Chapter 19 #2
She smiled. “Then, this”—she held her flashlight up to the dark spot on the wall—“must be the shadows.”
He moved back to her side. “What are you thinking?”
They both ran their flashlights over the area.
Faye took a slow step forward, aiming the beam of her flashlight higher across the darker stone. The crashing of waves outside grew louder, more rhythmic, like the tide was urging them to hurry.
“I’m thinking this,” she said, pressing her hand against a section of wall that was slightly darker than the rest, “wasn’t just mentioned in a love letter for poetry’s sake.”
Nate stepped up beside her, brushing his fingers lightly along the edge of one of the stones. “You think something’s hidden behind here?”
She nodded slowly. “She said it rests in the quiet shadows, and this feels like the kind of shadow you’d remember.”
“Maybe it’s another hidden passage.” He leaned closer, inspecting the edges of the stone. “Like the one upstairs?”
“But it’s stone,” she pointed out.
Still, she handed him the flashlight and then pressed gently along the stone surface, feeling for any indentation or catch. The stone was cool beneath her palms.
“There,” she whispered as her fingers brushed over a slight dip in the darker rock’s edge. “That’s not natural.”
Nate passed the flashlight back to her and examined the groove.
Then he took hold of the entire dark area and twisted.
He grunted slightly as he shifted his weight, and suddenly the stone wall moved with a soft grinding sound.
He gasped as the entire dark stone fell into his hand in one circular piece.
Faye gasped as her flashlight hit where the narrow slab of stone had been, revealing a small alcove carved into the wall.
The space was almost like an altar. Someone had carved a circular space in the solid rock and then etched a cover for it that would twist into place so that only they could find what was hidden.
If they hadn’t been looking for it, and hadn’t found those letters, they would have never known it was there.
Inside, resting on faded silk that might have once been white or pale blue, sat a delicate carved wooden box with a small velvet pouch atop it.
Neither of them spoke for a long moment.
Finally, Nate broke the silence. “Do you think that’s it?”
Her heart was hammering in her chest.
He stepped forward carefully and lifted the velvet pouch, holding it as if it were made of delicate glass. When he slowly opened it, they both gasped.
A silver necklace with a large heart-shaped diamond lay within the folds of the fabric.
“The Ocean’s Heart,” she whispered, unable to blink or tear her eyes away from its beauty.
She reached out and ran a fingertip gently over the perfect stone.
Then she ran the light over the box still inside the alcove. “Look.” She brushed the dirt from the box’s lid. “There’s an inscription.”
Nate shifted his flashlight and angled it toward the box.
The carved letters on top, though worn, were still legible:
“For my love, I will always wait.”
He gently lifted the lid and revealed more than two dozen aged letters bundled together with a blue silk ribbon.
Her throat tightened. “More love letters.”
Nate stared down at the pouch in his hand. “And now we know where her heart was hidden.”
Faye rose slowly, brushing her hands on her jeans. “We should take pictures,” she said suddenly. “You know, as proof we found it.”
Nate nodded, still holding the pouch with reverence. “Yeah. This belongs to all of us, in a way.”
“Here,” she said, pulling out her phone. “Hold it up near the altar.”
She took more than two dozen photos and then they headed back, taking the box and the pouch with them. They took the easier passage this time and used the circular iron stairway to head up, then exited into Max’s office space.
When they emerged into daylight again, her phone chimed that she now had internet access. They had been so far under the rocks that neither of their cellphones had gotten signals. Now, they decided, was a perfect time to video-call her brother and Juliette.
Max picked up on the third ring.
“Hey,” he said, rubbing his eyes.
“Oh, we woke you.” Faye smiled.
“No, we were just going to bed. What’s up?” Max asked, sitting up and turning on a light.
“Is Juliette there?” Nate asked.
“Yeah.” Off screen, they heard Max say, “Babe? It’s our siblings waking us up for some reason.”
“Is everything alright?” Juliette asked when she came onto the screen, leaning against Max’s shoulder.
Nate nodded to Faye, who smiled and, instead of saying anything, held the necklace up to the camera.
“Is that…” Max and Juliette said at the same time.
“The Ocean’s Heart,” she and Nate said together.
“We found it.” Faye beamed.
“What?” Juliette shifted closer and squinted at the screen.
“Where?” Max added eagerly.
“Under the lighthouse. There’s another secret tunnel that led us right to it,” Faye answered.
“I have left my heart where the earth meets the sea, where only we would know to look. It rests in the quiet shadows, safe beneath the light we once followed.” Nate said. “Those are clues. The new tunnel was the path that went under the lighthouse. The lighthouse was what they once followed.”
“Karnia and Harry are the ones who moved the lighthouse to this location,” Juliette broke in, sitting up a little more.
“They followed the light,” Faye said softly.
“I have left my heart where the earth meets the sea,” Nate added.
“The passage leads to another one that opens up onto the private beach that I was telling you about,” Faye explained.
“It rests in the quiet shadows,” Nate added.
“There’s a makeshift altar carved into the stone and covered by a dark circular rock. I’ll send you all the photos that we took.” She shifted the phone and hit send on the photos.
“What do we do with it now?” Nate asked suddenly. “I mean, we can’t just put it in the junk drawer in your kitchen.” He chuckled.
“There’s a hidden safe behind my desk. Faye knows where it is,” Max said after a moment.
“For now, put it in there. I’ve got the photos.
I’ll send them off to my insurance company.
Someone will be around to confirm it is what we think it is.
” He smiled. “Look at you two, covered in dust and beaming like you’ve just had the best time of your life. ”
“We have,” they both said at the same time.
“I don’t think I can sleep after this,” Juliette said with a yawn. “But we have an early morning and it’s”—she glanced away and then back again—“midnight here.”
“Go back to bed.”
“What’s the safe’s code?” Nate asked Max.
“Charlotte’s birthday backwards,” Max told them.
“We’ll talk more tomorrow. I’ll call you when it’s midnight your time,” he joked.
“Oh, I wouldn’t mention this to anyone or post any of those photos on social media just yet.
You’ll have a swarm of people flocking to the lighthouse and have to deal with that mess.
Let’s put out a press release after we return home and after we confirm it’s real.
Then I can hire security for the grounds. ”
“Gotcha,” they both agreed before hanging up.
“That,” she said softly, turning to him, “was the most amazing thing I’ve ever done.”
She laughed, heart still pounding quickly in her chest as he wrapped his arms around her and spun her in circles.
“Here, try it on,” he said when he set her feet back on the ground.
“No.” She shook her head. “I couldn’t do that.”
He grinned. “Yes, you can.” He motioned for her to turn around, then gently lifted it over her head and clasped it into place.
The diamond was almost as big as her fist. She looked at herself in the mirror above Max’s desk and sighed.
“I’m the first to wear this in a hundred years.” She touched the cold stone gently. “How am I ever going to keep this a secret for three weeks?”
He laughed and kissed her.