Ashley dragged an old duffel bag off the top shelf of her closet. It came down with a layer of dust and a couple shoe boxes. She coughed, sneezed, then nearly burst into tears when an old and terribly familiar smell wafted through the room. It was the smell of the sea, the smell of the boat, the smell of fear. She stared at the duffel bag in dismay. It had been eight years since she’d used it. Too long for the smells to still be there. Was it just her imagination?
Oh, what did it matter? Her life was falling apart.
She couldn’t believe her father wanted them to race again. She couldn’t believe that K.C. had somehow been involved with her mother. What was that all about? Was it a lie? Or something more? And did she really want to know?
She had to get away. The walls were closing in. Just like before, during that terrible storm, when she’d seen the water slipping in under the door. She’d had the terrible feeling they were already underwater. She wouldn’t be able to get out. She wouldn’t be able to breathe. She’d die slowly, suffocating, the way she was suffocating now.
“Ashley -- open up.” She heard a male voice and a pounding on the door. The voice brought her back to reality, and she ran out of her bedroom before the memories could come back.
Sean was at the door. Her jaw dropped in shock. “What are you doing here?”
“I want to know what happened,” he said, his eyes determined.
“About what? Are you talking about K.C.? He just showed up with the Moon Dancer. My father wants to race him, and he wants me onboard. It’s crazy. I don’t know what’s happening. Everything is changing.”
“What the hell are you talking about?”
Ashley stared at him. “K.C.”
“I didn’t come here to talk about K.C., but about Jeremy. I’m talking about my brother, and that little bombshell you dropped last night.”
It seemed like a million years ago since she had spoken to Sean. Had it only been last night?
“You said you kissed him.” Sean planted his hands on his hips. “I want to know why and when and all the rest. So start talking.”
“I don’t have time,” she said, making a quick decision.
“Make time.”
“I can’t. I’m leaving.” She walked into the bedroom and began emptying her drawers into the duffel bag.
“Where are you going?” Sean asked from the doorway.
“Away.”
“Why?”
“You always have so many questions for me,” she said, pushing her hair out of her face.
“And you never have any answers.”
Sean crossed the room as she yanked open another dresser. “Stop it, would you?” He grabbed her by the arm. “Stop packing and talk to me. I want to know what happened between you and my brother. And why you decided to tell me now.”
“Let go of me.” She tried to free her arm, but he held on tight, so tight she felt trapped. Acute panic set in. “Let go!” she yelled. “I have to get out of here.” She finally yanked her arm free.
“Ashley, wait! Where are you going?”
“I don’t know.” She tossed more clothes into the bag, some falling on the floor, some on the bed, but she didn’t care. “I have to get out before I lose what little is left of my mind. If you care at all for me, you’ll help me.”
“Ash, I don’t know what you want me to do.”
What did she want him to do? She drew in a deep breath, forcing herself to think. She knew the last ferry had already left the island. If she wanted to leave Castleton, she needed a boat. “I want you to take me to the mainland.”
His jaw dropped. “You’re willing to get on my boat?”
“I just said that, didn’t I?” But could she get on his boat? It was dark now. The water would be black. She wouldn’t be able to see the horizon or where she was going.
Sean gave her an uncertain look. “Maybe you should talk to someone, call Kate or Caroline. You’re obviously upset about something.”
“Upset? You think I’m upset?” Was that her voice screeching like a maniac? It must be, because Sean was staring at her like she’d gone over the edge. “I’m sorry. I can’t do this anymore. It’s too much for me.” She felt overwhelmed, exhausted, terrified, and almost wished she could cry to release some of the tension, but her eyes were dry. Her tear ducts as empty as everything else.
“Look, I don’t understand half of what you said before, but just take it easy, okay? Don’t do anything rash. There’s always tomorrow, if you still want to go.”
“If I don’t go now, I’m not sure I will ever go.”
“Then that’s a good reason to wait.”
Ashley sank down on the edge of the bed, feeling defeated.
After a moment Sean sat down next to her. “Do you want to talk about any of it?”
“No.” There were too many thoughts crowding her head to make sense of any of them.
