Love's Paradise

by Celeste O. Norfleet

  To ease her restlessness, she settled back into one of the old, uncomfortable chairs that was in the corner of her makeshift museum office. She pulled another book from the stack of dozens that were piled high around her. She had to focus and not let the feeling of melancholy affect her.

  She heard her cell phone vibrate. She looked over at the device sitting on the tabletop. She wasn’t in the mood to talk, so she picked up the phone to check the caller ID since she’d been screening her calls all afternoon. Looking at the number, she closed her eyes and shook her head, knowing she had to get this over with so she might as well do it now. “Hi, Mom,” she said.

  “Hi, Sweets. I just got a phone call from Mamma Lou. She wanted to make sure we were attending her gathering Friday night. Are you still going?”

  “Yes, I’ll be there. No problem, as long as there’s not some guy she’s set me up with waiting for me with a wedding ring in his pocket.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “Mamma Lou and her matchmaking,” she said. Her mother chuckled. “It’s not funny. I’m starting to get paranoid about it. Every time I see her, I’m afraid someone is gonna jump out and propose to me on the spot.”

  Lois laughed this time. “Come on, Sweets, you’re being unreasonable. Besides, do you know how many women would love to have Mamma Lou find them a mate?”

  “Well, not me. She tried to set me up with a guy about a year ago. He was totally wrong for me and he was a jerk. He spent the whole date looking at other women.”

  “Well, knowing Mamma Lou it’s highly possible that she’s got somebody in mind for you. But I think she’s been too busy with the foundation to play matchmaker Friday evening.”

  “I hope so. I’m not in the mood for more drama.”

  “More drama? That doesn’t sound good. What happened? How did your review go with your boss this morning?”

  “Not well,” Sheri said.

  “What do you mean not well? What did he say?”

  “Jack’s transferring me back to D.C. He said that I’m overqualified to be curator of the museum and that my enthusiasm was mediocre at best. And I lacked the kind of bold vision and initiative needed for the job. His exact words were, ‘You need to have passion to do this job.’ According to him, he just hasn’t seen it and they need me back in D.C as soon as possible.”

  “Oh, that’s ridiculous. The man is obviously an idiot. He wouldn’t know talent if it jumped up and bit him. This is about being a curator in a small museum, not brain surgery. Of course you have passion! Anyone with half a brain can see that you’re passionate about your work. What’s wrong with him?” Lois Chambers said testily.

  Sheri’s mother had always been her daughter’s champion and a constant source of support for her children. She was loving and nurturing, and also smart and savvy. So it was no surprise that she ran the most popular and successful bed-and-breakfast inn on the island. “You’re an exceptional scholar and historian. And you’re brilliant at your job. Crescent Island Museum would be damn lucky to have you as its full-time curator. If he can’t see that then he’s a bigger jacka—”

  “Mom, it’s okay, really. I tried. That’s all I can do and I did my best. When my tenure here is up next month, I’ll just go back to the Smithsonian Institution.”

  “Sheri, you can do battle with the best of them. I’ve seen you with your brothers for heaven’s sake. When you want something, you’re tenacious. Fight for this if you really want it.”

  Her mother was right. She could stand toe-to-toe and do battle with anyone. And given the opportunity, she was going to prove it. “…when you follow what’s in your heart, you are unstoppable,” her mother said. “I’ve seen it too many times…?.”

  “Sheri. Sheri, where are you?”

  Sheri looked up as her assistant, Eugenia Hopkins, called out her name. “Mom, I gotta go. I’ll pick up Grandma tonight and call you later. Bye.” She ended the call.

  “Yeah, I’m up here,” Sheri yelled. It was almost closing time and most of the exhibits and galleries were located on the first and second floors, so she knew no one would probably hear them.

  “Sheri!”

  “In here, in the archive area,” Sheri said, not quite as loudly this time, since her assistant was on the top floor now.

