Sleigh Bells in the Sand (Act of Love Book 1)

by Tamara Lynn

  Daniela noticed and reached out a finger to collect it.

  “Are you okay?” she asked softly.

  “Yeah,” Kate nodded and looked up at the ceiling. She did not want to ruin her make-up.

  She took a sip of her water and tried to explain. “It’s just…” she had to pause as she fought back more tears. “This is just so perfect. This is absolutely the best Christmas I’ve ever had.”

  Daniela squeezed her hand supportively. “And it’s just started. You’re only two nights in.”

  “I don’t know if my heart can handle much more,” Kate turned her glassy green eyes to look directly at Daniela. “Your family is just perfect.”

  “No, we're not,” Daniela shook her head. “We have our darkness; we just don’t talk about it.”

  “Carl,” Kate whispered.

  Daniela stiffened, and pulled her hand away. Kate quickly, and wisely chose to change the subject.

  “Tell me about Reed,” Kate’s voice was soft and warm. It had a calming tone to it.

  Daniela considered for a minute just throwing in the towel and going to bed. But she knew what Kate was doing. Daniela had a lot of mental work to do with Reed, and Kate was gently guiding her through it.

  “Reed,” Daniela rubbed her forehead. “Well, she is based on an actual historical figure named Mary Read.”

  “Really?” Kate did not know that. She didn’t know there were real female pirates.

  “She’s quite fascinating actually. Her mother raised her as a boy. Dressed her in boys clothing, chopped off all of her hair,” Daniela began Kate’s education.

  “Why?” Kate was genuinely intrigued.

  “It’s saucy,” Daniela warned. She took a drink of the water, and then continued. “Her mom was married to a guy who worked on the ships. A sailor. They’d been married for a bit and had a newborn son. But then he left for a trip. While he was gone, she hooked up with a guy from town and got pregnant. The tragedy is that their son died, and her husband’s ship sank. She was not only heartbroken, but she was flat broke and had no way to support herself. She not only hid her son’s death, but she also hid her new pregnancy. When she had Mary, she simply passed him off as the son that had died.”

  “Gross,” Kate put her feet on the coffee table and got comfortable. Buddy snuggled his head into her side.

  Daniela moved to get cozy as well, and without really thinking about it, draped her legs across Kate’s lap. By nature, Daniela was a cuddly person.

  In an entirely subconscious reaction, in turn, Kate rested her hands on Daniela’s shins.

  “She needed money,” Daniela explained. “By passing Mary off as her son, she was able to collect an inheritance from her dead husband’s family.”

  “Did she play along with all of this willingly?” Kate asked.

  “I think so,” Daniela answered. “It didn’t seem to bother her. When Mary was older, she continued to dress as a guy so that she could join the British military.”

  “I guess they didn’t do an in-depth physical back then,” Kate grinned.

  Daniela let out a single laugh. “Yeah, that wouldn’t pass now days.”

  “How did she become a pirate?” Kate wanted the rest of the story.

  “She was working on a ship that was taken by pirates. Voluntarily, Mary joined them. Later she joined Calico Jack’s pirate ship,” Daniela explained.

  “Reed. You should refer to her by the character’s name, and not call her Mary,” Kate suggested.

  “Actually, I should refer to her in first person. I should tell it like it’s my story,” Daniela realized.

  Kate listened intently. Daniela was an expert. She had years of successful experience. Kate realized that if she paid close enough attention, this could be like a master class in acting.

  “Tell me more,” Kate begged.

  “Not tonight,” Daniela said. “I want to learn more about you.” She took another drink of the ice-cold water. “You intrigue me.”

  Kate was shocked. “How so?”

  “Kind confidence,” Daniela stated. “You are nearly always smiling. You have a kindness that radiates. Yet, it does not come off as weakness. Instead, it’s confidence entirely free from ego.”

  “I’m just being me,” Kate lied.

  “It’s not something I see often in Hollywood,” Daniela explained. “I’ve never met an actress like you.”

  “I’m not sure Hollywood is my kind of town.” Kate took a drink of the cold water and then licked her lips. “I haven’t had my break yet.”

  “It’s coming,” Daniela encouraged her. “Wyatt says you’re really talented.”

