“Miss Maggie, do you want my daddy to tell you how this was made, too?” Cobalt blue circled the azure of J.D.’s irises, and the sun reflected from the corners of his eyes. Excitement lifted his brows, and his lips parted, waiting for her to respond. Ten miles past adorable.
She’d play along. Unable to stop her smile, she lifted her gaze to Josh. “Enlighten me, Joshua.”
The same circles colored his eyes, but lines crinkled his temples when he grinned back at her, knowing she was being sarcastic.
“Mr. Marovich taught Maggie, Cammie, and me about these, so she knows as much or more than I do. Maggie had a shell encyclopedia, and she loved to gather what she found out on the barrier islands and look them up in her book.” His Adam’s apple bobbed as he swallowed. “Speaking of barrier islands...”
No. Maggie let her head drop forward. Everything between her temples ached, and she didn’t want to go there right now. “Don’t bring that disaster up.”
“Now you have to tell.” Dahlia stood and punched her fists to her hips. “Spill it.”
Yep, like looking in a mirror. “Josh brought it up. Not me.”
“Let’s walk and talk.” Josh motioned everyone forward with his head and began a leisurely pace eastward. “It was the day after Cammie graduated. We thought it would be a good idea to take the Cajun Princess out to Horn Island.”
“The Cajun Princess.” Maggie scoffed. “We all hated the name of that boat. Daddy thought it was hilarious. He’d tell people ‘I’m taking out the Cajun Princess today.’ And they’d say ‘Which one this time,’ acting as if we were all spoiled, Mama included.” Well, maybe they had been. The man had doted on each one of them when he was home, trying to make up for lost time after two weeks out. He took them to dinner, shopping, fishing, boating...quality time, as they say. He’d always been bigger than life. A booming voice, enormous arms that would catch them in big off-the-ground hugs whenever he came home, and the tales her father told. He spun yarn like a sailor for sure.
“Anyhow,” Josh continued. “Maggie and I, plus Cammie and her friend, set out for Horn a little too late in the day. Without checking the weather, either.” He pointed a stare Maggie’s way. “Apparently, before your aunt was into all that meteorology.”
“Wait. What happened was not my fault.” Maggie’s spine bristled. “You and Cammie’s friend came up with the idea in the first place.” The guy with Cammie had been another loser. For a sweet, smart girl, her sister had made more than one bad choice in dating. Cammie’d given up the whole activity after Dahlia was born, claiming she didn’t want any weirdos around her baby girl.
Josh’s mouth pulled up on one side. “So we got to the island and set out a tent, which would’ve been a good thing because it started hailing. But there was also lightning striking down to the ground, and we got nervous that the metal poles of the tent would attract the electricity. We pulled the poles out and lay flat on the ground huddled beneath the tarp.”
Sniffling, J.D. rubbed his nose and tugged on Josh’s shirttail. “Were you scared, Daddy?”
Maggie made a mental note to stuff a few tissues in her pocket for J.D. Josh was a good father, but men didn’t tend to prepare as well for those kind of issues, it seemed.
Mischief lit Josh’s eyes, and they sparkled even more, if that were possible. “A little scared of Maggie. Part of the time, she called out commands like an angry pirate, the rest of the time she used me like her human shield from the balls of ice pelting us. Not to mention the lightning. She acted like we were doomed if we didn’t follow her orders.”
“I did not.” Maggie’s mouth fell open. She remembered the situation very differently. “I may’ve yelled to be heard over the storm, but someone had to come up with a plan. And human shield?” There may’ve been a bit of cuddling close beside Josh, but she’d rather not go there. A brief flash of that memory zapped her with a current about as dangerous as the lightning. “I—”
“Puppies!” A shrill cry rent the air, and J.D. took off at a sprint down the beach.
Josh passed the mermaid’s purse to Maggie and followed his son toward a blue pickup that had parked, unloaded a kennel, and set up a small playpen. A handmade sign read Free to a Good Home.
