At Last (The Idle Point, Maine Stories) - By Barbara Bretton Page 0,101
any. There was no reason for her to keep Simon's secret any longer. It was time to move on.
"I didn't get it, Gracie. Remember when you used to call me the rich kid? You were right. I didn't get how it was for you... what I was asking you to sacrifice."
She took a deep breath and dived in. "You're right," she said. "We need to talk about what happened. You deserve the truth."
His expression held a thousand shades of emotion, all of which broke her heart. "I see us everywhere. The way you looked in the moonlight—"
"Don't," she said. "We can't—"
"I didn't love Sophie's mother."
"I don't want to hear this."
"I liked her. We enjoyed each other's company." He forced her to meet his eyes. "She reminded me of you. She was ambitious. Focused in a way I've never had to be. I wanted something with no strings, no chance of hurting anyone or being hurt myself."
"What did she want?"
"Sex and laughs." He grew quiet for a moment, his gaze returned again to Sophie. "Catherine wasn't one for getting sidetracked."
"Which would explain why she let Sophie go."
"I'm not sure anything explains that." A clean letting-go would have given Sophie a permanent home right off the bat, not years of being passed from relative to relative until somebody thought about letting the father know he had a child.
"You're giving her a good life."
"I can do better."
"You will," she said, "but from what I can see you're doing everything right."
"Which doesn't explain the biting and kicking."
"She's scared. She doesn't have too many ways to express it."
"She could try telling me."
"I'm sure she will once she believes you're a sure thing."
"A sure thing?"
"That you're not going to bail out on her the way every other adult in her life has."
"I've told her that from the beginning."
"So did Ben. Prove it to her and then she'll start believing you."
Another silence.
"I'm planning to go back to London after I work out a deal to sell the Gazette."
"Because you love London?"
Don't go, Noah. Stay here. Make a life for you and Sophie here in Idle Point.
"Because being here is too hard, Gracie."
"I know," she whispered, unable to contain her emotions. "It is for me too." Their dreams waited for them on the corner. Their hopes were still right up the road by the lighthouse.
"What about you? I suppose you're going back to New York after the wedding."
"I don't know what I'm going to do after the wedding."
"I thought you had a big job down there."
"'Had' being the operative word." She kept her eyes trained on Sophie who was a fair distance away. "I'm on suspension." She told him why in fifty words or less.
"You haven't changed."
"I'm not sure how to take that."
"I wouldn't complain if Sophie followed your lead."
"She'll find a better way," Gracie said, bypassing the compliment. She hoped Sophie would find a way that wouldn't break her heart.
Sophie stopped running. They watched as she bent down to inspect something at the shoreline.
"I've missed you, Gracie," he said.
"I've missed you too." You're the other half of my heart. You always will be. She whispered a silent prayer then pushed forward. "I want to tell you why—"
Sophie's scream shattered the mood.
They were at her side seconds later. Sophie threw herself against Noah, sobbing wildly. A small gull, horribly tangled in fishing line, lay dying on the beach. A barbed hook was embedded in the side of his neck. He had lost a great deal of blood; it puddled beneath him on the hard sand. Gracie knew instantly that it was a lost cause and she shook her head at Noah when Sophie wasn't looking.
"It's okay, Soph." He held her close while she cried. "Gracie is an animal doctor. She knows what to do."
Gracie did indeed know what to do but it wasn't something she would tell the child. Sophie had dealt with enough of life's ugliness. She wasn't about to visit any more of it on her.
"He's hurt!" Sophie cried, turning toward Gracie. "Make it stop hurting him, Gracie! Make it stop!"
It would only be a matter of a few minutes. Gracie could tell by the gull's shallow breathing, the utter lack of fear at human contact. She was about to shrug off her coat and wrap the bird in its folds when Noah offered up his jacket instead. She thanked him then motioned for him to divert Sophie's attention while she quickly wrapped the dying bird in his jacket.