Found at Sea

by Anne Marie Duquette

“You really still love me? You haven’t changed your mind?”

  “I found the necklace when I went back to see if he was still alive. He wasn’t, of course—”

  “Jordan!”

  “But then I got the idea of using his tank for your second decompression. I put the necklace in my dive jacket. The bishop’s bank has it right now. They’ve already given us an advance on its sale. I’ve sent my family money, and you can do the same, if you want.”

  Aurora clasped her hands together in joy. “Your family will be okay?”

  “Yours and mine. So will you marry me?”

  “Wait a minute. The necklace was so valuable that you got an advance on its sale? Did I hear you right?”

  “Yep. It’s full of jewels. So will you?”

  “How many jewels?”

  Jordan exhaled. She was torturing him, pure and simple, by not answering his question. “It’s a three-yard chain of 24-karat gold, studded with a diamond cross and fourteen emerald crystals, each carved and symbolizing the Way of the Cross.”

  “Huh?”

  “The story of what’s called Christ’s Passion—the Crucifixion. Each scene is carved on huge emeralds, most over fifty carats. Each emerald alone—not taking into account the historic value—is valued in the millions. We have bids coming in from all over the world, including the Vatican.”

  “Wow! So you want to marry me?”

  “Yes.”

  Jordan watched as Aurora reached for him, then pulled back, her fingers pointing to her ears. “Like this?”

  “I’ll be dive master and dive for us both. You’ll be our ship’s captain. We can still salvage. Or move to land. I don’t care, as long as our families are taken care of. We’ll do whatever you want—except plan jailbreaks.”

  Aurora smiled. “You don’t have any more evil cousins, do you?”

  “I hope not. Even if I do, you’ll be safe with me.”

  “Are you saying I’m the best treasure you’ve ever found?”

  Jordan groaned. “This isn’t the movies, Aurora. You get the guy and the gold and everything—but must you have the sappy speech, too?”

  “I want a sappy speech. I demand a sappy speech. After everything I’ve been through, I deserve a sappy speech!”

  “Fine. How’s this?” He lowered the bed rail, leaned close to her mouth and said, “Kiss me.”

  She did. Her papers and pen slid to the floor. They didn’t stop kissing until the hospital loudspeaker came on, announcing that visiting hours were over.

  “I liked your speech. Short, sweet and to the point. But you forgot the sappy part,” Aurora said. “Try again.”

  Jordan bent over and picked up the fallen papers. “You’d better give this to Gerald after all. We have a wedding to plan. How’s that, my future wife?”

  Aurora sighed with bliss. “It’ll do.”

  EPILOGUE

  Pacific Ocean, off the San Diego coast

  Two years later, May

  THE CALIFORNIA SUN broke through the evening haze for a spectacular burst of brilliant color. Tangerine-orange blended with guava-pink and a blush of rose to swirl across the sky, the sun a shimmering disk barely skimming the horizon.

  Aboard the Neptune’s Bride Too, their day-trip craft, Jordan Castillo and his wife leaned against the railing, shoulder to shoulder. His arm encircled her waist, while the couple each held a glass in honor of their second wedding anniversary.

  “That was some celebration today.” Aurora leaned on her husband’s shoulder. “We must have had every family member from the East and West Coasts at the party.”

  “And the press. And half the Mission. And a few party crashers, as well. I like this better.”

  Jordan gathered her closer to his right side. Aurora had lost more than half the hearing in her left ear, but hearing loss in her right ear was mostly in the very high and very low tonal ranges. She didn’t need amplification for that ear and hadn’t been fitted for a hearing aid like the one she wore inside her left when on land—which wasn’t often. Ever since the hospital, Jordan had become used to directing his speech toward her good ear and made it a point always to kiss the damaged one, ever since Aurora once commented, “At least the thing’s still good for something.”

  “Thankfully no one told them our secret,” Aurora said, smiling. “Or we would never have made it out of the harbor.”

  “That we found another galleon outside Florida and have the rights to it?”

