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CHAPTER 1

Hunter McClintock sat back in the wicker chair on the veranda and stared at the return address on the envelope he held in his hand. Lobster Cove, Maine. The tropical Oahu breeze did little to cool the afternoon heat — and his insides. After all these years, his estranged father's lawyer, Günter Jordan, was contacting him. It could only mean one thing — his father had died.

"Before you open the envelope, son, we need to talk." Lani Aka McClintock stepped out onto the patio of her home overlooking the wide expanse of the Pacific Ocean. She carried a tray of iced tea, which she placed on the glass top covering the small, round table. "Fresh tea, with lemons from the plantation down the road." She poured from an iced pitcher dripping in moisture from the heat, and handed him a tall frothy tumbler before serving herself. She rounded the table, brushed her long, straight black hair behind her ears, and then sat down opposite him. The red and white frilled umbrella overhead shaded them from the bright afternoon sun.

"It's okay, Mom. I know it's about my father. I'm no longer a hostile youth, angry that I didn't have a father to teach me sports, or follow my games. I had you." He couldn't have asked for a more supportive and loving parent. And he'd had his mother's family — all his aunts, uncles, and cousins.

He grinned, leaned across the table, and patted his mother's hand. He was pleased to see her smile. His mother was a beautiful Hawaiian, tiny, petite, but a dynamo when it came to running their travel agency. She was well respected in her business, and by her family.

Hunter looked at the envelope and shook his head. "Why would anyone from my father's family want to contact me now?"

"Your father is a wealthy man. He owns a fishing company he inherited from his father — Herman McClintock. I understand he was a hard man to cross. McClintock and McClintock was a large concern back when we married. I'm sure he's made the lobster business a world class industry by now. Hunt travelled to Hawaii for his father — looking for connections to expand the business."

"Is that how you met? You never did tell me."

"You were too young to understand, and then you were too old to care."

"Well, I'm old enough to know and care now."

"Hunt was wandering the beach the day we met." Her nostalgic smile zinged his insides. He shouldn't have encouraged her to tell him.

"I was collecting shells along the shore. We fell in love so fast — had a love affair, and were married within the week. A week later, his father demanded Hunt return to Maine. He left, said he'd return for me. But I never saw him again."

Hunter saw the sadness in her eyes, and once again, wanted to do bodily harm to his father, were he alive.

"I wrote to Hunt — told him I was pregnant. I received a letter from Herman saying he'd had our marriage annulled. That Hunt had remarried and his wife was with child. Apparently, our letters crossed in the mail. I never heard from the McClintocks again."

Hunter laid the envelope on the table, took a long swallow of iced tea, welcoming the coolness as it trickled down his parched throat. He looked out at the shimmering ocean and the frothy waves slapping against the white sand along the beach. A few gulls swooped down looking for a meal. The calmness of it all did nothing for his jittery stomach. He didn't want his mother to see how unnerving this letter really was — what it represented to him. A connection. A connection he had longed to receive over the past twenty-eight years. And now it was too late — he'd never have the opportunity to speak to his father — or his grandfather.

"I don't need to open it. It means nothing to me now. At one time, I yearned for a letter from him, but no longer. I have all I need right here in Oahu."

"Open it. You will always wonder what it said if you don't. Face your fears, son, and go forward. But keep an open perspective."

Fears? He'd faced worse things than worrying about opening a damn envelope — he'd served his country in Afghanistan. It had put his life in perspective. Not having a father around didn't even come close to the suffering he'd seen over there. He'd fought with the best of them, protected those around him, and they'd saved his ass more than a few times. Why, then did he dread opening this envelope?

He rubbed an unsteady hand over his face and took a deep breath. He had the strangest notion the contents were about to change his life. Upset the proverbial apple cart. He glanced at his mother. She bit down on her lower lip, a sure indication she was as nervous as he was about the letter's contents. Her worried frown pierced his heart. She hadn't been well the past month — the flu had set her back for days. He cursed his estranged father for the umpteenth millionth time. Dammit! If he didn't open the letter, she would be more worried about not knowing its contents than he would. This letter from Lobster Cove was about to tear her heart apart — he could only hope it would be for the last time.

Hunter cursed his father, leaned forward, and lifted the envelope from the table. He slit the top edge open, withdrew a single sheet of tan, embossed bond stationary, unfolded it, and read the contents in silence.

"It's from Jordan and Jordan, Attorneys at Law, Lobster Cove, Maine." He lowered the letter to his lap. "Hunter McClintock, Senior died almost a year ago. I'm sorry, Mom."

Tears trickled down her cheeks. Oh, crap. He hadn't expected tears. Was she still in love with the man after all these years? If Hunt McClintock was standing here, right now, he'd kill the S.O.B. with his bare hands.