Gloom weighed down Maggie’s shoulders. There was no way J.D. could have a dog with Josh gone all the time. But little boys loved puppies. And J.D. looked so excited. Dahlia’s steps quickened, and her face brightened to the perkiest Maggie had seen since arriving. What would Cammie think about a pet? They were at the store so many hours, plus Aunt Ruth might trip over a small dog. Her aunt would never see something low to the ground like that. Maggie’s abdomen locked up, jarring the air and the fear trapped there. If Cammie stumbled... Or would Cammie ever walk enough to worry about falling over an animal?
She strode to catch up with the kids. Already J.D. held a fat, black puppy with short floppy ears and a white belly, and he giggled when it licked his cheek.
“He likes me.” More giggles floated along the briny Gulf breeze.
A middle-aged man in a red T-shirt and jeans offered Dahlia a slightly larger dog, muddled brown and white with floppy ears, one of which stood up while the other hung low. With lopsided ears and a smashed-looking nose, the dog wouldn’t be winning any best-in-show awards. Her niece scooped the pudgy animal into her arms like a newborn baby, and the dog lay back, pink belly up, enjoying the attention.
“You kids look like you’d be good pet owners.” The man eyed Josh and then Maggie. “With your parents’ permission, of course.”
Another steaming tide of anguish crashed over Maggie, shredding her heart. Again. How many people would assume she and Josh were a couple? A family even? She covered her mouth with her fist to keep from making a sound—or saying anything at all.
Shaking his head, Josh lowered his gaze. “It’s not the right time for us to make a commitment.”
Disappointment instantly shaded both kids’ faces.
“What about you, Aunt Maggie?” Rotating Maggie’s way, Dahlia gave a pleading look. “You’re alone all the time. You could get a dog, and maybe you could share it with me. Like on holidays and in the summer.”
Temporarily mute, Maggie stared at her niece. She shuffled through possible responses to such a blunt assessment of her life.
“Please, Miss Maggie.” J.D. joined with a begging pouch of his lips. “I could babysit him for you.”
Now she was sniffling and wishing she could make things better for both of the children.
HE NEEDED TO COME UP with a distraction. And quick. Josh scrambled to find something to say. Poor Maggie. The mortified look on her face melted his heart.
Her brows jerked up and down, and she blinked at least three times in rapid succession. “I’m...not home all the time because of my job, and puppies need training. I...I mean if I were going to get a pet, it might be a cat. They aren’t as much work.”
Both of the kids slumped, and their faces fell.
“Can cats ride in a boat?” J.D. rubbed his cheek against the pup still wriggling in his arms.
Dark curls cascaded over Maggie’s shoulders when she shook her head. “Not so much. Cats and boats don’t really go together.”
He had to dig them out of this hole quickly or he’d end up with a kitten running between his and Ruth’s houses. And cats weren’t his favorite. A wild feline had jumped out of a tree and onto his head once as a boy, and he’d never trusted the beasts since. “Let’s play with the puppies a minute and then see what other exciting discoveries we can find down the beach. I think I can make out a sailboat.”
The boat caught his son’s attention, but not Dahlia’s.
“Aww.” She sighed. “She’s so cute, and she needs someone to love her.” Her lower lip quivered a little before she caught it in her teeth.
“Sir, can we get your number?” Maggie stepped closer to the puppy peddler. “If something works out, we’ll call you.”
The man scrambled to jot it on a scrap of cardboard.
Was it even legal for the guy to be out here? The unexpected development irritated Josh about like a sea nettle sting. “Let’s put the puppies down without making me jerk a knot in your heads, and I’ll take y’all for frozen yogurt on the way home.”
Hesitantly and with downturned lips, both children complied. They all started back down the narrow stretch of beach toward where a sailboat floated not far from shore.
Josh gave Maggie a playful nudge. “I wouldn’t really jerk a knot in their heads, you know.”
“I figured.” Her voice came out soft and somber, tightening a noose around his chest.
The beach was supposed to cheer everyone up, not churn around more misery. Josh breathed a heavy sigh.
“Mr. Josh?” Dahlia cocked her head, gazing at him with huge brown eyes. “What does a ship pilot do?”
