Page 14 of Smuggler’s Cove (Twin Lights #1)

Chapter Four

Lincoln

L incoln Taylor was born two years after his sister.

By that time, his father was considered a very wealthy man, and Lincoln enjoyed a cushy childhood.

His mother and sister doted on him with affection, but not to the extent that Lincoln was self-centered.

He was bright and developed an interest in building things with his LEGO sets.

His father hoped his son would become a keen athlete and then a financier, but Lincoln would rather assemble things than kick or throw a ball around.

Jackson enrolled Lincoln in tennis lessons, but like his sister, he had little interest. He did it to please his father, but his heart wasn’t in it.

When Jackson recognized his son wouldn’t excel in sports, he took less interest in Lincoln’s projects or schooling and happily shipped him off to the Hackley School as soon as possible.

Hackley didn’t have a first grade, per se.

They started the children with the curriculum of what is taught in second grade in most schools.

It was an accelerated program intended to challenge and advance students so they would have a competitive advantage when they completed their education.

Naturally, Jackson wanted his son to excel at something and hired tutors to prepare him while he was in kindergarten, and the summer that followed.

Lincoln was a smart fella and a quick study.

He surely did not want his sister to be smarter, so he was diligent about the assignments his tutors gave him.

By the time he enrolled at Hackley, he was ready academically, although he was a bit shy socially.

It was due to the limited access he had to other children.

When he wasn’t in school, his father insisted he study, which didn’t give Lincoln the opportunity to develop friendships.

Now, being away from home, the only person he felt comfortable with was his sister.

Madison was thrilled to have her very bright brother down the hall from her, and she made sure she included him in activities with the other kids.

It didn’t take long for Madison, Niko, and Lincoln to form an alliance.

They called themselves the Three Mushcateers, named after the oatmeal they had for breakfast every day.

With Niko’s parents traveling as much as they did, Madison invited her to stay at her house on several occasions.

She introduced Niko to Olivia, and the house was filled with children’s laughter on the weekends.

Gwen looked forward to those precious days when their squeals of joy echoed through the massive co-op.

Lincoln enjoyed playing with his sister and her friends.

Even though he was the youngest, they would often let him be in charge and decide what games they would play.

Once, when Jackson questioned why Gwen allowed Lincoln to spend so much time with “the girls,” Gwen took her cue from him.

She walked away, but not without a glancing blow of, “It builds character, Jackson. Something you may want to consider developing.” He would respond with something trite, but she would be sure she was out of earshot.

After ten years, she was beginning to recognize his faults, which were growing in concert with his fortune.

Lincoln was as observant as his sister. As he got older, he could recognize the tension between his parents.

Eventually he would discover the phrase passive-aggressive .

Lincoln also discovered he really didn’t like his father much.

When he was younger, he didn’t have the awareness, but once he went to school and observed how other people treated one another, he realized his father wasn’t very nice.

And he did not like the way his father treated his mother.

His father was dismissive, although it would be a few more years until Lincoln learned what that word meant, as well.

Mr. Bridwell took a special interest in the Taylor children.

For having come from a wealthy family, Bridwell was impressed by the way the children treated each other and their peers.

They were kind. Friendly. Responsible. Bridwell met Jackson Taylor on very few occasions and attributed the children’s standards to Gwen.

She was not a mother hen by any stretch of the imagination.

She was loving but not smothering. She didn’t treat her children as if they were walking on water.

Lincoln and Madison knew what was expected of them and were conscious about pleasing their mother and making her proud.

By the time they were teenagers, they knew trying to make their father proud was a dead-end street.

When Lincoln turned twelve, Bridwell asked him if he had any interest in learning how to play golf.

Finally, there was an outdoor activity that sparked Lincoln’s interest. Basketball and football had no appeal.

Both seemed too rowdy. Not that Lincoln was a sissy.

He preferred a more subdued activity, like the time Uncle Kirby took him fishing when he was younger.

Yes, golf could be something he could explore.

When it came to his studies, his favorites were math and science.

The hints from his father about going into finance were not subtle, but Lincoln was more inclined to academia.

He enjoyed the structure and camaraderie among the faculty of Hackley and wanted to pursue a degree in higher education.

Unfortunately, his father put the kibosh on it and told Lincoln he would not pay for his college education if he was just going to become a teacher.

“You’d be better off working on the railroad. ”

It wasn’t until years later when Lincoln discovered his father had greatly exaggerated their lineage.

True, his grandfather served in World War II.

But he was not a decorated hero who died of war injuries.

No. His grandfather had been a union worker for the New York Central rail line and died because of injuries sustained in a car accident while he was driving drunk.

Lincoln also discovered they were not remotely related to President Zachary Taylor.

By his senior year, Lincoln made a loosely veiled gesture and enrolled in Pace University with a major in finance. He could change it at some point, but if not, he could continue to grad school once he finished there and major in whatever he wanted. But until that time, he had to toe the line.

Lincoln and his sister were model students and graduated with honors. Both applied for scholarships, not because they needed financing, but because their father thought it would look good on their résumés. Scholarships for high achievement.

It was September 1996 when Lincoln began his first year of college, and Madison was entering her junior year at FIT, the Fashion Institute of Technology. That’s when everything changed.