Mine Until Moonrise

by Jennifer Bernard

  Lucas had charmed her without any visible effort. Take that, Dev.

  “So what are you here to tell us, Mr. Holt?”

  “Holt was the one who called me when Ruby went missing,” said Dev, obviously trying to regain the spotlight. “He witnessed the entire debacle.”

  “That’s right,” Lucas said calmly. “I did. I run a charter in Lost Harbor. I took Dev out when he was there last month. That’s when he—”

  “That’s not relevant,” Dev said quickly. “We’re not here to talk about fishing.”

  “We’re here to talk about anything relevant. Is it relevant, Mr. Holt?”

  “I think so. It’s the reason I called Dev.”

  Megan shot a glance at Dev, whose face was slowly turning a shade of brick red.

  “Okay, go ahead then.”

  “On our fishing trip, he asked me to report back to him on anything I witnessed regarding Megan and Ruby, especially anything relating to her panic attacks. He offered to pay me to do this.”

  Lucas wouldn’t meet her eyes as he spoke. He kept them fixed on Eliza, who was taking notes on her familiar legal pad. “He offered to pay you?”

  “Yes. I think he knew that Megan and I were…adversaries at that time. He wanted to use that to his benefit.”

  “I see.”

  Megan’s heart began to flutter madly. She knew that tone of voice from Eliza. It meant she was Not. Happy.

  “Did you accept his offer?”

  “No. I thought it was ridiculous and I told him so. But I did take his card. I still had it in my pocket when Ruby went missing.”

  Dev pointed an accusing finger at Lucas. “You called me because Megan had a panic attack and you didn’t know what to do.”

  “Right. I was hoping you would be able to help. You didn’t have much to say, though. You said it wouldn’t be long and you were right. As soon as she came out of it, she figured out that a kayak was missing. That’s how we found Ruby.”

  Dev’s nostrils flared until he looked like a snorting bull. “The point is, Ruby nearly got lost at sea because Megan couldn’t keep her shit together.”

  His harsh words hung in the quiet air. They kept ringing in Megan’s ears, so accusing, so—right?

  Lucas leaned forward, elbows on his knees, hands loosely clasped, his calm manner the opposite of Dev’s. “I guess to a city boy it might seem that way. In Lost Harbor, we have more than our share of people lost at sea. Fishermen. Adventure-seekers. The occasional dare-devil. But we never lose anyone without a fight. Especially not a kid. Ruby had all of us behind her that day. All of Lost Harbor. She always will. Every child does.”

  Megan’s throat closed up. As many clashes as she’d had with the harbor folks, they’d circled around her after the storm.

  That was what she wanted for Ruby. That sense of being part of something a community that looked out for each other. Tears welled in her eyes but she blinked them back.

  Important business going on here. She had to pay attention.

  “Getting back to your first statement, that Dev tried to hire you to…what, spy on Megan?”

  “More or less. The words he used were ‘keep an eye on her’ and ‘be a bodyguard.’ But he wanted me to report back to him, which does add up to spying.”

  Eliza turned to Dev. “What do you have to say about this?”

  In that moment, Megan was quite happy that she wasn’t Dev being pinned with Eliza’s level gaze.

  “It was for Ruby,” Dev said with his usual smoothness. “You can’t blame me for wanting to keep an eye on Ruby given Megan’s condition.”

  “My condition?”

  “PTSD is no joke. You weren’t taking it seriously. I did.”

  “Bullshit.” She leaped to her feet. “You just want to undercut me. You want me to doubt myself so I won’t fight you. You think I’m weaker than you, but I’m not. I’m stronger than you. Do you think I could have gone to Alaska and made a life and started running a boat if I wasn’t tough? You don’t really know me, Dev. And hiring spies behind my back is crossing a major line.”

  Her words that rang with the clarity of truth. And God did it feel good to stand up for herself like this. Lucas’ eyes gleamed with something like pride.

  Eliza caught her eye and gestured for her to sit back down. She did, wondering if losing her cool like that was going to cost her.

