Chapter Forty-Three Tula
Chapter Forty-Three
Tula
The next couple of weeks were hectic. I coordinated with the auction house about the picking up and selling of the furniture. I duplicated the manuscript and gave one copy to Nathan and kept one for myself. I donated the original to the historical center.
The movers came yesterday and cleared out the furniture, leaving me with a mattress and bedding. The auction was on Saturday, and I instructed the Morrisons to send the final check to Mr. Brooks in Norfolk.
I’d dived with Nathan as often as I could and had become a kind of assistant on his dives.
The nervous first-timers and I got along great.
When Kaitlin’s summer help texted and said they’d be a few weeks late, I also kept cleaning houses with her.
She was a long way from paying me back, but her surf camps were filling up, and she’d sent me a few small Venmo payments.
I also did some internet research with the history center’s help.
I’d been curious about Alfred Gruber’s fate.
It took a few days, but the librarian had reported back that she’d found an Alfred Gruber, born in Vienna in 1910.
He’d died in April 1942, when a boat he’d been traveling on the Danube River had unexpectedly sunk.
He’d drowned. Still no word on the mystery woman pictured with Dr. Brooks.
Though Mr. Brooks had said I didn’t need to send him updates, I had sent weekly reports. Seven years at the firm had left me with a begrudging respect for documentation. He’d never responded to my reports until last night. He’d emailed back that he’d be at the house sometime today.
So, I’d awoken early and mopped the floors and wiped down the kitchen and bathrooms again.
I wanted the Southern Shores house to be spotless.
Seemed fitting that I give Dr. Brooks’s home the best send-off I could.
Once the house sold, Kaitlin had said I could sleep in her spare room again.
Nathan had offered me the spare room in his condo.
I’d already decided I wasn’t staying here.
Like my mother, I loved the beauty, but I was dreaming of far-off places I’d never seen.
Nathan had told me last night he was leaving the Outer Banks in early August. He was going to Florida to head up a diving expedition. He didn’t ask me to come, and I hadn’t offered. I really liked him, but I still feared I would let his life become mine.
The front doorbell rang, and as I crossed the center room, my footsteps echoed. I opened the door to find Nathan on my doorstep. His hair was damp, and he wore the same gray T-shirt, board shorts, and flip-flops I’d seen him in so many times. I was beginning to wonder if he owned any other clothes.
“Hey, what are you doing here? I thought you had a lesson.”
“He canceled. Rescheduled for tomorrow.”
“So, a rare morning off.”
He ran long fingers through his hair. The morning light caught hints of silver that made him look even more attractive. “It almost never happens.”
I stepped into a hug. He wrapped his arms around me. He felt so good. Too good.
“I finished the manuscript,” he said.
“Kind of a big loose end, isn’t it? Baby born on the high seas, and then nothing.”
“Did you find out more about your great-grandmother, Margaret?”
“No pictures. Nothing in the newspaper databases, not even an obit. The only time she’s mentioned is in Kevin Riggs’s death notice. She’s referred to as ‘his late wife, Margaret.’”
“I’d like to know where everyone ended up.”
“The history center has no leads so far, but they promised to keep digging.”
He stepped inside and looked around the empty room that smelled faintly of pine and window cleaner. “This place is something. I got to hand it to Dr. Brooks. He picked a great location.”
“He’d lived close to Margaret and Kevin in Norfolk. Do you think the proximity of this house to the Oceanus was an accident? It was his vacation house, but what are the chances?”
“I think he knew exactly what he was doing.” He drew in a breath. “I wanted to let you know, I’m leaving for Florida sooner than expected,” Nathan said.
We hadn’t slept together since the first time.
I’d worried about muddying the waters, and he’d been patient about my reservations.
But we dove often, ate dinner at Arthur’s, and took long walks on the beach.
I’d enjoyed getting to know him and hearing stories of his life.
The idea of not seeing him again was more deflating than I’d imagined.
I didn’t need him to stay, but I would miss him terribly. “When?”
“Two weeks.”
“So soon.”
“Yeah. I need to be down there before hurricane season kicks up. They made me an offer I couldn’t refuse.”
“I get it. You got to go where the money is.”
He laid his hands on my shoulders. He hadn’t said the l-word, but I could see it churning in his eyes when he looked at me over burgers or across the dive boat. Maybe he was afraid the words would send me running. Maybe they would.
He brushed a hair strand off my forehead. “I know you well enough now to realize you’re never going to ask for anything. But I’m doing the asking, okay?”
“Okay?” The underlying question couldn’t be hard to guess.
“Will you come with me? You’re an excellent diver, and you have enough skills to get a job anywhere. So, if you came with me to Florida, you could still be doing your own thing. It’s not like we’d be inseparable.” And before I could answer: “I am not your anchor. You’re unbound and free-floating.”
Before I could reply, there was another knock at the door. Nathan muttered a curse.
“Hold that thought,” I said.
My footsteps echoed in the empty house as I crossed to the door.
When I opened it, I found Mr. Brooks standing on the front steps.
He looked so much like his great-uncle that it was hard not to mistake the two for each other.
He wore khakis, a white pullover, a blazer, and loafers.
Casual but still kind of formal. “Mr. Brooks. Please come in.”
“As I said in my email, I’m here on vacation for a week. Made sense to stop by and see the house. Your detailed reports have been very interesting.”
In the last report, I’d included a PDF of the manuscript pages, as well as the images of Dr. Brooks in front of the house with Frank Stick and the mystery brunette. “I hope they were helpful.”
