Chapter 13
Scarlet left the puppy in Myrtle’s care as she bundled up and prepared to tour the lighthouse with her husband and Everest.
“Take your time,” Myrtle said. “No sense in rushing. I’ll send the mister back out to lock up when you’re back. And I’m quite happy to play with Athos for the time being.”
A navy blue lifted truck parked outside the B and B. Everest climbed out and walked up to the entryway where Scarlet waited. “Hey. Almost didn’t make it.”
“Who was it this time?” Myrtle asked.
“Elena. She had another fall.” Everest sighed. “She’ll be okay. We checked her out and cleared her to stay in her home. She just needed help up.”
“Elena, as in Clara’s mother?” Scarlet asked.
“I haven’t heard that name in decades,” Myrtle remarked. “Do you know her?”
Scarlet shook her head. “Just saw an article.”
“That poor girl lived in such a volatile household.” Myrtle cradled the puppy like a baby and tickled its tummy.
“What do you mean?”
“Verbal abuse. Not from Elena. But the men that fought over her. Clara’s father went to jail for threatening her mother. Elena’s brother tried to protect both of those girls, but he’s the reason Clara’s father went to jail. Well, prison. Jon killed Hugh. The next week, Clara went missing despite Jon being in jail. No one could track her down.”
Scarlet clutched her coat tighter around her, chilled by the news. “Anyone else know anything about her?”
“No one else went missing with her that we know. She just disappeared one day.” Myrtle shook her head as she rounded the check-in counter and rested on the stool behind it. “Most people think she ran off, but no one found a body. They closed the case twenty-five years ago. Poor Elena never moved on.”
A new family entered the B and B with three young children, pulling Myrtle away.
“Ready?” Everest motioned toward the lighthouse.
Scarlet followed him outside and along the trail that wound out across the rocky peninsula toward the building. She couldn’t let go of Clara’s story. The girl would likely be nearing fifty now if she was alive somewhere else.”
“You know, Ed thought he’d had a stroke looking at you.”
Scarlet laughed once in shock. “What are you talking about?”
“He said you look so much like your aunt when she was younger that he wondered if he’d walked into a time-traveling portal or you’d just come out of one.”
“That’s weird.”
Everest opened the door to the lighthouse and held it for her. “He reads science fiction. So it’s normal for him to use out-of-this-world references.”
Scarlet pointed at him and smirked. “I see what you did there.”
Everest shrugged. “It’s making you smile. That makes my day ten times better. Now, up you go.”
The spiral staircase was huge. Scarlet had never climbed such large metal steps that wound upward like a corkscrew.
“Did you have time to think about what I said the night we met?” Everest called up to her as she climbed the fourth level of steps.
Her legs burned from the hike, and she realized she needed to spend more time exercising. She knew a simple climb like that shouldn’t have had her so winded. “I did, but perhaps you should lay it out for me.”
Scarlet made it to the final steps, a short set that climbed straight up into the brightest part of the lighthouse. The sun dipped toward the ocean, and for a long time, Scarlet just stared out at the water. A nearby plaque stated the name of the lighthouse, its date of construction, and its height above sea level. But what struck her most were the number of storms it had endured and the folklore around it. “Ghosts of betrayed pirates and murder victims haunt this place?”
Everest smiled behind a fist. “Every place has a story or a secret. Hard to find a lighthouse that isn’t supposedly haunted.”
“You don’t believe it?” Scarlet asked.
“Plenty of people have died on the rocks, yes,” he said. “Boats get smashed out there. Kids take dares from other kids. Every once in a while, someone jumps.”
Scarlet gasped. “Suicide?”
He rested his arms on the railing and hung his head. “Lots of lost souls come here searching for peace. Some find it in the ocean air. Others find it more permanently in other ways. I have seen it all.” Everest gazed out across the water. “Why do you think there is a lighthouse here?”
She leaned against the railing and studied the tinge of orange to the western horizon. “It’s such a beautiful place. How could it not inspire hope?”
“It evokes emotions for sure. I’ve always loved the drone of the waves crashing into shore,” he offered. “It’s like white noise, rocking me to sleep at night. But for some, it is a maddening noise, the same way some folks can’t stand city sounds.”
