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or Jack to invite yourselves along.
    â€œNo.” Grace was shaking. “He’s on the boat.”
    â€œDid he take any crew?”
    â€œNo. I don’t think so.”
    Michael tried to hide his concern. “Do you have any idea where he was going, Grace? What his plans were?”
    Grace shook her head.
    â€œAll right, sweetheart. Don’t worry, we’ll find him. Come on in and I’ll call the coast guard. Those guys are the best. He’ll be back home in no time, you’ll see.”
    Â 
    J ACK W ARNER GOT TO THE HOUSE at six P.M., soaked to the skin and badly shaken.
    â€œI’ve never known a storm to close in that fast. Never.” Honor hugged him. Without thinking, Jack hugged her back.
    Connie and Michael were upstairs, putting the children to bed. Downstairs in the kitchen, Grace, Honor, Caroline and a still-green-looking Maria Preston sat waiting for news. Lenny’s yacht was still missing.
    John Merrivale had gotten back from his business trip in Boston half an hour earlier. Walking over to Grace, he put his arm around her, ignoring Caroline’s dagger stares.
    â€œTry not to w-w-worry. Lenny’s an experienced sailor.”
    Grace barely registered that he’d spoken. She was too busy praying.
    I lost one father, Lord. Please , don’t let me lose another.
    Â 
    A T 8:17 P.M. EXACTLY, THE PHONE RANG. Grace pounced on it.
    â€œHello?”
    Ten seconds later, she hung up. Her teeth were chattering.
    â€œGrace?” Caroline Merrivale moved toward her. “What is it? What did they say?”
    â€œThey’ve found the boat.”
    A chorus of “Thank Gods” and “I told you sos” echoed around the room. When they’d all stopped hugging her, Grace said softly, “Lenny wasn’t on it.”
    Then she passed out.

S EVEN
    L ATER, THE PERIOD AFTER L ENNY’S DISAPPEARANCE blurred in Grace’s memory into one long, unbroken nightmare. Hours became days, days became weeks, but none of it seemed real. She was living in a trance, a hideous half-life from which only one person could awaken her. And that person was gone.
    After three days, Sea Rescue called off its search. Around the globe the headlines screamed:
    LEONARD BROOKSTEIN MISSING, PRESUMED DEAD
    HEDGE FUND GENIUS LOST AT SEA
    NEW YORK’S RICHEST MAN FEARED DROWNED
    Grace had never read anything so awful in her life. Had anyone told her at the time that worse was to come, she would not have believed them. How could anything be worse than life without Lenny?
    It was John Merrivale who brought her home to New York. Her sisters and the others had all gone back when the search was called off, but Grace couldn’t bring herself to leave Nantucket.
    â€œYou can’t stay entombed on this island forever, Gracie. All your friends are in the city. Your f-family. You need a support network.”
    â€œBut I can’t leave Lenny, John. It’s like I’m abandoning him.”
    â€œDarling Grace. I know it’s hard. T-t-terribly hard. But Lenny isgone. You have to accept that. No one could survive a day in those w-waters. It’s been two weeks.”
    With her rational mind, Grace knew John was right. It was her heart she had trouble convincing. Lenny wasn’t gone. He couldn’t be gone. Until she saw his dead body with her own two eyes, she could not give up hope.
    Miracles happen. They happen all the time. Perhaps he was rescued by another fishing boat? Maybe a foreign boat , simple people who don’t know who he is? Maybe he’s lost his memory? Or found his way to an island somewhere?
    It was all nonsense, of course. Voices in her head. But in those early days, Grace clung to the voices for dear life. They were all she had left of Lenny and she wasn’t prepared to give them up. Not yet.
    When she got back to their Park Avenue apartment, Grace found hundreds of bouquets of flowers waiting for her. She could have piled the condolence