Declan?

“But don’t you think turning him in would be the right thing? He shouldn’t have gotten away with it.”

“His parents paid Gabrielle’s medical bills. But they kept it all hushed up to protect Declan. If word got out, though…”

“Declan’s rep would be trashed. The whole family would be,” I concluded for him. “Wow. That is not at all what I thought you’d say.”

“I’m not the only person who knows Declan isn’t who he pretends to be, but—” His phone went off, interrupting him. It dinged a few times in a row, like someone sent out a few texts one after another. He picked it up off the table and looked.

“We have to go,” he said quickly. “Let’s finish this conversation when we get back.”

“Back from where?” I asked, but he just grabbed my hand and dragged me through the house and to the garage. We hopped into his car, but he didn’t speak as we pulled out and headed toward town.

We ended up at Gennie’s, which made everything even weirder.

“What is going on?” I questioned as we climbed the wooden steps up to the front patio and doors inside.

“Surprise!” The word echoed off the ceiling as we crossed through the doorway, the noise startling me. I stumbled back, but Reid’s hand was on my waist, keeping me in place.

Except he also stumbled a foot, like he was also surprised.

“What in the world?” Reid said as our eyes adjusted to the sight in front of us.

We glanced around and I immediately saw the handmade sign over the table. “Happy staying here, Reid?” I turned the exclamation point into a question. Turning to Reid, I put my hands on my hips and stared. “What does this mean?”

His shocked face gave me no answers. His lips flapped open and closed like a fish out of water, but no words came out.

Emma skipped over first, hugging Reid, then me. “I heard the news this morning. So I decided, why wait until the end of the summer to do this? Makes more sense to do it now, right?”

My jaw dropped. “Excuse me?”

Then, finally, Reid turned toward me, his cheeks beginning to turn a bit pink. He raised a hand and pulled on his ear while he said, “My parents told me last night. I was going to tell you today, I promise. Literally while we were at the pool. But then I got this text from Caleb that said 911, and I figured we had to run over and see what was wrong.”

I blinked once. Twice. Three times. Nothing he said was still adding up.

“Told you what?”

“After my parents told me, Caleb came over to hang. He, um, must have spread the word before I could tell him not to.” Reid shuffled his feet, not looking at me.

“Told you what, Reid?” I demanded again. My fingers clasped around my necklace, holding on to it like it would give me the answers I needed. “Talk to me like I’m dumb, please. Spell it out.”

Reid and Emma laughed. He pulled me in against his chest and hugged me. “First of all, you’re not dumb. Your brain just isn’t processing yet.” With that, he held me out at arm’s length so he could stare me in the eyes. “I’m not leaving, Mars.”

“You’re not leaving,” I echoed, still in shock. “Not leaving where?”

I couldn’t get my hopes up. I didn’t want to believe what my heart was saying. I needed to hear it straight from him.

“I’m moving to Covington Cove full time. Starting right now. Mom, Dad, and I all talked yesterday afternoon. It’s something they have been thinking about for a while, but didn’t want to do unless I was on board. Since they’re away on business a lot anyway, shifting locations for them wouldn’t be that hard. They said I might as well be with the friends I have here…”

“Be with…”

He dipped his chin and planted a soft kiss on my lips, like that would solve everything. It did, but I still wanted to hear him say it. “You, Marlowe. Be with you. Like I told you before, where you are, I am. There is no me on this island without you. We don’t have to worry about summer ending. Because I’m not leaving. I’m not leaving you, I’m not leaving them,” he gestured to the group staring and smiling at us, “and I’m not leaving the Cove. Be prepared to be sick of me, my love, because I’m staying. For good.”

After the party finally died down and we were all sitting around the table, I fessed up. It was time to tell everyone about the scavenger hunt Eleanor sent me on.

“I have something to tell you. A secret I’ve been keeping. Well, we’ve been keeping,” I said, nodding toward Reid.

His eyes widened and his brows lifted, but he stayed quiet.

“This has to do with the whole Declan thing at the cafe, doesn’t it?” Emma asked, leaning forward with her elbows on the table. “Man, I’ve been wondering what that was all about, but just chalked it up to Declan being a stupid obnoxious Baysider who thinks he can get whatever he wants, whenever he wants it.”

I shook my head, curls flying everywhere. “No. Well, yes. Yes, but no. Will you just listen?”

She sat back and mimed zipping her lips shut.

“Emma knows how devastated I was to hear that Eleanor Covington died. You all know that I was kind of close to her, especially any time I went to the mansion.” They all nodded. Even if they didn’t know our relationship exactly, they understood. “Well, shortly after she died, I got a text. Then a video message. From Eleanor.”

“From beyond the grave?” Caleb asked, his face in shock. Liam swatted the back of his head.

“No, not from beyond the grave. It was pre-recorded, you doofus. Anyway,” I continued, “it all led to a series of clues. Sending me to locations around the island I had to figure out to get the next clue. A scavenger hunt, of sorts. Reid helped me, and in the end, Reid became a clue himself.”

The looks of confusion made me dive a little deeper into the story. I told them all about the first clue, about Livvy’s guard chair, and all the way to the mansion, when I had to make the connection.

Norah wiped a tear away after I mentioned the last video. “That’s amazing, Marlowe. I’m so glad she did that for you.”

I grinned. “Yeah. And finding out the people who love me was great. But so was the check with my name on it.” I leaned in close and whispered, “For ten grand.”

Before anyone could yelp or scream or shout, I put my finger to my lips. “No talking! I want that part to be a secret, okay?”

“I’ll say I really, truly didn’t hear the last part, but I did overhear the first,” a voice from behind me said.

I whirled around. Reid jumped to his feet and reached out for me. But I brushed him away when I saw Sandra Connor, a reporter for the Cove Times.

Everyone knew Sandra. She grew up on the island, went to college for journalism, and returned to work for the Times when it was about to shut down. She ran it almost as a one woman show, and her reports were fair and entertaining. It wasn’t a massive newspaper, but she said she loved the island too much to leave, so she combined her two passions.

Almost every business kept an ad in her paper and most year-round residents bought subscriptions to keep it afloat. That was how small island life worked.

“Overheard what?” I questioned, not wanting to give anything away.

“The scavenger hunt. With your permission, I would love to do a story on it. People would go crazy over it, especially because the will is still being held back. The town wants to know why, and this might help the curiosity.”

I had no idea if the hunt had anything to do with the will, so I shrugged. “I get final say on what’s released?”

Sandra smiled sweetly. “Of course. You know I don’t print anything the interviewee doesn’t want printed. I’m not a monster.”

“Then I’m in.”