Chapter Twenty-Seven
Victory
I’ve only been on the island since Wednesday, but the time here is like a dream.
Getting to know everyone better last night and seeing Wells with the friends and family who know him best were wonderful.
Even though I’d met them all before, last night was different.
I felt like one of them, not just Flynn’s sister who was visiting.
I haven’t felt that type of connection with people other than my family in so long, I’d forgotten how it could breathe new life into time itself.
The same way Wells breathes new life into my soul.
We spent the night on the boat in Lover’s Cove, where we had a gorgeous view of the Silver House and the Bistro.
I can’t imagine a more perfect night, and it was followed by another wonderful morning spent tangled up in each other.
We hit Keira’s coffee shop, the Sweet Barista, for breakfast, and we ran into Keira in the parking lot.
She was leaving to get ready for the Bra Brigade outing.
By the time we got back to Wells’s house, Leni and her sisters and sisters-in-law were pulling in to pick me up.
We drive to what looks like a deserted backroad and park by a handful of other cars.
Leni’s wearing a bride-to-be sash and a crown, and we walk about a half mile through the woods to get to a hilltop where we meet up with the rest of the Bra Brigaders.
I’m thrilled to see Shea and excited to see Keira, Bellamy, Cait, and Tessa again.
Cait’s sisters, Abby and Deirdra, and Tessa’s sister, Randi, are there, too, along with about three dozen other women ranging in age from early twenties to probably early eighties.
I was a little nervous about seeing Wells’s mom, Margot.
I have no idea whether she heard about our falling-out last Friday or not, but she, Gail Remington, Shelley Steele, and even Shea’s mom, Faye, and Leni’s grandmother, Lenore, welcome me with warm embraces and no interrogations about Wells, which takes the edge off.
The sun warms my shoulders as we follow Lenore and a gaggle of her feisty friends wearing colorful floppy beach hats and sunglasses down a rocky hill toward a hidden stretch of beach.
These women have their outings down pat, dressed in shorts, tank tops, cover-ups, and sundresses, carrying beach chairs—I borrowed one from Wells—blankets, towels, umbrellas, coolers, a hibachi, and bags full of what Keira calls vital beach-babe stuff .
“Mom, please slow down and let me help you,” Shelley pleads for the third time.
Lenore and her friends have rebuffed all offers to help them on our walk, preferring to hold on to each other, giggling up a storm like teenagers. I admire their strength and determination and pray nobody falls and gets hurt.
Lenore waves her off. “I’ve been scaling this hill since I was Joey’s age.”
“You tell her, Gram.” Leni turns to me and says, “I’m going to be just like her when I’m older.”
“You already are,” Indi says.
“That’s a good thing,” Tara chimes in. Levi’s willowy blond fiancée does not look like she had a baby only nine months ago. “I love Leni’s confidence.”
Tara’s mother and grandmother are with us today, too. Her mother seems reserved, and her grandmother is as brazen as Lenore, as is Roddy’s mother. I know my mother would enjoy getting together with these women, and I wish she were here with us.
“Why didn’t Joey come with us?” I ask.
“She’s still a little young, and as much as she loves our girl time, her heart lies in skateboards and biker boots,” Tara answers.
“There’s nothing wrong with that,” I say, remembering that Levi is a member of the Dark Knights motorcycle club.
“The sisterhood got smart and stopped allowing little kids on the outings a few years ago to give moms a break,” Keira says.
“Days like today give us a chance to get advice from women of all ages without having to worry about what we say,” Tara adds.
“Hadley calls these outings my booby parties,” Daphne, Jock’s curvy blond wife, says about her adorable, serious-faced little girl. “Hadley is such a daddy’s girl, if she were with us, she’d run right home to Jock and repeat every word I say out of context.”
“You girls should be thankful you got to learn from our mistakes,” Margot calls out to us over her shoulder.
She and Gail are holding on to each other as they make their way down the hill.
Margot’s wide-brimmed sun hat has a blue paisley scarf tied around it that matches her cover-up.
“I cannot tell you how many times I had to bribe Bellamy to keep her chatterbox closed.”
“News flash, Mom,” Bellamy calls out. “I knew you’d buy me ice cream if I said I’d tell Dad what you talked about.”
“News flash, my sweet girl.” Margot looks lovingly at Bellamy as we come off the hill onto the beach and says, “I knew it all along, and I cherished those ice cream trips.”
