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“She’d be a natural choice,” Ruby admits. “But this is what I want, and I’m sure of it.” She holds up the sealed envelope just as the breeze picks up unexpectedly, blowing her hat off her head and into the water. Startled, Ruby jumps up and instinctively lets go of the letter, which is taken by the wind. “No!” she screams, leaning over the side of the boat as she reaches for the envelope.
She catches it between her first and middle finger, holding onto it with a prayer as she feels her feet coming out from underneath her; she’ll be in the water—along with the letter—in just seconds.
But before she can feel the unmistakable sensation of going headfirst into the water, Dexter is up and his arms are around her waist. His body presses against the length of hers as he pins her to the side of the boat, reaches out with one hand, and plucks the letter from her hand.
“Got it!” he says, using the arm that’s still around her body to pull her down to her feet again. They both stand upright, carefully brushing themselves off as Dexter holds the envelope out to her.
With a nervous, shaky laugh, Ruby takes the letter, presses it tightly to her chest, and casts one glance over her shoulder at her straw hat, which is bobbing away merrily on the water. “I never liked that hat anyway,” she says.
“Okay, take two.” Dexter runs a hand through his hair as he catches his breath. He sits down on the bench again on his side of the boat, watching her intently.
Ruby nods as she sits down, still clutching the letter tightly. “Maybe I should have given more thought to the practicality of this situation. But yes, take two. Here we go.”
She opens the envelope with fumbling hands, putting it under her bare thigh on the bench to keep it from blowing away after she extracts the single page from within.
Dexter is watching her with his body leaned forward eagerly, arms resting on his knees. Ruby takes a deep, shaky breath and starts to read.
The minute she’s done, she knows what she needs to do.
* * *
The next book club meeting is laced with an undercurrent of expectation. The women are all well aware that Ruby has met with Dexter North for a second time, and while they’d read the Jackie O. biography and discussed it at length at their last meeting, this time they don’t even have a book to hide behind as they sit in their circle, eyeing one another and waiting for Ruby to speak.
“You ladies have quickly become my favorite part of living on Shipwreck Key,” Ruby starts, sitting in her chair and looking around. In addition to the original five—Heather, Marigold, Molly, Vanessa, and Tilly—she’s got her girls in attendance once again, and as an added bonus, now Sunday is officially a member of the Marooned With a Book Club, though not without some disbelief, as the other members of the book club still occasionally seem stunned as they look around the circle and see both the former First Lady and the former Second Lady sitting amongst them.
“And I can’t even imagine going forward without knowing that we’re going to get together every two weeks to talk about books,” Ruby goes on. As she says this, Heather’s face falls.
“But you’re dumping us,” Heather says knowingly. “You’re leaving the island.”
Ruby is stunned. “No! God, no. Does this seem like an ‘I’m leaving’ speech?” The other women make fleeting eye contact with one another as they nod. “Not atall,” Ruby says firmly, shaking her head. “Actually, quite the opposite. I want to thank you for your friendship so far, and to ask you all for a huge favor.”
“As long as you aren’t leaving,” Molly says, her arms folded across her chest protectively, “then we’ll do anything you ask us to.”
“I’m not leaving!” Ruby assures them with a laugh. “But I am going to need your help. All of you.”
Marigold is watching her intently, running her fingertips along her jawline as she watches Ruby to see where she’s going with this.
“Spit it out, Mom,” Harlow says. “You’re making everyone nervous.”
“Okay, okay. This is hard to talk about, but I need to get comfortable with it fast.” Ruby wipes her damp palms over her jeans. “Like I told you at our last meeting, my late husband’s mistress showed up on the island and we talked.”
Molly shakes her head and makes atsk-tsksound. “Takes some nerve, doesn’t it?” she mutters rhetorically.
“And she left me a letter from Jack that I waited for quite some time to read.” Ruby pauses. “But when I did, I realized immediately that it wasn’t just a letter for me, and it wasn’t just a letter for my girls.” She glances at Harlow and Athena, who are both studiously looking at the floor as they try not to cry. She’d read the letter to them both the minute she got back from the boat trip with Dexter North, and with their encouragement, she’s decided to go forward with her plan. “It’s a letter for everyone.”
The small group of women shifts in their seats, looking at one another with confusion.
“Like, a letter for all of us?” Marigold asks with a frown.
“More than all of us here in this room,” Ruby says. “When I say everyone, I meaneveryone. And I want the world to hear it, which is where you all come in.”
Ruby looks at each of them in turn, then shares her plan with the women, who silently take it all in, heads nodding in understanding.
“Sweet, fancy Moses…” Molly looks stunned. “Honey, are you absolutely sure about this?”
“I am absolutely sure,” Ruby says.
“Then if this is what you want, this is what you’ll have,” Heather says, standing up. “Let’s get to work making it happen, shall we?”
