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Back The Summer Cottage Save as PDF
Chapters (75)
  1. Cover
  2. Back Cover Text
  3. Praise
  4. Booklist
  5. About the Author
  6. Dedication
  7. Quote
  8. Prologue
  9. Part One
  10. ONE
  11. TWO
  12. THREE
  13. Part Two
  14. FOUR
  15. FIVE
  16. SIX
  17. Part Three
  18. SEVEN
  19. EIGHT
  20. NINE
  21. TEN
  22. Part Four
  23. ELEVEN
  24. TWELVE
  25. THIRTEEN
  26. Part Five
  27. FOURTEEN
  28. FIFTEEN
  29. SIXTEEN
  30. SEVENTEEN
  31. Part Six
  32. EIGHTEEN
  33. NINETEEN
  34. TWENTY
  35. TWENTY-ONE
  36. Part Seven
  37. TWENTY-TWO
  38. TWENTY-THREE
  39. TWENTY-FOUR
  40. TWENTY-FIVE
  41. Part Eight
  42. TWENTY-SIX
  43. TWENTY-SEVEN
  44. TWENTY-EIGHT
  45. TWENTY-NINE
  46. Part Nine
  47. THIRTY
  48. THIRTY-ONE
  49. THIRTY-TWO
  50. THIRTY-THREE
  51. THIRTY-FOUR
  52. Part Ten
  53. THIRTY-FIVE
  54. THIRTY-SIX
  55. THIRTY-SEVEN
  56. THIRTY-EIGHT
  57. Part Eleven
  58. THIRTY-NINE
  59. FORTY
  60. FORTY-ONE
  61. Part Twelve
  62. FORTY-TWO
  63. FORTY-THREE
  64. FORTY-FOUR
  65. Part Thirteen
  66. FORTY-FIVE
  67. FORTY-SIX
  68. FORTY-SEVEN
  69. EPILOGUE
  70. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
  71. AUTHOR NOTE
  72. Reader’s Guide
  73. Questions for Discussion
  74. The Heirloom Garden
  75. Abby

She takes a deep breath and continues. “I started my own life after that. I ran committees, I fund-raised, I made this community my career. But you’ve made me realize I have treated people the same way my husband did. People dislike me as much as they did my husband.” She smiles wryly at me. “Oh, yes, I know what people say about me, what they call me.” I flush. “But you stood up to me. You challenged me. I’m not only a wee bit envious of you, Adie Lou, I’m rather proud of you, too.”

“Me?” I blurt.

“Yes,” she says. “You left an unhappy marriage. You followed your dreams. I felt like I wasn’t even worthy of pursuing my own dreams. You’ve embarked on a new life and career, which is something Sadie and I weren’t able to do. It wasn’t an easy path that led you here, it was a treacherous road. And yet you’re here. Doing things your way.” Iris stops and considers me. “You are the unconventional woman, Adie Lou.”

Iris’s voice begins to betray emotion, and I am so taken aback that I reach over and take her hand. She grips it tightly, nods her head definitively, and then clears her throat and opens the book in her lap.

“My colleagues and I did a lot of research about a decade ago on some of the original lakeshore cottage owners and their histories,” she says. “The Collins family, of course, is in here. I’d forgotten if we had included any mention of Grover’s children, but we did. Here.”

Iris hands me the book and points to a paragraph in the middle of the page. I begin to read and, as I do, tears fill my eyes. They fall—plop, plop, plop—onto the page, wetting the paper. I look up at Iris, my lips quivering. “She took her own life?” I am devastated to discover Sadie’s sad fate.

Iris nods. “They ruled it an unknown malady to save face for the parents, but decades later, her family admitted she took her own life in Chicago.” She stops. “I’m so sorry.”

Iris reaches out and pats my leg. “You’re strong, Adie Lou,” she says. “Stronger than you even know. Never forget that.”

I nod as tears trace their way down my cheeks.

“I guess,” I say, stammering, “I wanted a happy ending.”

“Then go write your happy ending, my dear,” Iris says.

I stand and, without thinking, pull Iris into a hug. She holds me closely for a moment, and then I hand over the time capsule and the Capone cow foot. “This will be perfect for an exhibit here, don’t you think?” I ask.

Iris smiles. “I do,” she says. “And I think the fish house will make a beautiful honeymoon suite, don’t you?”

TWENTY-NINE