  “Thank you, Megan. Dev, I get that you were worried. That’s understandable. But you never brought it up here. You had the option of airing your concerns in this very room. That’s why we’re in this mediation process. We could have instituted some kind of aboveboard agreement. Instead you chose to go behind Megan’s back.”

  Megan had to bite her lip to keep from shouting, “exactly!”

  “It was for Ruby,” he said sullenly.

  “For Ruby’s safety or so that you could gather material to gain custody of Ruby?”

  Dev’s jaw flexed and he looked everywhere except at Eliza. It was so rare to see him at a loss for words like that.

  “We stick to the truth here, remember?” Eliza said gently.

  “Fine. The second choice. That one. Ruby needs to be with me. She needs a real education. The teachers up there in the backwoods don’t know how to handle someone like Ruby.”

  Eliza swung her head around to pin Megan with that laser-beam gaze. “Response, Megan?”

  She drew in a long breath. Here was her opportunity, created for her by Lucas with an assist from Eliza.

  Now she had to believe in herself…and grab it.

  “I think Ruby needs a quality education, absolutely. But she’s more than a math whiz. She also loves animals and art. She doesn’t make many friends, but when she does she’s incredibly loyal to them. Those attachments are important too. She needs people who love her for things other than her IQ. She needs a community. She needs…me. Despite all my many flaws—no need to list them, Dev—she needs me. Right now, she needs me to fight for her because our life in Lost Harbor is what’s best for her. I truly believe that to the bottom of my soul.”

  Her passionate words echoed in the air even after she’d finished speaking.

  Until Dev spoke up. “But that ridiculous boat is no way to make a living.”

  “I sold the Forget Me Not. I plan to use that money to hire a private tutor to come to Lost Harbor.” Where had that idea come from? It had flashed into her brain at the perfect moment. “It’s the best of both worlds. A quality education and a community she loves. Dev, you can even select the tutor. Maybe it’s two tutors. Three, four. Whatever works.”

  “But the resources here—”

  Eliza cut him off. “Dev, I hope you understand that you’re on thin ice here. You violated the agreement we all worked out. I’d even call that an egregious violation. I wouldn’t blame Megan if she pulled out of this process altogether. Megan, what do you have to say about that? Would you rather take this process to court instead of mediation? You’d have a compelling case.”

  Megan gave that a moment of serious thought. Did she want to become courtroom adversaries with Dev? Her child’s father? The mediation sessions were tough, but they did help her and Dev understand each other. “No. I think we can work through this. Unless you’re giving up on us?”

  “No. Of course not, not after all the many, many sessions that got us here.” Her touch of dry humor lightened the moment. “So, keeping our focus where it should be, which is the best interests of the child, I repeat. Dev, would the hiring of tutors satisfy you?”

  Dev slouched back in his seat. A lock of his dark hair fell across his face—a sure sign that he was rattled. “Partially. I’d still like the option of enrolling her in a few advanced courses or short-term programs.”

  “Megan?”

  Megan drew in a long breath. Was Dev actually giving up his battle for full custody? She stole a glance at Lucas, who wore an impassive expression. The decision is yours, he was silently saying.

  “That should be fine,” she finally said. “B
ut Dev, you can’t pull something like what you tried with Lucas. No spying. I would never do that to you and you shouldn’t do it to me.”

  “Agreed,” he managed through gritted teeth. “Should have known I picked the wrong guy,” he added.

  Lucas’ head shot up and he fixed a fierce stare on Dev. “What’s that supposed to mean.”

  “You still consider yourself under oath, don’t you?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Answer this, then. Are you in love with Megan?”

  The entire room went silent. Megan froze in her chair. Goose bumps rose on her skin and her head felt light enough to float away.

  “What does that have to do with anything?”

  “It’s pretty clear. If you’re in love with her, you might lie for her.”

  “Where’s the lie? Is anything I said a lie? You’re just as much under oath as I am.”

