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He grinned at her.
“Yes, maybe it’s just waiting for someone brave enough to look for it,” said Ethan. “Or maybe it’s cursed, just like Rodrigo and his ill-fated plunder.”
“Nothing is cursed,” Tia said, giving him a look. “There’s no such thing as curses.”
Ethan pushed his glasses up his nose. “Curses or no, it’s a good pirate story. And maybe, just maybe, we’ll find it, eh, kids?”
A few clapped, andoh, see,that’s why he wanted to visit the library.
Ethan Pine was a treasure hunter.
The musicians came back, and the music revived, and in a minute she’d have to host the program, although the kids had already seemed to make friends with the adults. Gabriella and Fiona had started to dance with little Soraya, and a couple women joined in. Andre had found a female donor in her mid-fifties to dance with, and Anita danced with another donor, a man.
So, maybe... relax.
Ethan came back to her. “What do you say? Let me into the library?”
She pressed a hand against her growling stomach. “Why do you think you’ll find any information there?”
“Because our boy Henry was rescued by these very monks and lived here for ten years before he went back to Holland.” He raised an eyebrow. “My research tells me that the library has books dating all the way back to before the shipwreck. And Henry was a journaler.” He touched his chest. “Give a guy a break?”
She sighed. “Who are you again?”
He held out his hand. “Ethan Pine. Stellartech.”
“Wait. You design satellites.”
“Yes. And we launch them into orbit. Our grid is nearly worldwide. We’re setting up Declan Stone’s new communications system. And in the meantime—” He held out his hands. “It’s just for fun.”
“Okay. Sure. But you also have to let me give you a tour of our medical clinic so I can show you what we’re hoping to accomplish.”
“Absolutely.” He lifted his now-empty rum-punch glass.
“Declan mentioned your clinic.” This from a taller, older man, attached to a blonde woman. “Do you have any dentistry?”
“Not yet, but we’d love that. We just got an X-ray machine, and a few weeks ago, a portable ultrasound machine. The clinic in town was destroyed by the hurricane, so we’re the only place people can go for care. Our resident physician is a local, and she makes house calls and works out of our clinic. The ultrasound machine has been a game changer. I don’t know that we’ve met—” She held out her hand.
“Dr. Greg Scott, and my wife, Heather.” He gripped her hand. “We’re old friends of the family, back when the Stones had property in Miami.” He gestured to Declan’s house on the hill in the distance, all lit up and white. “He’s upgraded.” He laughed at his own joke.
She smiled. “Would you like to see the clinic?”
“Tomorrow, maybe. We’re jet-lagged.” He put his arm around his wife. “Besides, I promised my wife a view of the stars from the hot tub in our room.”
Tia raised an eyebrow. “Okay. Um...”
“Great party, though. Love the seafood.” He grabbed his wife’s hand, did a Travolta move to pull her onto the dance floor.
As Tia finished her drink she spotted movement on the second story.
Doyle, coming out of one of the boys’ rooms.Weird.She set her glass on a tray, then headed toward the stairs. She met him at the top of the staircase. “Everything okay?”
He looked drawn. “I think so. Jamal said that he saw Kemar with a motorbike outside the orphanage and... I don’t know. The way Kemar left earlier?—”
“He left?”
“Got mad at me. I told him to stop eating all the patties.”
She folded her arms against the wind. Why she’d worn this flimsy dress, she had no idea. It felt practically see-through. “We have plenty of food left. Some of the guests are already leaving.” As she spoke, the dentist and his wife walked out of the gate. Beyond the gate, a driver with a golf cart waited to ferry them back to Declan’s house.