Chapter 20
Prissy pinned Morgan with a stare and repeated her question. “Are Jeff and Tristan Blakely related to you?”
“In a roundabout way,” she answered truthfully.
“Prissy,” Elizabeth admonished. “You need to turn that inquisitive brain of yours off once in a while.”
“I’m sorry, Morgan. Ignore a prying old woman’s inappropriate questions.”
“It’s all right.” She patted her arm. “I would love to elaborate on your question, but I would have to swear you to secrecy, and I don’t want to put you on the spot.”
“Like Prissy did to you.” Elizabeth linked arms with her sister-in-law, gently yet pointedly guiding her toward the door. “I hope you return home and find everything safe and secure.”
“Without frozen pipes.”
“Precisely.”
Reaching the hallway, Prissy paused. “Thank you for inviting me to stay and for offering Naomi shelter during the storm. She doesn’t deserve your kindness.”
“I would hope that had I found myself in a similar situation she would have done the same.”
“I need to pack my bags.” Prissy thanked her again and left.
Morgan tracked down an empty box and began gathering her gifts. “Thank you for the thoughtful presents, Grandmother.”
“I’m glad you like them. I absolutely adore the earrings you bought me. They’ll go perfectly with the cocktail dress I picked up for the New Year’s Eve party Gerard and I are attending.”
“I knew the minute I saw the earrings they were meant for you.” Morgan crumpled the last bits of wrapping paper. “I should check on Chester.”
“Before you go, I have one more gift.” Elizabeth motioned her granddaughter toward the tree. Reaching inside, she removed a petite box, roughly the size of a ring box, and handed it to her. “I found this while cleaning out one of the last storage bins in my closet.”
“You’ve already bought me so many nice gifts.”
“I didn’t buy it.” Elizabeth patted the top of the wingback chair. “Have a seat.”
“I’m intrigued.” Morgan untied the evergreen-colored ribbon and slid her finger under the edge of the tape, peeling it back. Setting the paper and ribbon on her lap, she lifted the lid.
A decorative pin sat tucked in the velvet folds of the box. On closer inspection, she realized it was a family crest with an intricate design and inlaid diamonds set atop a sapphire stone. “It’s beautiful,” she breathed.
“The Easton family crest. Brett has the other one. I knew I had two, but only recently found this. It’s yours.”
Morgan carefully plucked it from the folds and held it up to the light. “A blue jay next to a tree, along with a shield. Did you and Grandfather design this?”
“We did not. It’s been in the Easton family for many years. I believe Garrett’s great-grandparents designed it, although I’m not sure about the timeline.”
“I’ll treasure it forever.”
“And hopefully pass it on to your children.”
Morgan placed the pin back inside. “Thank you. I’ll take good care of it.”
“I know you will. Brett may someday pass his on to Tristan.”
“Speaking of Tristan, I was thinking about inviting him to tag along with me to check on Locke Pointe and Looking Glass Cottage.”
“To get him out of the house where you can chat in a more neutral location,” Elizabeth said.
“I’ll let you know how it goes. Hopefully, Jeff won’t mind.” Morgan gave her grandmother a gentle hug. “Thank you for everything. You made Christmas special.”
“As did you, bringing crafts to keep us entertained, not to mention helping me decorate the tree.”
Knock, knock.
The women turned to find Naomi standing in the doorway, overnight bag in hand. “I hope I’m not interrupting.”
“Not at all.”
“Priscilla is out front waiting for me. She’s giving me a ride to Morgan’s house to get my car. I wanted to tell you goodbye and to thank you again for your hospitality.”
Elizabeth crossed the room. “You’re welcome. If Garrett had been here, he would have done the same.”
Naomi mumbled under her breath, causing Elizabeth to arch her eyebrow. “I did not steal him from you. Good heavens, after all these years, I would have thought you would have reached the same logical conclusion.”
“But Garrett isn’t here to confirm or deny,” Naomi haughtily replied.
“No, he’s not.”
“Someday the truth will come out.”
“It’s already out, and you are sadly mistaken.”
Morgan tensed, sensing the fragile truce between the women was about to be blown to smithereens. She wasn’t wrong.
“Are you calling me a liar?” Naomi snapped. “I had hoped we could finally, after all these years, act like adults and be civilized.”
Elizabeth briefly closed her eyes. “Perhaps it’s time for you to leave before the conversation devolves even more than it already has.”
“Yes, it is.” Naomi snatched up her bag and stormed off. Moments later, the front door slammed.