“Fascinating. The detailed inventory list of furniture and what they sold for at auction was thorough.” He reached into his pocket and removed an envelope. “I’d like you to have this.”
My gaze drifted to the slim envelope. “What’s this?”
“It’s from the sale of the furniture.”
“Does the number work for you? I thought the auction house did a great job of getting top dollar.” I knew the number because I’d been on site the day of the sale and reviewed all the receipts.
“It’s acceptable. And I’d like you to have it.”
“It’s too generous for me to accept.”
“The estate doesn’t need it. And my great-uncle would rather you have it.”
“He’s already done so much for me. He set up the fund for me, and I’m pretty sure he helped me get the job at your firm.”
“We were lucky to have you.”
“I can’t take this money.”
“Yes, you can.”
He spoke with such certainty I didn’t argue. “This is very generous. Thank you.” I sensed Nathan behind me. “I’m sorry, I didn’t introduce you two. Mr. Brooks, this is Nathan Rogan. We dove the Oceanus together a few weeks ago.”
Nathan crossed and extended his hand. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Brooks. I had the pleasure of reading your great-uncle’s manuscript, and it was fascinating.”
Mr. Brooks accepted Nathan’s hand. “Pleasure is mine. I read the copy Tula sent me. Never a more documented wreck, I think. Nan always said you had an excellent eye for detail, Tula.”
Nan hadn’t always loved that attention to detail. She’d scrawled “compulsive” on my last job review. “Hopefully I didn’t overwhelm you.”
“Not at all.” He looked around the house. “You’ve done an amazing job. The house feels alive again.”
“It was always alive. Just a little dormant. Can I give you the grand tour?”
“Sure.”
I walked both men through the house and each clean room. I felt a sense of satisfaction that I was leaving it in good shape.
“Whoever buys the house will have a gem,” I said. “The sunrise views in the morning are amazing.”
“You’re right about that. I had a lot of happy memories in this house.”
“You were here as a kid?” I asked.
“I was here often.” He walked into his great-uncle’s office and looked toward the hiding space in the floor, the cleaned seams now clearly visible. For a moment, he said nothing. “Excellent work.”
“Thank you.”
“The house has already sold,” he said. “Word of mouth, so I never needed an agent.”
“I can be out today, if I need to be.”
“Beginning of August is fine.”
“In the manuscript, your great-uncle delivered a baby on the lifeboat. Did that really happen?”
“I don’t know. My great-uncle never told me much about the wreck.”
“He was a medical doctor?”
Mr. Brooks shook his head. “He had several PhDs and was well read. I assume he’d read about delivering babies in a book.”
“He sounded like he was confident in the manuscript.” I hesitated. “Do you think Dr. Brooks wrote it?”
“I don’t know.”
“Do you think he had anything to do with William’s demise?”
Mr. Brooks looked amused. “I’m an attorney. I could never answer a question like that.”
“The manuscript just ended. There was no accounting of the passengers. I was especially interested in Gertrude and Sigrid.”
“I can’t help you with that,” Mr. Brooks said.
“My great-grandmother Margaret was on the Oceanus. I didn’t see Margaret’s name on the ship’s passenger list.”
“I’m glad you mentioned that. I almost forgot. I found a picture of Margaret in my great-uncle’s files.” He reached into his breast pocket and pulled out an envelope and handed it to me.
I opened the envelope and pulled out the single photo. It appeared to have been taken in the late 1940s. It was of a woman, a man, and a little boy. I recognized the woman immediately.
“That’s Margaret and Kevin Riggs and their son,” Mr. Brooks said.
“She’s the woman in the pictures with Dr. Brooks. They were standing in front of this house.”
“She must have visited my great-uncle several times.”
“Must have.”
He drew in a breath and turned toward the front door. “I’ll leave you both now. I just wanted to give you the check and picture, see the house one last time, and offer my thanks again. Are you coming back to the firm in September?”
“I’ve drafted an email. I’m sending it to Nan in the morning, right after I call her. I won’t be coming back.”
His smile showed no hint of surprise. “I thought as much. Something about the ocean that’s hard to resist. I can never stay away too long.”
“I might have argued that point a few months ago, but you’re right. I’ll always be close to it.”
“I’m glad to hear it. Good luck to you both.”
He left, and I watched him slide behind the wheel of a dark Mercedes. “He reminds me so much of the Dr. Brooks in the manuscript.”
“Me too. I guess genetics are sometimes powerful.”
I’d started to replace the picture in the envelope when I felt something else inside. I reached in and pulled out a coin.
“That looks like the coin your mom and you wore.”
I turned the coin over and over in my hand. “It has the same nicks and rough edges.” The last time I’d seen my coin, it was floating toward ocean silt next to the wreck. There was no way it could be the same one.
“Why would he give that to you?”
“I don’t know.” I smoothed my finger over familiar ridges. “I wonder where he got this one.”
“You left yours behind at the Oceanus, right?”
“I did.”
“How many coins are there like that in the world?”
“There can’t be many.”
“Are you going to keep it?”
I’d given mine back to the ocean. And now here it was again. “Yes, I suppose.”
He took my hand. “Come with me to Florida. We don’t have to make it formal. We can keep it casual, but I hate the idea of leaving you.”
The coin felt warm in my hand. “If I ever get to be an anchor . . .”
“You won’t.” He pulled me into his arms and kissed me.
I kissed him back, falling into scents of sea and sun. I didn’t know what life with Nathan would bring, but I wanted to find out. For the first time in a long time, I was home.