Beside a Dreamswept Sea (43 page)

“Can we call you mom and everything?”

“I’d love that, Suzie.”

“Are you sure? Meriam didn’t like us calling her—”

Oh, God. “I’m sure. Everything, Suzie. I promise.”

Bryce’s voice came out husky. “We’ll be right here. If you need us, you just call out and we’ll come.”

“Okay, Daddy. ’Nite.”

Bryce softly closed the door, and his expression crumbled. He clenched his hands into fists.

“Bryce?”

He stared deeply into her eyes, his own flooded with pain. “She’s going to dream, Cally. She’s going to do it again, and I can’t be there to help her.”

Because there was nothing she could say, because she felt every bit as helpless and frustrated as he did, Cally opened her arms and just held him tight.

She’s dreaming again, Tony.

Standing beside Suzie’s bed, looking down on her, he heard Sunshine’s familiar voice. Who was she? Meriam? Mary Beth? Mary Elizabeth? Surely not Mary Elizabeth. Even after fifty-one years, he’d surely recognize his own sister’s voice, wouldn’t he?
I
know. Don’t you think I know? I see the signs, just as you do.

I’m not the enemy, Tony. I know how hard it is for you to stand here and watch and to do nothing. I’m here to help support you through it.

He squeezed his hands into fists, clenched his jaw.
She’s going to drown.

Only in her dream.

Tonight. But what about tomorrow night? What about then?

You know the answer to that as well as I do. We can’t do anything more to stop it. We have our instructions.

Damn them.

You don’t mean that. In your heart, past the pain of watching this tragic thing with Suzie, you know there’s a reason. You know it as well as you know Hattie—

Tony stole inside Suzie’s thoughts. She was dreaming. Already in the boat.
You said to try harder. There’s got to be something I can do. What is it? Do you know? Help me. Whoever you are, please help me.

I can’t.
Sunshine’s voice cracked.

Frustration so strong it threatened to buckle his legs attacked Tony. He rebelled against it, locking his knees.
You could intercede.

I’m forbidden, just as you are.

Fine.
He couldn’t do it. Even knowing the price he would pay, that his reassignment would be speeded up, that he’d never again see his beloved Hattie or hear her blister his ears, he couldn’t do it. He couldn’t stand by and watch Bryce’s and Cally’s lives destroyed by watching Suzie die. He couldn’t do it. He
wouldn’t
do it.

Don’t do this, Tony!

I have to. If I don’t, I’ll never forgive myself. I won’t respect myself and I sure as hell won’t be the man Hattie loves and believes me to be. I have to help Suzie. I know the costs, Sunshine, but it’s one of those things I just have to do.

He closed his eyes, whispered a message he prayed would linger inside Seascape’s walls, would echo and remind Hattie Stillman how deeply she was loved.
In my mind, we’ll always be walking on the cliffs together, Hattie, just like we used to. And I’ll take the yellow carnation from my lapel and give it to you. It’s a symbol for joy, Hattie. You’ve always been my joy. You always will be. Whether or not we’re together ever again, I’ll love you forever, Hattie Stillman. Eternally. That, too, I vow.

Sunshine wept.

And Tony stepped into the storm, into Suzie’s dream.

He stumbled over the oak, as he did every night, but his foot stinging long since had ceased to surprise him. He knew now that this wasn’t an ordinary dream, it was a premonition. Knew now that tomorrow night it would become a reality.

Glimpsing her nightgown, he dove in and retrieved Suzie.

Clinging to him, her lips blue, her teeth chattering, she sputtered. “You weren’t supposed to come!”

“I know. But it worked out so that I could.”

“Oh, Tony.” She latched her arms around his neck, squeezed him tightly. “I love you.”

“I love you, too, Suzie.” Tears stung his eyes, and he wept.

When they arrived back on the shore, a woman stood there, waiting.

Stunned, Tony paused, the water lapping at his ankles.

“Who is she?” Suzie asked, tensing in his arms.

“I don’t know.”

“She’s pretty.”

She was. Her hair was dark brown, flowed in waves down to her shoulders, and she had an ethereal air around her that rippled out vibrations of serenity and calm.

“Hello, Tony. Suzie,” the woman said.

It was the same voice he’d recognized hearing so often before. “Sunshine? What are you doing here?”

“I wanted to tell you, face-to-face. I have no choice but to report this, but in my heart, I understand.”

His reassignment definitely would be speeded up. “Tonight will be the last time, won’t it?”

Sadness filled her face and shone in her expressive eyes. “I’m afraid so.”

“Oh, God.” He felt as if the life had been sucked out of him.

“Tony? What’s she mean?” Suzie grabbed his chin, looked into his eyes. “What’s she mean?”

“My being here with Miss Hattie, munchkin. I’m, um, being put on restriction.”

“Un-uh. Grown-ups don’t get busted.”

“Suzie, honey, I’ve never lied to you.”