  Eugenia—Genie, to all of her friends—came barreling down the hall to the doorway. Breathlessly, she smiled as she leaned back against the door frame to catch her breath. “Oh, my God, there you are. I just ran up all those stairs,” she said, and then paused. “I’ve been looking everywhere for you. I called your office phone a dozen times on the way over here.”

  “I’ve been up here in the archives most of the morning gathering books for the upcoming exhibition. What’s going on?”

  “No, no, no, forget all that.”

  “Wait, Genie, what are you doing here? You’re not scheduled to work today. Don’t you have classes this afternoon?”

  “Yeah, but this is way more important. You are never going to believe what’s going on—” She paused, held her hand to her chest to catch her breath again. “The text message I just got. I can hardly believe it myself.” She hurried across the open space.

  “What are you talking about? What’s going on?” Sheri stood and came around to the front of the table. She knew Genie well enough to realize that she was at times overly excitable. The smallest finding in a newspaper or online sent her into orbit for weeks, so seeing her enthusiasm now wasn’t unusual. She was still in college majoring in history and had been Sheri’s intern during the summer. Now she worked in the museum gift shop and was also an unpaid part-time assistant, spending most of her time in the library and the archives, sorting artifacts and filing data electronically. Genie hoped to one day work at the Smithsonian as a curator.

  “I’ve been trying to contact you for the past fifteen minutes. We’ve gotta go now,” Genie continued excitedly.

  Sheri panicked. “Go where? Is there something wrong in the museum? Another fire?”

  “No, no, no, nothing like that. It’s fine. Everything’s okay in the museum. But listen, I just got a text message from my boyfriend, Jamie. He sent a picture he took at his job. He works at that big construction site at Crescent Point. They just found something at the site.”

  Sheri’s heart tumbled. She knew Crescent Point and she knew about the development being built there. She looked at her assistant sternly. “What do you mean they just found something? Who found something at that site?”

  “Look, see…” Genie said, giving Sheri her cell phone.

  Sheri took the phone and looked at the downloaded picture. It was an image of an old medicine bottle. She squinted, noting the shape and size. It was unusual by modern-day standards, but certainly nothing to get excited about. Then she pressed the screen for the next photo, shrugged and shook her head. “It’s a pile of trash and an old bottle. I don’t get it.”

  “Now keep going. Check out the next photos.”

  Sheri moved to the next photo. It was a close-up and a much clearer shot. There was a large hole, half filled with dirty water with something protruding out of it. “It looks like the bottom edge of an old bucket with the letters e-n-t on the side.” She clicked to the next photo, which was an even better close-up of the hole. “I still don’t get it.”

  “Keep going, look at the next one,” Genie insisted.

  There was less water in the hole and what she thought was a bucket was actually thicker, rounder and more defined. She tilted her head then turned the phone upside down. The image looked different. There were also more letters, c-e-n-t. “Wait, what? That’s not a bucket.” She quickly forwarded to the next photo. It was a picture of Genie and her boyfriend waving and smiling at the beach. She went back to the last photo. She studied it again. Half smiling, she couldn’t believe her eyes. She looked up at Genie, who was standing next to her the whole time. “It looks like the outline of a bell, a ship’s bell. Wait, this can’t be what I think it is?”

&n
bsp; Genie nodded gleefully. “The Crescent bell,” she squealed excitedly, and then started giggling wildly. Sheri clicked back to the first few photos and stopped at the one with the close-up of the side of the bell. “Oh, my God, I can’t believe it,” she said. “My boyfriend actually found the wreckage of the Crescent ship? I can’t wait to tell everybody I know. I’m going on Facebook and Twitter right now. We’re gonna be famous.”

  “Genie, Genie, calm down. At this point, we don’t know what was found. You can’t tell anyone about this until it’s been confirmed one way or the other. Anything else would be irresponsible.”

  “But this is it. I just know it,” Genie said, emphatically.

