In Shelter Cove (13 page)

While Digger was digging, Jason squatted down next to Lucas, showing him how to hold the kite. Brianna didn’t think they’d have any trouble getting it up in the air; it was windier than heck. She’d pulled her hair back in a ponytail, but several strands had already blown loose and were whipping about her face. Her skin tingled from the sun and the salty breeze. Even though she was a little cold, she also felt invigorated for the first time in a long time.

“Okay, Lucas, give it a shot,” Jason said, stepping back.

“Aren’t you going to show him how to do it first?” she asked, surprised by his willingness to turn the kite over to Lucas.

“It’s his kite. He should be the first one to fly it.” Jason gave Lucas an encouraging nod. “Just hang on tight, Lucas.”

Lucas took off running, and in seconds the kite blew up behind him. Brianna felt a sudden rush of worry. What if the kite went too high and dragged Lucas toward the edge of the bluff ? But Jason was already running next to Lucas, keeping pace with her little boy.

They were shouting and laughing as the kite blew toward the heavens, the red and purple colors lighting up the grayish sky. Unexpected tears gathered in her eyes. She’d never seen Lucas so happy, so free from the somber quiet that had surrounded them for so many years. This was exactly what she had wanted for him.

She stumbled as the leash suddenly jerked in her hand. Digger had decided the guys were having too much fun without him, and soon she was running just as fast as they were. She didn’t know how many trips they made back and forth across the bluff, but finally Lucas and the dog got tired, both collapsing to the ground in a mix of delighted barks and giggles.

Jason pulled the kite back to earth. His hair was tousled from the wind, his eyes lit with pleasure. He looked young, happy, and carefree.

“Your turn,” Jason said, holding the kite out to her with a smile.

“I’m fine.”

“You can’t come out here and not fly the kite.”

“I just ran two miles chasing you, Lucas, and the dog.”

“Give me the leash.” She saw nothing but encouragement in her eyes. “You should do it, Brianna. It’s exhilarating to let the wind carry you away. I want you to feel it.”

His words held a promise that was too tantalizing to resist.

Lucas offered words of advice as she started to
jog down the bluff. She didn’t intend to go far, but once the kite took flight, she felt as if she was soaring right along with it. It
was
an incredibly freeing feeling. Her feet had been planted on the ground for years, her head down, plowing through her daily life without any real joy. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d looked up, the last time she’d dreamed about anything.

The wind wrapped around her like a blanket of love. She heard voices whispering in the air and had the absurd thought that the angels were singing. And somewhere in that chorus was Derek’s voice—lighter now, not filled with sadness and guilt but buoyed by love and hope.
It’s time for your dreams now, Brianna. Make them big, make them bold, make them real.

She didn’t realize she was crying until she stopped running, and Jason and Lucas looked at her with concern.

She wiped her cheeks with her hand and smiled. “Just the wind,” she lied. “That was incredible. Thank you.”

Jason nodded, his knowing gaze seeing past her excuses. “You’re welcome. You deserved that.”

“Do you think I’ll win the contest, Mommy?” Lucas asked.

“I don’t think it matters, honey, as long as you have as much fun as you did today.”

“The fun isn’t over yet,” Jason said unexpectedly. “Do you feel up to a little more exploring?”

“I do! I do!” Lucas said, the dog barking in agreement.

Jason laughed. “I’ve got two takers. What about you?”

He held out his hand to Brianna, and she took it without thinking. His fingers curled around hers, jolting her with delicious heat. She hadn’t felt so warm or so connected to a man in a long time. It was terrifyingly good. She pulled her hand from his grip and took Lucas’s hand instead. This was the guy she needed to hang on to.

Jason led them down a long, winding path to the beach below. Surrounded by the tall bluffs, the beach was very protected, the wind surprisingly nonexistent.

“It’s called Shelter Cove,” he told her.

“I can see why. It’s so calm.”

“It provided shelter for three survivors of the
Gabriella,”
he said. “They were clinging to boards from the ship when the storm tossed them here.”

“It’s beautiful.” The shallow water was a pretty blue-green, the current gentle. Only hundreds of yards away on the other side of the point were wild, crashing waves, but a natural land barrier protected this strip of the beach.

