She and Frank emerged onto North Beach, where the fog was thick and milky. The temperature dropped, and Emma fastened the top button of her coat.
“Are you cold?” Frank asked.
She felt his eyes on her and sensed he was evaluating her mood, which proved to be correct, because he spoke cautiously.
“Emma. I don’t mean to pry, but you haven’t been yourself lately. Not since Captain Harris left. Are you all right?”
It was a direct question—painfully direct—and Emma couldn’t think of how to respond.
Frank gently continued to probe. “I understand ... because I know how it feels to love someone and not have your feelings reciprocated.”
Emma had never doubted that Frank was a decent young man, but unfortunately, her feelings for him had never gone beyond friendship. Only now was she beginning to see how she’d hurt him over the past few months. In her defense, it hadn’t occurred to her while it was happening, especially recently when she’d been so caught up in her blindpassion for Captain Harris. But she understood the world better these days.
“It’s not easy,” she confessed.
They walked in silence, looking down at the path before them.
“Does your father know?” Frank asked.
“Good heavens, no. I’d be mortified.”
“You can always talk to me about it if you want to. I just want to be your friend, Emma.” He spoke in a low voice, his eyes downcast. “If I can’t be anything else.”
Emma felt an ache of regret for the pain she’d caused him—and wasstillcausing him—but she was afraid of where this conversation might lead if she surrendered too deeply to her sympathies. So she stayed mute as they walked.
“Did you ever tell the captain how you felt?” Frank asked after a time.
“Yes,” she replied. “On the last day, just before he left.”
“What did he say?”
She sighed dejectedly. “He told me to forget him because he’s a married man and too old for me.”
Frank slid his hands into his coat pockets. “I can’t say I disagree. At least he was honest with you.”
Emma knew that Frank was right, but she still couldn’t seem to let it go. “But his wife is with someone else. And he’s notthatold.”
Frank stopped walking and faced her. “He’s still married, Emma, and he’s deserted two children. He’s lived an entire life that you know nothing about, so I’m pretty sure you don’t know him as well as you think you do.”
She felt as if she’d been struck across the back with a wood plank. She couldn’t argue, and Frank knew it, so he pushed on.
“If you want my advice,” he said, “you should forget about Captain Harris. Otherwise, you’ll make yourself miserable dreaming about something you can never have.”
Emma pressed her lips together and shivered in the chill of the damp fog. “What do you know about him that I don’t?” she asked, craving information. “You spent time with his crew. Did you hear things?”
Because of their intimate conversations, she’d thought she knew the captain better than anyone on the island. But maybe that wasn’t the case.
Frank shook his head with frustration and started off again. “I haven’t heard any gossip, if that’s what you mean. But those are the facts that everyone knows. He’s been to war, he has two children he never sees, and he ran his ship aground. He’ll be professionally disgraced by that. Honestly, you could do better, Emma.”
With someone like you?
If she had listened to her father and given Frank O’Reilly a chance at the outset, maybe she wouldn’t be wallowing in grief right now.
She hurried to catch up to Frank, and all her feelings came spilling out. “I know I have to accept that there’s no future there, but I just can’t get him out of my head. It’s like an obsession. The love won’t let go of me.”
“It wasn’t love,” Frank said irritably. “You only knew him for a week.” He stopped walking, raked his fingers through his hair, and shook his head with remorse. “I’m sorry. That was mean. I understand what you’re going through. I really do.”
Emma stared at him for a moment, wishing she could feel more than friendship for him, but her relationship with Frank couldn’t hold a candle to what she’d felt for the captain.