“I'm what's known as a bar pilot. We approach larger ships in our boat. I climb a ladder onto their deck and take the helm. I bring the vessel through the narrow, shallow, shifting channel of Southwest Pass. Sometimes the ship is headed inbound into the wide, deep Mississippi River, where a river pilot will take over. Sometimes, the ship’s headed outbound, and I take over from the river pilot and guide her out to the deep waters of the Gulf of Mexico.”
“How do you take over? Do you steer the ship?” Dahlia asked.
“I give orders to the helmsman, like degrees of angle and direction of the rudder or compass headings to steer. The helmsman is the guy actually steering the ship.” He studied her posture and body language. She twisted the ends of her hair. What was going on in her mind? “Why do you ask?”
J.D. scampered after a crab, and Maggie jogged to stay close. She didn’t let him out of her sight for much. She’d make a good mother. Wistfulness crept into Josh’s mood now, too.
“My grandfather was a pilot, but no one talks about it much.” Dahlia’s tone gripped his heart and squeezed like a bowline tangled around a cleat hitch at the dock.
Pausing in his tracks, Josh struggled to get his bearings. The girl resembled a younger version of Maggie grappling to comprehend her past. Something in the air today seemed to be stirring up all sorts of ancient debris. Maybe even a storm of another kind, which, it seemed, they were all running into headlong.
Was there any way to reverse their course? “Yes. Your grandfather was a pilot. He’s the reason I wanted to pursue this career, my life’s work.”
Maggie’s head pivoted his way. She must have the ears of a bobcat. Probably the claws, too. But the sea and water glistening behind her profile made her look more like a blissful dream. He could still hardly believe she was here.
“Did you ever go...on a rescue?” Dahlia treaded tenderly around the question. She’d surely heard the way her grandfather had been lost at sea.
A quick, honest, and short answer seemed best. “Yes, several.”
“What were they? Did the people make it?”
He eyed Maggie, and her face contorted. “They made it.”
“What happened...?” Dahlia stared toward the water. “I mean—”
“Daddy, I don’t feel good.” A nasally whine tinged J.D.’s tone. Not a good sign.
Maggie lifted him and headed their way. Her lips pressed against his forehead, and her eyes rounded. “He’s burning up.”
Chapter 18
THE LAST THING THEY needed was for one of them to get sick. Fatigue weighed down Maggie’s shoulders like four feet of sand. A tension headache throbbed against her forehead and behind her eyes.
She pressed the back of her wrist against J.D.’s forehead for the fourth time since they’d taken a seat in the plastic chairs of the walk-in clinic. Feeling even hotter, the child leaned against her arm while Josh parked the truck behind the building. They may as well have everyone checked out. Dahlia and Aunt Ruth sat on her other side, both staring at copies of People Magazine.
Today was Sunday. Lord help us. That only left them four days to make sure Dahlia was well enough to visit with Cammie on Thanksgiving without spreading some dangerous illness. Ragged-looking children and adults fidgeted in seats nearby. If they weren’t sick already, they would be by the time they left.
“This is not good at all. What are we going to do?” Maggie spoke into the air, not really expecting an answer.
Aunt Ruth patted Maggie’s hand. “Child, you could worry the whiskers off a catfish. The baby may be ailing, but most likely the rest of us are fit as a fiddle. I feel great after sitting out in the sun awhile.”
Maggie prayed Aunt Ruth was right. But already her worst nightmares seemed to be coming true. With J.D. running a temp and all of them in such close contact every single day since she’d arrived, there was a good chance she had already spread it to Cammie. Of course, Cammie had been keeping the child even before that.
Winded, Josh rushed in. “Did you have to fill out papers?” He pulled his wallet from his back pocket and removed an insurance card.
“I signed in, but I didn’t know the answers to all those questions.” She nodded toward the clipboard in the empty chair on the other side of J.D. “And I’m wondering if we should all get an appointment. Or do you think the doctor could check everyone out at once?”
He sat on the edge of the chair, quickly filling out the paperwork, line by line. “Doubtful. They have to have a form for practically every tongue depressor.”
“What ever happened to a family doctor?” She smoothed her hand over J.D.’s damp head, and he curled in closer to her side with a shiver. “Poor baby. Should we get him something to drink?”