  “For starters. After all, we start work next week, right after Neil and Donna’s wedding.”

  Roberto and the divers from the Boston Castillos had already started equipping Castillo’s Bride, the couple’s new salvage ship purchased back East, with proceeds from the San Rafael necklace. Neil and Donna planned to join them for their honeymoon.

  Not only was their salvage business going well, the Castillos’ new fishing fleet now sailed in full force in New England waters.

  “I wish...” Aurora quickly bit back the words.

  “You could dive the wreck with me,” Jordan finished for her. “I know.” He pulled her even closer. “I wish you could, too.”

  “You promised to outfit Castillo’s Bride with monitors for underwater camera work. I want to be able to see every single thing.”

  “You will.” He paused, then added, “You implied another secret, love. I know you’re late. Are we...?”

  “We are.” She set down her glass inside the mahogany deck cup holder and slid both arms around his neck. “According to the obstetrician Dori fixed me up with, we’re now officially parents-to-be.”

  “Wow.” He blinked. “Wow,” he said again.

  “So don’t feel bad about me not diving. Even if my ears were good, I wouldn’t be able to.”

  Jordan’s eyes glowed with a light that was more than just the sunset’s reflection. “Pregnant with our child.” He paused. “Any idea if it’s a boy or a girl?”

  “I don’t know, but we Collinses always have girls.”

  “We Castillos usually father boys. So I guess we have a fifty-fifty chance either way.”

  “I guess we’d have a fifty-fifty chance regardless.” Aurora grinned. “Happy anniversary, Daddy.”

  She remembered their wedding at Mission San Diego, at the adobe church amid the warm weather’s full riot of brightly colored orchids, roses and lush, tropical trees. A quiet haven for wild parrots, darting hummingbirds and softly cooing doves—the setting for the wedding of Aurora Collins and Jordan Castillo.

  Aurora had waited in the campanario courtyard for the ceremony to begin. Jordan would soon appear to walk her inside to her father’s arm and the trip to the altar. Until then, she’d felt content to be alone with her thoughts.

  Aurora smiled as she thought about the long, antique Spanish-style gown and matching mantilla her new in-laws had brought her from Florida. She’d wanted to purchase a simple knee-length dress off the rack, but was glad she hadn’t. The Castillo women had readied her for her wedding with respect and warmth, while the assisting Collins women, including Tanya, had been astonished that their “tough as nails Rory” could look as beautiful as she did. Tanya was there with her own fiancé, Roberto, and future in-laws, all of whom treated Aurora as a very special person in their lives.

  For once, Aurora hadn’t minded “the fuss.” She felt both their families deserved a special day after all the darkness of the past.

  The Mission bells had begun to ring just as Jordan came to the campanario courtyard to collect her, clad in a black formal Spanish outfit with a snowy-white shirt.

  “The bishop’s waiting. Are you ready?” he’d asked.

  She’d nodded. “I love you, Jordan.”

  Jordan had lifted her chin with a tender touch and kissed her lips, too moved to speak. He’d gestured toward the chapel, and Aurora took his arm.

  As the church bells continued to ring, the wedding march began. She glanced down at the San Rafael’s necklace with its emeralds and gold and let Jordan proudly walk her in
side and up the ancient tiles to the altar where her father waited. For a fleeting moment she’d wished she could be married outside, by the ocean that had brought them together. Then she smiled. It didn’t matter, really. Nothing mattered that day except her and Jordan—and his gift to her...

  The feeling of belonging she’d desired for so many years.

  Jordan kissed her again, returning her thoughts to the present. “You shouldn’t be drinking. I know it’s our anniversary, but—”

  “Relax. We’ve both got sparkling cider—and I’ve got a whole new career ahead of me. Mother. Being a boat captain, too. I’ve got more than enough to keep me busy, I suspect.”

  He gently touched her deaf ear. “You can’t convince me so easily, Aurora. I know better.”

