Beside a Dreamswept Sea (26 page)

Frankie came running, then skidded to a stop beside Hatch and Suzie. Her dirty sneaker gained traction, lifting a little cloud of sand and dust. Hatch grinned at her.

“Hmm,” Bryce whispered. “Definitely a conspiracy brewing there, Miss Tate.”

“My thoughts exactly, Counselor.”

The three of them—Suzie and Frankie, flanking Hatch—linked hands, then walked toward Cally and Bryce.

Suzie had cookie crumbs at the corner of her mouth. On seeing that evidence of the little girl in her, Cally felt her heart was light enough to float.

“Fine day for a festival, ain’t it?” Hatch lifted his stubbly gray chin to the warm sun.

“Yes, it is.” Bryce shifted Lyssie, crooked in his good arm, then nodded at Hatch. “Good to see you again. We really enjoyed the lighthouse tour.”

“We did,” Cally added. “Suzie’s talked about it for days.”

“And complained about the Coast Guard automating all the lighthouses.” Bryce nodded. “She’s written a letter of complaint to the President.”

“Glad to hear it.” Hatch slid Suzie a gap-toothed grin. “I’m officially wintercating, but the tour was a pleasure. Amazing what a man will do for some of Miss Hattie’s muffins.”

“Wintercating?” Cally asked.

“Gearing up to watch the snow fall,” Suzie explained, her expression dead serious.

“Ah.” Adorable.

“I like Miss Hattie’s apple muffins,” Suzie said.

Hatch grunted. “Don’t be thinking this old man would snub his nose at ’em, but Miss Hattie’s got a heavy hand with cinnamon in her apple. Blueberry’s my pick.”

“Her banana’s the best. They’ve got nuts. I love nuts.” Frankie jerked at her skirt, clearly unhappy at wearing a dress, and looked at Suzie. “Better get that cookie off your face before my mom sees it. She can spot a speck at fifty yards and she’s determined we look and act like ladies today.”

Wanting to giggle, Cally shook out the paper napkin from her funnel cake, knocking the powdered sugar loose, then passed it to Suzie. “This might help.”

Suzie gave her lips a swipe. The crumbs tumbled in the sunlight down to the ground.

Biting back a grin, Hatch made a production of clearing his throat then stuffing his unlit pipe into his shirt pocket. “Me and these two upstarts have been talking.”

“I’ll tell him, Hatch.” Suzie looked from the man to Bryce. “I wanna see my island, Daddy.”

Bryce smiled at Suzie. “Honey, you’re not a villager. Little Island belongs to the villagers.”

“Miss Millie was talking to me, too.”

Hatch interrupted. “I’m of a mind to take her, Bryce, provided we’ve got your permission. What I mean is, I’m inviting all of you to come. Frankie’s folks, Sam and Edith Green—”

“They own Fisherman’s Co-op, Daddy.”

“Yes, Suzie, I know.”

Hatch went on. “The Greens have a boat, of course. They’re from away, but good folks planning on putting down roots here.”

“They’re planning on making me a lady, too, Mr. Richards,” Frankie explained further.

“I believe I’ve heard you mention that, Frankie.” Bryce nodded thoughtfully.

“She’s mentioned her mom, Daddy, but her dad wants it, too,” Suzie said.

“Listen up, half-pints.” Hatch squinted at the two girls. “If you’re wantin’ me to talk your folks into this, then you’ve got to let me get out more than two words between your interruptions so I can see the job done. Zip it.”

Suzie and Frankie both made motions of zipping their lips shut.

Bryce didn’t correct Hatch at the reference to Cally being the other half of Suzie’s folks. Cally didn’t, either. And she didn’t like it that she hadn’t. She especially didn’t like it that the idea of Suzie being her daughter felt sensational and appealed so much it left her heart feeling like mush.

“Now.” Hatch hiked up his pants. “I’m of a mind to build myself a sand castle or two, and these two upstarts have agreed to help me build a double-decker. If it’s okay with you two.”

“Please, Cally.” Suzie covered her mouth with her hand. “Sorry, Hatch. I forgot.”

He gave her shoulder a pat. “It’s okay, munchkin.”

