My Heart Belongs on Mackinac Island by Carrie Fancett Pagels

Author:Carrie Fancett Pagels [Pagels, Carrie Fancett]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781683220893
Publisher: Barbour Publishing, Inc.
Published: 2017-08-25T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter Seventeen

Cumulous clouds dotted the robin’s-egg-blue-colored skies Wednesday morning, and the previous day’s rain had vanished. The changeable June weather perfectly suited Ben as he set off to the docks with Jack.

They boarded the boat bound to the Upper Peninsula with only a handful of islanders.

“I’m doing my shopping in St. Ignace, Mr. Christy,” a red-haired woman told the bearded workman seated beside her. “What brings you to the mainland?”

“I’m going to see my sister. She runs a bakery over here.” The man tugged his slouch cap lower. “And I could use a little break from all that work at the Grand and at my wife’s tea shop.”

Jack needed a break from the island, too, and Ben was happy to provide it, especially since he also needed to make the trip.

Soon the schooner crossed into the north side of the straits, skimming with the breeze, through the waves. The boat carried Ben to the Wellings’ attorney and Jack away from the island. Jack leaned out as far as he could from the side of the boat.

“Come over here by me, Jack.” Ben patted the bench. This boy could end up being his brother-in-law one day, if God blessed him with Maude as his wife. How, though, unless he got his promotion and raise? Today would be only a slight detour on his route to getting a stellar story for the paper.

Scrunching his face, the boy returned to his spot. “What’s it like living in Detroit?”

Ben shrugged. “Busy place—lots of traffic, lots of exciting things going on.” Social events he covered as a journalist. He dragged his hand across his jaw.

“Me and Dad are gonna move downstate, soon as we can sell the inn.”

Ben raised his eyebrows. “So your family owns the inn?”

“Of course we do.” The boy sighed. “Well, Grandma owned the inn and Great-grandma Cadotte before her.”

“Cadotte?”

“Yeah.”

Maude was a Cadotte. Williams’s words sluiced through his mind—a journalist chasing the Cadotte heiress.

Jack grinned. “But the inn is Dad’s now.”

Or was it?

“And we need money for my training for the Olympics.”

“But I think your sister wishes to stay, ja?” Could she care enough for him to leave the island behind?

The boy picked up a flyer for a musical show in St. Ignace and wadded it into a ball. “Dad says she’s free to do what she wants.”

“But what if she wants to run the inn?”

“Greyson married up, so that ain’t happenin’.” Jack crossed his arms over his thin chest. “Dad has someone interested in buying.”

“Do you know her name?”

Jack’s eyes dimmed. “Nah.”

This smelled like Adelaide Bishop’s tactics.

“Hey, I want to run after we get there.”

“I thought you might want to.” Good thing, because Ben planned to visit with Mr. Hollingshead. He had to find out what he could do to protect Maude and her family.

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