  “What’s that beside the bottle?” Sheri asked, noting the size and shape in comparison to the bottle. “It looks a little like a bugler’s mouthpiece,” she said.

  “They think it’s an old golf tee. But if it is what you say it is then it’s much better, right?”

  “A golf tee?” Sheri said, surprised.

  “Yes, see that’s why we gotta go. Come on,” Genie said, and motioned. “I’ll tell you the rest on the way.”

  Sheri went back to the table, closed the books, grabbed her notebook and laptop and followed Genie down the hallway then down the steps. “Okay, so how did all this happen?” Sheri asked.

  “So, remember all the rain we’ve been having lately and the really heavy downpour we had last night?” she began, nearly tripping down the steps as she talked.

  “Yes, what about it?”

  “Well, apparently it eroded the side of this mound of dirt they were beginning to level and flooded a hole that had been dug out a few weeks ago. The work crew started pumping the water out of the hole this morning and they found the bottle floating on top. Jamie took pictures. They just tossed it aside, but my boyfriend remembered seeing something like the bottle here at the museum.” Genie’s cell phone beeped. Sheri gave the phone back to her, and she immediately began text messaging.

  “Granted, it doesn’t have to be the Crescent or even a ship’s bell. An out-of-focus image on a cell phone doesn’t prove anything.”

  “But it could be, right? It could be?” Genie said, as she frantically texted.

  Sheri knew exactly what she meant. The discovery, if it was the Crescent, would be huge. But she didn’t want to speculate. She didn’t want to think about the possibility that it could be the legendary ship. “No. There’s still not nearly enough evidence to jump to that conclusion,” she said as she shook her head. “We need more than an artifact half-covered in mud with letters on it.”

  Genie looked almost crushed.

  “We don’t do maybes or what ifs. We need cold, hard, indisputable evidence.”

  Genie nodded. They continued in silence, knowing what they needed was a miracle. Just then Genie’s phone beeped again. There was another text message and downloaded image. She opened it to see what her boyfriend had sent. She smiled and handed her phone to Sheri. “I think we just got cold, hard, indisputable evidence.”

  Sheri nodded. “Yeah, we need to get to the site right now.”

  “Definitely,” Genie said, racing down the stairs.

  “Wait,” Sheri said as she trailed Genie. “I need to go back to my office and get my backpack and camera.”

  “Okay, I’ll get my Jeep and meet you out front.”

  Sheri headed to her office with no idea what she was getting herself into. A sense of trepidation suddenly seized her, quelling some of the excitement. Finding an old medicine bottle and what looked like a ship’s bell was promising. But the possibility of unearthing what looked like the ribbed, wooden frame of the ship’s hull was definitely an important find. Her heart began to race as she stuffed her laptop in her backpack, grabbed her camera, her jacket and then headed out.

  She locked her office door, hurried downstairs through the museum and quickly caught up with Genie just as she drove up to the front entrance. She sidestepped a puddle then looked down at her outfit. She hadn’t expected to be outside, away from the museum that day, so she certainly hadn’t dressed to dig around a construction site. Four-inch stilettos and a business suit would have to do. As soon as she climbed into the passenger seat, Genie took off. She glanced into the backseat. Genie had brought just about everything from her office. “Okay, Hamilton Development is at Crescent Point. It’s on the other side of the island.”

  “How long has your boyfriend worked for them?” Sheri asked.

  “Only a few weeks, he doesn’t know much about them, just that he hates working there. He said that Jordan Hamilton is a coldhearted workaholic. And believe me, that’s putting it nicely. Apparently Jordan and his foreman complain about everything Jamie does. The thing is Jamie had worked for his father’s construction company just about all his life before it went bankrupt. So he thinks he can do the same things he used to. At his father’s company, he didn’t really do anything. He’d go in late and sleep all day in the trailer. He can’t do that here. He actually has to do work and he hates it. Anyway, he said Jordan is the worst of the three brothers.”

  “There are three brothers?” Sheri asked.

