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“Oh, yes. She was a teacher at the schoolhouse for a number of years, and she was known for being very involved in town life.” Edith straightened and dusted off her hands. “She served on committees and even on the town council. In fact, she’s the one who petitioned and advocated for the town to purchase the Gardenia House.”
Bee blinked. “I remember that a local woman was involved, but I hadn’t known it was Millicent. Do you know why she campaigned for it?”
“I imagine that the house was close to being torn down, and she wanted to save it.” Edith smiled. “Sounds a bit like you, doesn’t it? Millicent might even have had a hand in turning the Gardenia House into the library, though that didn’t happen until 1931.”
“Did she live in Bliss Cove her entire life?”
“As far as we know, yes. And she lived quite a long life. I believe she passed away when she was close to a hundred years old.”
Bee processed that information. “Did she know Captain Marcus and his family?”
“I’m sure they crossed paths at some point. You couldn’t live in Bliss Cove and not know the Marcus family.”
“Did she leave behind any letters or journals?” Bee asked. “I know we don’t have any in the library archives.”
“Sadly, no.” Edith shook her head, a crease appearing between her eyebrows. “Either she didn’t keep any papers or she destroyed them. All of her personal effects were donated to charities.”
“What about her family and children?”
“She never married. Her parents lived in San Francisco, but her father died in the 1906 earthquake, and her mother not long after that. She had two siblings, but they lived in Chicago, and somewhere back East, I believe.”
Bee’s heart twisted with empathy. “So she didn’t have any family here?”
“No blood relatives,” Edith said, “but by all accounts, the town was her family. She had an active social life, and she volunteered with the women’s league and worked at the sail-making factory during the war. And she taught at the school for probably well over fifty years.”
“How have I missed hearing about her before now?” Bee asked.
“Well, she didn’t leave anything behind, honestly. We considered making her the focus of an exhibition, but we couldn’t even find an original photograph. Just a few images from newspaper articles about town events in 1940. Everything we know about her comes from other people’s letters and diaries, or public documents. We did have a small section about her in an exhibit about the women of Bliss Cove a few years ago.”
“Do you still have the items you included?” Bee asked.
“Yes, I’d be happy to dig them all up for you if you’d like.”
“That would be great. Thanks so much.”
After they made plans to get together for coffee, Bee headed back to the library, still mulling over everything she’d learned.
There were likely hundreds of people involved in Bliss Cove’s history whom she hadn’t heard of, but she felt like sheshould haveknown about Millicent. Another woman who wanted to save the Gardenia House and didn’t have any family close by—well, Bee could certainly relate.
She parked in the library lot and started up the small incline to the house. The door to Adam’s trailer opened as she passed.
Her whole body warmed at the sight of him, and the memory of their kiss began playing like a technicolor movie in her mind. He was clean-shaven for a change but still wore faded jeans and a wrinkled T-shirt so soft-looking that Bee wanted to nuzzle her face against it. And him.
She straightened her glasses and pasted on a smile, hoping she wasn’t too flushed. “Good morning. Or rather…afternoon.”
“Afternoon.” He stopped close to her, and she caught a delicious whiff of shaving cream and eucalyptus-scented soap. “Sleep okay?”
“Circadian rhythms notwithstanding, yes, I did. What about you?”
“Good enough.” His gaze slipped to her lips as if he remembered their kiss as vividly as she was.
“Yo, Powers! Did you call ahead to make sure they have turmeric tea?”
Bee turned to find Clyde standing at the door of his trailer in his blue-alpaca robe, one hand up to protect his face from the sun.
“They’re making some especially for you,” Adam called as a Sugar Joy Bakery delivery van rumbled up the circular driveway.
Clyde nodded and disappeared back into his trailer. Bee and Adam continued up the hill toward the library.
