Page 45 of Unspoken Love

“These walls look solid,” Faye said, running her hand along a lighted seam. “But they’re not. It almost feels like there’s glass in the gaps. It allows light to leak through.”

Nate stepped closer, palm flat against one of the glowing cracks. “They could be natural fissures. Or sand could have gotten in the cracks and heated over the years from the sun’s ray, turning it into glass?”

“It’s strange.” She shook her head. Then she pointed toward what appeared to be a solid wall. “There’s the exit that leads to the beach. I wouldn’t have found it, but the sun was hitting it just right earlier I guess. Now it’s hidden again.” She narrowed her eyes and moved closer.

His eyebrows shot up. “I don’t see anything.”

She grinned and stepped forward and, to his amazement, she disappeared directly into the rock face.

He followed her and realized that the way the walls sat parallel to one another created an optical illusion that they were solid, but there was a small gap between them.

They slipped through the narrow split, careful not to bump shoulders. The passage was tighter than he expected, but just when he started wondering how long it would go on, sunlight broke over them in a sudden, golden burst.

Seagulls called out as they flew overhead. Warm air washed over him as he stepped out onto the beach behind Faye. She stood in the sand, arms lifted slightly like she was soaking in the light.

“This is it,” she said, voice raised slightly and filled with awe. “A totally sealed off private beach. There’s no path up anywhere.” She turned back to him. “Our very own private beach.”

“Nice.” Nate glanced around with a smile. “I have to admit, though, that I have seen this beach before, from the water.” He motioned to a passing boat on the horizon. “I’ve passed it a few times on the boat, but it looked smaller from the water.”

He walked farther down the sand and turned to look back up at the cliff. From here, he could barely make out the top of the lighthouse peeking above the rocks.

When he glanced at where they had just come from, there was no sign of the opening that they had just exited. As with the passage inside, the rocks hid the exit spot perfectly.

“It’s hidden from view. If someone used this tunnel a long time ago, they could’ve done it without anyone noticing. Smugglers, maybe. Pirates hiding their treasure,” he added with a playful grin.

Faye gave him a mock-serious nod. “I do like a good treasure hunt.”

His gaze lifted toward the cliffs again. “If the lighthouse was built over this, maybe they knew about the cave and picked this spot on purpose.”

“That tracks, since the tunnel feels older than the house,” she said thoughtfully, crouching near a flat patch of stone at the mouth of the cave. “Look—marks or symbols. Like someone carved something here.”

Nate crouched beside her, brushing the sand away. There were a few symbols. Squiggly lines. Something that looked like a sun. “They don’t look natural,” he agreed.

She tilted her head. “Maybe there’s more inside that we didn’t notice?”

He looked back toward the tunnel entrance. “Could be. I bet anyone who stopped to visit the beach and saw the caves would be too nervous to explore. Most would be worried about flooding during high tide or that the rocks might collapse.”

“I’m not telling anyone about this yet,” she said, placing a hand on his arm. “Not until I talk to Max and Juliette. If word gets out, people might start crawling all over this place, breaking into the house or, worse, getting hurt or lost in the tunnels.”

“Fair,” Nate agreed. “I wouldn’t want anyone stomping around, looking for the lost lighthouse diamond.”

She gasped slightly. “Right, I almost forgot about the lost diamond. What was it called again?”

“The Ocean’s Heart. Juliette and I used to sneak up here with flashlights and peanut butter sandwiches at night to look for it when we were teenagers. When we were younger and our family was enjoying the beach, we’d make a beeline up there to look. We searched for it like it was our job. We were both sure that we were going to be the ones to find it someday.”

Faye laughed and sat down in the sand, tossing her braid over her shoulder. “Now that I want to hear more about.”

He sat beside her, legs stretched out, and started telling her the story—how he and Juliette had spent hours digging around the property, convinced the diamond was buried under the lighthouse steps. How they even tried to pry up one of the old floorboards in the well house one summer.

They stayed there for a while, trading stories and theories, the salt air swirling around them. Nate didn’t remember the last time he’d felt this relaxed, this completely content.

Eventually, he dusted off his hands and stood. “New plan,” he said. “After your appointment in Portland on Monday, how about we come back with real supplies—flashlights, notebooks, the works—and map out the whole tunnel?”

Faye grinned, eyes bright again. “Sounds like an adventure.”

“Something tells me you like adventures.” He took her hand and led them back toward the entrance.

“I live for them,” she joked.