He rushed to her side and put his arms around her thin shoulders — her tiny frame barely filled the chair.

"You still loved him, didn't you, Mom? After all these years you never let go? Is that why you've never remarried?"

"Yes. I loved him. How could I not? He gave me you." She stood, crossed the deck to the railing and looked out over the glittering expanse of water. "For that, I have always been grateful. I had you to raise, and love. After he left — you were ... are ... my life, son. I have no regrets."

She brushed the back of her hand over her tear-filled eyes and straightened her shoulders. He joined her and together they continued to look out over the tropical seascape — a hedgerow of deep pink bougainvillea grew in profusion before sloping down to the beachfront where several palm trees stood to the right, their fronds bending in the breeze. Light foaming waves washed up on the shore.

"They want you to go to Lobster Cove, am I right?"

"Yes, but it's too late. If Hunter McClintock, Senior is dead, there is no need for me to travel that far for something I don't want."

"Yes. There is. You must go. You must lay your bitterness to rest. Find out what they want." She patted his hand as if to pacify him when she was the one who needed consoling. It had been years since he'd given his father a second thought. Why the hell were they opening up old wounds now? Making him think about things best left alone?

"What good does it do, now? There is nothing I want from him. Nothing."

"You won't know unless you go and find out."

"Not without you. They want you there, as well."

"I'm not up to a long plane ride right now. This flu business has made me too weak. Besides, I am sure there is absolutely nothing there I want, nor would I be welcome."

"And you think I will be welcomed?" Hunter snorted a laugh. What a joke. He was the last person Hunt McClintock's family would want to show up on their doorstep.

"When are you expected?"

"We ... when are we expected. Next week."

"I am not in a position to travel so far right now. Nor do I have the heart to go. The travel agency will be fine while you are gone. Uncle Eddie is scheduled to handle the tours to the Big Island next week. Aunt Lydia has the extra tours booked through the month. I will ask her to make a few changes, rearrange our guides on a few of the longer tours. You can do double tours when you return."

He was loath to reply. But if it would ease his mother's mind, he would go. Get it over with once and for all. He only wished she was well enough to take the trip to the mainland with him.

CHAPTER 2

Juelle McClintock sat next to her husband's hospital bed in the dimly lit I.C.U. room, held his limp hand, and prayed he would recover. She cursed the fishing accident that left him in this coma. She cursed him for taking the trawler out during one of the worst storms Lobster Cove had seen in over a century. His usual rugged good looks were absent. Lifeless, eyes closed, his once wavy, flighty hair lay limp. Beneath his fisherman's tan was a pale reflection of the adventuresome man she had fallen in love with in college — he'd swept her off her feet with his alluring charms. Was it only two years ago?

Hooked up to numerous tubes and equipment, as well as a central venous catheter, and an I.V. in his arm, making it hard for Juelle to get close enough without disturbing all the connections. She managed to lean in next to him. She brushed strands of hair away from his ear as if it would make hearing her that much better.

"Sebastian, if you can hear me, please, try to squeeze my hand. Move something. Anything. Give me a sign you can hear me. Something to let me know you're going to be okay. I'm here. You're not alone. Please." Juelle spoke slow and clear, hoping he heard. The tube down his throat prevented him from speaking, but she remained as close as possible in case he attempted to do something — anything. She didn't want to miss a single sound, or movement.

She waited.

Nothing.

The doctors hadn't held out much hope he would come out of the coma, but she couldn't give up on him. Even though their relationship had started to disintegrate soon after they had moved in with his parents at the McClintock Estate. Thinking their marriage would improve once Makenzie was born had been wishful thinking on her part. She'd been the only one to try to make it work. But she had to stay by Sebastian's side — he was still her husband. She promised to work harder at their marriage — make things better when he snapped out of this coma. She would learn to be more understanding and not force the issue of finding a place of their own, to understand his mother's personality, her point of view.

She rubbed his hand — the one without anything attached. Discouraged, she leaned back in the chair, then bent forward, and rested her forehead on the edge of the bed. The sheet, cool and soothing against her balmy skin, did little to take away the turmoil churning inside. She sighed. Her eyes drifted shut. Would he ever come out of this coma? Recover? She took another deep breath, let it out. A few more minutes and she'd leave to go pick up Makenzie from her best friend's house.

"You'd better be praying. It's the least you can do."

Juelle's head shot up.

"Eugenia! Sorry, I didn't hear you come in. Is it five-thirty already?" Juelle stood to face her mother-in-law, her head dizzy from jumping up so fast. She brushed the hair off her forehead with shaky fingers, straightened her cotton tank-top over her black slacks, and bushed her hands down the side of her thighs. Why she let her mother-in-law make her so nervous, she didn't know, or understand. She wasn't a wuss, could stand up for herself and Makenzie. But Eugenia McClintock was one of those women who wouldn't be denied.

