The Inn at Ocean's Edge

by Colleen Coble

  “Tell me,” he said once Claire was seated.

  She licked her lips. “So much has happened that I don’t know where to begin. Someone broke into my room last night and tried to smother me.”

  “What? Did he hurt you?” What if he’d come here this morning to flashing lights and a coroner carrying her out? “Did they catch him?”

  She shook her head. “But he took the painting I did of the man I saw kill Jenny. And my notes of everything I remembered.”

  “Did you call the sheriff?”

  “Yes, he’s come and gone. Then there was this news about Kate this morning.”

  “What news?”

  She didn’t answer Luke, but the shaking in her hands eased as she looked across at Kate. “You’re really a Dellamare, Kate, not me. That’s going to take awhile for me to absorb.”

  What was Claire talking about? Luke took a moment to study Kate. She didn’t look well with her sallow skin and the dark circles under her eyes. “I don’t understand.”

  “This is Kate Mason. Kate is D-Dad’s daughter. A secret family we knew nothing about. She informed us all this morning.” Claire gestured at the balls around the room. “Mom threw stuff at him when she found out.” Claire bit down on her trembling lower lip.

  Kate finally quit twisting her hair. Her hands dropped to her lap. “I’m sorry, but I was desperate.” She tipped her chin up. “And I think maybe you’re all playing me. You just don’t want to help me.”

  Claire straightened and pulled her hand away from Luke’s. “What did you mean you’re sick? If you need a kidney or something, I’m not going to be a match. I have no idea who I am, but it’s clear I’m not a Dellamare.” She bent down and picked up two decorative balls on the floor around her feet. They clattered as she put them back in the silver basket on the table.

  Kate choked back a sob. “You are my sister. I don’t know what kind of game you’re all playing, but it’s cruel. All I ever wanted was to be part of your life. How do you think it made me feel to know Mom and I had to be hidden away like something to be ashamed of?”

  She leaned closer and jabbed an unpolished finger in their direction. “But I have news for you. I’m not trash under your feet. I’m smart, and I have a lot of common sense. I’m not going to hide in the shadows and pretend I’m not real. Not for you or anyone else.”

  Kate turned and stalked toward the door as Luke put it all together. He jumped up and went after her, catching her by the arm just inside the big glass doors. “Please, I don’t think Claire wants you to go. This is all so overwhelming for you both. Stay and talk. Tell her what you need.”

  Kate shook off his hand and bolted through the door. He watched her jog across the street and get into a Volkswagen.

  He rejoined Claire on the sofa. “I can track Kate down and see what I can find out about her.”

  “I accused her of trying to meet me to get money out of Dad. I feel badly about that now. I think she really does believe we’re sisters.”

  “You don’t believe it?”

  Her blue eyes were woebegone. “I’m not a Dellamare, Luke. I don’t know who I am.”

  He picked up her hand and cradled it in both of his palms. “Someone knows who you are, Claire. And we’ll find out.”

  She pulled her hand away and stood. “I think my grandmother knows more than she’s saying. And I’m going to find out what it is.” Looking down at him, she laid her palm against his cheek. “I need to do this alone.”

  He nodded. “I’ll be here when you’re done.”

  He wanted to believe the change in her circumstances might mean something could develop between them, but she was likely to run from this place and never look back.

  Her grandparents’ suite was much like Claire’s own with black leather furniture on a plush cream rug. She practically fell into the room when Grandma opened the door. She had been here long enough that the place held the scent of her Tabu perfume and the scent of raspberry tea.

  “Why, child, you’re as white as a sheet. Did that man come back?” Her grandmother still wore her pale-blue negligee and fitted slippers. “Sit down.” She guided Claire to the sofa.

  Claire collapsed as the strength ran out of her legs. She leaned forward and buried her face in her hands. She choked back sobs. Her chest felt tight, as though she couldn’t get any air.

  Her grandmother thrust a cool glass in her hand. “Here, drink some water.”