Munchkin. The same endearment Bryce himself often used. Cally felt torn. Suzie wanted to do this; she fairly radiated anticipation, and Cally hated to disappoint her, but she couldn’t not disappoint her. “As much as I’d like to go, I’m going to have to pass, Hatch.”

“Aw, Cally.” Suzie let out a groan worthy of an Oscar. “Please.”

“Shoot.” Frankie stubbed the toe of her shoe in the sand.

Bryce looked perplexed. “Too many funnel cakes?”

She’d had three. She could lie. But not while looking into his gorgeous eyes and seeing his concern. “I don’t like boats.” A half-truth was better than a lie.

“Ah, geez, Cally.” Frankie motioned. “Hatch got his limp falling down a ladder on a boat, and he still likes ‘em. And Suzie has bad dreams about ’em, and she still wants to go.”

“Now, now.” Hatch put his pipe back into his mouth and squinted against the sun. “Don’t be badgering Cally. If she’s scared of boats, she’s scared of boats, and that’s that, in my estimation. Ain’t no crime, is it, Counselor?”

“No, it isn’t,” Bryce agreed.

From his expression, Bryce knew she’d not been totally honest. But he was being a gentleman, not calling her down on it. For that kindness she was grateful. And she positively hated liking that.

Hatch ruffled his stubbly whiskers with the back of his hand. “Though I have to say, we ain’t planning on taking no dip in the drink, Cally. Only on riding over to the island and building—”

“A few sand castles—a double-decker,” Cally finished for Hatch, embarrassed and not wanting to admit the real reason she didn’t want to go had nothing to do with the boat but with the water it was in. Hatch, somehow, had known that. She’d been right about him. Wise. With special gifts she couldn’t begin to fathom.

“Lyssie, please stop squirming.” Bryce shifted his weight, then cringed.

“The knee tiring out?”

“I’m afraid so.” He nodded. “Suzie, I think the ride is a little rough for Jeremy, and it’s about time for Lyssie’s nap.”

Cally took the wiggling baby from him, then settled her against her shoulder. “Are your folks going, Frankie?”

She nodded.

“Hatch, would it be too hard on you to keep an eye on Suzie without Bryce and me there?”

“’Course not.” He winked at Suzie. “Me and the upstart’ll challenge the Greens and Frankie to a castle-building contest. Maybe even a triple-decker.”

Suzie beamed up a smile at the old man and squeezed his gnarled hand until his fingertips went white, then lifted her brows expectantly at Cally.

“Well.” Cally smiled. “That’s settled, then.”

“Yippee!”

“Aw right!”

Hatch faked a grumble. “My ears’ll ring for a week.”

“Is it settled?” Bryce frowned at Cally.

“Isn’t it?” She hiked a shoulder. Oh, boy. She’d stepped over the line.

He stared at her for a long moment, then sighed. “I guess it is.”

Suzie let out a whoop. Lyssie bounced in her arms and squealed right into Cally’s left ear. Her groan was genuine.

“Kids.” Hatch harrumphed. “Ya gotta love ’em.” He linked his hands with Suzie’s and Frankie’s. “Don’t you two worry now. We’ll be back in time for Suzie to do the Highland Fling with Vic. She promised.” He winked at Cally. “I get a waltz.”

Hatch looked at Bryce, then back to Cally. “Wander along, if you’re of a mind to. Miss Millie and me will see to it Suzie gets home safe and sound.”

“Oh, will Miss Millie be going to the island, too?”

“Absolutely,” Hatch said. “Goes every festival, sure as dawn. Renews her spirit, she says. Likes the quiet, in my estimation.”

The three of them wound through the crowded parking lot to Main Street, then crossed the asphalt and walked on down to the pier behind the Co-op.

Bryce adjusted the sling around his neck, then slipped his free arm around Cally’s waist. “It’s a conspiracy, Miss Tate.”

She pivoted her head to look at him, and nearly brushed their noses. “What is, Counselor?”

He pretended to make sure they were out of earshot. Impossible considering the crowd. “I have it on good authority that the entire village is conspiring to get us alone together.”