"Has my son shown any signs of movement yet? Opened his eyes while I wasn't here? Called out for me? Don't be keeping it from me if he did. I'm his mother — I have a right to know."

"Of course you do. I would never keep something as important as that from you."

"Let me see for myself."

Eugenia trudged to the bedside, effectively blocking Juelle's access to Sebastian's side. She stepped back to keep her foot from being crushed underneath her mother-in-law's sharp heels. The woman was a fashion plate, right down to her shoes — it didn't matter if she was only going to the grocery store or a meeting. She was pulled together from head to toe.

"Sebastian!" her mother-in-law bellowed in her son's face. "Sebastian! Wake up!"

"Yelling isn't going to do any good. The doctors are adamant there isn't much hope he will recover. We have to accept their diagnosis." Juelle felt sorry for the young boy Sebastian had been, to have been raised by this domineering mother. Her own parents might not have been around much, but they weren't overbearing.

"Bah. What do the doctors know? People wake up from comas all the time. Besides, I do not want to lose my son — he's all I have left in the world."

"I know this is hard on you, especially after Hunt's death. But Sebastian is my husband, and seeing him laying here like this isn't any easier for me."

Her words had little impact on Eugenia's emotional state at the moment. She wasn't about to remind her mother-in-law that she had a granddaughter — Makenzie. The distraught woman still grieved over losing her own husband. Hunt McClintock's sudden heart attack at age fifty-nine had shocked the entire community of Lobster Cove. McClintock and McClintock Lobster Company employed the majority of the fishermen in town. He was well liked and treated his employees well. With his son near death, the status of the company was uncertain. If Sebastian should die, who would assume control?

"You have no idea what I am going through," Eugenia huffed, her hands on her hips, her head thrown back, and her hazel eyes as glacial as winter ice on the edges of Frenchman Bay.

Juelle took a deep breath.

"Eugenia. I don't want to argue with you in front of Sebastian — whether he can hear us or not. I'm sure if he does snap out of his coma he wouldn't want it to be because of our raised voices." She inched her way to the door. "I have to pick up Makenzie — Katelyn has to be at Mariner's by six for the evening shift. I'll leave you to be with your son."

"Don't forget we have a historical society meeting at seven tonight."

How could she forget? Eugenia had it marked on all three calendars, posted sticky notes next to the phone in the hall and on the refrigerator. The woman was an organizational wizard and kept all her community functions straight. But with everything Juelle had been through, she planned on skipping tonight's meeting, which was sure to put another nail in her coffin if Eugenia had anything to do with it.

The late afternoon sun shifted over the western border of Mount Desert Island, leaving Lobster Cove in shadow. The cool breeze off Frenchman Bay tossed Juelle's shoulder-length hair about as she pulled her lime-green VW Beetle into the drive in front of Katelyn's cottage. Sebastian had wanted her to buy a sportier car, something more showy and in line with their status in the community, but she refused. She wanted a small, dependable vehicle — something down to earth. She got out, pocketed her keys, and made her way up the sidewalk to pick up Makenzie. Katelyn's small cottage was tucked into a stand of Aspen and Birch on the edge of town, closer to Bar Harbor. The side street jutted off Main Street, and although there were other cottages nearby, Katelyn's had the advantage of being the last one on the block. An assorted color of lupines lined the front of the house. She would give anything to live in one of these cottages, no matter how small. Just to be able to leave her mother-in-law's home would be a godsend.

Before Juelle could knock, her best friend, Katelyn, opened the screen door. A tall blonde, with sexy hazel eyes and a model's body, her friend greeted her with Makenzie in her arms. Makenzie clapped her hands and held them out for Juelle, a wide toothless smile on her chubby cheeks. Juelle took her daughter in her arms. Her baby snuggled, tucked her head in Juelle's neck, and hummed. Her heart melted. She kissed her daughter on the forehead, hugged her again, and then followed Katelyn inside.

"You didn't have to rush to pick up this precious girl. We were having such a great time — weren't we, sweetie? We were just about to finish our tea party. You can join us."

Makenzie gurgled and clapped her hands, again.

"Are you sure? Don't you have to be at your parent's diner at six? I don't want to hold you up." Katelyn's parents, Roark and Dawn Sullivan, had owned Mariner's Fish Fry, located on the northern end of the harbor, for over twenty years.

"The good thing about working for my parents is, a start time is when I get there. They aren't going anywhere in a hurry tonight — they don't want to miss out on the evening crowd — all their regulars will be rolling in for tonight's lobster roll special."

(Continues…)

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Excerpted from "Juelle's Legacy"
by .
Copyright © 2014 Carol Henry.
Excerpted by permission of The Wild Rose Press, Inc..
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

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