in the other, she began to clean her teeth as she stared out at the water.
Something tugged at the edges of her mind. A strange dream from the night before, but even now, she found she couldn’t quite recall the details. She wasn’t sure why it was bothering her so much, especially as she couldn’t remember it, but she’d woken with a heaviness in her chest and an inexplicable feeling of unbearable loss and sorrow.
Ava rinsed her mouth out and sighed. Trying to put the uneasiness from her mind, she stared out across the deep blue water.
It certainly was a gorgeous spot and from what she’d seen of the island so far, it was a charming little community. Why would her mom want to leave?
She found herself wishing she’d known about Midnight Island before her mom had gotten sick, then she could have asked her about it. Not that Serenity would have answered, she was a champion evader when she wanted to be. That was how she managed to die of cancer without Ava even knowing she’d been sick.
No, she shook her head, even if her mom had still been alive, Ava doubted she’d have told her anything about her childhood home. Which meant, she would have to figure it out for herself. Maybe talk to some of the locals, and while she was at it see if she could dig up some information on the house itself, but first on the agenda was tracking down the owner of the construction company and getting someone to check the internal stability of the house. She had to admit she was beyond curious to see inside.
With that thought firmly in mind she pulled her sneakers on and gathering up her towel and belongings she whistled for her dog, who gazed longingly at the sea one more time before letting out a series of barks and following her up the roughly hewn steps carved into the cliff face.
Hope Ryan leaned back in her chair, rubbing her hugely swollen belly with a sigh of frustration. She picked up the report she’d been trying to read and yawned widely. She was at the ‘not getting any sleep’ phase of her pregnancy due to the fact that A) she couldn’t get comfortable and B) her unborn babies wouldn’t let her. Then when she added in C and D, her four-year-old twins and her seven-year-old daughter, she was beginning to wonder if she’d ever sleep again.
Was it even possible to die of lack of sleep? Or did she just have a crappy temperament and hallucinations to look forward to? If it was hallucinations, she was hoping for one which involved no kids, her pre-pregnant sized body (minus the stretch marks), a deserted tropical island and a manservant named Raoul, in tiny trunks who served her cocktails all day long. Her husband wasn’t allowed; he was banned from her tropical hallucinations on account of the fact it was his fault they’d ended up with so many children. Well, she didn’t know if it was genetically his fault, but she was the one with the swollen ankles, so damn it he was taking the blame.
Turning her attention back to the mind-numbing report about lumber discount, she blinked again, watching as the letters just blurred together. Dropping the report back down on the desk she glanced out the window and saw a black truck pull in. It wasn’t one of theirs; it was too new and definitely too clean.
Being of a curious nature, Hope would’ve gotten out of her chair and waddled over to the window to get a better look, but she wasn’t sure she could. She was willing to bet her hips were firmly wedged in the stupid chair. In fact, it was entirely possible that when it was time to go home her husband would have to simply wheel her out in the chair and strap her to the back of his rusty red pick-up.
The door to the office opened and the first thing Hope saw was a huge ball of gold and black fur bound over to her, sniffing her excitedly and rubbing its whole body against Hope, making the office chair roll back against the wall.
‘God, I’m really sorry,’ a female voice winced.
Hope laughed as the enormous dog licked her face and shuddered with delight as she ran her hands over its fur.
‘It’s alright,’ Hope laughed again as she gave the dog a good-natured shove when it tried to crawl up into her lap where