  “So you’re not going to answer the question?” Triumphant, Dev looked over at Eliza. “He can’t be trusted. He’s trying to weasel out of a legitimate question. He had an ulterior motive. We can’t consider…”

  Dev kept talking, but Megan tuned out. She felt as if she was on a rollercoaster that had just taken a sickening plunge. Amazingly, things had been going her way. But now Dev had found an opening and was gnawing at it like a pit bull. Was Eliza going to fall for his bullshit?

  “Yes.” Lucas’ calm voice interrupted Dev’s stream of complaints. “Since I’m under oath, I will say that yes, I am in love with Megan. That is the truth along with everything else I’ve said today.”

  Megan gripped the edge of the table. Where was this crazy roller coaster going next? “You’re what?”

  He glanced over at her, almost casually, as if he wasn’t dropping a major bombshell on her. “In love with you. Why else would I follow you all the way down to California, of all places? You know how I feel about California. Too many people.”

  California? What did California have to do with anything? None of this was making sense.

  “You...you said you wanted to apologize. Grovel. And you didn’t even grovel completely because you should have told me Dev wanted to pay you to be his spy!”

  “You’re right. I should have. I forgot because I think you got mad at me about something else right after that.”

  “That’s very likely,” she admitted.

  That amused glint in his eye brought it all back—the sparkling energy that fueled their quarrels, the feistiness he inspired in her.

  “You heard him,” Dev was saying. “He loves her, so of course he’s going to take her side.”

  Eliza shook her head at him. “I also heard him say he was telling the truth. I don’t see any reason to doubt that. You didn’t even deny what he said.”

  “Because…because…ah fuck it.” He flung his arms in the air. “If you want to live in Lost Harbor, Alaska, I won’t fight you, Megan.”

  “Really?”

  “Yeah. Ruby does seem to love it. I don’t have the heart to take it away from her. But I will be closely monitoring her education.”

  Oh, so now he didn’t have the heart? After putting her through this? She opened her mouth to blast him, but felt Lucas’ warning glance. Leave it be. She’d won. “Fine. Then I guess we have an agreement.”

  “So it seems.” Dev shoved his papers into his briefcase and rose to his feet. While not exactly gracious, at least he wasn’t sneering at her. “I’ll say this, Megan. I never thought you’d last up there. I thought you’d be begging to come back to Palo Alto and let me take care of things.”

  “Well, I guess I’m stronger than you think.” Even she hadn’t believed in her own strength. But Lucas had, from the very first moment they met.

  Lucas.

  He too was rising to his feet to shake Eliza’s hand in goodbye. Wait a minute. He was just going to walk out of here as if nothing had happened? As if he hadn’t said that he loved her—under oath?

  Yes. He was. Before she could collect herself, he’d left the office and headed for the elevator.

  She scrambled to her feet and gathered up her bag and the papers she’d pulled from it at the start of the meeting. Without even bothering to put them back in their folder, she bolted for the door. “Bye Eliza, bye Dev, hold that elevator!” she shouted all in a burst.

  She barely made it inside before the doors closed behind her. In fact, one of her papers fluttered away and got sandwiched between the closing elevator doors. She hoped it wasn’t anything important, like her sale agreement for the Forget Me Not, but didn’t take the time to check.

  Panting, she stood in the middle of the elevator and looked at Lucas. Cool and composed, he leaned against the back wall of the elevator, hands in his pockets.

  “Can we please rewind to what you said back there? Was that some kind of…tactic?”

  “Tactic? What sort of tactic?”

  “I don’t know! You’re…you…you really love me?”

  He was watching her so closely, almost warily. She noticed a muscle ticking in his jaw and realized—he wasn’t as calm as he looked. Dev had put him on the spot and now he was all alone out there on the “I love you” ledge.

  The elevator doors opened again. Her paperwork fluttered to the floor. She snatched it up just as two office workers stepped in. Great, now they had no privacy. She edged around the two women so she could stand next to Lucas at the back of the elevator. She curled her fingers into his and felt the reassurance of his return pressure.

