“Yes, well . . . I’m afraid I’ve made other plans.”
“Dear God, Harper. We aren’t going to thrash this out again, are we?”
“No, Mother, there’s nothing to thrash out.”
“Good. Because I’ve some news. An editorial position has opened up. It’s in nonfiction, but it’s acquisitions, and it’s only a matter of time till we move you over to fiction.”
“I appreciate the offer, but I’m afraid I can’t accept. I’ve decided to look for a position here in Charleston.”
The line was silent for a moment. “You surely can’t mean you plan to stay there? Permanently?”
“I’m very happy here. And I’ve met someone.” She paused. “Mummy, I’m in love.”
“You’re in love?”
Harper heard her mother laugh, and none too kindly. “With who, pray tell?”
Harper would not allow her mother to trivialize her relationship with Taylor. She answered the question seriously. “His name is Taylor McClellan. I met him this summer. He’s wonderful. I hope you’ll like him because I love him.”
“I see. What does he do?”
“He is a project manager. For Boeing. The aeronautics company.”
“Who is his family?”
“The McClellans are an old family. From McClellanville.” Harper deliberately dropped the connection to a historical family that had a town in their name. That, she knew, would impress her mother.
“So he’s a southerner?” Her distaste was obvious.
“Yes. Mother, you don’t know anything about the South.”
“I married a southern man.”
Harper simmered.
“Tell me about his family.”
“They’re good people.”
“Yes, but what do they do?”
“They’re shrimpers.”
“What does that mean, ‘they’re shrimpers’?”
“His father owns a trawler and catches shrimp for the market.”
“Do they own a fleet?”
“Oh, for heaven’s sake, Mother, no, they don’t own a fleet. They own one boat. The Miss Jenny. Named after his mother. She is a schoolteacher. He has a brother but he’s still in high school. Let’s give him a few years to see what he does with his life,” she added with sarcasm. “Honestly, Mother, what does that matter? I love Taylor and he loves me. Aren’t you happy for me?”
“I’ll be happy once I hear you tell me what you are doing for yourself. I didn’t raise you to be a housewife. I’ve spent a fortune on your first-rate education. You are poised to be an important editor. If you love each other, he will understand that and wait while you get your career back on line. Perhaps he could even follow you to New York. At some point in the future. If he wishes.”
“We discussed that,” Harper offered. “We decided that wasn’t for us. You see, with appreciation for your offer, I don’t want to return to New York. In fact . . .” Harper took a breath. “There is something important I want to talk to you about. I need your advice.”
“. . . Go on.”
“It’s about my trust fund. I’ve never inquired before, but is there some way that I could possibly get all of the money from my trust fund at once?”
“Absolutely not.” Then Georgiana asked suspiciously, “Why do you want it now? What’s so urgent?”
“I want to buy a piece of property.”
“A piece of property?” Georgiana sounded flabbergasted. “Where? Not in South Carolina?”
“Yes, of course in South Carolina. On Sullivan’s Island.” Harper loaded her mental cannon and fired. “I want to buy Sea Breeze.”
There was a long silence on the phone.
“Hello?” Harper asked into the quiet.
Georgiana’s voice was low and lethal. “Did Marietta put you up to this?”
“What? No! Of course not. I told you she was selling the house last May. That was why she wanted all of us to come for the summer. To spend time together again before it was sold.”
“I see what’s happening. God, that woman is unfathomable! Marietta Muir smiles so sweetly and acts so friendly with her southern-belle charms, but don’t you trust her. She’s a spider spinning a web. She used her guile to manipulate your father, and now she’s doing the same with you. It’s so obvious it’s laughable. You must see that’s why she invited you to Sea Breeze in the first place. She wanted you to buy it! To save her from financial ruin.”
“She didn’t—”
“Did she tell you that the Muirs are descended from pirates? Believe it. They’ll rob you blind if you let them.”
“You forget that Muir blood runs in my veins, too.”
“And it’s rearing its ugly head now.”
“Listen to yourself! What nineteenth-century books have you been reading about the South? I mean, really! Pirates and southern belles? Do you even know how crazy you sound?”
Harper stood and walked to the window. She opened the shutter and stared out at the Cove. The bucolic scene, the dock, palmettos, and racing water, pressed a delete button in her mind. She felt her anger leave her body as easily as it had come on.
“Mother, listen to me,” Harper began in a calmer tone. “Mamaw has plans to move to a retirement home. The house is on the market. In fact, an offer has already come in. Mamaw doesn’t need me to buy her house. I want to buy it, and if I don’t move quickly, I’ll lose the opportunity. Mother, can’t you understand? I love it here. I love this house, the island, the lowcountry. It was my idea to buy Sea Breeze. It’s the family house and I am a family member. Why shouldn’t I buy it?”
“Because I forbid it. I will not sit idly back and allow you to throw away your inheritance. Or your life.”
“It’s my life, Mother. And my inheritance.”
“It’s always been like this after you spent time at Sea Breeze. Even when you were a child. You’d get these crazy ideas in your head, and when you came home, you were insufferably rude and selfish.”
“Hardly rudeness, Mother. More speaking my own mind. When I’m at Sea Breeze, I have the freedom to make my own decisions, not have them made for me. If I didn’t speak my mind or argue, as you put it, when I lived in New York, it wasn’t because I was happy or content. It was because I always gave in to you!”