  Claire obeyed, and the cool water eased some of the panic clamoring to get out. She raised her gaze to her grandmother’s face and found sad knowledge in those wise eyes. “You knew about Dad’s other family, didn’t you?”

  Her grandmother nodded. “He told you?”

  Claire set the glass down on the coffee table next to the sofa. “Kate told me.”

  “Your sister.”

  Grandmother doesn’t know. She shook her head. “Kate thought I was, but she hadn’t heard the news.”

  “What news?” Her grandmother’s voice trembled.

  “I’m not Claire Dellamare. A little girl’s bones were found on Luke’s property, near where they found his mother’s remains. There was a locket with the initials CD found with the bones. And there were scraps of a pink lace dress. Dental records confirm the remains as those of Claire Dellamare.” She jumped to her feet. “Who am I, Grandma? I don’t know.”

  She rushed toward the door to the balcony. Air, she had to have air. And the ocean breeze on her skin would calm her. Fighting the door, she relaxed when her grandmother’s wrinkled hand clutched her arm.

  “Sit down, honey. Be calm. Nothing will change my love for you. You’re safe here. Wanted.” Her grandmother’s voice grew husky.

  Claire turned to her grandmother. “Why didn’t you tell me? Why did you let me find out this way?”

  Tears flooded those wise eyes. “I promised your father I wouldn’t. He’s still my son-in-law, though he’s been a rascal, and I wanted to protect Lisa. I’m sorry, Claire. I should have told you.”

  “And Kate. That poor girl is sick and thought finding her family would help her.” Claire finally succeeded in unlocking the door. “But how could she find help when all we have holding us together are lies?”

  As she fled down the carpeted hall, her grandmother called after her, but she didn’t stop. She had to find Luke and get out on the water. Maybe there she could hear God’s voice and find peace.

  TWENTY-NINE

  The salt-laden sea breeze in her face, Claire could almost forget the events of the last twenty-four hours. Almost. Her nerves still jittered as if she were waiting for the next blow to fall. She leaned on the railing at the bow of Luke’s boat and lifted her face to the blue sky overhead. “Thanks for bringing me out. I couldn’t take one more thing today, and I needed the ocean.”

  Luke cut the engine. “I think you’re a mermaid.”

  The sudden stillness let her hear the call of the terns swooping out along the edge of a small island with their distinctive kip and kee’ar sounds. The boat bobbed in the waves as its forward momentum slowed. She watched a particularly aggressive tern scoop up a wriggling fish and carry it back to its nest. The rhythm of life on the sea. Eat or be eaten. Right now she felt like that fish, squirming and flailing to escape a certain fate. In this case, she feared her fate was to never know who she was.

  Could it all be a mistake? She clung to that hope, but uncertainty bobbed like flotsam in her gut.

  Luke tossed the anchor overboard, then joined her at the bow. “You’re very pensive. It’s a lot to take in.”

  She closed her eyes and inhaled the scent of the sea. “I want to forget all about it for now. That’s why I asked you to bring me out on the water. Out here, I’m myself. Whoever that is.” When she opened her eyes, she found him staring at her with a tender expression that made her look away.

  “God has given you everything you need to weather this storm.”

  She managed a nod. “My head knows you’re right, but my heart still trembles l
ike a baby bird fallen from the nest.” The birds still swooped and cawed. “So I keep thinking about how God says not a sparrow falls that he does not know about. This didn’t come as a surprise to him. What’s that psalm? ‘He knit me together in my mother’s womb.’ Whoever that mother may turn out to be.”

  The pain of even considering she might have another mother took her breath away. How would she cope with that if it happened? She shook her head, then looked out over the waves churning foam as they spent themselves on the rocky shoreline of the little island. “Do you think we can find any orca pods out here?”

  “I’ve seen one or two hanging around this island.” He reached down to grab an odd-looking contraption and tossed it over the side, then tied the other end of the rope to the railing.

  “What’s that?”

