Page 45 of Hidden Depths

"This is the finest trip we've ever taken."

After they walked away...

Ward remained beside me.

"You stopped a hundred-foot yacht..."

"...for one wooden compass."

I looked out across the sea.

"My grandfather taught us something."

He waited.

I smiled softly.

"Never decide something isn't important...until you know who it belongs to."

Ward looked toward Frank and Rose.

They were standing together at the rail.

His arm around her shoulders.

The compass was safely tucked back inside his pocket.

After fifty years...

They still stood like newlyweds.

Something tightened in Ward's chest.

Not because he wanted what Frank had.

Because, for the first time...

He wasn't sure the life waiting for him at home would ever become that.

He slipped his hand into his pocket.

His fingers brushed the velvet ring box.

He closed his eyes.

No.

He couldn't think like that.

Not now.

Not here.

Storm wasn't the problem.

She wasn't the reason questions had begun filling his mind.

She had simply shown him something he hadn't realized was missing.