“Digger wants to go in the water,” Lucas announced.

She glanced down at Digger, who was straining on the leash held by Jason. “Should we let him go?”

Jason nodded. “I don’t think he can get into too much trouble here.” He let the dog off the leash, and Digger dashed toward the sea.

Lucas immediately followed.

“Don’t get too close to the water,” she warned him. Lucas had taken swimming lessons since he was two and loved the water, but he’d never been in the ocean. Fortunately, he was distracted by the shells lying along the beach and squatted down to explore them.

She drew in a breath and let it out, feeling even more at peace in this quiet cove where the wind had dulled to a dim roar. “I do like the sea. There’s something about standing on the edge of the continent that makes me feel both big and small at the same time.”

“Any desire to see what’s on the other side of the horizon?”

“I’ve already been there.”

“That’s right; you’re a world traveler. I forgot.” He picked up a rock and tossed it into the ocean. “The farthest trip I’ve made is to Hawaii.”

“To surf?” she asked.

He smiled. “There are some monster waves over there.”

“I can imagine.” She sat cross-legged on the sand, letting her fingers trail through the grains.

Jason sat down next to her, stretching out his long legs, and they watched Lucas and the dog playing on the beach. She hadn’t felt so content in a long time.

“You’re quiet,” Jason commented.

“It’s peaceful here.”

Another minute ticked by, and despite the beauty of the scene, she could feel tension building between
them. “Why don’t you just ask me whatever it is you want to ask?” she said finally.

Jason shot her a quick look. “What are you talking about?”

“I can feel your curiosity.” She crossed her arms in front of her chest, feeling as if she needed to be careful, needed to protect herself.

“Why Derek?” he asked finally.

She drew in a quick breath. It was an easy question, wasn’t it? She’d met Derek at his art gallery. She’d been invited to an exhibit by one of her parents’ friends. She’d been running late, having gotten caught in an unusual Southern California rainstorm. She’d dashed into the gallery and paused by the front mirror to check her appearance. As she’d run her fingers through her hair, a man came up behind her, his gaze meeting hers in the mirror. She’d been startled by his beautiful hazel eyes, which seemed to change colors as he stared at her. She hadn’t been able to look away, and neither had he.

“So many people looked past me,” she murmured. “I was practically invisible to my parents, but Derek saw me. He made me feel like I was the most important person in the room. When we met, he told me that if he were still painting, he would have wanted to paint me, because he’d never seen eyes as blue as mine.” She cleared her throat, feeling a little awkward. “I suppose you think that was quite a line.”

“You do have beautiful eyes,” Jason commented.

“Derek had great eyes, too. He swept me off my feet. We had a six-month whirlwind relationship of
dinner and dates. Everything was fast and intense. I was twenty-five years old, and I’d never had as much fun with anyone as I had with him. I didn’t want it to end, so when he asked me to marry him, I said yes. And when he brought me here to Angel’s Bay and Nancy pulled me into her arms and squeezed me as tight as she could, I felt like I’d come home. She told me I was going to be the daughter she never had. And Rick was just as warmhearted and generous. The Kanes were everything I’d imagined a family to be.”

“And you never had a doubt, never thought to yourself, This is a little too fast? Do I really know this guy?” he asked

She moistened her lips. “Maybe I did. But I was young, and when Derek was around, it was easy to push those doubts aside. He had a big presence. When he was in the room, everyone knew it.”

“That’s true.” Jason’s gaze clung to hers. “But what about after the trial, Brianna? You sat in that courtroom and heard the testimony. You didn’t believe any of it? You didn’t see the holes in Derek’s story?”

“I saw the holes in your case,” she retorted.

“And during the last five years, no doubts? None whatsoever?”

“Let’s talk about something else,” she said abruptly.

“Am I getting too close?”

“Tell me more about this cove and the survivors who washed ashore here. Or else let’s just go.”

Jason hesitated, “Fine, we’ll change the subject for now. There were three men who landed here.
They had no idea that most of the survivors had made it to land a few miles north. They lived on the beach, in the caves when the weather was bad.” He pointed to the outcropping of rocks at the far end of the beach. “When the tide is low, you can go inside. The caves extend deep into the bluff. There are still some etchings on the walls from when the men hid out there.”

