Chapter 25
I t was almost fully dark when they moored quayside.
Amiya’s limo-van waited by the main buildings.
Charlie Trafford, the marina’s general manager, stood on the waterfront deck talking with a couple dressed in Palm Beach casual.
He sketched a wave in Brody’s general direction, then drew the couple inside.
Brody and Rae made the boat ready to leave overnight while Amiya and his mother carried the remnants of the day’s meal and the wheelchair to where Jiyan waited.
Brody locked up the cabin, then went back to where Rae squatted beside the slumbering Emma.
He slid his arms under the older woman and scooped her up, still encased in Amiya’s multicolored quilts.
The woman seemed weightless. Rae walked alongside, holding Emma’s hand.
The ever solemn driver stayed well clear as Brody settled Emma on the van’s rear seat. Brody then watched as Rae took his place and strapped Emma in. Amiya stepped up beside him and asked, “You will follow us?”
They were the first words she had spoken directly to him all day.
Rae emerged from the van and replied for him. “We’ll be right behind you.”
They drove in comfortable silence and made good time.
As they crossed the Radio Island bridge, music drifted through their open windows.
Brody slowed with all the other traffic and watched the traditional Christmas boat parade exit the Beaufort marina.
Lights were strung everywhere imaginable, blinking and adding to the semi-chaotic good cheer.
The festive crowd lining the Beaufort waterfront greeted the parade with cheers and sparklers and honking horns.
Brody continued on. The celebration did not lure him as it often had in the past. Theirs was a different season, or so it seemed.
Rae must have felt the same, for she squeezed his hand and said, “Next year.”
Her words warmed him as much as anything in that long and monumental day.
When they parked in Emma’s front drive, Brody and Rae took up the same positions, him carrying and her holding Emma’s hand.
Only this time Mia and the silent beauty followed close behind as they entered Emma’s bedroom.
Brody returned outside and waited with the silent Jiyan, watching the sky.
The moon was almost full, flickering in and out of view as clouds pushed their way across the sky. The night smelled of coming rain.
When the ladies came out, Amiya was the first to approach him. Her eyes were dark lantern-glows as she studied him. “You and I will speak together soon, yes?”
Brody decided he liked this mystery woman just fine. “But not tonight.”
She rewarded him with a brief smile and feather-light embrace. Jiyan had the front passenger door open, and she slid inside. Jiyan walked around to the driver’s door and closed it behind him. Now it was just Rae and his mother.
Mia smiled in a manner as warm and silken as the night wind. “My patience and my prayers are finally answered.”
Brody had no idea what to say, and remained silent.
She smiled at that as well. “Happy birthday, son.”
Rae said, “I thought …”
“The hospital registered him as a Christmas Eve child,” Mia said. But he came into this world three minutes before midnight.”
Brody shrugged. “Today, tomorrow, none of that kept me from feeling cheated when it came to presents.”
“And look at you now.” Mia embraced him, then walked over and slipped into the van’s rear hold.
When it was just the two of them, Rae held him. Brody was beyond glad she remained silent. The day was just too full for more words. She kissed him, and must have liked the flavor, because she kissed him a second time, then once more. She released him, stepped back, and murmured, “Tomorrow.”
Brody remained standing there long after the van pulled away.
It felt beyond right, experiencing a solitary end to this most magnificent of days.
The distance he had journeyed between sunrise and now was so vast, he suspected one strong gust could sweep him away, carry him far from this mystical realm where Christmas wishes might indeed come true.
As he started back toward the darkened lawn ornaments, he thought the wind whispered his name. Then he heard it a second time, and realized Emma was calling.
When he reentered her bedroom, she asked, “Are they gone?”
“Yes.” When she made feeble motions to sit up, he helped place additional pillows behind her back. “Better?”
“Much.” She sat with eyes closed, breathing shallow puffs. The parchment stain was back to her features now. “We’ve had a good day.”
“The best.”
She cast her gaze about the room. “Where is the sea glass you and Rae found for me?”
“In my pocket.”
She reached out. “May I?”
“Of course. They’re yours.”
“Thank you, Brody.” She clasped the three pieces with both hands. “Maybe you should move my phone closer.”
He set it by her water glass. “I could sleep here if you like.”
She huffed, “Now you’re talking Rae’s kind of silliness.”
“If you need anything …”
“I’ll call. Don’t worry.” When he remained standing between her bed and the doorway, she turned sharpish. “Here’s the point where a gentleman makes his exit.”