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Danielle sat in front of her laptop as she did most days, her finger hovering over the trackpad while she waited for her mother to answer a video call. Her heart pounded with a mixture of excitement and nervousness. The weight of the new diamond engagement ring on her left hand still felt a bit unfamiliar, but also exciting. How would her mother react to her engagement? There was no way to predict that.
The screen finally flickered to life, and she saw her mother’s perfectly coiffed silver hair and crisp white blazer appear before her. Even though she was a little bit pixelated on the video feed, Cecilia Wright always looked like the most elegant person in the world. She had poise, and her sharp eyes immediately zeroed in on Danielle’s face.
“Danielle, darling, to what do I owe the pleasure of this unexpected call?” Her voice had the faintest hint of Southern drawl, which was just a charming remnant of her Atlanta upbringing that even her decades in New York hadn’t fully erased.
Danielle sucked in a deep breath, unable to contain the smile spreading across her face. “Mom, I have some huge news. Bennett proposed, and I said yes. We’re engaged.” She held up her hand, grinning.
Cecilia looked surprised, stunned even. Her perfectly arched eyebrows - that she had done in what she called the “best salon in New York City”- arched upward. Then a smile bloomed, lighting up her elegant features.
“Oh my gosh! Congratulations, sweetheart. I’m so happy for you.” She leaned closer to the screen. “Now tell me everything. Exactly how did he propose? Goodness, we have so much planning to do.”
As Danielle recounted the proposal to her mother, she could practically see the gears turning in her mother’s head. Cecilia had always wanted a big, grand society wedding for her only daughter. While Danielle appreciated her mother’s enthusiasm, she felt a knot of anxiety forming in her stomach.
She and Bennett had envisioned a simple, intimate ceremony on Wisteria Island, surrounded by the community they loved so much.
“Actually, Mom, Bennett and I are planning to have the wedding here on the island. You know, it’s become the most important place in the world for both of us, and we want to celebrate with our friends here,” Danielle began, watching as her mother’s expression changed.
Cecilia waved dismissively, her perfectly manicured nails flashing across the screen. “Oh, nonsense, darling. A wedding on that little island with a bunch of retired people? Come on, you deserve a real celebration. You just leave everything to me. I’ll book The Plaza and call that amazing wedding planner, Lydia Harrington. She did the wedding for Angelique’s oldest daughter, and it was beautiful. Somehow, she made that plain Jane daughter look beautiful, so I know she has some tricks
up her sleeve. Oh, and we’ll need to fly to Paris for your dress…”
Danielle’s heart sank as her mother prattled on about guest lists and color schemes. She should have known her mother would have grand plans that didn’t align at all with the intimate island wedding she and Bennett dreamed of. Danielle loved her mother, but their visions for the perfect wedding couldn’t be more different.
She braced herself for what she knew would be an uphill battle.
Just then, a knock sounded at the door.
“Oh, Mom, I need to go. We’ll talk more later. Love you,” Danielle said, ending the call before her mother could say anything else.
She opened the door to find Eddie, the island’s jack-of-all-trades, looking uncharacteristically somber.
“Hey, Eddie, what’s going on?”
“Oh, sorry to bother you, Dani, but Bennett wanted me to let you know that a new resident has arrived, and she seems a bit lost. He was hoping you might check on her and make sure she’s settling in okay.”
Danielle nodded, her previous concerns about the wedding momentarily forgotten. Tending to the island’s residents always took top priority.
“Oh, of course. Let me go grab my bag, and I’ll head over. What’s her name?”
“Clara Whitman. Recently widowed, retired orchestra conductor. Bennett says she’s been struggling since her husband passed away.”
“Oh, poor thing. I’ll see what I can do.”
Danielle grabbed her medical bag and pushed thoughts of wedding plans aside as she headed out to welcome the island’s newest resident. She was determined to help her however she could.
She walked the short distance to Clara’s cottage and spotted a figure slumped in a rocking chair on the front porch. The woman appeared to be in her late sixties, with her silver hair pulled back in a simple ponytail. She wore
a plain black dress that hung loosely on her thin frame. Even from a distance, Danielle could see grief emanating from her, a heaviness that seemed to weigh down her tiny shoulders.
Danielle approached slowly, not wanting to startle her.
“Clara, I’m Danielle Wright, the island’s nurse. I just wanted to come and see how you’re settling in.”
Clara looked up. Her dull blue eyes were rimmed with red, evidence of recently shed tears. She tried to smile, but it just came out as a grimace.
“Oh, hello. I’m, um, fine, thank you. Just trying to get my bearings around here, I suppose.”
Danielle sat in the chair beside her, sensing that that was far from the truth.
“Listen, Clara, I understand it can be really overwhelming moving to a new place, especially under these difficult circumstances. I’m so sorry for your loss.”
At the mention of her husband, Clara’s eyes filled with tears. Her lower lip trembled as she tried to maintain her composure.
“Thirty-six years. We had thirty-six wonderful years together. I don’t know how I’m going to do life without him.”