“Can we see?” she asked, feeling a tingle of excitement at the prospect.

“The tide is coming in now, so it would be too dangerous. While the water doesn’t reach the back of the cave, you could easily get stuck in there for a few hours. We can come back when it’s low—it’s something to see. Derek and I discovered the caves together. We went in expecting to find a skeleton or gold from the wreck, but all we found were some marks on a wall. That didn’t stop other kids from exploring. Colin got sucked out to sea by a riptide one day and almost drowned. He claims an angel saved him, but I think he just got lucky. After that, the caves were roped off for a while, and most people just forgot about them. They’re off the beaten track.”

“Who were the shipwreck survivors who landed on this beach?”

“Caleb Hughes, Peter Danforth, and Ramón Delgado.”

She tensed at the mention of one of the Delgado brothers. “I thought Ramón and his brother, Victor, were together when they came ashore.”

“No, they didn’t reunite for several months, when
the men finally made their way up the coast. When Ramón discovered that Eve was dead, he blamed his brother.”

“Which is why some people think that Ramón stole
The Three Faces of Eve
from Victor,” she finished with a sigh. “We always come back to those paintings, don’t we?” She paused. “I spoke to Katherine Markham yesterday. Do you know her?”

“Sure. She’s a local girl.”

“She suggested that Wyatt might not have wanted to donate the paintings to the museum but was forced into it by her aunt and uncle.”

Jason’s gaze didn’t waver. “Are you accusing Wyatt of stealing the paintings?”

“Did you ever consider that a possibility?”

“He owned the paintings. Why donate them if he wanted to keep them? And as for the idea that Wyatt could be forced into something by the Markhams . . .” He shook his head. “No possible chance. Wyatt is a force of nature. What he wants he gets.”

“Exactly.”

“Brianna, I know you want to find someone else to blame, but I think you’re going down the wrong road.”

“I’m keeping an open mind—something you choose not to do.”

“I know Wyatt. You don’t. It makes it easier for me to see which roads are dead ends.” He took a breath. “And I knew Derek, too, maybe better than you did. His dreams might have changed over the
years, but they didn’t diminish in size. The day before the robbery, he came to my house while you were shopping for your wedding dress. He talked about all the connections he’d made in L.A., the celebrities he was working with, and the money people were willing to spend on art. He said his life was shaping up just the way he planned.”

“He worked hard, and he had ambition, but a lot of men do. You put everything Derek said or did that week in the context of him being the thief.”

“I worked with the facts that I had. You have to let this go, Brianna. It will eat you up inside, and for what purpose? You gave up five years of your life to fight for Derek. How many more will it take? If you don’t let go of the past, you’ll never have a future. That’s not fair to Lucas. He needs a mother who’s living in the present, not in the past.” He put up a hand, apology in his eyes. “I’m sorry. That didn’t come out the way I intended, but I won’t lie to you, Brianna. That’s a promise.”

“Just because you’re honest doesn’t mean you’re right.” Glancing down at her watch, she realized Derek’s attorney would be at her house in a few minutes. She got to her feet. “I have to get back. I have a meeting at five.”

She grabbed the kite off the ground and called for Lucas. He ran back to them with a dripping-wet puppy at his heels. Digger’s black coat was soaked, and he was covered with a thick layer of sand that he was vigorously shaking onto the rest of them.

“He’s kind of dirty,” Lucas said.

“
Not a problem,” Jason replied. “I’ve got towels in the car.” He took the leash from Lucas’s hand and led the way toward the car.

Jason gave Digger a quick towel dry before putting him in the back next to Lucas and shutting the door. Brianna slid into the front seat.

“Thanks for today,” she said as he started the engine. “It meant a lot to Lucas.”

“I had fun. And I think for a while you did, too,” he said pointedly.

She looked away. More than she’d ever imagined.

When they arrived at her house, there was a black BMW parked in front. Mr. Isaacs was waiting on the porch. He was in his early sixties, but his illness made him look older. His hair had grayed, and his black suit looked a size too big.

Jason gave her a speculative look. “Isn’t that Derek’s attorney?”