  “He’s a good guy,” Kate smiled.

  “Do you love him?” Daniela asked.

  “I think so,” Kate replied. “Do you love Cody?”

  Daniela stiffened. “I don’t talk about Cody. With anyone. Ever.”

  “Why not?” Kate asked. Now that Daniela mentioned it, Kate realized she’d never read an interview about them.

  “Because of the campaign. Anything I say could be twisted and used against him, and so I’ve made a habit of never speaking about our relationship. Not even to family.” Daniela paused and looked at her. “Not even to a sweet farm girl from La Conner.”

  “I can respect that,” Kate agreed. “It will be hard, because I am nosey, but I’ll try to keep that in check.”

  “Tell me why you won’t sleep with Wyatt,” Daniela redirected the heat onto Kate.

  “Oh my gosh,” Kate pushed Daniela’s legs off of her and sat up. “He told you that?”

  “Come on,” Daniela said. “We’re more than cousins, we’re best friends.”

  Kate was fuming. Why did he have to complicate things? “I’m going to bed,” she announced and got up from the couch.

  “Wait, Kate,” Daniela got up to follow her. “I didn’t mean anything by it.”

  “Yeah,” Kate said. Without another word, she turned and walked down the hall.

  Daniela mumbled an expletive and sat back down. Maybe she would just sleep on the couch tonight.

  ◆◆◆

  The sound of Otis at work in the kitchen woke Daniela. She walked into the kitchen and went to the refrigerator to grab some juice.

  “Rough night?” Otis said as he cut fresh fruit.

  Daniela walked over and wrapped her arms around her father. “I said something foolish and offended Wyatt’s girlfriend.”

  “That’s a bummer,” Otis said. He’d spent his life surrounded by strong women and had developed a system for dealing with them. First, he would show empathy. Then, rather than offering advice or trying to solve the problem, he would ask questions that would guide them to their own resolution.

  “What should I do dad?” Daniela asked.

  “What do you think you should do?” Otis followed his plan carefully.

  Daniela began helping him load the fruit onto an ornate glass platter. “I don’t want to apologize.”

  “Why not?” Otis asked.

  “It gives up power. I don’t like to look weak, especially to someone I hardly know,” Daniela sulked.

  “Do you ever want to give up power?” Otis asked.

  “No,” Daniela shook her head. “Of course not.”

  Straying ever so slightly from his line of questioning, Otis stated, “Apologizing is not a sign of weakness honey. It’s a sign of strength. How it’s perceived by others is not your problem. But it’s an absolute truth that having the guts to deliver an honest apology is an act of courage and strength.”

  “It’s hard on my pride,” Daniela whined.

  “What do you think you should do?” Otis returned to his original question.

  “It would make me feel vulnerable,” Daniela was still not ready.

  “What’s more important to you? You don’t like feeling bad about offending Kate and you don’t like feeling vulnerable. What’s more important?” Otis gently led her toward doing the right thing.

  “It’s lose-lose,” Daniela
shrugged her shoulders.

  “You never lose, honey. Not you. You’re a winner,” Otis proudly declared.

  “Thanks Dad,” Daniela said as she left the kitchen.

  She walked down the hall to the bedroom she shared with Kate. Daniela had too much on her mind to spend the day dwelling on last night’s mistake. Time to rip off the band aid. When she opened the door to the bedroom, she heard the sound of water running in the shower. Without knocking, she let herself in to the bathroom.

  “Kate,” Daniela spoke into the clouds of billowing steam.

  Again! Kate spun her back to the shower curtain and instinctively raised an arm to cover herself.

  “Kate, I’m sorry.” Daniela felt emboldened by the fact that she couldn’t see Kate’s face. Now was definitely the time to apologize.

  “I was rude, insensitive, and so out of line,” Daniela continued.

  Kate shook her head in disbelief.

  “Look, I’ve really come to enjoy your friendship over the last few days, and I hate that I screwed it up. Can we be cool again? I’ll never bring it up again. I’ll try to be more sensitive.” Daniela was really getting into this apology thing.

  After a moment of silence, Kate turned around and poked her head through the curtain. She offered Daniela only one word. “Coffee.”

  “Right,” Daniela said. “I’ll be right back.”

