Epilogue
SIX WEEKS LATER
“There’s someone on Ned’s ferry.”
Grace shielded her eyes as she stood in Grayhaven’s gardens.
She’d been wrist-deep in mud, weeding the vegetable patch she and Jacob were planting.
They had big plans for a garden to provide locally sourced food for The Jem Lawrence Center for Refuge, as it was going to be called, but that was a long way down the road.
For now, they were just having fun digging in the dirt.
They’d had a lot of fun these last few weeks, spending time with Noah, playing games, gardening, working on the nature center, even learning to sail.
Every day felt like a vacation, but one with a purpose.
And the time with Noah made her realize just how much she loved the man he was. The man he’d become.
“Who is it?” Jacob asked as he stood next to her, squinting in the sunlight.
“I don’t know.” Grace glanced at her son, full of love for the boy he’d become—still quiet, still shy, but tanned brown, with freckles across his nose, and a mischievous glint in his eyes she’d once thought might never return. “It’s not often we get visitors.”
“Visitors?” Noah strolled down the path with a sheaf of papers in his hand. “The architect has sent through the latest plans for the cottages. I thought we could go over them.”
“Should we see who’s invading our island first?” Grace asked teasingly, nodding toward the ferry.
“Absolutely.”
They walked down to the dock in companionable curiosity as Ned’s boat drew closer. An unfamiliar man was standing on the deck, tall and blond with a windburned face tanned and creased from a lifetime spent outdoors.
“He looks a little familiar,” Noah murmured, sounding mystified. “Who could he…”
Ned docked the boat, and the man leapt nimbly off like he’d done it a million times before. He strode toward them, a fierce light in his pale blue eyes.
“Hello,” he told them in a voice tinged with a Maine accent. “I’m looking for Becca Babcock.”
“Becca!” Grace exclaimed. “Is she expecting you?”
For a second, the man’s expression hardened. “No,” he said, his tone turning almost grim as he gave them a challenging look. “She’s not.”