“Exactly. He was Mark’s father—Marcus Winslow the Second. He was born perfectly healthy, which was amazing, all things considered. But Aunt Sylvia was so distraught about losing her husband, she wouldn’t touch the baby for three or four months. Today she’d probably be diagnosed with postpartum depression or maybe post-traumatic stress disorder, but at the time everyone called it a nervous breakdown. Since she didn’t have any income or family support, Aunt Ivy moved her and Marcus Jr. out of the rented cottage and into her house, so she could take care of the baby and look after her sister-in-law, too.”
“And that helped Aunt Sylvia feel better?”
“Yes, but it took a while. The turning point came one night at the end of the summer when she went up to the widow’s walk. Aunt Ivy didn’t hear her overhead, which meant Aunt Sylvia must have been very quiet. In other words, she wasn’t howling at the moon. She wasn’t crying in the rain or watching for her husband. She wasn’t doing any of the things your classmates told you she was doing. And it was just that one time, not something that happened repeatedly,” Zoey emphasized.
“Lots of people went up to their widow’s walks at night in the summer to stargaze and have a drink, or whatever, just like they do now. It wasn’t a big deal. But the islanders knew what had happened to Aunt Sylvia’s husband and how emotionally fragile she was. A concerned neighbor must have seen her up there, feared the worst and called the police, because a couple of officers showed up, banging on the door. Aunt Ivy’s afraid of heights, so they had to go bring Sylvia down. By that time, Marcus Jr. had woken up and he was wailing his head off. The neighbors might have heard him or seen the police vehicle in front of the house and that’s how some of the stories you heard got started. They may have been more accurate at the beginning, but I’m sure the details changed the more they were retold over a couple of generations. That’s what I meant when I said some of the gossip you’ll hear has an element of truth…”
As gingerly as she could, Zoey confided that the police surmised Sylvia went to the widow’s walk with the intention of jumping off the roof. Which wasn’t true—she later told Ivy that’s where Marcus had proposed exactly one year ago to the day and she just wanted to feel close to him again. But when the police questioned what she was doing up there, she wouldn’t tell them, for fear she’d sound unstable. Ironically, her silence made them even more determined to take her to the hospital for an evaluation, which she adamantly resisted.
“Back then, mental health care was… well, let’s just say it’s understandable why she refused to go with them. Aunt Ivy later told our grandmother, Charles’s wife, that was the only time she’d ever heard Aunt Sylvia raise her voice. She insisted, ‘I can’t leave. My son needs me. Now, please get out of this house.’ Zoey chuckled to herself; only her docile great-aunt would say “please” when she was telling someone off. “Aunt Ivy handed her the baby and then she escorted the police to the door while Aunt Sylvia took Marcus Jr. to his room and rocked him back to sleep.”
“So she bonded with him after all?”
“Are you kidding me? Sheadoredhim. Just like Aunt Ivy did. Some people—like our grandfather—said they overdid it. They said the two of them spoiled him rotten and they were probably right. But doting on the baby helped them through their grief. Aunt Ivy once told me that taking care of her brother’s son made her feel as if she was taking care ofhim,in a way. She said it gave her a reason to get up in the morning… I also think they pampered Marcus Jr. because they felt so guilty.”
“Guilty? Gabi sat up straighter. “About what?”
“Well, even though it was an accident, Denny was technically at fault. Aunt Ivy felt horrible about that, especially because she had convinced Aunt Sylvia that Marcus would be fine on the boat. Instead, he ended up leaving his wife a widow and his son fatherless. As for Aunt Sylvia, I don’t think she ever forgave herself for neglecting the baby right after he was born. It’s almost as if they both believed—mistakenly—that they’d ruined his life. So they kept trying to make it up to him.”
“That must be why Aunt Ivy spoils Mark, too. Because he’s Marcus Jr.’s son.”
