Chapter 24
T hey came back through the Shackleford cut just as the sun touched the western tree line. Coppery hues spread across the inland waters, forming a wintry farewell to their voyage.
The wind shifted north and sharpened. Emma woke from her nap in the galley and wanted to return on deck. Before moving her, Brody took all of Amiya’s quilts and surrounded her with a rainbow nest. Emma complained, “I’m boiling.”
“Not for long you’re not.”
“You’ve buried me in fourteen layers. I must look a sight.”
Rae stood by the galley sink, across from Emma’s perch. Amiya was positioned in the bow, watchful and silent. Rae confirmed, “Like a plump Persian doll.”
Brody squatted down and slipped his arms under her. “Ready?”
“Give me a moment so I can swat that smart-mouthed young lady like she deserves.”
“Arm around my neck. Here we go.”
He made a careful shift up the five narrow steps and emerged into the increasingly frigid air. Mia watched from the helmsman’s station, smiling approval. Brody used his chin to point at the stern bench. “Would you like to travel home from back there?”
“Child, you can take me anywhere you like.”
“You’ll be fully exposed to the wind,” Brody explained. “Thus, all the covers.”
She smiled approval as Brody gently settled her. “You really are a dear sweet man.”
Rae waited until Brody stepped back, then tucked the quilts up around her. “Why don’t you ever speak to me like that?”
“I do,” she replied. “All the time. You’re just not listening.”
Amiya emerged a few moments later with mugs of hot cocoa. She handed one to Brody without meeting his gaze. She watched as Rae moved in close and slipped her arm around Brody’s waist. Amiya then returned to the cushioned bow alcove, partially sheltered from the wind.
Brody’s mother left her perch beside Emma. As she passed her son, Mia said, “Give her time.”
He watched Amiya and Mia settle on cushions, comfortable as cats in the coppery sun. Brody decided Rae’s silent presence bonded to his side was all the assurance he needed, at least for just then.
As they passed the first buoy marker, Rae said, “A doubloon for your thoughts.”
“Right then, at that very moment, I was wondering what makes you so happy about practicing law.”
She remained silent until they entered the main channel.
Then she released him and swung around, taking up station by the controls.
“Sometimes I lay awake at night, astonished by how fortunate I am to be a small-town lawyer on my own. It’s allowed me to remain what I’ve always been, a practical idealist.” The wind tossed her hair about, a dark and tangled forest now framing her face.
If Rae even noticed she gave no sign. “It’s been said that the practice of law is nothing more than the application of arcane rules to an uncooperative reality.
And on the bad days, I think that’s being far too complimentary.
Laws remain just dead words on a page. There to be twisted and corrupted by cynics and cheats. ”
The setting sun flashed golden among her tresses, flickering and dancing. All he could clearly see now were her eyes. “And the good days?”
“When it works as it should, the law is a living, breathing entity. All people of this great and wonderful nation are treated equally, regardless of title or power or wealth. The rule of law demands nothing less.”
“Rae …”
“What?”
But the words just didn’t come.
Just the same, she must have found what she wanted, for she slipped back around and kissed him soundly. When Brody opened his eyes again, his mother smiled. Amiya watched, her gaze hooded. Concerned.
As they rounded Bogue Banks, Brody started the engine and asked Rae to take the helm.
He then hit the switches and moved forward to ensure the winches drew both sails in smoothly.
He felt both weary and content. The day had left him sated in ways he would never have thought possible.
As he lashed the jib and mainsail’s boom into place, he thought of what Emma had said about home.
The place he had never found for himself. Until now.
Amiya chose that moment to turn and inspect him, clearly uncertain who he was, or what role he really was meant to play.
At some bone-deep level, Brody agreed with her.
He started back, gripped by that uncertainty, fearing it was all a monumental mistake.
The sun would fully set, and when night stretched out its starlit wings, these wonderful people would all come fully awake.
And his fable of having found love and a home would evaporate. It was almost more than he could bear.
He tried to slip past Rae, step down into the cabin, find a dark corner. And do what he had his whole life long. Hide.
“Brody.” Rae snagged his arm.
Turning around, not shrugging off her hand, was a terrible ordeal. It went against years of ingrained habit. But he did so, and saw that Emma’s eyes were open and watchful and burning like sunset coals.
Rae said, “Tell me what’s the matter.”
He shifted around and moved in closer, so her hair shielded his face. “What you said earlier,” he managed. “I don’t think I can survive a broken heart.”
She shifted back a trace, far enough to hold his gaze. “You’re afraid.”
He nodded.
“So am I. Terrified. But I still think what we’re doing is right. Do you?”
His nod grew until it took hold of his entire frame. “I want to be good for you, Rae.”
“Shall I tell you what to do?”
“Please. Now. Always.”
The hand holding his arm pulled him around. “Move in behind me. No, closer. That’s it. So we touch from feet to hairline. Okay, reach around me, nestle me in your arms. Good. That’s it, reach out and hold the wheel.” She drew in closer still. “Now take us home.”