Taken by Storm (Give & Take) - By Kelli Maine Page 0,57
voice broke on the word love, making Maddie want to stand and wrap her arms around Rachael, to tell her everything would be okay. But would it?
“Then don’t imply that I don’t love my brother,” Heidi said, her voice edged in ice.
Rachael sank back into her chair. “Are there any other secrets about Merrick’s past I should know? Let’s get everything out in the open.”
“None that are mine to tell.” Heidi shoved her chair back and eyed Maddie.
Maddie shrank under Heidi’s gaze and replayed her last statement. None that are mine to tell. Did Heidi know Maddie had been guarding a secret for over a year? It sounded that way.
Heidi stormed off down the path back toward the hotel.
It felt like Maddie had been kicked in the gut.
She gazed out over the sun-sparked water. MJ was a miniature in the far off canoe. She could tell he was laughing and holding a fishing pole. He’d been hidden away for so long from his cousins, from his father, from the truth. Being here had to be affecting him more than she could ever realize. He played it off so well, acted like it was normal to go through a situation like this.
“Your mind is racing,” Rachael said.
Maddie cut her eyes from MJ out on the water to the observant, caring brown pair across the table. “I want everything for him. I’d do anything to make him happy.”
Rachael brushed a few lingering seed pods from the table. “What about getting back together? Is that what will make him happy?”
Maddie’s stomach clenched. She needed space. Needed to breathe and think. “I’m going to take a walk. Be right back.”
The tall trunks of the Paperbark trees were shedding, their grainy bark peeling off in long strips. Sunlight dappled through their leaves, lighting on the white, feathery seeds floating down from the canopy.
This island was magical, and Maddie needed magic in her life. Magic or miracles.
She pulled three long strands of bark off a tree and braided them together as she strolled aimlessly over the soft leaves and mulched earth. Her mom always braided her hair when she was little—before her mom left. One long, thick braid down her back. She’d called it Maddie’s horsewhip.
Maddie never got to ask her mom what she knew about horses. Probably nothing, but she’d never know for sure now.
Questions needed answers. If she told MJ what she knew, he could get his answers if he wanted them. At least he’d have the choice. Keeping a secret from him didn’t give him the opportunity she wished she had.
She tossed the braid on the ground. It would be helpful if she knew her own mind, knew what she wanted—what she would do in his situation. She wavered on everything. Always had. Every single decision. Teaching after she got her education degree, searching for her mom, Talan…
She wished she was more like Kara. Like Rachael. They were both so sure of themselves, strong and convicted in what they believed.
Maddie lacked conviction, lacked faith in herself to do what her heart knew was right.
“Leave the island,” a woman’s voice said from behind her.
She darted around. Off in the distance, a woman stood against a tree, watching her. Maddie gasped. “Who are you?”
“Stay away from him,” the woman said, “and leave this place.” She turned and disappeared behind the tree she’d been leaning against.
Maddie jogged in her direction. “Wait! Who are you?” She had the strangest impression that she’d seen the woman before.
It was no use. Maddie stopped chasing her. She was gone.
Twenty-One
MJ threaded a worm on Holly’s hook and handed the rod back to her to cast. “Watch your brother’s head.” He figured he better warn her even though he didn’t think any hooking of her brother would be accidental. The two had been bickering all morning.
Sam laughed, pulling MJ’s attention from Holly. Roger held a worm over his open mouth, pretending he was about to eat it. Sam burst out in fits of giggles watching him. MJ smiled, but it felt bittersweet.
Besides the awkward tension that had always existed between him and Roger over Enzo, MJ felt like he was interfering on personal time between Roger and his kids. There was the sharp edge of jealousy, too. MJ would’ve done anything to have a father to go fishing with when he was Sam’s age.
The only person to ever take him fishing was Maddie’s dad. He took them both—MJ and Maddie—just like MJ was his own son. He’d always treated MJ that way.