Page 19

M issy listened to Trey’s update, her father shaking his head from time to time, as all the details spilled out in the hospital room. “Oh my God,” she kept whispering, too stunned for any of it.

Trey looked over at Silas. “So, I don’t know how much of it was Thomas, how much of it was Mildred, and how much of it was the two of them in cahoots, but at least now we know.”

Silas closed his eyes briefly. “I’m not sure either, but I’m very grateful that they will no longer try to kill me or the people I love.”

“As it turns out, her son was not involved, except for the visit to your room, where he opted not to do her bidding, and we’re all in agreement on that.”

“That’s some comfort,” Silas noted. “Another factoid for you to ponder is that Thomas was in the Coast Guard way back when. My guess is he still is—or was, before his stroke or whatever.”

Missy gasped.

Trey nodded. “That fits. So Thomas sabotaged your boat and planned to be a member of your search party too, until Mildred stepped in and took over the plan. Believe me that Keith’s feeling pretty rough right now, finding out that his mother was really hoping the instructions she gave him to check that you were doing okay were really meant to kill you.”

“Yeah, I still don’t quite understand the part about adjusting the lines or whatever that was,” Missy admitted.

“I’m not sure either,” Trey added, shaking his head. “Ultimately I think Mildred hoped that, through this hospital visit, either Silas would wake up scared and have a stroke, or Keith would cut off Silas’s oxygen or mess up the IV somehow. I don’t really know because Keith can no longer remember exactly what Mildred told him to do. Whether that’s on his part or the mother’s, I don’t know, but I do believe Keith. The shock on his face when he realized that his mother had set him up to go back to jail, plus had killed his father and had given his uncle a stroke, was all definitely genuine. Oh, and Thomas got Keith hooked on drugs to begin with. Also she broke into Dad’s house likely looking for legal paperwork on his business and any life insurance or anything else she might be able to use.”

“Christ,” Silas muttered, staring at Trey in shock, “that poor boy.”

“I know, but,” Missy said, frowning at her father, “that poor boy also has a lot of responsibility in this too, especially in the sense that he now needs to get his life together.”

Silas nodded. “It won’t be that easy for him.”

“Come on, Dad. Let’s save yourself before you go back to saving the world, okay?”

He glared at her. “Maybe, but, you know, fishing is good for the soul.”

She stared at him for a long moment and then burst into laughter.

Trey agreed. “I may have to fall on your dad’s side of this argument. I was heading down a rougher road myself when he brought me into his fishing boat repair nightmare slash therapy program,” he shared, with a smile.

“Maybe that’s something you want to look at, but not just yet, please,” she noted. “I’m sure Keith will have a pretty rough time going forward, at least for a while.”

“Maybe, but it wasn’t his own doing, and that’s something we have to remember,” her father stated. “Keith wasn’t a part of this. He’s had a terrible upbringing and paid a high price already.”

“I know. I know,” Missy agreed, realizing that her father would always see people in the world who needed a mentor in life. And maybe it was a good thing. She didn’t know. All she knew at this moment was that a killer would not go free and that she and her father were now safe. She smiled up at Trey. “I am so glad it’s over.”

He nodded, giving her a gentle smile. “Me too.” Schooner woofed from the bedside, and Silas just laughed at the barking. “You too, right? You’re just a big hero, aren’t you, boy?”

“I can’t believe he was there to save the day again,” Missy said, reaching down to cuddle him.

“No kidding,” Trey added. “I was prepared for Mildred to put up a fuss, but I didn’t see the gun play coming.”

Schooner just rolled over and lapped up the attention.

“He’s enjoying that belly-rubbing part pretty well,” Silas noted as he leaned back against the bed. Then he waved his hands at the two of them, shooing them away. “Now, both of you go share an evening, get some dinner and some rest. I’m fine here, and I’ll be good as new soon. I’m feeling better all the time, and it’ll all be okay. But leave Schooner here with me. I hate to be parted from him if I don’t have to be.”

Trey looked over at her and raised an eyebrow. “Sounds like your dad is giving us orders.”

“Ya think?” she asked, with an eye roll.

“Go on now,” Silas prodded. “I’ll have a good solid night’s sleep tonight, and I want you two gone. You go on and enjoy your own evening together, do you hear me?”

“What? Now you ’re trying to be a matchmaker too?” she asked, with a laugh.

“If I thought it would do any good, absolutely.” She stared at him, and he nodded. “It’s all good. Go on, scat, shoo.”

“If you say so,” she muttered, giving her father a kiss on the cheek.

Trey grabbed her hand. “Come on. Let’s go eat. I’m starving.”

She looked at his hand and smiled. “Okay. I could be persuaded to eat something. Maybe fish and chips down at the marina.”

Her father grumbled, “That’s hardly a great date.”

“Right about now, that’s all I can manage,” she stated, with a smile. “That is, if you’re up for it?” she asked, turning to Trey.

“I’m always up for fish and chips,” he said, “especially if it’s with you.”

She flushed, and her father laughed. “Now go,” he stated. “Go off and do all the good stuff people do to find out if they’re right for each other.”

“Oh, so you’re having doubts now?” she asked, raising one eyebrow.

“I don’t have any doubts,” he declared, with a wry grin. “It’s you who have the doubts.”

She looked at him and asked, “Did I say that?”

“No, you sure didn’t, which is even better.”

She groaned. “We need to leave now, before Dad gets any worse.”

“Too late.” Silas chuckled. “I’m all about grandbabies now.”

She stopped and glared at him, turning quickly back to Trey. “See?”

“At least I’m being honest,” Silas muttered, rolling his eyes. “I survived, and now we’ll create a whole new generation of fishermen.”

