The Knitting Diaries: The Twenty-First Wish / Coming Unravelled / Return to Summer Island

“Not a Boy Scout?”

“No, I didn’t pass the test.”

“Oh, great.”

He chuckled. “I’m a natural on the water. I’ve been doing this for years.”

“So you say.”

“It’s all right, Mom,” Ellen said, clasping Anne Marie’s hand. “I can swim—I’ll save you.”

Tim got in first, then helped Ellen lower herself into the boat. Anne Marie went last. She sat on the edge of the dock and gingerly eased herself in, sighing with relief once she was safely seated.

“Ready?” he asked.

“Yeah!” Ellen shouted. “Let’s go!”

It soon became apparent that Tim was as comfortable on the water as he’d claimed. He rowed with regular, even strokes, and the boat seemed to glide effortlessly across the lake.

“See that cabin over there?” he asked, pointing to the one Anne Marie had noticed earlier.

“I see it,” Ellen told him, shading her eyes from the sun.

“There’s a story about the people who used to live in these two cabins, ours and that one.”

“Oh?” He had a twinkle in his eyes, and Anne Marie was convinced he was about to make up some wild tale.

“Years ago, these cabins were owned by rival families. The Krugers and the Livermores.”

“Krugers and Livermores?” Anne Marie repeated. “Like the Montagues and Capulets? Or the Hatfields and McCoys?”

“Something like that.”

“What’s rival mean?” Ellen asked

“They competed with each other,” Tim explained.

“Were they friends?”

“Rivals can be friends, but in this case they weren’t.”

“You mean like Mel and you?” She looked from Tim to Anne Marie.

“Sort of,” Anne Marie said, saddened that her daughter was aware of the antagonism between Mel and her father.

“If one family bought a boat, then the other family did, as well,” Tim went on as if he hadn’t heard Ellen’s last statement. “The two husbands were employed by rival companies, so when one family purchased a cabin on this side of the lake, the second family bought land and built a larger cabin on the other side.”

“Is ours bigger?” Ellen asked.

“We have the smaller house,” Tim said.

“Oh.” Ellen seemed disappointed.

“As it happened, both families had teenage children. The Krugers had a daughter named Dani and the Livermores had a son, Scott, who was the same age as Dani.”

“I feel a romance brewing,” Anne Marie said.

“You’re right.” Tim directed the comment to her. “Dani and Scott were both out on the water one afternoon when Dani’s canoe tipped over.”

“This story isn’t going to have an unhappy ending, is it?” Anne Marie asked.

“No way,” Tim said, pulling rhythmically on the oars. “This is a romance, remember?”

“Mo-om, let Dad tell the story.”

“Okay, okay, continue.” Anne Marie gestured toward Tim.

“Seeing that Dani was in distress, Scott paddled over and rescued her.”

“And the Kruger family was so grateful the rivalry ended,” Anne Marie concluded.

“Nope. The Kruger family blamed Scott for causing Dani to fall out of the canoe.”

“Didn’t Dani defend him?” Anne Marie asked.

“She tried, but her family refused to listen. The Krugers disliked the Livermores so much that if there was any kind of mishap, the Livermores were automatically to blame.”

“That’s ridiculous,” she muttered.

“I agree.”

Ellen patted Anne Marie’s knee. “Shh, I want to find out what happened.”

“Would you like the short version or the long one?”

“Short version,” Anne Marie insisted. “Definitely the short version.”

“Okay,” Tim said. “They lived happily ever after.”

“Who did?” Ellen demanded. “I want the long version ‘cause I don’t know who married who.”

Anne Marie groaned and glanced up at the sky. “Tim, honestly. All right, give us the long version.”

“That night,” he began, “Dani snuck out of the house and got in the canoe and paddled over to Scott’s place. She woke him up and apologized for the way her family had reacted. They should’ve been grateful and they weren’t. Dani wanted him to know she appreciated what he’d done.”

“Did she kiss him?” Ellen asked excitedly.

“Not that night, but then they started meeting every night in the middle of the lake. They’d sit under the moonlight and talk.”