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Clive’s stomach dropped.
“Let me have a look at that list.”
The sheet the dockhand had nailed to the column had a list of twenty or so crew names. His eyes scanned the list quickly.
Ryan Colby’s name leaped off the page.
“Oh no,” he exhaled sharply. He shut his eyes briefly, automatically giving respect to his fellow sailors who risked their lives every day and had now paid the ultimate price. Upon opening them once again, he released a sorrowful sigh and rubbed his hand over his eyes to swipe at tears that had quickly formed. Lifting his head, he glanced in the general direction of home. How was he going to break the terrible news to Evelina? She was going to be devastated. Ever since her horrible accident, she had resented the water and everything it had taken from her. Now it had claimed Ryan as well.
Putting his tools away, he mentally prepared himself and made his way home.
* * *
Evelina sat in the drawing room along with her sisters as they worked on their needlepoint. Her gaze drifted to the window and noted what a remarkably warm and beautiful day it was considering autumn was just around the corner. The sight of her father walking hurriedly toward home caused her to frown. It was a weekday and usually he was down in the shipyard at work.
When she heard him enter the house, she put her needlework aside, pleased with the unexpected break in routine. She produced a smile as she waited for him to enter the room, however before it fully formed, she took note of the crestfallen look on his face and knew in a heartbeat something was wrong. The corners of his usual laughing eyes were weighed down.
Instinctively, Evelina wanted to reach out to him, to comfort him but for whatever reason she remained seated. Motionless. A horrible, horrible feeling of trepidation snuck into her already sense of paranoia. A feeling that was only confirmed when his gaze scanned the faces of his daughters until it fell upon Evelina. Merely to have the deep sorrow in his eyes intensify.
“Evelina.” He quietly said her name and the most dreadful feeling swept over her.
“No.” She cut him off prohibiting him from speaking further, to say the words out loud.
“What is it? What’s wrong?” May entered the room, surprised to see her husband. “What are you doing here?”
He said quietly, “There’s been an accident.”
“Accident?” May’s expression turned to concern. “Are you hurt?”
“No, not me.”
“Then what is it? What has happened?”
He continued to stare at his youngest daughter, and then silently shook his head. “I’m so sorry, sweetheart.”
She rejected his words, refused to accept his apology. “Why are you looking at me? I have nothing to do with the water.”
“It’s Ryan. He’s been in an accident.”
There it was. The words she forbid herself to hear. Her breathing stopped. She fought hard to regain her breath. It couldn’t be true. She rejected the water years ago to prevent it from ever hurting her again. It just wasn’t possible.
Shutting her eyelids with a heaviness that threatened never to allow her to open them again, she willed her inner self to remain calm, which was far too difficult for Evelina. Her entire world she faced daily on eggshells as it were. However, amazingly she heard herself ask with a sense of composure to her voice that surprised even herself, “What type of accident?”
“The ship Ryan was on has sunk. He, along with the rest of the crew, are officially listed as lost at sea.”
Her eyes flew open, a spark of hope breathing life back into her numb heart. “What do you mean “lost at sea”? Ryan doesn’t sail the ocean, he sails the Great Lakes.”
“After he left here on his last visit, he headed south to Toledo and joined a crew on a voyage to Boston. But the ship never arrived. They dispersed a search party to recover any survivors—or bodies. Unfortunately, they have been unable to locate either.”
A grief-stricken gasp escaped her lips, her breath coming out on a shaky note. “I don’t believe you. I can’t believe you.”
“I’m sorry, sweetheart, but it’s true.”
It was the sincerity in his voice, however, that Evelina could no longer deny. Not that she honestly believed her father would be so cruel as to lie to her about something so tragic. But it was far easier for her to think he would then to face the truth of his words.
That was when her bottom lip began to quiver. Her eyes watered swiftly but she denied them release. Instead, she got up on wobbly legs and said, “If you’ll excuse me.”
“Evelina.” Her father attempted to reach out to her hoping to comfort her in some way she was sure, but all Evelina wanted at that moment was to be alone.