They were. And had been since the day Cally had arrived. “Really? I hadn’t noticed.”

Bryce sent her a skeptical look. “The penalties for perjury are steep. Are you sure you wouldn’t like to reconsider your testimony?”

The challenge in his eyes didn’t tempt her half so much as the dare in his tone. Her voice dropped to husky. “Bad question to ask a courageless woman, Counselor.”

He cupped her chin in his big hand and his eyes went serious. “A woman who willingly spends the better part of her days and nights with a widower and his three small children isn’t courageless, Miss Tate. She’s golden-hearted and brave.”

“She’s lonely.” Cally spoke before she thought.

Surprise flickered in his eyes, though she’d not said anything she’d not openly admitted before. But, by unspoken agreement, they only had talked of their feelings under the cover of darkness, out in the hallway outside Suzie’s bedroom door.

Until now.

His breath fanned over her face. “I hope she’s less lonely with us than she is without us.”

Warmth oozed through Cally’s stomach. She met his gaze, so solemn, so intense. Could she do it? Tell him, openly? “She likes the racket, and the snacks, when they’re not straight health food.”

“Is that a yes?”

He needed, not wanted but needed, to know. “That’s a yes.”

“I’m glad.”

“I’m debating.”

“You’re making a big difference in our lives.” The sun kissed his hair, sheening the black strands glossy.

“Not really.”

“Really,” he insisted. “Especially with Suzie. She’s becoming a little girl again, Cally. Not nearly so serious or worried. Do you realize how much that means to me?”

“Yes, I do.” After their heart-to-heart talks, how could she not understand? “And I’m glad to see it. But Selena is Suzie’s ultimate authority. Her and Tony. Not me.”

Bryce cocked his head. “She quotes them both a thousand times a day, that’s true. But it’s worth noting that she’s never once turned to Selena for permission. Or to Mrs. Wiggins, for that matter.”

“What?” What was he talking about?

“Just now. Suzie didn’t ask me if she could go. She asked you. That’s a first. She’s always come to me.”

Boy, had she stepped over the line. Lyssie had dozed off, drooling against Cally’s neck. “Did it bother you—for Suzie to ask me?”

“Should it?”

“I don’t know.” What did he want from her? Did he think she was manipulating, insinuating herself into their lives? “I guess that depends on what you mean.”

He dug the tip of his cane into the sand-swept ground. “I don’t know what I mean.”

He truly didn’t. And if he didn’t know, then how the heck could she? “I see.” The steady breeze off the ocean had her lips dry. She licked at them. “I didn’t mean to offend you, Bryce, or to usurp your authority. Honestly, I just responded without thinking. I didn’t mean to step over the line. If that’s the problem, I’m sorry.”

He looked away.

Maybe he felt Suzie had slighted him. Or that he’d let her down. More likely the latter. “We’ve been spending a lot of time together with the kids, and I guess Suzie was just doing what felt natural to her.”

“Yeah, I guess she was.” He studied Cally’s face, blinked then blinked again. “Guess it felt natural to both of you. You responded without thinking.”

Cally inwardly groaned. Now she’d made him realize again what his children were missing in not having a mother. And, damn it, he was right. She
had
done what had come naturally in answering Suzie.

Great. Just great. He’d been teasing, for the first time looking halfway relaxed, and she drags him and herself down emotionally. More proof, as if she needed it.
Lousy.

“There you are.” Mrs. Wiggins joined them, swatting at her neck. “Aren’t these black flies just awful?”

“What black flies?” Bryce asked.

Cally hadn’t noticed any, either. It wasn’t even the right time of year for black flies.

Lyssie made a soft sucking sound and Cally rubbed tiny circles on her back, inhaling her sweet baby scent. Ah, there were no flies. Mrs. Wiggins was filing another protest. Though this one was a bit more subtle than her usual. She’d tired of the festivities and wanted an excuse to return to her stringent daily schedule.

She reached for Lyssie. “I’ll take her. I’m going back to the inn. Jeremy is bobbing for apples with Vic and Hattie, Mr. Richards. She’s says she’ll bring him home with her after they ride someone named Sobey’s pony.”