Free Love Shadows by Catherine Lanigan

than pride in her work, was crying.
    “I’m so very sorry.”
    Miss Milse’s chin fell to her neck and she lifted her thick fingers to wipe away her tears. “Don’t pay me. I clean. I come be with you.” She lifted her head and looked around the house where she had worked for over twenty years. Her tears were careening down her cheeks in rivulets. “I come every morning. I help in house. In garden. I be wit you. I remember your mudder wit you.”
    Miss Milse wavered like a mirage in the desert through Sarah’s tear-filled eyes. She nodded. She understood...finally.
    “Yes. Please come every day, Miss Milse. We will work together.”
    Miss Milse sniffed. “Ya.” She trudged off toward the kitchen where Sarah heard her deposit her mops and bucket with a loud clatter.
    “Ya,” Sarah repeated. The house was less empty now.

CHAPTER EIGHT
    E ARLY -J UNE DAWN rays glittered amber and gold across the waters of Indian Lake, lighting the path for Sarah and her sculling crew— Maddie Strong, Isabelle Hawks and Liz Crenshaw. As they had done since their sculling days in high school, the women rented a Janousek JS 4x/-long hull, quad sculling boat from Captain Red, who kept the boat in superb shape just for them. All the girls had been on sculling teams in high school and some, like Sarah, had raced in college, as well. Together, they had conquered Lake Lemon, near Bloomington, and raced down the North Shore of the Chicago River. Sarah loved being on the water, skimming along the glassy surface, barely creating a wake and knowing that her body and those of her crew were still able to challenge record-setting times. The white-hulled, fiberglass English Janousek dominated both national and international regattas, and when Sarah was in the stroke seat, she pretended she was once again out there making sports history.
    Sarah sat close to the stern, the rest of the crew matching her cadence and movements. The quad and girls shot across the glass-smooth waters of Indian Lake like a summer dragonfly, shimmering, daring and purposeful.
    Here on the water, Sarah lost her feelings of sadness and came alive again. She could hear Maddie behind her joking and teasing the other girls mercilessly. Even with their banter, the rowers never lost a second of precious rhythm. They moved as a unit. They thought as a unit. Sarah and all the women knew there were people on shore—picnickers, sun-tan addicts and weekend volleyball teams all stopped to watch them skim the lake as if they were airborne.
    * * *
    L UKE PARKED HIS truck next to the creosote railroad ties outside Captain Redbeard’s Marina and looked at the summer dawn as it glinted and shimmered off the lake’s smooth surface.
    Annie and Timmy climbed out of the backseat and stood next to their father, following his line of vision.
    “Wow. Would you look at that?” Timmy exclaimed, pointing an excited finger at the white sculling boat whipping across the center of Indian Lake.
    Luke lifted his hand to his forehead and shielded his eyes. “Sculling. I haven’t seen a sculling quad in years.”
    Annie slipped her hand into her father’s. “Did you ever row one of those, Dad? In the navy, I mean.”
    The corner of Luke’s mouth lifted in a prideful grin. “Sure did. Before the Navy and after. Your mom never got the hang of it, though.”
    “No?” Annie asked.
    “She wasn’t the athletic type.”
    “What type was she?” Timmy asked.
    “She was every other good type known to man,” Luke replied in a melancholy whisper. “Well, come on. Let’s get you kids over there.”
    As Luke walked up to the marina office he saw two dozen children under the age of ten dressed in shorts, sandals and bathing suits, wearing very eager expressions as they listened to Captain Redbeard. “I want all those who can’t swim at all to form a group to my right. Those who can swim to my left.”
    Timmy froze as the kids scurried around to regroup. Luke looked down at his son. “What’s