Zoey hadn’t realized that Gabi had picked up on the dynamic between their aunt and cousin. Ordinarily, she’d be careful not to criticize Mark in front of Gabi but since the girl was so perceptive anyway, Zoey felt she could level with her. “Yes, I suppose that’s part of it. I mean, Mark isn’t shy about getting what he wants, regardless. But how Aunt Sylvia and Aunt Ivy have always treated him is definitely an extension of how they treated his father. And once Marcus Jr. died, they lavished Mark with even more attention and… and with other things, too.”
Zoey intended to leave it at that, but Gabi asked, “Like with making him the beneficiary of the house?”
“How do you know about his inheritance?” It wasn’t a secret but Zoey couldn’t imagine anyone discussing it with Gabi. Even if Scott knew and remembered, he would have thought she was too young to be privy to that kind of information. And Ivy rarely talked about the will.
“I heard Mark telling someone on the phone—I wasn’t being nosy. He made the call right in front of me and he was talking really loud.”
Now who is he trying to impress?Zoey wondered. “It’s true he’ll inherit the house some day, but Aunt Ivy had nothing to do with that. It was her father’s decision.” She explained that Thomas’s ironclad will designated the eldest Winslow blood relative as sole beneficiary of the house, for generations to come. Whatever was left over from Ivy’s trust fund, however, would be divided amongallof her living blood relatives, meaning Mark, Zoey and Gabi.
Gabi was thoughtful as she slowly drizzled sand onto her kneecaps, one at a time. “You mean if Mark wasn’t in the family and Aunt Ivy passed away, you’d inherit the house?”
“Yeah, I’d be next in line. And then you.” Zoey swatted a bee away from her niece. She comforted her, “Don’t worry. Neither Mark nor I intend to die any time soon. Nor does Aunt Ivy, for that matter.”
“No, I don’t mean if Markdies.I meant if he was never really in the family.”
Zoey cocked her head, puzzling over her niece’s peculiar question. “What do you mean by never really in the family?”
“Like, if Aunt Sylvia had a lover and Marcus Jr. was the lover’s baby, not Marcus’s. Because that would mean Mark isn’t related to Aunt Ivy by blood, either.”
“Is that what the students at your school are saying?” Zoey asked. “I can’t imagine Aunt Sylvia evenusingthe word lover, much less, having one. ”
“But you haven’t heard the theory yet. It totally fits with what you just told me.”
Zoey sighed. “All right. Go ahead and tell me. I’ll try to keep an open mind.”
“One of the kids said everyone in Aunt Sylvia’s generation knew she never loved Marcus—that she just married him for his money,” she chattered breathlessly. “She got pregnant by someone else and she planned to wait a while and then get divorced so her husband would have to pay her alimony. When she saved enough, she was going to run off with her lover, who was very poor, like her.”
Zoey winced.Gabi is so gullible. No wonder Kathleen’s worried about her being easily influenced,she thought.If she’s not careful, she’ll wind up like me—letting some smooth-talking guy drain her savings.
The teenager prattled on, “Except Marcus spent every penny he had buying a boat and when he was lost at sea—well, technically his boat crashed—he left her destitute, which is essentially what happened, right? This boy said Aunt Sylvia felt so guilty, she couldn’t even look at her baby, and that’s exactly the same as what you just told me. She couldn’t stand the sight of her lover any more, either, so she completely ignored him. And since he didn’t want to disgrace her and he couldn’t afford to support a family anyway, he never told anyone the baby was his.” Gabi concluded melodramatically, “But he was so heartbroken, he’d walk past the house every day, hoping to catch a glimpse of her and his son. Eventually, he grew so bitter, he could hardly eat or speak or sleep.”
“Hmm.” Part of Zoey found all the gossip amusing, but another part of her was hurt on her aunt Sylvia’s behalf. She would have hated to know she was the subject of any gossip, and Gabi’s casual attitude and dramatization of real people’s pain—even if it was all made up or just teenage chatter—caused Zoey’s to wince. “Did your classmate offer any theories about who Marcus Jr.’s real father was?”
“Yes,” Gabi answered triumphantly. “He said it was Mr. Witherell.”
The tiny hairs on Zoey’s forearm stood on end as she instantly recalled the exchange between the old man and Mark on the day of Aunt Sylvia’s funeral.
