Chapter 24
For Lorelei, the final week of August on Nantucket Island was exhilarating.
Pino and Nadia returned to the island to complete their family—if only for a little while, if only to complete Lorelei’s heart for a moment before everyone separated once more.
They both had responsibilities back in Italy, which Lorelei understood.
But over the phone, they explained to her that they needed to be at the White Oak Lodge for a few nights before the summer season finished.
Their reason? They wanted to see their mother perform.
At the airport, Lorelei and Roberto hugged their children exuberantly, with tears in their eyes.
Aurora was with them, and she practically lifted Nadia off the ground in her hug, such was her excitement.
Lorelei couldn’t believe how close they’d gotten.
In the car, they spoke in a messy mix of English and Italian, trying to update one another on everything they’d missed.
Back at the White Oak Lodge, Francesca had a feast waiting for them, of course.
She’d been cooking all day and had even recruited Jack, Charlotte, and Nina to help.
Everyone had fought and made up and fought and made up, until the sauce was perfect and the wine was poured.
It was a warm day, and everyone glinted with sweat and was smiling.
“They’re back!” Francesca cried as she hugged Pino and Nadia. “My darlings are back!”
It was a Monday, which meant that the White Oak Lodge’s restaurant was closed and Roberto had the day off.
This left plenty of space on the veranda for the entire Whitmore family.
After many days of difficult work, they decided to unleash, uncorking bottles of champagne and wine, mixing cocktails, and turning the music up loud.
“Your mother won’t perform tonight,” Francesca said to Pino and Nadia, “but we’ll put her to work tomorrow. Mark my words.”
Nadia laughed and eyed Lorelei curiously. “I can’t believe you kept that talent inside you for all these years,” she said.
“She poured her talent into other areas,” Roberto chimed in, drawing his arm around Lorelei’s shoulder. “She made sure we were all taken care of. She raised three amazing children. She was the queen of Rome, and now, she’s the queen of Nantucket Island.”
Lorelei blushed and rolled her eyes. But Nadia was quiet, as though she’d never thought of it like that before.
Lorelei understood this, to a point. Growing up here at the White Oak Lodge, she’d never seen herself as a grand, creative “project,” as someone her parents wanted to uphold and love and help grow.
But in some ways, that was what children were.
Having children and raising them had been one of Lorelei’s life’s greatest creative adventures. But it was time for them to build their own creative adventures. Lorelei could return to her own.
That night, the Whitmores told stories and laughed and ate and drank wine deep into the night. Frequently, Lorelei caught Aurora’s eye, where she sat across the table with Kenny, grinning. Frequently, Lorelei caught herself thinking that these were the greatest days of her life.
When dinner was over, when the stars twinkled overhead, and the ocean grew inky black and the air chilled with the promise of autumn, the Whitmores began to split up for the night.
It had been gorgeous, but they would have future gorgeous nights that week, and the morning would come up quickly, demanding a great deal from them.
The White Oak Lodge was an ever-present responsibility. It was something they had to share.
With this in mind, Lorelei and Roberto led their three children back to the house they’d rented for the rest of the year.
It was a quaint four-bedroom beach house about a half mile down the sand from the White Oak Lodge.
Its proximity meant that every morning, she and Roberto could walk along the ocean to get to work.
It meant they could feel the sun on their faces and listen to the caw of the birds.
As they walked through the darkness, Lorelei hung back, letting Roberto and her three children go up ahead.
Aurora was teasing Pino about something, and Nadia was laughing uproariously.
Roberto looked relaxed, his arms loose as he went.
Lorelei felt a rush of love for these people.
She wasn’t sure why she’d gotten so lucky in this life.
She told herself not to question it, but to feel it in everything she did, in every piece of music she played, and in everything she was.