Page 340 of The Romance Adventure

I only met Chip briefly when CJ and I were in Coco Key, looking at properties. Since I am not an actual real estate agent, it took a high level of coordination and improvisation to play it off like I knew what I was doing. He seemed like a kindly man, a bit tired, and distracted. But that’s par for the course when a person’s sights are set on treasure.

I’m glad I visited because I got to meet the man my husband idolized.

However, CJ was also a lead for the treasure I seek because of his connection to the Sousa family. I nearly choke with surprise on my last sip of horchata as the women outline the will as if from memory.

This just got a whole lot bigger.

Isla says, “‘To the eldest, Magnus, I leave my father’s pocket knife and a pillow. To Twin Royal, I leave the family Bible and a book of matches. To Twin Ryan, I leave my journal and a pen. To Chip Junior, I leave my sextant and the Salty Skeleton.’”

“We still don’t know anything about that,” Royal says.

But I do.

Lally continues, “‘The Junk goes to Magnus.’ Not actual junk, they’re the cottages on Quiet Cannon Beach where we run Boo’s Battle Bros. Do you like dogs? You should come by sometime.”

I smile politely and she continues, “‘The Sloop, to Ryan⁠—’”

Harley interrupts. “That’s the ice cream shop in town. Do you like ice cream?”

The baby squeals with delight and babbles.

I nod, and my mind spins, trying to cycle through this new information. CJ mentioned that he was looking for the crown, but I didn’t realize it was an organized treasure hunt with inheritances and a team behind it.

Lally goes on, “‘The Galleon and the entire Driftwood property go to Royal. CJ gets anything left that floats.’”

I turn my attention to him, in question, in shock if I’m honest, which doesn’t happen often—the shock, not the honesty part. Okay, fine. There’s a little of that lacking, too.

“The Big Boat,” he says pointedly to his brothers.

Harley picks up where Lally left off. “‘The youngest would sooner dive than the shallowest go deep. But neither will find what they seek without the strongest softening and the cleverest humbling.’”

“We all know what it says,” Ryan grumbles.

“But there’s more we haven’t figured out,” Isla counters.

“Like CJ always says, it’s not what we know, it’s what we don’t know,” Harley adds.

Lally says, “‘Start on the eighteenth. Avoid the sand. Seek her with all your heart and might. Bring your wits. You’ll need them and each other.’”

That last line warms something in me. Having mainly grown up in boarding schools, I never had a family in the traditional sense. Of course, I had numerous friends, good ones too. But I didn’t know a mother or father’s unconditional love. Or sibling-hood. Despite the squabbling between CJ and his older brothers, there’s something special here.

I like it. I like them. Mostly. The women are great. His brothers make me want to talk some sense into them. Maybe I will. Magnus seems decent. The twins act like twits. But it’s obvious that their grandfather loved them and they love each other in a filial way. In an unbreakable way. In a way that they’ll overlook the quibbles they have and come together when necessary.

Harley says, “‘If each of my grandsons answers the following questions, the family fortune will be theirs to do with as they wish. If even one of them fails, the funds and all properties on the island, including the Driftwood, go to Gerome Glandman.’”

Gerome Glandman? The name is familiar and I place it in my mental notes with Kurt Jerkovic, whose aliases are many.

Magnus says, “‘When up is down, what do you do?’”

Royal goes next. “‘When right is wrong, what do you do?’”

“‘When inside is out, what do you do?’” Ryan says.

My gaze lands on CJ.

He shrugs. “‘When high is low, where do you go?’”

This just got a lot more complicated.