Bellamy rolls her eyes, but her smile tells me she’s as touched by her mother’s admission as I am. I treasure the stolen time my mother and I had for walks or moonlight talks after my younger brothers went to bed.
As we set up our chairs and umbrellas, Shelley says, “We’ve had a lot of fun bringing our girls into our brigade, but the most memorable was the first time Keira, Leni, Randi, and Abby came out with us.”
“Our little stripper girls made quite an impression,” Margot says as she and Gail work together to get an umbrella pole upright in the sand.
“ Mom ,” Keira chides. “Can we not relive that?”
“Sorry, honey,” Margot says. “But as your moms, it’s our job to make sure you never forget our best memories.”
“That’s right,” Gail chimes in.
“Like we could ever forget that?” Leni complains, sharing a here we go again look with the other three stripper girls .
As Abby puts on sunscreen, she says, “We will never live that down.”
“At least you were in good company,” Gail says, her brown-and-gray curls framing her mischievous expression.
“What happened?” I ask as I drape my towel over the back of my chair.
“The Bee Gees, Archer, and Jock happened,” Randi says.
“The Bee Gees?” I ask.
“That’s what we called Brant and Grant when they were younger,” Tessa says.
“Of course Brant was in on it.” Cait waggles a finger in my direction and says, “I know you think he just went along for the ride yesterday, but don’t let him fool you. He has a rascally side.”
“Brant has been in on pranks forever,” Keira confirms. “When our brothers found out we were going out with the Bra Brigade the first time, they pulled us aside and said there was a secret initiation to get into the group for good. They swore us to secrecy, like they were sharing national secrets, and told us we had to sunbathe nude the first time, or we wouldn’t be allowed to come back. ”
“But they didn’t stop there.” Randi pulls a towel out of her beach bag and says, “They told us that when Lenore yelled, ‘Let’s get this party started,’ we needed to strip as fast as we could and be the first ones in the water, or the senior Bra Brigaders would never let us come back.”
Sutton looks up from where she’s fishing around in her beach bag and says, “They could’ve asked me if it was true, and I would’ve told them it wasn’t.”
“We didn’t ask you because the guys said if we asked you or the Bra Brigaders, you would all deny it because it was a secret initiation,” Leni explains. “And, Sutton, you were so secretive about your first time out with the brigade, I thought they were telling us the truth.”
“If you’d’ve asked me, I would’ve lied and let you carry out the prank,” Lenore chimes in, making everyone laugh.
“Leni, I was secretive because it was the only thing I had of my own,” Sutton says.
“The rest of you guys each have a twin, and Jules was the baby. I was just the middle kid hanging out in the wind. I felt special being the first one in on the Bra Brigade. But sisters before misters . I wouldn’t have let you strip buck-ass naked. ”
“ Aw , sissy.” Jules hurries across the sand to Sutton and throws her arms around her. “You’re the best oldest sister I have.”
“Yeah, old one,” Leni teases. “You were so much more than just a middle kid. I wouldn’t have survived our brothers without you.”
“Yes, you would have. You’re as tough as they are.” Sutton turns to me and says, “You should’ve seen them running naked into the water.”
I laugh. “ Sorry. I don’t mean to laugh. That was a cruel joke your brothers played on you.”
“You’ve got to have thick skin to survive any of our boys,” Shelley says.
“So I’ve discovered.” I tell them about the sex-toy prank the guys pulled on us. The girls chime in, telling them about our revenge, the box of goodies we shared, and the extra prank we played on Grant and Fitz, who texted everyone last night to give us hell after discovering what we’d done.
The ladies get a good laugh out of it.
When the beach is covered with our belongings, Lenore stands in front of the group wearing a colorful cover-up and navy shorts and says, “Let’s get this party started!”
The women whoop and cheer as they take off their shirts, cover-ups, and sundresses, proudly displaying their colorful bras.
Keira and some of the other girls swing their shirts over their heads.
It’s an amazing feeling being surrounded by so much upbeat, female energy, and I have only a fleeting hesitation before reaching for the hem of my tank top and pulling it off, earning hoots and applause from older and younger women alike.
The air buzzes with excitement as women gather in groups or head down to the water.
Leni and I tuck our shirts and shorts into our beach bags.
She’s wearing a red plunge bra and bikini bottom.
“What a gorgeous day,” she says, and plops into the chair beside mine with a sigh.
“Looks like your interrogation is about to begin.”