me how we’ve lived in the same town for nearly twelve

years and only became best friends two weeks ago?”

“That’s easy; you were too busy managing Inglenook for

your ex-in-laws, and I was too busy making babies.”

Olivia’s eyes turned pained. “You wil find love again,

Peg.” She smiled sheepishly, shrugging her shoulders.

“Heck, if it can happen to me, it can happen to you, too.

You’ve been a widow over three years, so please don’t

make the same mistake I did by giving up on love. You just

have to start believing in magic again.”

Peg laughed and started walking backward. “I’m afraid

it’l take more than magic to find a man who’d be interested

in a woman with four young children.” She shook her head.

“And then I’m not sure I’d be interested in anyone crazy

enough to date me.” She stopped walking and pointed the

plunger again. “Now quit stal ing and go turn yourself into a

beautiful and deliriously happy bride.”

That said, Peg pivoted and started jogging away before

Olivia decided that she should be deliriously happy in love,

too—which was the last thing Peg needed. She was ful y

resigned to the fact that she would remain a widow until the

day she died, considering she’d learned the hard way that

her family’s curse was more than just some funky old

legend. It was bad enough living with the guilt that she was

in some arcane way responsible for Bil y’s death; she

wasn’t about to kil off a second husband like her mother

and aunt had.

And just what was she supposed to tel Charlotte and

Isabel when they each came to her and announced they’d

found the man of their dreams? Well sure, sweetie, go

ahead and marry the poor schmuck, if you don’t mind that

he won’t live long enough to see his children graduate

from elementary school. Because any man who married

any of the women in her family never made it past his

thirtieth birthday. And even when Peg’s mom and aunt had

waited until they were into their forties to remarry, they’d

both lost their second husbands in freak accidents.

Peg often wondered what wicked sin the first black

widow had committed to have placed such a horrible curse

on five generations of female descendents—even as she

continued to wonder what it would take to break it.

Heck, she’d actual y thought she had broken the curse

the day she’d slid Bil y’s thirtieth birthday cake in the oven

just hours before the surprise party she’d planned for him.

Only the kitchen had fil ed with smoke as she’d stood

staring at Bil y’s boss and another coworker, utterly

insensate from their news that her husband was dead.

“Mom, wait up!”

Peg turned to see Charlotte and Peter running toward

her. She immediately looked at the gazebo, and sighed in

relief when she saw Isabel and Jacob sitting quietly

watching the beach.

“Can Peter and I go to the barn?” Charlotte asked.

“Sophie said most of the horses are leaving tomorrow

because Inglenook’s not going to have any campers this

summer, and Isabel promised to watch Jacob, and I won’t

let Peter go in the stal s. We just want to give them each a

pat good-bye.”

Peg looked toward the barn. “I don’t think Sam’s around.”

She looked back at her daughter and eldest twin son.

“You remember that Olivia told us Sam is her father, so he’s

probably busy getting ready to walk her down the aisle.”

“And Mr. Ezra is her grandfather,” Peter added with a

semitoothless grin. He suddenly frowned. “Only how come

Miss Olivia didn’t know he was her grandfather? She saw

him at his store in town al the time.”

Peg ruffled his hair. “It’s a confusing story. And the

important thing is that Olivia and Sam and Ezra are final y

together now.”

“So can we go see the horses?” Peter asked. “I promise

not to let them drool on my shirt, and we’l go right back to

the gazebo after.”

“Only if you also promise not to go in their stal s.” Peg

started walking toward cabin three again. “And thank you

for asking.”

“Mom!” Jacob shouted from the gazebo where he was

standing on a bench. “Isabel thinks she just saw a whale

blow! Only I missed it ’cause I was watching the beach. It

looks like they’re gonna take out the submarine. Can we sit

on that rock over there to see better?” he asked, pointing

toward the boulder on the shoreline. He lowered his voice

as she approached. “I promise I won’t talk to any of the

scientists.”

Peg eyed the large, flat rock jutting out into the new

Bottomless Sea. She wasn’t worried the kid would drown

since the water wasn’t deep and Jacob swam better than

most fish, and she real y didn’t want to squelch his

enthusiasm, considering his traumatic run-in with one of the

scientists yesterday. Besides, what could be more

entertaining for three hours than to watch a tiny two-man

sub being launched?

“Okay, but you don’t go any closer than the boulder, got

that?”

“I got it!” Jacob shouted, jumping off the bench and

running down the gazebo steps. “Come on, Isabel. I’l help

you climb up the rock.”

“Mommm,” her daughter whined, giving Peg a rather

impressive scowl. “I can’t climb a rock in my party dress.”

“Then sit on the log next to it,” Peg suggested, once

again heading off on her mission. God, she hoped the

bastard who’d scared Jacob was staying in cabin three,

because if he was, she intended to use his head for a

plunger.

Since when was some stupid submarine more precious

than the tender heart of a young child? For crying out loud,

Jacob was four! Wel , he’d be five in a couple of months,

but her younger son was way behind his boisterous twin

brother in many aspects. Peter was her daredevil, where

Jacob was a sensitive soul.

But thanks to the family curse, her sons didn’t have a

whole bunch of males to emulate, now did they? Wel ,

except for her father-in-law and Bil y’s older brother. Only

Peg figured she had more testosterone than the two of

them put together.

Honest to God, Clive Thompson sent his wife to

investigate anything that went bump in the night, and his

idea of sports was putting on an engineer’s hat and playing

with toy trains. As for her husband’s hulk of a brother,

Galen … wel , everyone knew Arlene wore the pants in that

family. And damn if the one time Peg had cal ed Galen to

come check out a strange vehicle in her gravel pit if Arlene

hadn’t shown up instead.

At least her sister-in-law had brought along a shotgun.

Peg knocked on cabin three’s door, then walked inside

when nobody answered, only to nearly trip over a pile of

diving … stuff. “Be careful of that gear,” a voice said from

somewhere inside another pile of stuff on the couch. “It’s

expensive.”

Peg picked her way through the clutter, but stopped at

the couch to peer over the guy’s shoulder. “Hey, is that a

map of Bottomless?”

He kept hitting keys on his laptop, although he did give a

nod.

Peg leaned closer, squinting at the screen. “Are al those

numbers depths? Is Bottomless real y eighteen hundred

feet deep now, there in the middle?” Peg was so

fascinated, she couldn’t stop asking questions. “But

everyone knows the deepest basin has always been four

hundred feet, so does that mean the earthquake real y did

split open the bottom of the lake like they said on the news?

And is there real y an underground saltwater river running