Twin lines formed between Josh’s brows as he looked up. “Yeah. I should’ve thought of that. I have water in the truck. I’ll be right back.” The clipboard clattered on the hard chair, and he was out the door in a flash.
A few minutes later, he jogged back in, five bottles of water in his arms. He passed one to Dahlia and Aunt Ruth but kneeled in front of Maggie and J.D. “Here you go, buddy.” He unscrewed both the caps off two bottles and held one out to J.D. “You need to drink. Miss Maggie is smart about these things.” His blue gaze met hers and flickered. “You’re good at this...a natural parent.”
Something cracked open inside, releasing a mingled torrent of warmth and ache. Rawness covered her throat, and the ache in her forehead pulsed harder. No words came. How many times would this scenario crush her beneath its cruel heel? Exhaustion pulled at her emotions, and her eyes stung.
“Joshua Bergeron?” A nurse in pink scrubs called from a cracked hallway door.
“That’s us.” Dahlia stood and tapped Aunt Ruth. “Let’s go back.”
Josh held up the paperwork. “I’m not finished.”
“You can do it back here,” the nurse answered.
Shifting her weight, Maggie scooped the boy into her arms, and J.D. leaned farther into her shoulder with a slight groan. She pushed to her feet, ready to carry him. God, please let this sweet boy feel better.
“So I guess we’re all going back then.” Josh shrugged and waved them on.
“I have to know what’s going on. It’s urgent for all of us so we protect Cammie.”
JOSH STIFLED A SIGH. Maggie was right, of course, but the doctor was going to be in for an interesting afternoon with the Marovich women. Josh let them lead the way back to the exam room, where they lined the wall of the small space, Ruth and Dahlia each taking one of the two chairs. The nurse made an abrupt double take when she looked up from the chart she’d been studying and scanned their gang. Maggie’s chin jutted out, as did Dahlia’s, both giving hard looks that dared the woman to ask them to leave.
The medical professional schooled her features as best she could, which wasn’t very well. “Let me get our boy’s temperature.”
Never moving from his spot against Maggie’s shoulder, J.D. allowed the nurse to place the thermometer into his ear without a fuss.
Josh swallowed back his surprise. Going to the doctor had never been this easy with his son. A memory washed up of the time when they’d needed
to take blood from J.D.’s finger a few weeks after Trisha had left them. The child had sat on his hands, refusing to obey. Josh shook his head. When he’d finally forced J.D.’s hand out for the prick, he’d been squeezing too tight, so they’d had to repeat the horrible process on the other hand. That had been one of his worst days...and parenting fails.
Of course, Trisha hadn’t been any better. Okay, she’d been worse. She usually tried to put off any kind of pediatric appointments until he was up from the river. If J.D. was really ill and couldn’t wait, Trisha asked Mom to go with her. Or asked Mom to take him while Trisha was out on her important socialite business. Whatever that was. Bitterness hit the back of his throat. How had he not seen what kind of woman she was?
“One hundred and three,” the nurse announced, matter-of-factly. “I’ll go ahead and do a strep test and a flu swab, to rule those out.”
J.D. whimpered. “No.”
“It’s okay, baby. I’ve got you,” Maggie crooned. “I won’t let go. You mind the nurse so we can make you feel better.”
“I don’t want to.” Panic laced his son’s voice.
Josh readied himself to take over.
“I’ll let her do it to me first. Okay?” Maggie held open her mouth wide toward the poor nurse.
J.D.’s eyes widened, as did the nurse’s.
Closing her mouth, Maggie nodded. “Go ahead. Test me. My sister’s in ICU, and I need to know if I have something contagious.” Her mouth opened again. “Aaahh.”
“You’re going to have to fill out some paperwork once I finish.”
Maggie’s head bobbed again, and then the nurse stuck the swab in and circled. Maggie’s eyes watered, but somehow she kept herself from making a sound, even smiling when it was over.
“Your throat is pretty raw. Whatever it is, you probably have it too.”
“Really?” Maggie blinked hard. “I thought I felt bad because I was near Josh.”
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