  If bringing Kate a cup of coffee equated to penance, she’d gladly pay it. She just wanted to have fun for the last few days they had in Michigan. And Kate was definitely part of that.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  “The Caribbean of the Midwest,” Wyatt tried to explain Torch Lake to Kate. “The waters are light turquoise, but they are also unbelievably clear.”

  “You know those pictures that you see online of boats resting on the water but look like they are actually floating in the air? It’s like that,” Carl added.

  “Basically, the water is so clear, that you can see to the bottom, so you can see the shadow of the boat. That’s what makes it look like it’s floating in air,” Wyatt continued.

  “She’s not stupid,” Daniela jumped into the conversation.

  “Well how would you describe it?” Wyatt asked.

  “Heaven on earth,” Daniela replied. “Also, it has a sandbar so huge that one time 10,000 people were on it.”

  “You’ll see,” Carl said. “We’re almost there.”

  “We will make it back in time for dinner, right?” Kate asked.

  Every morning, Dixie wrote the day’s itinerary on a chalkboard. It detailed the meals Otis was cooking, and what Christmas activities they would be doing. Tonight, after dinner they were making a Christmas craft, having a hot cocoa bar, and playing Christmas trivia. Kate did not want to miss a minute of it.

  “Without a doubt,” Wyatt assured her. “Aunt Dixie would kill us if we got back late.”

  They parked their car and walked over to the boat rental building. When Kate finally caught a good view of the lake, she stopped dead in her tracks. It was breathtaking. Just like they’d said. She couldn’t wait to get in the water.

  “We rented a speedboat, wake board and a tube,” Carl proudly announced as he emerged from the shack.

  “I’ve never ridden on a wake board or a tube,” Kate’s eyes widened.

  “You’ll love it,” Daniela hooked her arm through Kate’s and followed the guys to the boat.

  Wyatt reached out a hand to help them step over the side and into the watercraft. “You brought your sunscreen, right?”

  Kate nodded and patted her bag.

  “I’ll help you put it on,” Wyatt offered. Wyatt, Carl, and Daniela were all blessed with fairly dark complexions. Sunburn was something they’d rarely had to worry about. Nonetheless, he was concerned for Kate.

  Once in the boat, Daniela stretched out in the front, Carl took the wheel, and Kate and Wyatt took the back of the boat. Before they threw the toys in the water, they took a nautical tour of the coastline of the lake.

  “That’s Kid Rock’s mansion,” Carl pointed to a house on a hill.

  Wyatt leaned over and whispered to Kate, “Maybe. There’s no real proof. It could be rumors.”

  As they came upon an even larger home, Carl proclaimed that it once belonged to the filmmaker Michael Moore.

  After viewing some of the more beautiful houses on the lake’s shore, Carl steered the boat onto a 2-mile-long sandbar. They got out of the boat and stood in water that barely came to their knees.

  “Check it out,” Carl pointed. “They’re playing beer pong with buckets and basketballs.”

  A black lab, chasing a frisbee, splashed past them and Kate waded over to greet the dog.

  The sandbar had a serious party vibe. There was a competitive game of dodgeball going on in the middle of a crowd. People everywhere were dancing as club music pumped from speakers. One partier had a bunch of electric mixers lined up on the back of his boat and was serving frozen drinks. Scattered throughout the crowd, was an abundance of oversized pool floaties. A guy with a Millennium Falcon tube around his waist came to collect the dog.

  “Do I know you?” he asked Carl.

  Daniela tipped her head to the side in annoyance and immediately turned back to the boat.

  “Nah brah,” Carl patted him on the shoulder.

  “We’ve gotta go,” Wyatt spoke firmly and did his best to hide under the brim of his baseball cap.

  The four of them quickly piled back into the boat and steered away from the sandbar.

  “I assume that happens a lot?” Kate asked.

  “Yeah,” Wyatt grumbled. “It’s especially bad when all three of us are together. If too many people recognized us, then we’d never get a moment alone out here. We’d spend all day answering questions and signing autographs.”

  “Boobs, Wyatt. Did you see those bikini’s? We’d be signing boobs,” Carl flexed his chest muscles.