“No, no, no,” she cried out. “No fishermen babies, not now. Honestly, you’ll be lucky if I let you on a boat, much less any future babies. So stop, no more talk about any of that.”

“Okay.” Silas winked at her. “Just make an old man happy eventually.”

“Eventually, yes,” she agreed, “but not right now.” She glared at him and then turned to find Trey grinning like a crazy man too. “What are you smiling at?”

“The two of you,” he said, with a chuckle. “Come on. Let’s go see if he’s right.”

“Wait. What are we seeing if he’s right about?” she asked, protesting as Trey led her out of Silas’s hospital room.

“Whether we really do have what it takes.” She stopped, looked up at him, and he nodded. “I’m serious if you are.”

“I’m definitely serious,” she replied. “I just didn’t expect anything to happen quite so fast.”

“I know,” he said, giving her a look, “but sometimes when it happens, it’s just right, and I think in our case we got lucky.”

“I don’t know,” she muttered. “I feel as if my dad has been waiting for you to come back since forever.”

“Maybe so,” he murmured. “I’m not sure that’s wrong either. Maybe I just needed the right impetus to come back.”

“What? A missing dog?” she asked in astonishment.

He grinned. “Yeah, a missing dog. Whoever would have thought it?”

Laughing, she followed him out of the hospital.

As they walked along the beach after dinner, Trey said, “You know that your father’s right.”

“About what?” Missy asked.

“I think we are meant for each other.”

“And here I thought we would take our time to figure it out,” she replied. “It’s so beautiful here, but are you sure you want to come back here?”

“What? You say it’s beautiful and then you doubt that I want to come back?”

“No. I think it’s the work thing I’m worried about. Are you okay to do whatever you need to do to make a living here? It doesn’t make sense to come back if you’re not happy here.”

“Yeah, I’m not sure what my new career will look like yet, although there has been a suggestion made. I just don’t know if I really want to go in that direction yet, but it’s something I should at least take a look at.”

“What’s that?” she asked.

He shrugged. “Maybe working in the sheriff’s office in some capacity.”

She looked at him and then nodded. “That would be a hell of a good idea. They need someone who’s got the brains for it. And maybe isn’t a pompous ass.”

He snickered at that. “Oh, give the guy a break. The sheriff was in a bad spot there, and no telling what lies Mildred might have filled his head with. But, back to the job idea, I do have a fair bit of investigative work in my military history,” he shared, “so I’ve got that covered. And the sheriff did approach me about it on the sly, by the way.”

“I’m all for it,” she said.

“Are you sure? You’ll be this fancy vet, working in the clinic with your dad, after all.”

“Yeah, and I can’t wait to get back to that too,” she replied, beaming a smile his way.

“I’ll need to fill in my brother and sister in-law, and they’ve got a baby due to be born in the next six weeks or so.”

“Which is all good. So… how serious is serious ?”

“Oh, we don’t have to rush anything.”

“No, we sure don’t,” she agreed, “but I’m invited to the christening of Jackson and Elizabeth’s baby.”

“Good. I would imagine I am too, although I haven’t pushed that.”

She laughed. “Just in case you end up pissing them off and losing your invite, you can always be my plus one.”

“Oh, thank you ,” he teased, with a grin. “I don’t think it will be an issue. Jackson and I are looking forward to having a chance to get to know each other again.”

“Good, it’s high time,” she said. “I think that’s what family is all about.”

“According to your dad it is.”

She groaned. “He’ll really bug me until I get there too.”

“But, in the meantime, we’ll have fun exploring who and what we are.”

“Speaking of which,” she began, “do you want to come back to my place?” He stopped and looked at her, and she smiled. “I have been thinking about that a lot.”

“I won’t lie.… I have been too,” he shared, “but I don’t want to push you.” She rolled her eyes. “We’ve been getting to this point very, very quickly. Sure, it’s fast, and, yes, we could wait another few days, another few weeks,” he added, “or we can just go back to your place.”

She burst out laughing, and then he grinned, sweeping her up in a hug, then racing her back to her home. She howled with laughter, saying, “As if anybody won’t know what’s going on now.”

“As if I care,” he muttered, as he came to a halt, pulling her to him, tilting her head back and kissing her, the first serious kiss they had shared since they met.

When he lifted his head, she murmured, “That was really nice.”

“Good. There’s definitely more where that came from.”

She smiled. “In that case, we better go someplace where the sheriff isn’t about to arrest us for indecency.”

“Oh, you’re thinking about right here, right now?”

“I’m definitely thinking about right here, right now, but I would rather it was right here, right now, at my place, so let’s go.”

And, with that, it took about fifteen minutes to fast-walk there. As they walked into the house, Trey asked, “Are you okay with this happening in your dad’s house?”

“I am for the moment, until we sort out living arrangements and all,” she replied. “For the moment, this is where I want to be.”

“Good.” Trey gave her a beautiful smile.

“Don’t be shocked when he asks us to move in here,” she noted hesitantly, “though it is a massive house.”

“It is, but I don’t know how you feel about that.”

“I’m okay with it, but that may not be what’s on your mind.”

He shrugged. “We could always take part of it and remodel it into a private apartment just for us.”

“Ooh, I like that idea,” she said, staring up at him.

But she hesitated, and he had to ask, “What?”

“Renovations like that… sound pretty expensive.”

He smiled. “I don’t think you need to worry about that. Turns out that I’m pretty handy with a hammer.”

“Really?” she asked, her eyes wide.

“Yep, really, but we have more important things to worry about at the moment.”

“What’s that?” she asked, frowning.

“This.” And he bent down and kissed her again.