  “Sheri, seriously, you must have had your head in the sand these past months.”

  “Actually running the museum without a curator on a shoestring budget, keeping the building from falling in on our heads, organizing the historical records and putting them in a database has kept me more than a little busy. So yeah, I guess I haven’t had time to pay attention to all the new real estate developments and construction on the island.”

  “Yeah, I guess you’re right,” said Genie. “So anyway the company is owned by three brothers. All are rich and too gorgeous. Their main office is in Northern Virginia somewhere near D.C., I think. Two of the brothers are single, but one of them just got married.”

  “Which one?” she asked quickly, hoping not to sound like she had way too much interest for her own good.

  “I don’t know,” Genie said. “So, anyway they’re rich. I saw a picture of all three of them at this formal thing in D.C. Ohmygod! They are too gorgeous. They’re tall, dark and handsome and built like you wouldn’t believe.”

  Sheri wasn’t at all surprised by Genie’s wealth of information about their looks and dating habits. When it came to men, she was information central. “Didn’t you meet one of them before?” Genie asked.

  Sheri took a deep breath. Thinking about their meeting wasn’t something she liked doing. “It was a while ago and it was very brief,” she said truthfully.

  “Who was it? What was he like?” Genie asked.

  “I don’t remember,” she lied.

  “Well, if it was Jordan Hamilton you would have definitely remembered. Jamie said he was the worst of the three. And since they apparently all take turns being on-site, he should know. I’d love to meet him. But it’s Monday and he never comes in on Monday.”

  Sheri purposely didn’t respond. Thinking about him would mean remembering their encounter.

  “I think Jordan’s the bad boy of the three brothers,” Genie continued. “You know, the hard-ass who’s oh-so-hot.” She smiled then stopped at a traffic light and glanced at her cell phone. “Okay, my boyfriend just texted me and said half the water’s already out. There’s more wood from the hull of the ship showing. Can you believe it? The wooden planks of the hull—it’s sounding more and more like a ship to me.”

  Sheri felt a twinge of excitement begin to creep inside her. There were endless possibilities as to what it actually could be, but the remote chance that it was a hull was just too good to be true. “Okay, we can’t get too excited. We’re scientists—scholars,” Sheri said firmly. “Let’s not jump the gun here. We need to examine the site first before we draw any conclusions.”

  “Yeah, yeah, I know all that. But, can you believe it? It’s so exciting. Just imagine. We’re right here at the start of something this amazing. I can’t wait to excavate.”

  “We’ll have to wait and see. It may not even come to that,”
Sheri said, dashing Genie’s hopes again. She hated doing it, but she needed Genie to be calm and rational.

  “I know, but still, can you imagine…?”

  Sheri didn’t have to imagine, she was already there. Finding the wreckage of the Crescent would be extraordinary. No, it would be monumental. It would also validate the research she’d been working on for years.

  Genie continued chattering as they drove across the island toward Crescent Point. Sheri was quiet throughout much of the ride. Too many things were on her mind. Fifteen minutes later they pulled into the parking lot. Sheri looked up at the large sign, Hamilton Development Corporation. She shivered. Immediately the hairs on the back of her neck stood on end.

  They got out, grabbed their gear and headed to the front gate. A security guard watched them approach. He met them halfway shaking his head and pointing behind them. “I’m sorry, girls, this is a construction site. You gotta leave.”

  “We’d like to speak to whoever is in charge, please.”

  “Regarding?” the guard asked.

  “We’re from the Crescent Island Museum,” Sheri began as she showed her ID. “We’d like to speak with someone about items found on this property.”

  “You’re mistaken, there were no items found here.”

  “I believe there were, so please call whomever you need. We’d like to speak to them,” she insisted.

  He chuckled while looking deadly serious. “Look, this isn’t the place you want to be. So why don’t you girls turn your little Jeep around and get your selves back to the museum. Because you’re not getting on this property, that’s just not going to happen,” he said.