  “A hydrophone. I can listen to the sounds under water, and we might pick up some matriline dialect if they’re down there. Our little orca is about ready to rejoin his family.”

  “I wish it were that easy for me.” The cold metal railing bit into her palms, and she forced herself to ease her grip. “If I could find out who had me for that year, it might answer all our questions. It might even tell me who I am.”

  “You don’t doubt the results of the dental ID anymore? I think you should be at least a little skeptical until we get the DNA back. You and Kate resemble one another so I think it’s likely you’re Claire Dellamare. I don’t know whose bones we discovered, but I don’t think you should jump to any assumptions.”

  “Blue eyes and dimples are hardly unique. She just saw what she wanted to see. I did some research online and found out that dental records have been used for two hundred years. It’s pretty foolproof.” The warmth from his body seeped against her side, and she wished she had the courage to turn and throw herself into his arms. If he kissed her, maybe she could forget all she was dealing with. She held herself erect and in control. A Dellamare never lost control.

  She stopped her thoughts before they could go any further. She probably wasn’t a Dellamare anyway. And maybe loss of control wasn’t such a bad thing. It might help her learn something about herself.

  She inhaled and turned to face him. She searched his gaze. Those dark, dark eyes held her transfixed. Why did he have to be so handsome? He looked like a male model on the cover of a pirate romance novel, all rippling muscles and strong jaw. It wasn’t just his startling good looks that drew her, but something much deeper. When she looked into his eyes, she felt like a piece of herself was looking back. It unnerved her.

  Her fingers were buried in the soft cotton of his shirt, and she’d moved closer. He didn’t smile, and a muscle in his jaw jumped as he reached for her with a groan and pulled her close enough to bury his face in her hair. The fragrance of his spicy cologne enticed her to bury her face in his shirt, to press her lips against the skin at the warm base of his throat. His pulse jumped in that soft spot, and she let her lips linger there.

  She should say something and pull back, but she couldn’t do it. He was silent, too, and she was lost in a place where time didn’t exist, where all that mattered was the touch of his hand at her waist and the sound of his ragged breathing in her ear.

  His fingers touched her chin and tipped up her head. His gaze seemed to ask permission, and she gave it with a tremulous smile. He bent his head, and his lips brushed hers. She inhaled the sweet scent of his breath and reached up to lay her hand across the rough stubble of his cheek. She should close her eyes, but she wanted to savor the taste of him as she looked into the seascape she loved so much. He was as much a part of the ocean as she was.

  He deepened the kiss, and she wrapped her arms around his neck. His firm lips coaxed a response from her, and she let down her guard, kissing him back with everything in her. All the pent-up loneliness, all the betrayal and hurt. His kiss soothed it all.

  He pulled away and cupped her face in his hands. “I’ve known you only a week, but it feels like forever.” He must have seen the fear in her eyes because he rubbed his thumb across her cheek. “I will never hurt you, honey. Never.”

  His lips came down on hers again, and she closed her eyes this time, tasting him fully, wanting him like she’d never wanted anything before in her life.

  How she could come to care like this so quickly, she didn’t know. But she never wanted him to let go of her.

  Luke sat with his arm settled around Claire as they leaned against the back of the bench seat on the starboard side of his boat. They’d gone back to Folly Shoals to get the little orca, and they’d brought him back to join his family.

  A pod of orcas played about ten feet away, and from their vocabulary, he was certain this was his little orca’s pod. “There they are.” Reaching over the side of the boat, he cut the net around the little one. The calf lay motionless for a moment. Luke dropped the hydrophone over the side, and whistles and clicks began to sputter through the speakers. “They’re calling him!”

  Dorsal fins swam nearer, and the calf flipped his fluke. He leaped in the water, then his small fin joined three others about twenty feet off the starboard side of the boat.

  Claire leaned over the railing. “They’re reunited!”

  He draped his arm around her. “They didn’t forget him. I knew they wouldn’t. I can only imagine how his mother feels about now.”

