Blackout After Dark (Gansett Island #21) - Marie Force Page 0,1
on your island, even though we have no experience with lighthouses. Do people with experience actually apply? The opportunity for a change of scenery would be extremely welcome to both of us. Just over a year ago, we lost our three-year-old son, Lewis, in an accident that has haunted us every day since as we both blame ourselves for a tragedy that no one could have prevented. But when these things happen, you find yourself reliving every minute, trying to find the moment when you could’ve changed the outcome.
We named Lewis for my hero, the late Rep. John Lewis, the Georgia congressman and Civil Rights leader. I worked as an intern in his office after college and met Dara at a party, when she was a law student at Howard.
Saddened by what she’d read so far, Linda took another sip of wine before diving back into the letter.
We were home on a regular Sunday. Lewis was napping in his room, and so was I, on the sofa while pretending to watch the Ravens game. Dara was on a conference call with work. She’d been crazy busy getting ready for a trial that was due to start in a few weeks. I woke out of a sound sleep when I heard our dog, Maisy, screaming. There’s no other word for the sound she made, and when I realized it was coming from outside, I was up and off the sofa before I was even fully awake. I couldn’t believe that the front door was standing open, but when I realized Lewis had let himself out of the house… My heart stopped. And then I saw why Maisy was screaming. Our baby had been hit by a car, and the driver was hysterical. The neighbors had come out, someone called EMS, but it was too late. We believe Lewis was killed on impact.
“Oh.” Linda dabbed at her eyes with a napkin. “Those poor, poor people.”
“I know. It’s so awful.”
Having to tell Dara what’d happened was the worst moment of my life. I’ll never forget the way she screamed and tried to get to him, but I wouldn’t let her. I didn’t want her to see what I had, things I’ll carry with me forever. The days and weeks that followed that awful day were simply horrible. In the year since we lost Lewis, our entire world has come unraveled. We’ve been unable to work, so we were forced to sell the home we’d once thought we’d own for the rest of our lives. Our marriage has suffered from an inability to share our mutual grief. She doesn’t want to talk about it, and I do. We both blame ourselves. Me for falling asleep and her for working on a day that she feels should’ve been devoted to family. Our guilt and grief have caused a rift between us that we aren’t sure we can overcome.
In short, everything is a mess, and we need a change badly, but we can’t afford the cost of an expensive move. When I saw your lighthouse keeper ad online, I told Dara about it, and we agreed it certainly couldn’t hurt to apply. That’s the first time we’ve agreed on anything in a long time.
I’m not sure if our marriage is going to survive the devastating loss of our son. But I am sure that we can’t go on the way we are. We appreciate your consideration of our application and look forward to hearing from you.
Sincerely,
Oliver and Dara Watkins
“I’m so glad you hired them,” Linda said.
“We didn’t hesitate to offer it to them after we read their letter.”
“Gansett will be good for them. We’ll surround them with friends and love and a whole new life. It worked for Jenny and Erin, and even Sydney when she came to the island after her terrible loss.”
“I hope you’re right. It sounds like they desperately need a fresh start. And thank you for rolling out the welcome mat for them.”
“I honestly can’t begin to know what they’ve been through. It was horrible enough losing a baby we never got to meet, but losing a three-year-old…” She shook her head. “Unbearable.”
He scooted his chair closer to hers and held out his arms to her. “Completely.”
Linda leaned into his embrace, appreciating the comfort after reading Oliver and Dara’s devastating letter. “Why do bad things happen to good people?”
“I don’t know, love. It seems so unfair.”
“Sure does.” After a long moment of contemplative silence, she looked up at him. “Did you see