Never Say Goodbye (The Brothers Montgomery #1)
Prologue
Northern California
Six-year-old Callesandra Eleanor Montgomery arranged her favorite dolls and stuffed animals, then sat to pour them some imaginary tea and tell them a story.
Her little legs crossed beneath her blanket as she got comfortable, and her fingers brushed back the soft auburn curls that had come loose from her bow.
At this time of day, she was supposed to be resting, but Callesandra was a precocious child with a lot of energy.
And, by choice or need, this story was one she told every day without fail.
It started with a stormy night, like all good stories should.
Her papa, Admiral Alexander Montgomery, had thrown a party that night.
Callie loved when her papa had parties. The men dressed in blue uniforms with big gold braids and the ladies wore pretty ball gowns with lots of lace.
Music played throughout the house and the tables were always filled with her favorite foods—white soup, meat pies, jellies, and dry cake.
But that night, the night in question, Callie didn’t care much about the party because she wasn’t feeling well.
Janey, one of her nannies, kept trying to give her awful-tasting medicine; so, to escape, Callie grabbed her three favorite dolls and snuck into her papa’s study.
Her papa was busy at his desk, but like any time she interrupted his work, when Callie came up next to him, he lifted her to his lap and hugged her tight. Her papa always hugged her.
When they heard Janey calling after her, Papa put his finger to his lips, then moved his legs so she could hide beneath his desk.
Callie loved it under Papa’s desk. She had a blanket and toys and, of course, her papa’s legs, so it was warm and cozy.
She had just finished arranging her dolls when her papa’s best friend, Gregor, came in.
Gregor was her favorite because he always picked her up and spun her around until she was twirling high in the air. But tonight, he sounded very serious.
“There’s trouble, Alexander,” he’d said, and Callie, who’d been about to peek out at Gregor, stilled immediately.
Her papa swore, something Callie had never heard before, and it scared her.
Then his chair scraped the floor so loud she had to cover her ears to block out the sound, and she stayed like that, curled in a ball under her papa’s desk with her hands over her ears, until her papa and Gregor left the study.
It was a curious night for Callie. And it didn’t stop there—because that was the night Callesandra met her new mama.
Later, after her papa and Gregor had left the study, Callie went back to her room. Janey made her take the yucky-tasting medicine after all, then helped Callie change into a nightgown.
It was a short while later that she saw her new mama for the first time. She and Janey were in the hallway outside her mama’s room on the way back to bed when her mama called out, “Wait.”
Callie was scared at first, because her mama was mean and pinched her a lot.
Callie had always figured that’s just how mamas were, but this mama, the one who stood before her, spoke softly and was kindly.
Her new mama looked just like her old mama, but she wasn’t mean and didn’t hurt her.
She had prettier eyes too. They sparkled blue, whereas her old mama’s eyes had been brown.
The whole house changed once her mama was different.
Now, Mama made her papa smile and laugh.
And her mama taught Callie to play the piano and dance.
She taught Papa how to dance too. Not that Papa didn’t know how to dance.
It was just that Mama danced different. Callie loved this new mama so much and knew her papa did too.
Callie still had her hiding spots, though, so she sometimes heard her mama and papa whisper about things.
Things like her papa insisting that her mama was never to go near the cliffs again.
Ever. Her papa was really fierce when he told her mama that.
He was fierce anyway, even though he was always kind to Callie.
He was an admiral in the Royal Navy. Callie thought it was funny to sometimes call him Admiral, just like Goodly, their butler.
The second night that changed their lives forever came three months later, when her papa announced that they were sailing for America.
At the time he was in his study barking orders.
Her papa was really good at barking orders.
Her mama always said, “If you have a crisis, Papa is the only person you need with you.”
Callie was hiding under his desk again; it really was the best hiding place.
Her uncle Stephen, Gregor, and the rest of Papa’s men were carrying big, heavy chests down to the shore.
Callie knew they were filled with gold and silver because she had peeked when she saw them piled up in the front hall.
She had also seen the things that were really important to her papa in the trunks, like the instruments he used to make maps and to measure the stars.
Janey and Beatrice were upstairs packing like the dickens so they could take their things with them. And Callie’s mama, well, she was looking for her!
Her mama had come in earlier to tell Papa she had a bad feeling, but that wasn’t anything special.
Callie’s new mama always had bad feelings, and Callie had to cover her mouth because she almost laughed when Papa said, “Really? You? A bad feeling?” Mama didn’t say anything, but Callie knew she was rolling her eyes.
She knew everything about Mama now. Ever since that night with the yucky medicine when she was Bad Mama, they had spent so much time together that Callie almost forgot there had ever been a time when she was Bad Mama.
“Twenty minutes, Amanda,” Papa said. “That ship—we’re on it. If there’s anything you can’t live without, you’d better fetch it now.” Callie figured the one thing that her mama was trying to fetch was her.
She’d seen the ship her papa was talking about too.
It had been anchored offshore all day. When her mama came back a few minutes later, she told her papa that she needed to talk to him, but Papa said it had to wait.
Her mama had sounded so worried that Callie was starting to get a bad feeling all of her own.
So, while the men rolled up maps and tossed big leather books in another wooden chest, she snuck out of her papa’s study.
Callie hid in the hall behind the tall clock until she saw her mama come out. She called Callie’s name, looking up and down the hallway before she started walking outside toward the stables.
Ready to come out of hiding, Callie ran to catch up with her.
She lost sight of her mama, though, and had just come through the gates when she felt someone grab her from behind and cover her mouth so she couldn’t scream.
That was when she saw her mama up ahead, slung over another man’s shoulder.
Callie’s first thought was that her papa was going to be furious.
Especially when he realized they were being taken to the cliffs. He was going to roar.
Rain and lightning filled the sky just as the two men carrying Callie and her mama set them down and made them walk backward toward the opening of the tunnel Callie was forbidden from entering.
Callie knew that it led to a three-hundred-foot drop to the sea because her papa had told her so.
She didn’t know how far three hundred feet was, but she knew it was too far.
Callie had always hoped her papa was fibbing, but when he talked about the dangers of the tunnel, she knew better. Her papa never lied.
The big, ugly man had a gun and the shorter one, the one who’d grabbed Callie, had a saber. Mama started crying, pleading with the men to let them go, or at least to let Callie go. She offered them anything they wanted, just so long as they freed her daughter.
Callie started crying then too. She was so scared, but she knew her mama would do anything for her.
The bad men didn’t care, though; they just laughed.
That was when her mama took her chance. While they were distracted by their laughter, her mama grabbed Callie’s hand and whispered that there was a ledge just beneath the opening and to hold on to her tight.
Callie didn’t have time to wonder how her mama knew about the ledge, she just did as she was told.
As her mama stepped over the cliff’s edge, Callie went with her, and they dropped down to the ledge that really was there, and not even that far down.
Callie had no idea how strong her mama was until that night.
She kept Callie safe and secure, pressed super tight between her body and the wall of the cliff while she held on to the rock above her head.
Hidden by the rockface, Callie heard the bad men yelling at each other that they’d lost them.
After a while, when everything had been quiet for a bit, Mama said she thought the bad men were gone and told Callie she was going to try to lift her up so she could climb back inside the tunnel.
Callie nodded, but before Mama could get a grip on her, lightning struck so close that Callie startled and slipped from the ledge.
Her mama cried out and grabbed her with one hand, just in the nick of time.
Her wrist hurt badly where Mama was gripping it, and her shins were scraped from her fall, but as Callie peeked down at the swirling water and sharp rocks below, she knew this was better.