“No, but—”

“You have to trust me on this. You don’t understand—”

“Yes, I do.” She frowned at him. “You said if only you have the courage to believe, then miracles can happen beside a dreamswept sea. You said, Tony. I believed you, and now I’m getting a new mom. And she wore a yellow carnation, too, just like you said.”

“But that doesn’t have anything to do with this.”

“Yes, it does. I know it does. In here.” Suzie thumped her chest. “You gotta believe, Tony. Just like me. The lady has a headband on. Do you see it?”

He hadn’t noticed. Now, he looked. It was fashioned from flowers. Yellow carnations.

“I’ll bet she believes.”

How could he tell Suzie that miracles only happened for special guests? How could he tell her that miracles were impossible for him and Hattie? And how could he bear going on, knowing he’d seen his beloved for the last time?

“I know. I felt the same way. But Tony is . . . well, Tony. He’s wonderful. And I figure she must be, too, or he wouldn’t allow her to be here.” There. She’d said it. If he thought she’d lost her mind, so be it.

“Valid point.” Bryce leaned back, rubbed at his beard. “With Miss Hattie here, especially.”

He’d accepted it. Immensely relieved, Cally opened the door to her feelings. “I think the woman might have helped Suzie. It’s the only thing that makes any sense.”

“It’s possible.” Bryce paused, then shook his head as if to clear it. “Do you realize how bizarre this entire conversation would sound to anyone else?”

“Yeah, but they’re not here, living it. We are. And that makes a lot of difference.”

“It does. But even to me it sounds weird.”

“It
is
weird.” Cally shrugged. “But that doesn’t mean it’s not happening.”

“No, it’s happening.” He lifted his spoon and took another bite. “Tony’s been really worried about something. Miss Hattie, too.”

Cally emptied her bowl and set it aside. It was still warm to her hands. “We know they became engaged on Thanksgiving. It’s tomorrow and maybe they’re upset—”

“No,” Bryce cut in. “It’s more. There’s a sense of finality in Tony. Something this Thanksgiving is different. Worse.” Bryce’s eyes glittered with speculation. “What could be worse for Tony and upset Miss Hattie so badly?”

“Being separated.” A shiver of dread raced up Cally’s backbone. “That’s the only thing I can imagine upsetting both of them so much.”

“Exactly, Miss Tate.” Bryce leaned forward over the table, then laced his hands atop it. “So what exactly could force them to separate after half a century together?”

“I have no idea, Counselor.”

“Me, either. But when we find out the answer to that, I’ll wager—” He stopped cold and his face went white. “Suzie.”

“Suzie?” Cally frowned. “I’m not tracking.”

“He promised Suzie he’d be there. Then says he can’t be. There’s more than one like him. Tony and the woman. So if he can’t be there for Suzie, knowing how he is about his promises, maybe it’s because he wasn’t supposed to be there to start with, and—”

Cally gasped. “And someone insisted he not be there anymore.”

“Probable.”

“Logical. And maybe the penalty for being there anyway—”

“Miss Hattie.”

“Oh, God.” Tony separated from Hattie. Suzie could never learn of this. She’d die from the guilt. Suzie! Cally shook so hard she nearly rattled off her chair. “If that’s the case, Bryce, then this nightmare of Suzie’s isn’t an ordinary dream.”

“I know.” Pain tensed his features gaunt.

“But she drowns in the dream!”

His haunted eyes glossed over. “Yes, Cally. Suzie drowns.”

The phone rang.

“It’s for you, dear.” Miss Hattie waved toward the kitchen table where Bryce and Cally sat, seeming extremely distracted. Mixing up a batch of brownies for Suzie, she looked a blink away from tears.

Cally cast Bryce a worried look, then reached for the phone. “Hello.”

“Caline?”

The man sounded oddly familiar and surprised. How had he known her name? Everyone in the village called her Cally. “Yes?”

“What are you doing there?”

Oh, God. Gregory.
She started shaking. “I’m, um, on vacation.” Why had he called? What did he want from her now?

“I guess you can afford vacations with what I’m giving you in alimony.”

All those old feelings, those old fears and doubts and intimidations, came out of hiding and churned in her stomach.
Ugly. Undesirable. Lousy wife.
Her hand holding the receiver grew damp. “What do you want?”

“I called to speak to my attorney, Bryce Richards. Strange that you’d both end up in the same inn. Or maybe it isn’t strange at all. Maybe you’ve been screwing around with him for a long time. Is that the case, Caline?”

She drew in a sharp breath, grasped her chest hard to keep her heart from exploding.

“Cally?” Bryce covered the mouthpiece of the phone with one hand, then clasped her chin with the other and urged her to look up at him. “What’s wrong? Is someone hurt?”

“It’s Gregory,” she mumbled. “He wants you.”

Bryce curled an arm around her and took the phone. He should have known. She had that same stricken look she got every time he so much as mentioned a damn mirror. “Richards.” He held Cally gently, making little swirls on her upper arm with his fingertips, wishing he could reach through the phone and pummel Gregory Tate.