  She searched for the right thing to say in the awkward strangers-crowded-together atmosphere of the elevator. All of this was too important to share with random office workers. “If what you said is true—”

  “It is. I wouldn’t have said it if it wasn’t true.”

  “Then why didn’t you say anything earlier? I thought we were just—” She glanced at the two office workers. The door opened on the next floor and more passengers got in. It must be lunchtime. “You know,” she ended.

  “I thought so too, but I guess things change.”

  “And that’s why you came down here?”

  “Yup, I came down here to barge into a meeting and get grilled under oath by your ex.” His dry words caught the attention of the others in the elevator. “It was well worth the trip.”

  “I’m sorry about that. Not that it’s my fault, because I had no idea because you never gave any hint.” More glances from the other passengers made her realize she’d raised her voice.

  “I didn’t say it was your fault.”

  “Oh my God, are we arguing?”

  “Yes, with innocent bystanders nearby. Lord help them.” He gestured toward the now-crowded elevator. At least half of the passengers were openly watching them.

  She raised her voice. “Sorry, everyone. No need for concern. Arguing is just a thing we do. It’s like verbal foreplay for us.”

  At her side, Lucas choked slightly.

  She kept going. “We compete with each other a lot, and neither of us likes to lose, and right now Lucas is one-up on me because he had to tell a stranger how he felt about me. I can’t let that stand.”

  Turning to Lucas, she saw his eyebrows lift and that devilish smile flirt with the corner of his mouth.

  “Therefore, in front of even more strangers, let me share the fact that I,” her teasing tone shifted to one of hushed vulnerability, “love you too.”

  For a long moment he didn’t react other than to study her face. But when his hand closed around hers with a tight grip, she knew he was deeply affected.

  He lowered his voice, and she noticed out of the corner of her eye that people were leaning in to listen. “When you told me you were going to stay here, I decided not to tell you how I felt.”

  Her stomach dropped—or maybe that was the elevator zooming toward the ground floor with a full load. “But then you had to because you were under oath?”

  “That, and I couldn’t keep it in anymore. I love you, Megan. My sweet badass bird nerd. I love you and I want to have a li
fe with you.”

  A sigh drifted from one of the other elevator passengers.

  She snuggled closer to Lucas’ solid warmth and rested her head against his chest as his arm came around her. A life with Lucas…was such bliss really possible? “Okay. Yes. But we’re going back to Lost Harbor, right?”

  “Yeah we are. If I have my way, we’re not going to spend another hour in this godforsaken state.”

  “Hey,” said one of the office workers. “Was that really necessary?”

  Megan laughed. “See? You’re in enemy territory here, Lucas. No California bashing.”

  “I take it all back. From now on, California is the state where you told me you love me. Nothing but love for this place.”

  A scattering of applause from the other passengers as the elevator touched down on the ground floor. The doors whisked open and the others filtered out until only Lucas and Megan remained.

  “Thanks for the entertainment,” an office workers told them on her way out. “But you might want to think about a hotel room after this.”

  Good point, but Megan didn’t want to move yet. She didn’t want to separate from Lucas long enough to step out of the elevator.

  “Is this real?” she whispered. “Did all this really happen? Ruby and I are going back to Lost Harbor, you love me, I love you…is it really possible?”

  “I told you before. Strange things happen around Lost Souls.” He took her chin in his hand and tilted her face for his kiss. A brush of his lips against hers and she knew that every bit of it was real. Just because it was magical didn’t mean it wasn’t real.

  “We’re not anywhere near Lost Souls,” she pointed out in a murmur against his lips.

  “Seriously? Right now, you want to argue?”

  “Foreplay, baby. Foreplay.”

  Chapter Thirty-Eight

  Even though things were perfect now that they’d publicly—very publicly—declared their feelings for each other, Lucas knew something was still bothering Megan. Even during their visit with Ruby at her summer program, he sensed she was holding something back.

  “So we’re really going to live in Lost Harbor? For good?” Ruby tugged her arm away from Megan, who was tut-tutting over the formulas she’d scribbled on her skin.