Free Breakwater Bay by Shelley Noble Page A

waited for Wilton to pick him up and take him home—a boy with an awful burden thrust upon him.
    She’d known even then Alden would never break a promise, but she drew the line at making a boy lie to his father. So she told Wilton the whole story. How Alden had saved the girl and the baby. How the girl had made him promise not to tell anyone about her or Merielle.
    They didn’t know then how desperate the girl was. They thought it was just exposure to being out in the rain, that she would come around. She’d see her baby and feel better. The night Meri was born, they’d let Alden in to see the baby, and she asked to speak to him alone. Therese shouldn’t have allowed it. But she didn’t have the heart to deny the girl’s request.
    So she and Laura had retreated to the hallway and stood listening behind the closed door. He’d promised to take care of her baby. And he had—for thirty years. “It won’t make a difference to her.”
    “Won’t it?”
    “Well, perhaps she’ll be a little miffed at first. But when she thinks about it, she’ll be grateful.”
    “Which is just what I’m afraid of. But if you want me to take the box, I will.” He stood up. “Where is it?”
    Therese pushed herself up from the table. She felt weak and old and guilty. New guilt heaped on the old. Once again she was asking Alden to do something she had hoped they would never have to do.
    “It’s in here,” she said and walked out of the kitchen.
    M eri and Carlyn stuffed themselves with Belgian waffles, covered in fruit and whipped cream, and drank two cappuccinos apiece as they carefully avoided more talk about the past. But Meri could feel the bond between them had grown stronger. And she trusted Carlyn with her life.
    She just hoped that she was as good a friend to Carlyn as Carlyn was to her.
    They parted on the sidewalk outside of Barney’s, Carlyn off to the lab and office to catch up on paperwork, and Meri to do laundry.
    Life goes on, Meri thought as she carried work clothes, sheets, and pillowcases down to the basement. As she shoved clothes into the washer, she was hit with an image of the past weekend: her dad clasping the locket around her neck, a picture of him and her mother. She knew it was his way of telling her that nothing had changed, that he claimed her for his own. And she had to believe him.
    She did believe him and that grounded her more than anything else. Alden was right, as he often was, damn him. Indiscretion in the backseat of a Chevy did not make a mother or a father.
    And Meri realized, not for the first time, just how lucky she was.
    Her cell rang as she was folding pillowcases. Will, the youngest Hollis. Guess the word was out.
    “Yo, sis. Whatcha doing?”
    “Laundry. How about you? Studying by any chance?”
    “I’m watching a Star Wars marathon. For my film class.”
    “Uh-huh.”
    Heavy sigh across the connection. “And then I’m going to the library to study for my biology final.”
    “Finals already?”
    “Yep, then I’m headed south for some fun in the sun. Uh, unless you need me to do anything.”
    God, she loved her brothers. Her brothers. “I need you just to be you. Go have fun, but first try acing your exams.”
    “Will do. Gotta go. Love you.”
    “Love you, too.” They hung up. Meri wiped away a tear. Awkward and obvious. She couldn’t remember the last time her youngest brother had said he loved her.
    She finished folding the laundry and carried it upstairs to wait for the other two to call.
    She didn’t have long to wait. She’d barely gotten her underwear back in the drawer when her dad called to let her know he’d told everyone. Matt’s call followed almost immediately. Gabe and Penny called together, then Penny called back on her own to offer girl time. Another call from her father to see how she was. They’d all obviously been communicating. The last one was from Gran, sounding so tired and frail that Meri was tempted to drive back and take Monday off.
    They