Storm on Wildflower Island

by Michelle Files

  “I have a storm to deal with. This is the worst storm we have seen in decades. Just stay in your room.” And off he went, leaving Claire just standing there staring after him.

  “What an asshole,” she said out loud. Then she quickly looked around to see if anyone had heard her. The young man that Sam had just been yelling at was walking by at that moment. He heard her and smiled. She just smiled back, and looked at the ground as her face turned red.

  The lobby was huge and the fireplace didn’t do much to warm it up, so Claire quickly headed back to their room. Just as she walked in, she saw bright, sharp bolts of lightning light up the sky through their window. Within five seconds, a booming, hotel rattling, clap of thunder hit. Steve jumped and Claire ran into the safety of his warm embrace.

  The two of them stood in front of the fireplace until they warmed up. With no electricity, it was their only source of heat. While the storm raged outside, they stayed together, huddled inside for the rest of the night. It was all very romantic and they loved every minute of it, with the rain pounding on the window. They figured there was no point in going downstairs for an update. The staff would inform them of any news. They would be checking out the next day anyway…if they could.

  Chapter 11

  Sunday afternoon came way too fast. Steve and Claire didn’t leave their room all morning, just enjoying their final day of peace and quiet. Since they hadn’t received any updates on the road conditions, they figured they would just hang out for a few hours until they had to leave. They were told the night before that room service was not going to be available because of damage caused by the storm. Therefore, they didn’t bother calling. Steve and Claire just figured they would get something on their way home. They had some leftover snacks from the day before to tide them over in the meantime.

  Steve and Claire had enjoyed their weekend so much that neither wanted to go home. They missed their children, but knew they would be there when they returned. It was such a rare weekend away, they wanted to drag it out a little longer. They could see that the storm had passed and it was a beautiful, clear day, as they could see for miles out their window over the ocean.

  “I guess we ought to get going,” Steve told his wife reluctantly. “We can get some dinner on the road home.”

  “Yeah, all right,” Claire agreed. Though she never wanted to leave, she reluctantly began packing.

  Once ready, the couple headed downstairs.

  The lobby was bright and clean and revealed no storm damage at all.

  “Wow, the staff must have been working all night. I don’t see any evidence of the storm,” Claire remarked as she looked around the lobby.

  They stopped at the front desk to check on the road conditions.

  “Hi,” Steve said to the pretty young woman at the front desk. “Do you know if the trees have been removed from the roads yet?”

  The young woman gave him a quizzical look. “I just started my shift, so I’m not sure what trees you mean, but the roads are clear. I drove in this morning.”

  “Okay great. Have a nice week,” Steve said to her as they headed out the front door of the lobby.

  Steve handed his ticket to the valet. It was a different young man than Tim Carmichael, the one that had originally helped them with their car, and with a few other things over the weekend.

  The valet, a plump man of about 30 years old, looked at the valet ticket, then up at Steve with a bit of hesitation, then turned and headed toward the parking area. While the valet went to get their car, they chatted about their mini vacation. As they waited, Steve glanced over to see the same man that had spoken to them over the weekend. He was still wearing the pirate costume. Steve couldn’t take his eyes off the man.

  “Steve, what do you keep looking at?” Claire turned her head in the direction of Steve’s gaze. “Oh,” she commented when she saw who it was. “Steve, he’s coming over here,” Claire whispered.

  She turned around quickly and took a couple of steps so that she was standing next to her husband, facing the pirate, instead of having her back to him.

  “I told ya there was a storm abrewin’. You didn’t listen to me, did you?” the man said as he reached the spot where the Jamisons were standing.

  “Yes, you were right,” Steve replied. “There was definitely a storm. Have a nice day.” Steve hoped his tone of dismissal would work. It didn’t.

  “Funny how things change as the years fly by.” The man didn’t take Steve’s hint and kept talking.

  “Yep,” Steve replied.