Morgan pressed her hand to her forehead. “That ended…on a sour note.”
“I’m beginning to believe Naomi isn’t happy unless she’s arguing with someone,” Elizabeth joked.
“She seems to fly off the handle fairly easily. If she’s this wound up about losing Grandfather decades later, she must have been a barrel of laughs right after it happened.”
“When it finally sank in all that Naomi had lost, she was desperate to get Garrett back. Even now, she’ll tell anyone who will listen that I was the evil interloper who ruined her life and stole her man.”
“At least she’s consistent,” Morgan said. “I’m almost sorry I called to ask you if she could come stay.”
“Regardless of how nasty Naomi can be, I’m glad you did. I would never forgive myself if, God forbid, something happened to her and we could have prevented a terrible tragedy.”
“Prissy, on the other hand, has done a complete about-face. She’s actually pleasant to be around.” Morgan tapped the top of her watch. “If you don’t need me, I’m going to head out right after I track down Jeff and Tristan.”
“Good luck. I’ll be curious to find out what the boy is thinking. I know Brett is as well.”
Morgan ran to her room and grabbed her bags. It took a couple of trips to her vehicle to load up her gifts and clothes. After finishing, she tracked down her pup and found him exactly where she thought she would—in the kitchen and on his favorite chair, monitoring the activities.
“Thank you for a delicious dinner and awesome breakfast.” Morgan wrapped her arms around the cook, giving her a big hug. “You’re the best.”
“And thank you for the thoughtful gift. I can’t wait to dig through all the fabrics, beads, bobbles and threads you gave me. The goodies will last for a long time.”
“I’m glad you like them. I knew I couldn’t go wrong with a six hundred and ninety-nine piece craft kit,” Morgan joked. “You could open your own Etsy store.”
“I do it because I love it, but good point. Maybe others would be interested in my crafty creations.”
“I know they would.”
Mrs. Arnsby trailed behind Morgan, following her to the door. “Are you leaving?”
“I want to check on the cottage and Locke Pointe. I thought I would track down Tristan to see if he wants to tag along.”
“He should be upstairs. He and Jeff were outdoors trying out the drone and then came in when Jeff said he needed to make a couple of phone calls.”
“Thanks. I’ll go find them.” Morgan, with Chester by her side, took the back stairs leading to the wing of the house reserved for guests, separate from where Brett, Morgan, Quinn and her grandmother’s apartment were located.
She found Jeff’s door ajar and gave it a light rap. Hearing a muffled reply, she gently eased it open and found him standing by the window, cell phone in hand.
“Hello, Morgan.”
“Hello, Mr. Blakely.”
“Jeff.”
“Jeff,” she repeated. “I’m heading out to check on my properties. If it’s okay with you, I thought I would invite Tristan to ride along. You can come with us,” she added.
“Where are they?”
“My cottage is only a short drive from here. Locke Pointe is a little farther away and off the main road, so there’s no worries about us getting stuck in a snowdrift. We’ll be gone for maybe an hour or so.”
“It’s up to Tristan. He’s in his room. If you don’t mind, I have a phone call or two to make and will hang out here. Your brother also wanted to chat with me. Can I get your cell phone number?”
“Of course.” Morgan rattled it off, waiting while he entered it into his phone. “Like I said, we’ll only be gone for an hour or so.”
“When I found out about the Easton family, I did some internet research,” he said. “You and your family have an interesting history.”
“We do.”
“I heard you tell Tristan you didn’t know about Easton Island until after your mother died.”
“I was shocked. I mean, I knew I had family, but I thought they were all gone.”
“At the risk of sounding nosy, why did she move away and not tell you about Easton Island?”
“It was a difficult situation.” Morgan hesitated. On the one hand, she wasn’t keen on airing her dirty laundry. On the other hand, it was no secret about what had happened. Most islanders knew what Rhett Easton had done. “Brett and I are close in age. We have the same father but different mothers.”
“You were illegitimate?”
“Actually, Brett was born while my parents were still married.”
“I see. It’s only the two of you? There are no other siblings?”
“My twin brother died when we were very young.” Morgan could see the wheels spinning as Jeff put the pieces together. “That’s rough.”
“For all involved.” Morgan called Chester, who had scampered off to explore. “If Tristan is my nephew, he’s one more link, another piece of the Easton family dynasty’s fascinating history.”
Jeff thought about it. “One more link to an intriguing family, no doubt.”