  Daniela locked eyes with Kate and then rolled her eyes and looked away.

  “It’s kind of a bummer you can’t just enjoy the sand bar like everyone else,” Kate observed.

  “We can’t really complain,” Wyatt explained. “We’re living the dream. This is part of the package.”

  Daniela came to the back of the boat and sat by Kate. “Normally, we will drop everything for our fans, but this week is sacred. We try to keep a low profile at Christmas.”

  Kate leaned back and looked at Daniela. She couldn’t keep her eyes off her. Daniela was wearing a simple white bikini that made her tan look even darker. Tiny straps highlighted Daniela’s extremely muscular torso. Small veins creeped just above her bikini line, and traced their way north to the rock-solid muscles of her stomach.

  “You have flawless abs,” Kate pointed out.

  Daniela smiled and slapped her stomach. “I work hard for these.” Then she reached over and squeezed Kate’s bicep. “And you my friend, have really strong arms.” She raised her chin and smiled at Kate.

  “Hey Vanity Fair,” Carl yelled back to them. “Are you two done yet?”

  They hadn’t realized he’d brought the boat to a stop and Wyatt was putting a tube in the water.

  “Who's first?” Carl asked.

  “I’ll go with Kate since it’s her first time,” Wyatt jumped in and swam toward the tube.

  Kate gave Daniela one last look and then dove into the water.

  “Cold!” Kate screamed. She wasn’t prepared for the icy water. “Come on now, what is with this state? It’s July!”

  “It’s a glacial lake,” Wyatt explained as he helped her climb onto the tube.

  Kate shook her head. “What does that even mean?”

  Wyatt climbed on behind her. “It was carved by retreating glaciers. Which means it is really deep. It’s the deepest inland lake in Michigan. Because of that, it takes a long time to warm up.”

  “Ready?” Carl asked.

  “Not yet,” Wyatt yelled back.

  He wrapped his arms around Kate and guided her hands onto ha
ndles near the front of the tube. “Here, hang on to these and squeeze tightly with your legs. Carl will try to throw us off. It’s kind of like bull riding.”

  Suddenly, Kate felt paralyzing fear.

  “Ready!” Wyatt yelled.

  “Not ready!” Kate protested, but it was too late. Carl took off, jerking them into line behind him.

  At first, he took it slow, letting them get a feel for the tube and the lake. Then he began speeding up and making sharp turns.

  “Carl!” Daniela chastised him. “It’s her first time. Take it easy.”

  “Shut up!” he growled and pushed harder on the throttle.

  As he steered into a tight turn, the tube carrying Kate and Wyatt jumped a wave and the two of them went flying off of the tube. Painfully they came crashing down on the water. Daniela stood up, overcome with worry. She was not about lose her new friend. Especially at the hands of careless Carl. He’d already taken enough from her.

  He pulled the boat around to pick them up, and before they even came to a stop, Daniela dove over the side and swam up to Kate.

  “Are you okay?” Daniela asked as she hooked an arm around Kate’s thin waist.

  Kate’s smile told it all. “That’s so much fun!”

  “Do you want to go again?” Wyatt asked.

  “Yes, please!”

  Daniela, frustrated with Carl, but convinced that Kate was unharmed, swam back to the boat. She was not going to take a turn on the tube. Carl would probably look at it as on opportunity to kill her.

  Instead she sat in the back of the boat and kept a watchful eye over Wyatt and Kate.

  For a good hour, Carl flung the two of them across the lake. Finally, they got a break when Wyatt and Carl decided it was time to wakeboard.

  “Are you tired?” Daniela asked as she sat down behind the wheel.

  “My arms feel like jelly,” Kate moaned and gave a shoulder wiggle that sent her arms flopping.

  “Disgusting. You girls are so weak,” Carl said as he fell over the side with the wakeboard.

  “Quit talking, you absolute oxygen thief,” Daniela yelled back at him. She began to wonder if Carl was trying to push her over the edge. Does he want her to tell everyone the truth of what happened that night? He’d go to jail for sure. It would ruin his career. Maybe that fear was too much for him. Or it could be that guilt was consuming him. In what way would justice best be served? To have the truth torture him for the rest of his life? Or to rot in jail? Which punishment was worse?