  Claire looked over at Steve and shook her head ever so slightly. Steve knew she was trying to tell him not to engage. Though Steve really didn’t want to have a conversation with the pirate man, clearly crazy or drunk as he was, Steve didn’t want to be rude. It was not in his nature.

  “Well, I’ll be here when you come lookin’ for answers. Until we meet again.” The man gave them a small salute and walked back over to his spot under the awning near the corner of the building.

  After about 15 minutes, Steve began to get impatient.

  "Where is the valet with our car? Why is this taking so long?" Steve was directing his question to Claire, as if she had the answers.

  Claire shrugged her shoulders. “How should I know?”

  "Oh wait, here he comes,” Steve announced as he watched the man walk toward them.

  Where's our car?" he asked the valet.

  "It's not there,” the man responded.

  "What you mean, it's not there?”

  "There's another car in that spot. But it's not yours. I need to go talk to my supervisor. I'll be right back."

  The valet took off toward the office before Steve could respond. Steve let out an exasperated huff in his wake.

  After several minutes more of waiting, the supervisor came out and said that their car was not there. He said that they log all cars that they park and that they had no record of it being there that weekend.

  “How is that possible?” Steve asked. “I gave you our ticket.”

  “I know,” the supervisor responded, as he held up the ticket. “It does say Miranda Inn on it, but it doesn’t even look like the tickets we use.”

  “Well, that’s the one that was given to me when we arrived on Thursday. Tim was the valet. Just ask him,” Steve responded.

  “Um, we don’t have anyone named Tim that works here.”

  “Now I know that isn’t true,” Steve argued. “We saw and talked to him a few different times over the weekend. He definitely works here. Can you just go get Sam? He can clear this up.” Steve was beginning to get agitated.

  “Sam who?” The supervisor asked him.

  “Sam. You know, the owner. Don’t tell me he doesn’t work here either.”

  “No, the owner’s name isn’t Sam. It’s Heath. He’s owned the place for a lot of years.”

  “That’s not true,” Claire finally jumped in. “Sam introduced himself to us not long after we arrived. Are you new here?”

  “No, I’m not new here. I’ve been working here for several years. There is no Sam, and there is no Tim.” The supervisor was starting to sound annoyed at the couple.

  After what seemed like an hour of arguing with the valet department of the hotel, Steve and Claire decided to try to find another way home and deal with the car later.

  Steve raised his hands as if surrendering. “Ugh, I give up. Just call Sissy and have her come get us,” Steve ordered Claire. “The car rental company can deal with the missing car.”

  “Okay, I’ll be right back,” Claire told him as she turned to go back into the Inn to make the call.

  Five minutes later Claire returned. “The phone number has been disconnected,” she told Steve. “I tried it several times.”

  “What? Our phone? What the hell is going on?” Steve began pacing back and forth in front of the Inn. He was quite agitated and it was the only thing that seemed to calm him down a bit.

  “That’s a really good question. How are we going to get
home?” Claire was beginning to tear up from the stress of it all. “Shouldn’t we report the car as stolen?”

  “I’m tired. I’m not even sure that it has been stolen. They probably just parked it in the wrong spot. Damn, incompetent people! I’ll call the sheriff in the morning. I have the valet supervisor’s info and he can handle it. I don’t really care right now,” Steve told her. “I guess we need to find a new rental car.”

  “I don’t think there are any car rental companies on the island, besides the one by the ferry terminal,” Claire quietly added.

  Claire decided that she wasn’t going to let the car thing ruin the nice weekend they just had. They could deal with the car situation the next day. It was just a rental anyway. Let the rental company worry about it, she figured.

  Another couple that had been standing nearby, waiting for their car, heard what was going on and asked the Jamisons where they were headed. Claire told them they were heading just to the other side of the island, and the couple offered to give them a ride home since they were going past there on the way to the ferry terminal.

  “Oh, that would be fantastic!” Claire exclaimed. She had been afraid that they were going to have to hitchhike home. Even on their small island, the thought terrified her.

