by Connie Mann
Mama shuffled into the room on Pop’s arm, robe secured up to her chin, head wrapped in a turban, eyes worried.
“Is everything all right?” She reared back when she saw Sasha’s face. “What happened to you?”
Sasha rushed over and held a chair for her. She’d forgotten about how she looked. “Everything is fine now, Mama. I didn’t mean to make you worry.”
“But your face?” Mama couldn’t seem to take her eyes from it.
Sasha let out a sigh. “I will explain, OK?”
Blaze plopped down in a chair and crossed her arms. “Let me guess. You guys are getting hitched.”
Sasha looked over at Jesse and grinned before she turned to Blaze. “As a matter of fact, yes.”
Blaze stood with a yawn. “Old news, so I’m going back to bed.”
Sasha gently pushed her back down and whispered. “Thanks for stealing my thunder, sis, but that’s not why I called everyone together.”
Sasha looked around the table as they all joined hands. “I’ll say the blessing.” She ignored the surprised faces and said, “Father, thank you for our family and their love for each other. Thank you for your protection from danger and for your love for us. We pray for healing for Mama and wisdom for the future. Oh, and thanks for the food. Amen.”
Once the last bite was eaten, Sasha took a deep breath and clasped Mama’s hand. “Mama, a few days ago, Blaze and I found Tony’s clothes, the ones he was wearing when he disappeared.”
Mama’s choked cry had Sal at her side between one heartbeat and the next. “Show me,” she demanded. “Show me my baby’s clothes.”
Sasha stood and reached into the pocket of her shorts. She pulled up the photos Blaze had taken and held the phone out for her parents to see.
Tears poured down Mama’s cheeks as she studied the images. Beside her, silent tears flowed down Sal’s face as he tried to comfort her.
Sasha sat down again, and Jesse reached over and gripped her hand. “We gave the clothes to Officer Nick, and he’s having a lab analyze them, see if they can help us. Fingerprints. DNA. Fibers. Something.” She paused, chose her words carefully. “There was no sign anywhere of, ah, foul play.”
“You’re sure?” Mama’s tone broke Sasha’s heart.
“Absolutely. None.”
Mama swallowed hard and rocked back and forth in her chair. “My Tony is alive. He’s alive.” She looked at Sal. “Our baby is still alive.”
Sal stood abruptly. “I have to get back to the bait shop.” He left without another word.
Mama watched him go. “It breaks his heart, every day.” Then she turned to Sasha and stroked her cheek. “Sasha, my precious one. I knew I could count on you.”
The words washed over Sasha like a gentle shower, wiping away years of failure, mountains of guilt and regret. “But I’ve let you down, so many times.”
Mama smiled. “We all disappoint the ones we love. But you have a warrior’s heart, my Sasha. You fight for those you love. And you don’t give up. Thank you for this.” She hugged the phone close. “I can never thank you enough.”
“We still haven’t found him.”
“You will.”
“I love you, Mama.”
“And I you, my precious one.”
The knock on the door startled everyone. Blaze went to see who it was and came back a moment later. “Officer Stanton is outside. Said he wants to talk to Sasha and Jesse.” She huffed out an annoyed breath. “Alone.”
Sasha stepped out onto the porch where Nick paced frantically, like a man with demons chasing him. He looked up, his bloodshot eyes a testament to a sleepless night. His hair stood in clumps, as though he’d been running his hands through it. “Good morning, Nick. Can we get you some coffee?”
He shook his head, kept pacing. “No, I’ve had too much already.”
Sasha and Jesse exchanged a look. “What brings you here so early in the morning?”
He stopped pacing, turned to face them. “Captain Demetri was pretty chatty last night before his lawyer showed up. He had a lot to say about your past, Jesse. My guess is they didn’t know if you’d try to cut into their drug business or rat them out, so they wanted you gone.”
“What about the race?” Sasha asked. “Was that part of it, too?”
“We were just getting to that when his lawyer walked in. I’ll keep you posted. But that’s not why I’m here.” He stopped, looked away, then turned back to face them. “So, I, ah, got a call last night, as we were arresting Captain Demetri. From my friend at the lab.”