“Makes sense, I guess.”
“Back to what I said.” Everest straightened and looked her over. “Did you figure it out?”
“The lens that has gone out is the bookshop. The keeper was my aunt. So you were saying that someone else has to take over the shop.” Scarlet arched a brow. “Did I get it right?”
His eyes shone with reverence. “I hoped you would figure it out. Your aunt had her doubts that you’d want the bookshop, so I admit, she asked if I could check in and see if you needed anything if and when you ever arrived.”
Scarlet toyed with the tassels on the scarf around her neck. “Guess I made it pretty obvious that I didn’t want her shop or anything like it.”
He sighed and rested a shoulder against the wall. The light from the lens swiveled, grazing his torso and making his paramedic’s badge glisten. The lighthouse’s beam made a soft whirring noise as it rotated. And the room was warm from the high luminosity bulbs. It was a cozy feeling she hadn’t expected to find away from home.
“She loved you, Scarlet.” Everest’s face gave away no sign of how the words made him feel, making Scarlet feel suddenly insecure.
“My aunt never said that much to me,” she admitted. “Forgive me if I don’t believe it.”
“People show their love in different ways.” Everest tilted his head toward the B and B. “Myrtle shows her love through action, caring for soaked strangers coming in for a warm place to sleep and pups left in cardboard boxes. Elena volunteered. Lalia is a gift giver. Your mother showed her love with praise.”
“That’s all she had. And her efforts at work.”
Everest glanced out at the sea. “Some of us only have one option: time, money, praise, or gift giving. There are lots of ways to show it. Your aunt gave you everything she had. Don’t tell me that isn’t enough to believe she loved you.”
Scarlet sank back a step. “You’re right. I’m thinking about this too much like a business transaction, even though it’s literally a business being given. I think it’s easy in that sense to see how the intent could be misconstrued.”
He drew in a deep breath through his nose and let it out. “That’s true. But it’s also true how she felt. She had no children and no significant other. Ann told me once that she felt it would be easier, but she said she regretted her decision after you were born. She told me that your existence changed everything.”
Scarlet’s throat ached from the sadness swelling inside her.
“She didn’t want you to go home to the city across the country.” Everest shoved his hands in his pockets. “Ann wanted to leave so she could be with you and your mother. But she felt responsible for this community. That’s why she didn’t uproot and move to where you were.”
Scarlet lingered in several minutes of silence, listening to the whir of the lighthouse motors and the subtle shifting of Everest beside her.
“Well, I’d like to show you some of the fun sides of this place on Saturday if you’ll let me.” Everest checked his watch. “I should probably let you get to bed.”
His eyes were just a hint glossy, and Scarlet realized just how much he’d bonded with her aunt.
“Saturday works for me. But I can stay for a bit if you’d like to tell me more about the folklore here.”
“I think I should go check on Elena one more time before I head home. Otherwise, I’d stay. She hasn’t been doing well as of late.” Everest ran a hand over his chest. “I don’t think she’s going to be around much longer. She’s started seeing people who aren’t there and talking to them. Alan and Beau. But Beau might be a cat. I’m still not sure.”
Scarlet relented. “Okay. I understand. Send her my best, would you?”
Everest paused as he started down the steps. A light smile touched his lips. “I’ll do that. Shall I walk you back?”
“Please.” Scarlet descended after him and was pleasantly surprised when Everest offered her an elbow to hang onto for the walk back. It was getting darker and harder to see the path.
“I take it you’ve walked this path a lot,” she remarked.
“Many times.” Everest guided her up the steps to the B and B, then released her and gave her a bashful but slightly sad glance. “Goodnight, Scarlet. I’ll see you Saturday.”
“Night.” Scarlet watched him climb in his truck and drive up the road toward the coastal highway that would take him the short distance to town.
Alan and Beau, huh? Scarlet had some research to do. Her aunt had managed to find the boy who was lost in the local area. Not finding Clara made Scarlet wonder if the girl had gone missing or if someone had taken her.