  “I know what’s goin’ on.” The four of them all turned toward the voice, calling from his spot at the corner of the Inn.

  “Yeah, I’m sure you do. Thanks.” Steve waved his hand at the man as they all climbed into the couple’s car.

  Chapter 12

  Within minutes, Claire was back to her usual chatty self, yapping away with the couple that had so selflessly given them a ride home. Steve was mostly silent, still irritated about the whole car thing. In his entire life he had never heard of a hotel valet losing someone’s car. Did that really ever happen? Were they just the lucky ones? He sat quietly, stewing about it and sort of listening to the conversation between the other three occupants, while staring out the window. It was dark outside by then, so he couldn’t see much, just a whir of houses, lights, and a few other cars on the road.

  The ride home was uneventful and seemed to go by pretty fast. When the other couple dropped them off at home, they were happy to be there.

  “Finally,” Steve said a little too loudly. He immediately regretted it when the man driving gave him a look. “Oh, I’m sorry, really. I didn’t mean it like that. It’s just been a stressful day, you know?”

  Steve grabbed the suitcases from the trunk of the car and started walking up the driveway, as the couple pulled away, into the night.

  “I can’t believe how incredibly rude you were,” Claire broke the silence. “Those people were nothing but nice to us. You sat there the entire ride home and barely said a word. Then when you did talk, it was worse. What has gotten in to you?”

  “Nothing. Sorry. This whole day has been a nightmare. I’m just glad it’s over. I just want to be home.” With a tilt of his head Steve gave her a slight smile. “I really am sorry, Sweetheart.”

  “Whose car is that in our driveway?” Claire remarked on their way up to the house, as Steve dragged their suitcases behind them.

  “Probably some slimy boyfriend of your sister’s.” Steve was still clearly agitated.

  “Hey! Don’t say that. She wouldn’t bring some random guy over to our house, around our kids. She may not be perfect, but she knows better than that. Don’t assume the worst. Let’s just see who’s here.”

  Defending Sissy was something Claire seemed to be doing a lot lately. Sissy was not known for her discretion with men. Regardless, Claire felt that Steve was getting all worked up for nothing.

  While Steve and Claire argued about her sister, they had no idea that they were being watched. The night was dark and cloudy. There was no way they would have seen someone lurking, watching them get out of the car and bearing witness to the first argument they had had in a long while. The stranger was very still, and very quiet. He was careful not to give away his location. He had no intention of having a confrontation with the Jamisons that night. There would be plenty of time for that later. They didn’t know him yet, but would soon enough.

  As the two of them walked up to the house, they could see lights flickering through the living room curtains.

  “Looks like they’re watching TV,” Claire mentioned as Steve opened the door. “I can’t wait to see the kids. I really missed them.”

  Steve smiled at that. Though it had only been three days, and he had looked forward to being alone with his wife, he had missed the kids too.

  “Where is everyone?” Steve yelled toward the living room as they stepped inside. He expected an avalanche of children to pounce on them.

  “Who the hell are you?” A man’s voice asked.

  Startled, Steve and Claire turned around to see a man standing in the hall, wearing pajamas.

  “No, who the hell are you?” Steve asked, assuming it was some boyfriend of Sissy’s.

  “What are you doing in my house?” the man asked, clearly upset by their presence.

  “Where’s Sissy?” Claire interrupted, as she started down the hall toward her bedroom.

  Just then a woman Claire did not recognize walked into the room.

  “Who are you? What is going on here?” Claire asked, starting to get upset. Here are two strangers in her home, with her kids. She didn’t like it at all. What the hell was Sissy thinking?

  “Mommy, I’m scared.” Everyone turned around at once and looked at the little girl. Everyone’s shock was forgotten for a moment.

  The foyer was dark, with only some moonlight shining in, so Claire couldn’t see her very well. No one had thought to switch on the lights.