Danielle reached out, took her hand, and offered a gentle squeeze.
“You’re not alone, Clara. These people, this island—well, we all care for each other here. We’re family, and I know it doesn’t feel like it right now, but you’ll find your way again, a new way. Until you do, we’ll be here to help you. There are lots of men and women on this island who understand losing a spouse. Please try to make friends and get some support that way, too.”
Clara looked at Danielle. “Thank you. I think that I’m going to need a lot of help. Probably more than I realized.” She paused for a moment. “So, would you like to come inside?” Clara asked after a few moments. “I
mean, I can’t offer much. I just moved in. I haven’t even unpacked the kitchen yet, but I think I might be able to manage making some tea.”
Danielle smiled. “I’d like that very much.”
The inside of Clara’s cottage showed her grief. There were half-unpacked boxes stacked haphazardly all over the living room, some labeled in a precise masculine hand that had to have been her late husband’s, and then a grand piano dominated one corner. Danielle couldn’t imagine how they had gotten it onto the island. It was clearly untouched since her arrival, with its polished surface already collecting some dust.
Clara entered the small kitchen, filled a kettle, and set it on the stove. She was performing the movements like it was something she just remembered but no longer enjoyed.
“That piano is beautiful,” Danielle said, hoping to start a conversation.
Clara looked over at it. “You know, Robert gave me that on our twentieth anniversary. I haven’t been able to bring myself to play it since…” She trailed off, looking at the teacups.
“So, music was a shared passion.”
“Oh, it was our life,” Clara said, a hint of happiness returning to her voice. “We met during a summer program. I was conducting a youth orchestra. He was the guest conductor for a symphony orchestra. He came to one of my rehearsals and told me he had never seen anyone command a room the way I did. He said my hands spoke a language he’d been trying to learn his whole life.”
“Wow, he sounds like a remarkable man,” Danielle said.
“Oh, he was. And handsome, Hollywood handsome.” The kettle whistled, and Clara poured steaming water into a teapot. “But enough about my troubles. Tell me about this island. It’s very different from anywhere I’ve
lived before.”
Danielle sat with Clara and told her things about the island. She told her about some of the biggest personalities, like Morty. She told her about the activities they did and how it worked with her being the island nurse. But mostly, she just kept Clara company for as long as she could.
As Danielle sat with Clara, listening as she shared stories of her husband and their beautiful life together, she felt a renewed sense of purpose. This is why she became a nurse - not just to treat people’s physical ailments but to provide support, comfort, and even a listening ear when somebody needed it the most.
The wedding planning could wait.
Her most important role right now was to be there for Clara and the other residents of Wisteria Island as they navigated life. Together, they would help Clara heal and find her place among them.
Morty was hunched over his laptop, his reading glasses perched precariously at the end of his nose. The screen’s glow lit up his face as he scrolled through page after page, his eyes widening with each new discovery.
“Oh, my stars,” he muttered to himself.
He could barely contain his excitement. He had never gotten to do anything like this.
“This is perfect. It’s absolutely perfect,” he said, throwing up his hands.
On the screen before him was Pinterest, which had turned out to be a virtual treasure trove of wedding inspiration. From color palettes to centerpieces, boutonnieres to bouquets, Morty was deeply in his element. He
had taken it upon himself to help plan the wedding of the century for Danielle and Bennett, the two people who had become like family to him on their little island.
“Rustic chic. Oh, no, no, no. That simply will not do. Oh, but this—a beach boho theme,” he said, clapping his hands together. “Oh, my goodness! Look at those touches of coastal glam.”
Morty was practically bouncing in his seat as his mind raced with ideas. He began feverishly creating Pinterest boards, pinning images of driftwood arbors draped in gauzy fabrics and tables covered in seashells and sand dollars. He imagined barefoot bridesmaids wearing flowy seafoam green dresses. In his mind, this would be unlike any other celebration Wisteria Island had ever seen.
“Oh, my goodness, Danielle is going to love this,” he said to himself, grinning so hard that he feared his cheeks would hurt later. “Oh, and Bennett, too. I just can’t wait to show them.”
Nobody was there, but Morty was accustomed to talking to himself. He’d done it since he was a little kid. And the great thing was, he always agreed with what he said.
He knew some people might find his enthusiasm a bit much, but he couldn’t help it. He’d never had the chance to plan a wedding before, let alone for the two people that he cared about so deeply. This was his chance to show Danielle and Bennett just how much they meant to him and the whole island community.
A knock at the door interrupted Morty’s planning frenzy. He pushed his laptop aside and walked to the door, still muttering something about fairy lights to himself.
“Oh, Janice, what a wonderful surprise,” he said, finding the pink-haired square dancer on his doorstep.
“Good evening, Morty. I saw your lights on and thought I’d drop by for a bit. Good lord, what’s got you all worked up? I could hear you
talking to yourself from the sidewalk.”
Morty pulled her inside, unable to contain his excitement. ...