Everything in Sasha stilled, and she felt Jesse step up behind her, settle his hands on her shoulders. She forced a calm she didn’t feel. “Did he find anything from the clothes?”
“She, actually. But, um, yeah. She did.”
“What did she find?” Her voice came out a whisper.
Nick looked toward the door of the house, then stepped closer. “She found fingerprints, on the tennis shoes. One really good one, actually. “
“And?”
“Come with me.” He turned and strode to his official SUV, reached in for a laptop. “This is my personal computer. I didn’t want to go through official channels. Not yet.” He opened a folder and turned the laptop so they could all see the screen. “This is the fingerprint from Tony’s shoes.” He scrolled down. “And this is the match the computer found.”
Sasha gasped and would have fallen backward if not for Jesse steadying her from behind. Her eyes went from the screen to Nick’s face and back again. “Can this be right?”
“Fingerprints don’t lie. And they don’t change over time.”
Sasha swallowed hard, felt Jesse grip her arms in a show of support. “We have to tell Mama.”
He nodded. “Yes. But I wanted to show you first. Give you a minute to absorb it.”
She grabbed him and hugged him, hard. Then she stepped back. Tears filled her eyes, but she blinked them away so she could see his face again. Her emotions could come later. First, they had to get Mama—and Pop—through the shock. She turned to Jesse.
He nodded as though he’d read her mind. “I’ll get Sal.” He headed off to the bait shop.
Nick followed Sasha up onto the porch. “I’ll bring her out here,” she said. “She likes her rocker.”
A few minutes later they had Mama settled, Sal beside her. Blaze hovered near Mama’s feet, Bella wedged between them, as though both sensed something important was about to happen.
Nick seemed calmer now, though his eyes were still filled with anxiety and a mixture of dread and fear. He walked to Mama and crouched down so they were eye level. “Mrs. Martinelli, Sasha told you she found Tony’s clothes from the day he disappeared?”
Mama nodded, the mix of hope and dread in her eyes making Sasha want to weep. “It’s OK, Mama.”
“I took them to a friend of mine who works at the state law enforcement lab, and she planned to run a bunch of tests. But she hit pay dirt with the first one. There was a fingerprint on Tony’s shoes, and it was good enough, clear enough, to run through all the law enforcement databases.” He took a deep breath, and Mama gripped Pop’s hand, where it rested on her shoulder.
“She got a match, one she says is positive. I had her check and recheck, just to be sure.”
“You found my Tony?” Mama whispered.
“I did.” He paused, cleared his throat. “I don’t know how and there’s a lot we have to figure out, but . . . the fingerprint is mine. I’m Tony.”
For a second, there was absolute silence. Then everyone spoke at once. Mama lunged up from her chair and wrapped Nick in her arms, Sal with his around both of them, tears flowing like water.
Blaze stood slowly, walked over to Sasha and Jesse. “Seriously?”
Sasha swiped at an errant tear. “Seriously. He showed us the fingerprint match.” She remembered something and slipped back inside. A moment later she reappeared, handed the teddy bear to Nick.
His eyes widened, and he took the bear with hands that trem
bled. “This was mine. I remember looking for it as a child, thinking I should have it, but never being able to find it.”
Mama cupped his cheeks in her hands. “Who are your parents? Do they love you? Did they treat you right? How did you come to be with them?”
“They were wonderful to me. Sally and James Stanton, but they’re both gone now. Car accident. I came to Safe Harbor because my friend Chad loved it here and invited me to join him. But I’ve been having these weird dreams, with this bear in them.” He smiled. “I guess now I know why.”
“Do you have a picture of them?” Sasha asked.
“Of course.” He pulled out his wallet, flipped it open so Sasha could see.
Her breath caught, and she slipped inside again, this time charging up the stairs to her bedroom. She ducked under the low-hanging beam just in time and ran back downstairs. She held the photo she’d taken from Mary Lee’s album and showed it to him. “Are your folks in this picture?”
He looked from Sasha to the photo and back again. “Sure, that’s them in the back row.”
