Margaret

Willamina and Margaret grew up in Blackberry Cove together and were two peas in a pod. They did everything together… rode their bikes to Ben’s Ice Cream Parlor every summer afternoon to get ice cream sandwich (for Willa) and firecracker popsicle (for Maggie). As they got older, they would cruise to school in the ancient Jetta Willa was able to get with the money she saved from her summer job. They didn’t need too many other friends; they had each other. But then Willa got the acceptance letter from Emerson College to pursue her dreams of getting a degree in publishing.

They spent every day together that last summer together. Maggie would be a junior in high school that upcoming year and was already chomping at the bit to begin her own adventure and conquer the world.

The day finally came, and Willa left home. Because Boston was so far from their coastal Northern Maine home, she wouldn’t be able to come home too often. She was already receiving several scholarships, grants, and plenty of loans to make her dream happen. In the two years she was gone while Maggie was finishing high school, Maggie’s life fell apart.

Losing their mom to a quick and horrible battle with ovarian cancer had been bad enough. But the spiral of depression their dad went down made her day-to-day life miserable. She tried to keep her phone calls with Willa upbeat, but dad’s drinking had become a problem, and his moods even worse. Maggie tried to stay away from home as much as she could. The place she and her sister had loved so much with its homely smells from the made from scratch bread their mom used to make was no longer a respite from the sometimes brutal, lonely world of teenage life. Maggie could wait to leave Blackberry Cove and never return.

Fast forward 10 years…

Margaret never thought she would ever come back to Blackberry Cove. She had promised her dad in her last words out the door the day after high school graduation that she would never return to this blasted place as long as he was alive. And she was true on that threat, not even coming back for his funeral. She was out of the country while he was on his deathbed, but she was pretty positive she wouldn’t have come back if she was closer. Those last years at home, he wasn’t the man she knew growing up. He was hateful, brash, and just downright mean to her. She was his garbage disposal for all his grief and anger.

Margaret worked her butt off and made something for herself. She was the head buyer for one of the top clothing designers in New York. Besides her sister, she didn’t have anyone and didn’t want anyone to get too close. She had her work, and for years, that’s all she needed.

As she boards the ferry to go back to Blackberry Cove, she feels somewhat lighter. Maybe this is her chance to start again. Her job gave her some time off to be at home and spend much needed time with her sis. Willa was pregnant and ready to bust out this little bundle of joy, and Margaret wanted to be there as much as she could. She was determined to not let her dad’s voice be the reason she was so jaded, so isolated from her family.

It was time for a change.