what had happened with Elizabeth. “Don’t act surprised that I know about your girl back onshore,” Reginald added. “You think they often send inexperienced lads like you out to places like Wolf Rock? Old Pommeroy was doing you a favor, told me all about it in a letter.” Cards flicked black and red between spades and hearts as Reg shuffled a deck. “And your father has made quite the claim. Do you believe him?”
Something about his tone gave Tom the permission he needed for the truth. It was a genuine question, one that didn’t already have an answer.
“I do,” Tom said. “But I’m not saying anything about Dr. Davenport,” he was quick to add. “Only what my father saw.”
“I know, lad. Don’t worry, just us here now.” He licked the tip of his thumb and dealt Tom a hand. Tom fanned the cards out in a tight palm. “Elizabeth has a tough choice on her hands.”
“She already chose, I think,” he said, having spent the last lonely weeks mulling over their final meeting time and time again. “She believes her father.”
“Of course she does,” Reg said, setting a queen of hearts onto the top of the crumpled newspaper. “But I don’t imagine it was easy for her to hear that her father had some hand in her mother’s death. Plus, your old man’s a drunk, and even though you know what I’ve just said is true, I can see your hackles rising. You want to defend him just as she did hers, so don’t you tell me that she would find it easy to support you and what your father said over her own.”
Tom knew Reg was right. “But what if I knew something that might change her mind?”
Reg eyed him above the cards. “Such as?”
Never had he expected to confess what he knew, but what did he have left to lose? “That night I rescued Mrs. Davenport from the water.” Reg leaned in, waited. “She didn’t slip. She jumped.”
Reg shook his head. “I don’t think so, lad. You must be mistaken.”
“I was right there. She’d been confused for a while, wasn’t well. What if she meant to take that boat out, Reg? That would change things about what my father said, wouldn’t it?”
The weight of the knowledge he didn’t want settled on Reg’s shoulders. “Well, only you know what you saw.”
“I know,” he said, setting down his cards. “And I saw her jump. After I jumped in the water she was shouting, ‘Let me go, let me go,’ until she passed out.”
“Good Lord.” He tossed the cards down, all interest in the game lost. “I don’t doubt your honesty, lad. Done nothing but a good job out here on Wolf. But others might, so think long and hard before you go saying anything.” The glass in the small window rattled against the wind, nothing but thick gray cloud beyond. “The wind has picked up. Get yourself back up there to fire the fog gun. Last thing we need is a wreck on our hands.”
* * *
Tom was relieved to see the Stella arriving a week later, cutting a frothy trail through the sea. From the small table by the fourth-floor window, if he peeled back the frayed check curtain, he had a good view to watch the ship’s approach. Seeing the boat was surreal in many ways; the five-day delay made it feel as if the rest of the world didn’t exist. It was a little like he was adrift, even though he was stationary, his life suspended in uncertainty over what would happen next.
Tom rose to his feet, silencing the small radio and its songs, which sparked memories of home, and spun down the stairs to join the other keepers outside. Such was the relief to stand on the sliver of land they called home, to feel the wind in his hair now that the waters had receded, it made him want to sing out loud and tell everyone of his love for Elizabeth. Still, as the Stella dropped anchor and the small relief vessel set course for the rock, he relented. Such a display of madness would likely render him a liability, and so he kept his mouth shut.
“It’s been good to work with you,” said Danny McGreary to Tom. “Do you think you’ll be back another time?”
“I’m not sure,” he said, gazing first at the rocking motion of the boat, then the distant glimmer of the shore. It was like a mirage, there one minute, gone