The Legacy: Making Wishes Come True

“I had my physician call the ER doctor and afterward, when we discussed their conversation, he suggested that I get her to a specialist as quickly as possible.”

“A specialist at Boston Children’s,” Richard said with a nod. “What kind of specialist?”

“A pediatric oncologist.”

Before Richard could say another word, Jenny’s grandmother spoke. “A cancer specialist,” Marian said, her voice catching. “They believe Jenny has leukemia.”

R
ICHARD
H
OLLOWAY
III reread Marian’s letter before tucking it into the pocket of his windbreaker and continuing his solitary walk up the windswept strip of deserted beach. He’d met with Marian, and after hearing her plans, he’d come to this place that had been so much a part of his past. He needed somewhere to think about what she’d asked him to do.

“Please help,” Marian had pleaded. “We must do this for Jenny.”

Overhead, a seagull flung lonely cries against a slate gray sky that threatened rain.
Tears from heaven
. He thought it fitting. Richard skirted the frigid, rolling surf and started toward a soaring cliff of rocks. He was certain he could find the narrow crevice in the wall of granite, even after all these years. His mind churned with thoughts of what Marian had asked of him.

As he climbed up the rocks, memories from that long ago summer bombarded him. He tried to shake them off, but it was impossible. His brain turned time back to the summer of 1978—the summer when Jenny Crawford turned sixteen. He recalled her vividly—black hair blowing in the breeze, sparkling blue eyes the same deep color of the sea. What had she been feeling on that June day she’d met his sailboat at the marina?

J
ENNY RACED ALONG
the dock, her eyes never leaving the taut, white sail that dipped in the stiff wind and dazzling afternoon sunshine. Breathless, she halted at the slip where the
Triple H
would soon dock. She stood on tiptoes, anxiously searching for her first glimpse of Richard behind the sailboat’s helm.

She hadn’t seen him since the holidays, when he’d come home from Princeton to Boston, spent Christmas Day, then taken off on a yachting trip to the Bahamas. At the time, his brief visit had upset her, but anticipation over his arrival today made her hurt fade.

She thought he looked like a Viking—tall, with wind-whipped golden blond hair shimmering in the sunlight. His skin, bronzed by the sun, made his green eyes glow like jewels. Richard lowered the
Triple H
’s sail and started the motor to maneuver the sailboat quickly into its slip at the dock. “Ahoy!” Richard called, waving.

Jenny’s heart beat faster. “Have a good trip over from Hyannis?” she asked as he threw her a line from the bow of the boat.

“Perfect! Nothing like the wind in the sheets and the smell of the sea,” he said, jumping from the bow to the dock and tying the line to a post. “I didn’t expect a welcoming committee.”

He hugged her, and she reveled in his embrace. The moment was over all too quickly. “You didn’t? But haven’t we always spent our summers together?” She smiled eagerly. “I thought we could go visit our special cave. You know, the way we did when we were kids.”

“A nice offer, JC, but I’ve made other plans for the day.”

Jenny’s heart sank. “What’s so important that you can’t sneak away to the cave with me?” She had wanted to surprise him with a picnic basket and a gift she’d stashed inside their secret hideaway.

“Hot date,” Richard said.

Jenny felt her stomach tighten. “Who’s the lucky girl?”

Richard tossed back his head and laughed. “Hope the girl shares your opinion. She goes to Vassar and is a friend of one of my roommates. He fixed us up.”

“Well, don’t forget who your old friends are.”

“Not a chance.” He gave her shoulders a gentle squeeze. “Will you be at the Club Saturday night? I understand Dame Marian has invited my parents to dinner. Dad wants me to come along.”

Dame Marian was Richard’s pet name for Jenny’s grandmother. “Yes, I’ll be there. Will you be too busy for me this summer?”

He turned her to face him. “You’ll always be my
special girl, and we’ll have lots of time to bum around this summer. But right now, I need to smooth things over with my parents.”

“What things?”

“My grades came, and Dad blew up. I’m afraid I’m on academic probation.”

“That’s too bad.”

Richard shrugged and stepped back onto the boat as he continued to talk. “It only matters to Dad. He’s still set on my going on to law school, even though I’ve told him a hundred times I don’t want to be an attorney and take over the family firm.” Richard’s duffel bag landed on the dock with a thud. He jumped back over, picked it up, and draped his arm around Jenny’s shoulders.

He treats me like a baby sister
, she thought with resignation. They walked to the parking lot where Jenny handed over the keys to Richard’s Malibu. She’d gone by his house, gotten the keys from his mother, and driven down to the docks. “Thanks,” he told her. “Hop in, and I’ll drop you off at your place.”

Disappointed that they wouldn’t be able to spend the afternoon together, she slid across the front seat. She kept thinking about his date and wondered if he would hit it off with this new girl.

“What happened to your legs?” he asked, pointing at large bruises.

She glanced downward and tugged at the hem of her Bermuda shorts. “I don’t know. These bruises just started showing up for no reason.”

“Some of them look pretty mean.” Richard lifted her chin with his forefinger. “You feeling all right?”

She felt as if a train had run over her, but that was
because he was busy with some other girl. “I’m fine.”

“You have dark circles under your eyes.”

“I didn’t sleep very well last night.” She almost added,
Because I was thinking of nothing but seeing you
.

He brushed his hand over her cheek. “Maybe you should go for a checkup.”

“Good grief. I’m fine. Maybe a little tired, but the last few weeks of school were hectic. Don’t mention anything to Grandmother, or she’ll have me under lock and key for the summer.”

Richard studied her face for a moment, then turned on the ignition, saying, “We couldn’t have that, could we? I expect you to save me a dance Saturday night. And don’t get any new bruises on those gorgeous legs.”

She covered her knees self-consciously and wondered where so many bruises might have come from. Then she put the whole issue out of her mind, because at the moment, she was with Richard. And nothing else in the world was more important to her than that. Nothing.

Richard forced himself to concentrate on driving. It wasn’t easy with Jenny sitting so close beside him. He shouldn’t have come for the summer. He should have told his parents that he didn’t care to make the annual summer trek out to Martha’s Vineyard, but his father was angry at him and in no mood for compromise.

“You’re quiet,” Jenny said. “Thinking about school?”

“I never think about school. That’s my problem.”

“All right, so you’ve blown a semester. You can make it up.”

“More than the semester. I’ve blown the whole year.”

“You don’t sound too remorseful.”

Her profile looked cut from fine porcelain, her skin smooth and pale. A little too pale, he thought. “I can’t change the past, so why talk about it? How are plans going for your big ‘coming out’ party?”

“I don’t want to be a debutante, but Grandmother’s insisting. I can’t understand why my introduction to Boston society is so important to her.”

“Well you know these Boston bluebloods—they must keep the lineage pure. Can’t have a potential carrier such as yourself off mucking up her genes with the riffraff.”

Jenny socked him playfully on the arm. “Blueblood! How awful-sounding. It sounds as if my blood’s frozen.”

“I’m sure Dame Marian wants you to have every opportunity to meet only the most eligible men,” Richard said soberly. “That’s what coming out parties are all about, you know—so that the finest can officially meet the finest.”