Free Courage and Comfort by Berengaria Brown

 
    COURAGE AND COMFORT
     
    Gemstone Romances, 1
     
    Berengaria Brown
     
    Copyright © 2014
     
     
     
    Chapter One
     
    Edmund watched his sister rock her baby. Tears dripped from her pale
blue eyes onto the sleeping infant’s head. Her normally soft blonde hair was in
desperate need of a shampoo, and her sweater had the remains of baby puke on
the right shoulder.
    But Mavis’s unhappiness was not the usual exhaustion of a new mother.
Her husband, John, had been killed by a hit-and-run driver on his way to the
hospital to share in the birth of their son. John had never met John Jr., and
so far, Mavis was struggling to cope with the tragic loss of her husband.
    Edmund didn’t know how to help her. He and his partner, Utah, had
washed dishes and laundry and floors. They’d cooked meals and taken out trash.
Utah had even walked the floor, rocking baby John for hours and hours one night
when the infant had cried inconsolably, hoping a deeper, male voice might
soothe the child.
    The other woman in the room, AJ, spoke softly to the men. “You must go
and find the Aquamarine. It’s in the ocean off the coast of Rocky Point Beach.
Swim straight out from the line where the rock wall marks the end of the beach.
It will be near the sandbar, and you’ll recognize it. It’ll call to you,
Edmund, as you’re close to Mavis, but Utah must go with you. It will only
respond to lovers. That’s why I can’t retrieve it. The person who will be my
lover isn’t aware of our connection yet.”
    Edmund looked over at Utah. This was the second time AJ had told them
to find the aquamarine. He really didn’t believe in this paranormal, witchy
woo-woo stuff, but the fact was that Mavis wasn’t coping. It couldn’t be good
for the baby to have a mother who was always crying. She cried as much, if not
more, than John Jr. did. “You’re convinced this will work?”
    “When Mavis holds the Aquamarine, she’ll have a tangible connection with
John. Aquamarines bring courage and comfort. They soothe people, calming fears
and releasing anxiety. As well, they give courage, which Mavis needs right now.
You must go and retrieve the aquamarine.” AJ’s voice was stern, forceful.
    Edmund nodded at her and Utah. “We’d best go now then. It’ll take us
four hours to get to Rocky Point Beach, and we’ll need to pack our bags and do
some chores before we leave. Do you want us to go to the store first, to buy
anything for Mavis? Diapers? Tissues?”
    “No, you’ve already bought more than she needs for the moment. I’ll
stay here while you’re away, to help her, but it’s the Aquamarine she really
needs.” AJ’s gaze pinned Edmund to his chair. Her black eyes seemed to see
right through him, into his soul. He shrugged off the fanciful thought and
walked over to his sister, kissed her forehead, then dropped a kiss on the
sleeping infant’s head.
    Utah followed him, gently stroking Mavis’s shoulder before whispering
to the baby. “Sleep, precious child.”
    Utah and Edmund held hands as they walked down the stairs toward the
apartment parking lot. Edmund automatically turned left, but Utah said, “The
usual places were full, remember. We’re in the back lot this time.”
    “Oh yes, that’s right. Thank God we thought to move Mavis’s car into
her own parking space to reserve it for her.”
    “Do you think there really is an Aquamarine? And if it does exist, that
we’ll find it?”
    “Hell if I know. But I do know Mavis will end up in postpartum
depression or something even worse if we can’t help her to focus on the future.
Maybe if she feels John is really with her she’ll cope better.”
    “Yeah, the little one needs all the help we can give him. It’ll be
tough for a boy growing up with no father. Heaps of kids don’t live with their
dads, but at least they see them sometimes. I hope the driver who killed John
rots in hell,” Utah said viciously.
    “Someone must know who did it. Someone must have seen the damage to