  The turquoise of the sea reflected the blue bowl overhead, and kelp floated just offshore the island. He couldn’t remember the last time he felt this content. The mainland was out of sight, and so were their problems for now.

  Claire leaned over the side of the boat and slapped the water. The little orca swam to her but quickly went back to its pod. She smiled. “It’s the way it should be. He’ll soon forget all about us and the way we called him.”

  He smiled down at Claire, and his pulse did a little flip in his chest. “Let’s stay out here awhile and forget everything back on land. You’re a mermaid today.”

  She looked like a mermaid today too. Her light-brown hair, whipped by the wind, hung in a shiny tangle down her shoulders. In white shorts and a blue top that emphasized her gorgeous eyes, she looked tanned and beautiful. He’d smelled coconut oil when he kissed her, and he could have buried his face in her neck all day.

  Her teasing smile came. “And you’re Poseidon. We just have to find you a trident.”

  “Would you believe I have one at home? My sister got it for me when I joined the Coast Guard. It’s hanging on the wall back home in Portland.”

  She straightened a bit. “Are you going back? You weren’t sure the last time we talked about it.”

  “I don’t think I have a choice. It’s almost time for me to reenlist or get out. I’m not sure I’ll be happy with a world as narrow as Folly Shoals. I love the difference I can make in the Coast Guard.” He shrugged. “Though I haven’t e-mailed my boss yet. I guess I keep hoping for a miracle.”

  She passed her hand over her forehead. “At least you have options. I’m not sure what’s going to happen to me.” Her blue eyes were filled with anguish. “If I’m not Claire Dellamare, who am I, Luke?” Her fingers trembled in his. Her eyes were luminous with tears.

  Her hand was soft and trusting in his, and he squeezed it.

  The pathos in her voice tore at his heart. “Claire Dellamare is just a name, honey. You’re still you. You love the sea, and you will fight for the downtrodden, even if it’s just a little lost orca. You’re smart and beautiful and kind. You don’t let anything deter you when you’re on a quest, and you’re gentle with your parents even when they drive you crazy. Because they are still your parents, Claire. That relationship is the same even if you don’t have their blood.”

  “I’m not so sure. My mom threw things at my dad. I’ll be surprised if their marriage survives this.”

  He couldn’t argue with that. With his thumb Luke caught the tear rolling down her cheek and rubbed it away. “A mermaid’s tears are precious. Sea glass is said to be made of mermaid tears.”

  She
fingered a sea glass pendant at her neck. “I collect sea glass, so maybe you’re right.”

  He pressed his lips against her sweet-smelling hair. “Have you always had an affinity for the sea?”

  She nodded under his lips. “Ever since I can remember. My parents have always rolled their eyes at how often I begged to go to the beach when I was little. Mom can’t swim and Dad hates to get in the water. I’m like a fish. I bob to the top even when I try to kick my way to the bottom. I’m not sure I could drown even if I tried.”

  The passion in her voice made his own love of the sea seem tame. Maybe she really was a mermaid.

  She sat up, away from the circle of his arm. “We should get back. I’d like to talk to Priscilla Loughenberry who works in the hotel. She was there when it all happened. Maybe she can tell me who else to talk to.” Leaning her back against the railing, she turned to face him. The wind tossed her thick hair over her head. “I’ll run up to my suite and change, then meet you in the lobby.”

  He rose and put his hands in the pockets of his shorts. “I don’t think we have much time. We’ve got to resolve this. Someone thinks you can identify him or he wouldn’t have broken into your suite and tried to smother you.”

  His gut clenched as the likely scene played out in his head. She’d been alone, defenseless. A monster walked the streets of Folly Shoals. Could it be someone he knew?

  She nodded. “He’ll be back, Luke. I know it. I’m going to try to recreate the picture I painted of his face.”

  “I still have my copy. I can get posters printed, and we can put them up all over the coast, even over to Summer Harbor and Bar Harbor. Someone will recognize him.”

  His confidence felt hollow, though, and he could feel the grains of sand falling through the hourglass.