  “Then let me convince myself. There’s nothing I can do about this. Besides, I’ve been diving professionally since I was sixteen years old. That’s over twenty years, Jordan. I hit that elusive jackpot with the San Rafael. I really have no right to complain.” She pulled his fingers away from her deaf ear and kissed them. “Best of all, I’ve found you. You helped save my family and now you’re adding to it. I’m so happy. How many salvagers can say that?”

  “True,” Jordan agreed with pure male pride. “And you even got to wear your booty for the engagement picture.”

  “That was your idea, not mine. I hated it when the press printed photos of me all gussied up,” Aurora groaned. “All those flashy emeralds. Then I let you convince me to wear them at our wedding at the Mission.” She shook her head. “I’m sure everyone thought I was a vain, materialistic woman.”

  “No, they thought you were a beautiful woman who’d earned the right to wear a beautiful object from the past.”

  “They were something,” Aurora agreed. “I’m glad that Spanish museum in Madrid bought them. The only jewelry I need is this.” She held out her left hand, with its engraved single wedding band that matched Jordan’s. “We did good, Jordan.”

  “Yep,” he said, grinning. “And even Tanya—the girl who started all this—is in great shape. We’ll even have money to send her to medical school if she wants.”

  Tanya had finished her last year of high school with flying colors. She’d been released from Juvenile Hall early, thanks to her good behavior and dedicated clinic work, vowing, “It’ll be a snowy day in San Diego before I miss this wedding.” She’d already been accepted at U.C.S.D. and would start her first premed year in the fall.

  “Gerald says he’ll take care of that himself,” Aurora said, pleased at how well her sister’s family was doing, especially since her parents had moved back to California from Arizona to permanently resettle in San Diego. Dorian had made a full recovery and decided to go back to work with her husband. Family bonds were being established or reestablished, and strengthened.

  “But, Jordan, doesn’t it bother you that your family heritage is gone?” The currents had taken most, if not all, of the San Rafael to undiveable depths. The ship and its cargo were gone forever, save for the two pieces of jewelry—the necklace and the Castillo medallion Aurora had originally recovered.

  “I’ve changed my mind about the value of family heirlooms and decided to concentrate on the value of family, period.” He hugged her against his chest, his hands dropping to spread across her belly and their future child. “As for the affairs of lawyers and insurance companies, I don’t care how they manage their business. All I care is—the check cashed.”

  “I’ll never understand lawyers, insurance companies or organized banking.”

  Jordan laughed, his joy spilling over her. “All you need to understand is this.” He lifted her hand, palm up, to kiss it. “I love you.”

  Aurora turned in his arms and placed her own around his neck. “I’m still waiting for a sappy anniversary speech. You know the rule. One every year. Oblige me and I’ll let you finish watching the sunset.”

  Jordan pretended to concentrate. “Hmm. How about act 2, scene 2, from one of Shakespeare’s great romantic plays?”

  Aurora groaned. “I barely passed English lit in high school—had to rent movies and buy CliffsNotes to figure out what was going on. How in the world can anyone understand Shakespeare?”

  Jordan’s New England sensibilities were strongly offended. “Aurora! Shakespeare’s a genius and my favorite author.”

  “My personal opinion? He’s overrated.”

  Oh, no, Aurora. Old William knew about love. Jordan recited Juliet’s words to her Romeo:

  My bounty is as boundless as the sea,

  My love as deep; the more I give to thee

  The more I have, for both are infinite.

  “That’s pretty, but I don’t want Shakespeare,” Aurora insisted. “I want an original Jordan Castillo sappy speech for my anniversary, and I want it now.”

  “Okay, okay.” Jordan held up a restraining hand. He pulled her close, kissed her, then whispered in her good ear, “I’ll love you as long as the ocean has tides.” Jordan kissed her one last time.

  “As the ocean has tides, huh? For you, that’s sappy. And kind of sweet, actually.”

  “Good enough?”

  Captain Aurora Borealis Collins, married woman and mother-to-be, smiled. “Good enough.”

  * * * * *

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  ISBN: 9781460312988

  Copyright © 2013 by Anne Marie Duquette

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  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental. This edition published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.

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