“All right, then. ”
Sean put his arm around her shoulders. Ashley tensed, but when he didn’t make another move, she gradually began to relax, taking precious comfort in his embrace. He wasn’t asking anything of her. He wasn’t demanding that she do something or say something. For the first time in a long time, she felt safe. This was Sean, her first love, her only love, if the truth be told. No one else had ever come close. She’d tried to put her love away, because she didn’t deserve him. But he was here, and she was weak. She needed to lean on someone.
“Don’t go,” she whispered, resting her head on his chest. The beat of his heart was strong and steady. “I know I shouldn’t ask.”
“It’s about time you did,” he muttered.
“You must hate me.”
He let out a heavy sigh. “I wish I did. It would make it a whole lot easier.”
Kate just wanted a closer look. It wasn’t a crime, she told herself, as she walked down to the docks. She was human after all, despite her father’s earlier criticism, which still stung. She’d tried to work, but sorting inventory at the bookstore hadn’t proved a big enough distraction, and there was no way she was going back to the Oyster Bar. She’d had enough of her father, and Tyler, too.
She just wanted a few minutes alone with something that had once been a very important part of her life, the Moon Dancer. They’d come together as a family when they’d first set sail, the close confines of the boat forcing them to talk to one another, to share the workload, to rely on one another for everything from food to survival. They’d learned a lot on the water with only themselves to depend on. When the racing had begun, the experience had taken on a new dimension.
The competition had created an excitement, a rush as they barreled into the wind, trying to go as fast as they could. The ports of call had been filled with parties, celebrations, and tall tales of what had happened during each leg of the race. In the beginning, she had soaked it all up as if she were a hungry sponge. She’d loved being part of it, seeing her father in his element, and Jeremy, too, sharing the same excitement and joy. She should have realized that two such strong men would come into conflict.
Looking back, she could see where the first thread had begun to unravel. Unfortunately, she hadn’t noticed that loose thread until everything fell apart.
Shaking her head, Kate moved closer to the siren that called her name. The Moon Dancer sat proudly on the water, bobbing gently with the swells. Her breath caught in her throat. It was a magnificent boat, a lightweight, forty-seven-foot speedster guaranteed to give a spirited yet comfortable ride. Her parents had designed the boat and had it custom built at a yard in Seattle. Their idea was to use race technology to build a cruiser that could win races. And the Moon Dancer had more than lived up to the challenges they’d put it through. She’d not only won for them, she’d sheltered and protected them.
Kate drew in a breath and slowly let it out, allowing the emotions to sweep through her soul. There was no point in trying to hold them back; they were overflowing. She felt joy at seeing the boat; she also felt incredible sadness for a time in their lives that had been both the worst and the best. Maybe life would always be like that, offering something good, only to counter it with something bad.
“Boo!”
Kate jumped at the sound behind her. She whirled around in surprise to see K.C.’s son, David, laughing at her. “David. You scared me.”
He pulled the cigarette out of his mouth and flicked the ashes into the water. “That’s what you get for trying to sneak onto my boat. Or do you still think it’s yours?”
“I wasn’t trying to sneak onto the boat. And I know who owns it.”
“I hope so. If not, I can always show you my daddy’s pink slip. That’s right, my daddy. Not yours, Kate, even though you used to think of him as a second daddy, didn’t you? Uncle K.C., isn’t that what you called him? Didn’t you give him a big fat kiss every time he brought you candy or toys or whatever else you wanted, little princess?”
There was an animosity in David’s voice she hadn’t expected. “You sound like …”
“What? What do I sound like?”
“Like you hate me.” She laughed as if the thought were absurd, but he didn’t laugh back, and a chill washed over her body.
“Of course I don’t hate you,” he said smoothly. “I don’t even know you. Isn’t that right? We only spoke a few times over the years when I came to visit my father. You were all too busy to hang out with me.”
“I didn’t think you were interested in hanging out with us.”
“Oh, I don’t know. I was always curious about the girls who spent more time with my father than I did.”
“That wasn’t our fault.”
“Did I say it was?”
She didn’t like the thread of their conversation. “I’m leaving now.”
“Don’t you want to go onboard?”
“No.” Kate shook her head, even though his unexpected invitation had sent her heart racing.
