“Demons?”
“You’ve never met anyone with demons before?” he asked, still squinting. “If you enter the psychology profession, you’ll meet your fair share.”
Emma stood back. “I’ve just never heard that term before. It’s why I need to get off this island and start talking to people.”
He nodded. “Isn’t it something, how life is constantly an education?”
She felt a sudden compulsion to ask him a thousand questions about all the things he had learned as a young man, as a sailor, a husband, and a father. She thought of all the nautical miles he must have crossed, the places he’d seen, the people he’d met, his experiences, good and bad, during the war. What a wealth of knowledge he must possess.
But Emma resisted the urge to probe him like the subject of an experiment. She remained quiet in the tranquility of the rose garden, because she sensed, deep down in her soul, that what the captain needed today was peace.
Eventually, they left the garden and walked together back to Main Station. Instead of walking on the beach, they stuck to the horse trailson the heath, walking single file and talking the entire time. When they reached the station, they stood on the high dune and gazed out at the raging ocean.
Captain Harris asked Emma many questions about life on Sable Island, and she answered all of them with pleasure and honesty while she marveled at the extraordinary power of the sea, of fate, and of life.
Chapter 6
It was not easy to keep theBelvederecrew in good spirits while they waited for news about the crewmen who had rowed recklessly into the dark ocean at night. Emma felt certain it was the trauma of the shipwreck that had infected their minds with terror and an irrational fear that the island was cursed. The whiskey certainly hadn’t helped.
Over the next few days, she kept busy cooking and cleaning for the extra guests on their remote little island.
With his concussion on the mend, and a desire to maintain discipline, Captain Harris assigned daily duties to his crewmen. Some were directed to assist Sable’s lifeboat crew in patrolling the beaches in search of the missing engineer, whose body might have washed ashore somewhere. Others were sent to assist Philip at the weather station, with an objective to learn about meteorological studies and the collection of scientific data. Those who possessed experience with horses spent time at the corral and helped break a few mares for work at Main Station.
On day four, there was still no news about the men who had attempted to row to the mainland, nor any sign of the drowned seaman. But a group on beach patrol recovered the second lifeboat, which had capsized during the rescue, not far from old Station Number Two. The retrieval of the invaluable craft kept both crews busy and working together for hours. For those men, the sense of accomplishment was a welcome respite from feelings of despondency when they had nothingto do but wait for the supply ship to arrive and to recall the horror of the shipwreck.
On day five, Emma finished her early-morning chores, saddled Willow, and went for a fast, exhilarating ride along the beach, splashing through frothy incoming waves. Her thoughts, as usual, drifted to Captain Harris. There was so much about him she yearned to know—how his childhood and upbringing had led him to a career in the navy, and why he’d taken a wife when perhaps, in his heart, he’d already been wedded to the sea? What could have happened between him and this woman to cause a rift so deep that she could fall in love with another man and deprive her husband of a place in his children’s lives?
Feeling breathless, Emma slowed Willow to a walk. Heaven help her. There was no question in her mind that she was becoming infatuated with the captain. Or perhaps it was something more. Was this what it felt like to fall in love? A complete loss of emotional control? The more she thought about it, the more she suspected it was akin to what had driven those two men to steal a boat in the night and row into the dark and turbulent sea.
As Emma wheeled Willow around and galloped back to Main Station, she decided to never tell anyone what she’d been feeling. Especially her father. He’d drop dead if he knew what she was dreaming about when she switched off the lamp in her bedroom each night.
Emma could have jumped for joy when she walked through the front door of her house.
“We’re having a dinner party,” her father announced, with no notion whatsoever that he was throwing fuel onto the desires she’d been hiding from him.
“Who’s coming?” she casually asked, which took some effort to conceal her explosion of excitement.
“Captain Harris and Philip. But not Abigail.”
“Why not Abigail?” Emma asked, laboring to sound nonchalant.
“I suspect she’s tired,” her father replied. “The captain has been her houseguest and patient for almost a week. That’s why I thought it right to invite him here. To give her a night off.”
“That’s kind of you.” Emma moved to the fruit bowl on the kitchen table, grabbed an apple, and bit into it. “Have you thought about what you’d like to serve for dinner? I could roast a chicken with carrots and potatoes, but I’d have to get started on it right away.”
Her father moved toward her and held her face in his hands. “That sounds perfect, sweetheart. What would I ever do without you?”
Despite the thrill of a dinner party with Captain Harris in attendance, Emma found herself bristling at the reminder that her father still didn’t want to let her go.
That evening, Philip walked in with a bottle of brandy he must have been saving for a special occasion, because her father made a great fuss about it. Captain Harris entered behind him, shook her father’s hand, and directed his attention to Emma. He held out a book—one of the titles she’d lent him on the day of the wreck, about the wild horses of Sable.
“I thought I’d return this to you,” he said. “I finished it this afternoon.”
“And?”
“It was excellent. I appreciate the loan.”
She stood there feeling a wave of happiness for their shared interest in horses, but mostly for being near him again. “I’m glad it helped pass the time.”