Mama gasped and snatched the photo from his hand. “Where? Where are the people who took my baby from me?”
“Rosa, easy,” Pop soothed, but she shooed his hands away.
“I need to see.” She studied the photo and gasped when the faces registered. “That’s Roy’s cousin and his wife. They stole my baby?” Sal turned her into his arms, and she sobbed against his chest.
Nick looked sick. “I never knew I wasn’t their biological child. Never. I had no idea until last night. They never said a word.”
“But I think it weighed on them. Your mother especially.” Sasha pulled out the postcard she’d found in Sal’s file cabinet.
Nick took it and studied the signature, the postmark. “That’s my mother’s handwriting.” He swallowed hard. “I can’t believe they were involved in this.”
Mama pulled him close again and hugged him hard. “My Tony. I can’t believe I’ve found you.” She swayed and Pop steadied her from behind, much like Jesse had done for Sasha.
Nick’s face was filled with pain, confusion. “I have to go. We’ll talk more.”
Mama made an anguished sound, but he kept walking, got in his SUV, and drove away.
“You should rest, Rosa. Come.” Sal gently guided her inside and down the hall.
Once they were out of earshot, Blaze let out a low whistle. “Holy Toledo. Somebody stole him? Somebody they knew?” She shook her head. “People are crazy.” She pulled earbuds out of her pocket, held the door for Bella, and headed out.
Sasha collapsed into the nearest chair, her legs suddenly wobbly. “Wow. My head is still spinning.”
“Mine, too.”
They sat in silence a while, then Sal walked past them and out to the bait shop. Sasha gave him a few minutes before she followed.
“Don’t push him, Sasha. He’s had a shock, too.”
“I know. But we need to talk this out. Now. Before he retreats into himself again. It might be my only chance to find out the truth.”
He leaned over and kissed her forehead. “I’ll be right here.”
She found Pop standing on the dock, out of view of the house. She came up beside him and slid an arm around his middle, surprised again at how thin he seemed, how fragile. “You doing OK, Pop?”
He patted her hand where it wrapped around him, anguish etched in every line of his face. They stood in silence for several long minutes before he said, “They threatened me, years ago. Roy and Demetri. They said if I didn’t let them use the marina to smuggle their drugs, bad things would happen.”
Sasha’s heart stuttered as she tried to make sense of what he was saying.
“I didn’t believe them until the day Tony disappeared.” He swayed on his feet, so Sasha led him to the bench, rubbing his back while he sobbed into his hands. “In the end, it didn’t matter. They kept smuggling their drugs anyway. And my Tony was gone.”
Sasha pushed the questions aside for now. He needed comfort, not an interrogation. “It’s not your fault, Pop. It’s not your fault. The blame lies with them.”
“I wanted to go to the police, but I was afraid, for Mama. What if they had hurt her, too?”
Sobs shook his frame, and Sasha kept rubbing small circles on his back. “Will you tell the police now?”
He turned his head to look at her, tears tracking down his cheeks. “How will that help, my Sasha? Roy is dead. It was all so long ago.”
“But Demetri is alive. And in jail. Maybe he’ll barter the information.”
Finally he nodded. “It is the least I can do for my Tony.”
Sasha’s throat was thick when she said, “You were in an impossible spot, Pop. But you tried to do the right thing, stick by your convictions.” When he started to protest, she interrupted. “You were trying to protect your family. I can’t ever fault you for that.” She paused, tried to decide how to phrase it. “You know I had to do this, right?”
He leaned over and kissed the top of her head. “I know. You are our warrior, our champion. I love you, my girl.”
“I love you, too, Pop.”
Later, Sasha and Jesse met Nick at the police station, where they went over every single moment of the last few days until Sasha’s head ached and her hands shook from all the caffeine.
When they were finally released, Jesse drove them south toward Tampa.
“Thanks for being here, Jesse.”
He winked. “I’m not going anywhere.”
“So, where are we going again?”
He laughed, a bit too loud. “Nice try. You’ll see.”