  “Sweetie, it’s ok,” Claire said, walking toward her.

  “Leave my daughter alone,” the woman said as she stepped in between Claire and the girl.

  Just as Claire opened her mouth to speak, Sissy walked into the room.

  “What in the world is going...” That was the only thing that came out of Sissy’s mouth as she stared at Steve and Claire, with her mouth hanging open.

  “Sissy?” Claire reached around in the dark for the light switch and flipped it on. All five of them squinted their eyes at the sudden onset of the bright light in the small hallway they were standing in. “Why do you look so different? So old. What happened to you?”

  “Oh my god,” Sissy cried, while she ran over and hugged Claire tightly. Claire was taken aback by the way Sissy was acting and tried to pull away.

  “Sissy, what is going on here and who are all these people?” Claire was trying to pry Sissy away from her.

  “Where have you been?” Sissy could barely speak between sobs, as she let go of Claire. “We looked everywhere for you.”

  “We were at the Miranda Inn, like we told you we were. Why are you acting like this, and why are all these people in my house?” Steve responded.

  “You guys look exactly the same. How is that possible?” Sissy asked, looking back and forth between Claire and Steve.

  “Sissy, I’m still confused. What is going on?” Claire was starting to get irritated.

  “Oh.” Sissy looked over at the woman standing in the living room that Steve and Claire clearly didn’t know. “Steve, Claire, this is Hope.”

  “Hope who?” Steve said, looking at the woman.

  “Your daughter.”

  “What?” The woman, called Hope, said to Sissy, confusion on her face.

  “Ok, it’s late and I’m not in the mood. What’s going on?” Steve was irritated at the whole thing at that point. “We’re gone for a couple of days and now Hope is a grown woman. Amusing. Stop joking around, we’re tired.”

  “Why do you guys look exactly the same age as when you left?” Sissy said to Claire. “You guys have been gone for 20 years and now you show up acting like nothing ever happened?”

  “20 years!” Steve and Claire said simultaneously. “We were just gone over the weekend,” Claire added.

  “No, you real
ly were gone for 20 years. This is Hope.” Sissy looked at the woman. “And her daughter, Sophie.”

  Steve and Claire look at Sophie, and realized it was not their 5 year old Hope. She looked so much like Hope as a child, but not quite the same. They both looked up at Hope. At the same instant, recognition came into their eyes. They knew that this grown woman standing in front of them was their daughter, that was only 5 years old the last time they saw her, three days ago.

  Claire started to feel lightheaded and reached for a chair. Hope reached for her arm and helped her sit down before she fell.

  “Are you really my mom?” Hope was gently biting her lower lip with her eyebrows raised.

  “I guess so, but I’m really confused. How can this be happening?” Claire was almost in tears.

  “Where have you guys been? We thought you were dead,” Sissy asked again.

  “We told you where we’ve been. We were at the Miranda Inn for the weekend. And, it sure as hell hasn’t been 20 years,” Steve answered. He couldn’t take his eyes off of Hope. He was afraid to go near her, still unsure that someone wasn’t playing a joke on them. But, in his heart he knew it was his daughter.

  The man that had been standing there in his pajamas left the room and returned seconds later, holding a newspaper. “Look at the date.” He held the newspaper up in front of Steve and Claire.

  They looked at the newspaper carefully, then at each other. Shock clearly showed on their faces. Claire grabbed the newspaper from the man’s hands and looked at it more closely.

  “What? No. That can’t be. Now I’m really confused,” Claire responded. “How can this be possible?”

  “Well, look at me. You even said I look a lot older. Then look at you. You don’t look a day older than the last time I saw you on the day you left, all those years ago. How do you explain that?” Sissy asked.

  It was true. Sissy looked many years older than when they saw her only a few days ago. There’s no way that could have happened. And, the woman was obviously Hope. Sissy then introduced them to Hope’s husband, Andrew, the man in the pajamas.