“You’re not interested in seeing what the inside looks like?”
“Not really.”
He stepped in front of her as she turned to leave. “It’s the first time in my life that I got something of yours, instead of the other way around.”
Kate frowned, seeing not just anger in his dark brown eyes but also pain. “What are you talking about?”
“I’m talking about holidays and birthdays, Christmas presents that my father gave to you and your sisters instead of to me. He wanted your family, your mother. He wanted your life.”
“That’s not true. He was a friend, that’s all.”
“Really? You think that’s all he was?”
“Yes.” She hated the doubt that once again crossed her mind. First K.C., then her own father, now David. Did they all know something she didn’t?
Uncle K.C. had always been around when she was small. So many videos showed him standing by the Christmas tree or laughing with her mother in the kitchen. Then it had changed. Something had happened. She did not want to believe it had anything to do with her mother.
“I thought you were the smart one,” David said. “I must have been mistaken.”
“You don’t know anything. You’re just trying to annoy me.”
“I might be,” he admitted. “Or I might not.”
“Why did you and your father come back here? So you could have this little moment of triumph in front of us? So you could say you’re better than us? Is that what it’s all about?”
David didn’t answer right away. Then he said, “I’m not sure.” There was a touch of uncertainty in his voice.
“What? Now you’re pretending ignorance? I thought you knew everything about the relationship between your family and mine.”
“I know more than you, obviously.”
“Like what? What do you think you know?”
“My father and your mother had an affair.”
His blunt words stole her breath away.
“That’s not true.” A sense of impending doom lent little strength to her words. “It can’t be true.”
“You look a little like him -- my father.”
The implication flashed through her like the sharp edge of a knife. “You are sick.”
“Why don’t you ask him?”
“I wouldn’t believe a word your father said.” She walked briskly away from him.
“Then ask Duncan,” David called after her.
She didn’t have to ask Duncan. She knew who her father was. Didn’t she?
K.C. Wales, born Kendrick Charles Wales in San Francisco, California, was the only son of a fisherman and a high school English teacher. Tyler skimmed the data appearing on the screen of his laptop computer. He wasn’t sure exactly what he was looking for, but he knew it wasn’t in K.C.’s childhood. The connection with the McKenna family had come later. Sure enough, as his fingers flew across the keys, checking various search results, Tyler came up with the sailing connection. K.C. Wales and Duncan McKenna began racing each other in competitions during what had to be the early years of Duncan’s marriage. Their rivalry had continued into the Winston Around-the-World Challenge, in which K.C., the skipper of the Betsy Marie, had been the only survivor of the ship that went down in the storm.
Tyler frowned, searching for what happened next. There didn’t appear to be any further reports. The man seemed to disappear after the race. Tyler supposed that wasn’t unusual for someone who had almost drowned. Then again, K.C. had looked in fine health when he’d confronted Duncan in the Oyster Bar several hours earlier.
Tyler tapped his keyboard impatiently. What he really wanted to know was what K.C. had done between the race and now. He’d tried to get the information from Duncan, but Duncan had been strangely quiet on the subject, despite consuming enough whiskey to float a boat. While Duncan had spewed forth endless tales of racing victories, he’d refused to say anything about the girls or K.C. Finally, Tyler had given up when Duncan called over more of his pals to share tales with.
Giving the bartender a twenty-dollar bill and instructions to make sure Duncan got a cab ride home, Tyler had returned to his hotel, hoping that Kate wouldn’t be called out yet again to rescue her father. Not that she’d thank him for getting in the middle, but he was there, no doubt about it. And he was more than a little curious about K.C.
Who was this man? Duncan’s friend? His rival? His enemy? Had there been something going on between K.C. and Kate’s mother, Nora, as K.C. had implied? And what was K.C.’s motive for bringing the Moon Dancer to Castleton?
“It doesn’t matter,” Tyler muttered to himself. So what if K.C. had slept with Kate’s mother? They weren’t the ones who’d given Amelia up for adoption. He had to get his focus back. Rubbing the tense muscles in his neck, he rolled his head back and forth on his shoulders. He closed his eyes, trying to relax and de-stress, but now all he could see in his mind was the hurt look in Kate’s eyes when her father had criticized her.