When he pulled up in front of a big medical center, Sasha figured she knew. After several miles of corridors and an elevator ride, they arrived in the small waiting area outside the pediatric intensive-care unit. A young woman in her midtwenties wearing sweats and the worried, sleep-deprived look of a parent with a sick child leaped up when they walked in.
“Jesse!” She ran over and jumped into his outstretched arms. If he hadn’t braced himself, he would have fallen. “She made it through the surgery! Thank you, thank you.”
Sasha’s momentary jealousy at seeing this woman throw herself at Jesse dissipated as her words sunk in. The woman wiped her tears away and pushed hunks of brown hair behind her ears.
“I can’t ever thank—”
Jesse stepped over and grabbed Sasha’s hand. “Tracy, this is Sasha. Sasha, Tracy was my friend Ethan’s girlfriend, and their sweet baby, Adelaide, just had heart surgery this morning.”
Seeing Tracy’s relieved expression, Sasha’s love for Jesse burrowed deeper yet. This was why winning the race mattered so much.
Jesse turned to Tracy and pulled her close for another quick hug. “I’m so glad everything went well. And you can thank Sasha. She piloted The Painted Lady and won that prize money.”
Tracy looked from one to the other, still wiping tears away. “I’ll pay you back, both of you, I promise. No matter how long it takes.”
Jesse just shook his head. “Stop, Tracy, OK? I promised Ethan, and I meant it. You don’t owe us a thing. Just take care of that sweet girl.”
Sasha stepped closer and gave Jesse’s hand a squeeze. “Can we take a peek at her through the window?”
Tracy’s smile could have lit up a city. “Come see.”
They huddled by the glass, and Sasha’s heart clenched at the sight of the tiny girl with the big bandage over her chest, tubes and wires and monitors all but burying her in the big crib.
As she and Jesse headed back to Safe Harbor, Sasha reached over and took his hand. “You’re a good guy, Jesse Claybourne.”
“You OK with that prize money going to Adelaide?”
She furrowed her brow. “Give me a little more credit, Money-boy.”
“I’m not Money-boy anymore. Not by a long shot.”
She sniffed. “That was never your most attractive feature anyway.”
He laughed, and they grinned at each other like idiots.
Epilogue
“Jesse! Where are you going? It’s bad luck to see the bride before the wedding.” Blaze appeared at the foot of the porch stairs, arms crossed, blocking his path.
Jesse stopped and let out a wolf whistle. Blaze had dyed her hair from blue to green so it would match her bridesmaid dress. “Wow, don’t you look beautiful, kiddo.”
Blaze rolled her eyes. “You still can’t go in. It’ll ruin everything.”
Jesse stepped closer. “I really need to see her, OK? And I promise, I won’t ruin a thing.”
When she sighed and shrugged, he leaned in and kissed her cheek before she could pull away. “You are going to break hearts, kiddo.”
Then he slipped past her and took the stairs two at a time. He rapped lightly on the door. When Sasha opened it, he sucked in a breath. Wow. “Hey, beautiful lady.”
Eve appeared next to Sasha and tried to shut the door in his face. “Go away, Jesse. You shouldn’t be here.”
Before she could protest, Sasha drew him into the room. “It’s OK, Eve. Give us a minute.” To Jesse she said, “Watch your head.”
He ducked just in time, and Eve closed the door none too gently behind her. He took Sasha’s hands, not surprised to feel them trembling. “Just ride the wave. Nothing to worry about.”
She sucked in a panicked breath, and he held her arms out at her sides and studied her. The simple white sleeveless dress suited her perfectly. It had no frills or lace but hugged every curve. Her hair was done in some kind of fancy knot and showed off those beautiful cheekbones. “Have I mentioned how much I love you?”
Her smile was still a little shaky around the edges. “Not lately, no.”
He leaned in for a gentle kiss. “I love you.”
She searched his gaze. “Why are you here? Did something else happen?”
“Only good things.” He reached into the pocket of his gray suit and pulled out her mariner’s cross. Her breath hitched as she reached for it, but he held it just out of reach. “Nick found it. He figured you’d want to wear it today. They found it in a hay bale in that old barn.”