“Allegra’s and Lorelei’s kids will be here tomorrow,” Jack said. “They can help.”
Benjamin smiled, his beard filled with melting snow. “I can’t believe we’ll all be together again,” he said. Jack thought he was going to cry.
Together, they selected three Christmas trees, cut them down, and piled them in the back of Benjamin’s truck. They paid Nick what he was owed, then drove back to the White Oak Lodge to drop off the first two trees. Amos, Nina, Will, and Fiona were there, decorating the interior with paper snowflakes and old photographs of the Whitmores. Jack couldn’t believe some of the pictures. He couldn’t fathom where Nina had found them.
“I stole some of them from Aunt Genevieve,” Nina explained. “And some of them were in the public records downtown.”
The photographs featured the Whitmore family during multiple stages of the late eighties and early nineties, when they’d all been home and young enough to cause a ruckus. In one of the photos, Jack wore a sweater he remembered had itched him so much that he’d always taken it off and gotten in trouble with his mother.
Will and Fiona were especially fascinated by the photographs, which showed their mother as a little girl, so much younger than their aunts and uncles. It boggled their minds.
After they set up the trees in the dining and living rooms, Benjamin stepped out onto the back porch. Jack watched him through the window, wondering what was on his father’s mind. Their afternoon at the Christmas tree farm had been beautiful, if secretive. There was still so much they needed to say to one another. Jack grabbed his coat and followed him, closing the door tightly behind him. Just before it clipped shut, he heard Fiona and Will singing a Christmas song.
“Hey,” Jack said.
Benjamin raised his eyebrows. “Hey there. You good?” His tone was too formal.
Jack stood beside his father, watching the waves roll toward the frigid beach. “Are you good?”
Benjamin laughed gently. “I’m terrified, Jack.”
Jack understood what his father meant. Now that he had his family back, what would happen to take them all away again? Would Francesca recover from cancer? Would they all remain on the island forever? There was so much that it was impossible to know.
Jack thought back to that day in Hawaii, six months ago. He remembered his father, standing against that turquoise water, warning him about Tio Angelo.
Jack said, “You know that I chased him, don’t you?”
Benjamin seemed unable to look at him.
“He sent me a threatening letter,” Jack said, “and I couldn’t take it. I tracked him all the way to Mexico City and got closer to him than I ever thought possible. He made a few mistakes because a few people he trusted began to trust me, too. But I must have messed up somewhere. He set up a time for us to meet, and then he ripped the carpet out from under me,so to speak. All my routes to Angelo closed down like that.” He snapped his fingers. “But I still feel this awful rage in my stomach. I need him to own up to what he did and how he continues to threaten this family. I need him to pay for burning the lodge and tearing our family apart.” Jack couldn’t believe how quickly he was speaking. It poured out of him. “I know I had my part in what happened. I know that I was helping him. But I was young. I was younger than I understood. And now, I want him to go to prison for what he did. I want him to pay.”
Benjamin was quiet for a long time. Jack hated how his own voice continued to ring in his ears.
“I’ve thought the same as you over the years, son,” Benjamin said. “I’ve wanted revenge. I’ve wanted Angelo to rot in prison. Don’t think I haven’t. But I’ve thought about it over and over again. I’ve wondered if wanting revenge is the same as clinging to the past and not allowing yourself to look forward.”
Jack gaped at him. He forgot to breathe.
Benjamin touched Jack’s shoulder. “I want us to move into the future as a family. I want us to be brave enough to take the next steps together. And I don’t want Angelo’s ghost, so to speak, to continue to haunt us, not now that we’re back together.”
Chapter Eighteen
It was seven fifteen in the morning at the Oahu airport. Kennedy, Penelope, and Gavin were fully wired and enthusiastic, eating yogurt with plastic spoons and giggling as they people-watched. The terminal was decorated with Christmas garlands, and “Have a Holly, Jolly Christmas” played from the speakers. After that, “White Christmas” came on, and Kennedy asked Addison if they were going to have a white Christmas on the East Coast.
“That’s the plan, honey,” Addison said, trying to smile.
What she hadn’t told her kids was that their father was on the opposite end of this enormous trip. Kennedy, Penelope, and Gavin knew they were visiting “family” and that they would celebrate Christmas in ways they had never done before. But Addison didn’t want to get their hopes up about Seth. She didn’t want to say that he’d be waiting for them, only to show up and discover that he’d left again. If he’d left, if he’d escaped them again, she would never, ever forgive him. She knew that. But she’d also introduce her children to their aunts, uncles, and cousins. Maybe that would be enough for now.
That morning before they’d left the house, Addison’s mother had chased her around the kitchen, demanding answers as towhy they were leaving so soon before Christmas. Addison didn’t feel up to confessing anything. And she certainly didn’t feel up to telling her mother about her father’s affair. At the door, she hugged her mother so tightly that they were both weeping by the end of it. “I don’t understand,” Beth said.
“I love you, Mom,” Addison told her, before she hurried down the stairs and climbed into the car.
Now, Addison led her kids onto the plane bound for Los Angeles across the Pacific. Addison’s seat was on the aisle, with Gavin between her and a woman who was already asleep. Kennedy and Penelope were on the opposite side of the aisle, reading their chapter books. They planned to read a chapter each, then swap books to create a reading experience unlike anything anyone had ever had. Addison thought this would make the story “confusing,” but they said they didn’t care.
As others entered the aircraft and shoved their belongings into the overhead, Addison pulled out her phone and—against her better judgment—googled the Whitmore family. The first article that popped up was about the Whitmore treasure, the so-called “pirate gold” hidden under the lodge for centuries. There was a photograph of several anthropologists, smiling and holding up their thumbs in front of the old gold.
The next few articles dealt with the fire, including numerous speculations over the years about what had caused it and what it had been trying to cover up. Several articles suggested that Benjamin had started the fire to collect the insurance money, which had backfired, since, at the time of the article’s publication, everyone had assumed Benjamin was dead. It was then that Addison saw Benjamin’s photograph for the first time and recognized him as the same man she’d met outside of Seth’s repair shop all those months ago. She nearly leaped from her seat.
She’d met her father-in-law. Benjamin Whitmore had come to Hawaii to talk to Seth. And then, the following day, Seth had disappeared.