“It was your mama’s favorite spot. She and Morgan used to go there to…you know…rendezvous. After he left, she’d go there to think, and then later, she’d take you with her and show you the pretty sky from the tower room and talk about your dada.” Claire shook her head sadly. “I guess she felt safe there. But that day, there was no escaping the law. Those two policemen cornered her, and it wasn’t long before someone else showed up. The person who changed your mother’s life forever.”
“Who?” Sam leaned forward with sweat dripping down her back.
“A social worker.”
A slap in the face couldn’t have stung as badly as those three words. Biting down hard on her lip was the only thing that kept Sam from screaming.
Claire went on. “Many in our clan had started to leave Pavee Cove because the police had really begun to crack down on us, in hopes of running us out altogether. But my sister and I refused to go. This was our home. The O’Neills had been here for generations. One of our ancestors sailed from Ireland on a ship with the legendary Captain Eamon McBride.”
Another emotional punch almost physically knocked Samantha off the chair. “Go on,” she urged.
“Of those of us who stayed, many were arrested and put into jail. Some charges were trumped up to teach others a lesson. Homes were vandalized. Old people were harassed. Women with children had it the worst. There was always the threat of taking our babies from us.”
Claire glanced at Aidan. “Your ma got out in the nick of time. Mary was smart to take you away from the cove when she did. She wanted you to grow up differently and away from the traveling life. She wanted a fresh start for the two of you, and she took it!”
Sam and Aidan grasped hands again, and she felt him squeeze tight. “Why didn’t you leave, if it was so bad?” she asked Claire.
“My husband had died two years before. I had my boy to think of. I wanted a fresh start, too, but I wasn’t as brave as Mary. My sister wouldn’t go. She always thought Morgan would come back to Pavee Cove for her. I didn’t want to leave her, and you, behind. So I got myself a legitimate position as a receptionist in a lawyer’s office and saved a little money. The cops left me alone when they saw I’d gone straight. Eventually I was able to buy the market.”
“Why didn’t my mother want to do better, both for her and for me?” Sam asked.
Claire sighed. “She tried to change, but there was a part of her that couldn’t stop taking risks. It was very difficult to leave the trade while she was here. It was only after she finally fled Pavee Cove that the transformation in her occurred. But I’m getting ahead of myself in the story.”
Sam’s stomach dropped. She was starting to see where she’d gotten some of her traits. “Go back to where you mentioned the social worker. What happened?”
Claire took a deep breath and continued. “I didn’t have a phone when all this happened, but Sallie Hennessey had seen my sister run into the lighthouse with the policemen behind her. She dashed to my cottage to inform me.”
“Was your cottage…?”
“Yes,” Claire nodded. “You guessed correctly. I lived in the white clapboard house on the south end of the beach. I ran to the lighthouse and climbed to the tower and pushed my way past the two policemen. That’s when I saw the woman trying to convince your mother to give you to her. When I asked the cops who she was, they told me, a social worker. She’d come to take you away because your mother was going to jail for shoplifting.”
Samantha’s heart pumped double-time as she tried to recall that moment. But, of course, she couldn’t.
“I looked past the woman and saw my sister crouched on the floor with you in her arms,” Claire went on. “You were crying, and it broke my heart to see the fear in your pretty blue eyes. ‘You don’t deserve that baby,’ the social worker told your mother. ‘Give her to me. She’ll be better cared for where she’s going.’”
Sam expelled a breath. “Did she mean in foster care?”
“Probably. Your mama refused. The cops told her they were taking her to jail and she was to hand you over to the social worker or they’d take you away by force. It was then that my sister removed the cross necklace from her neck and clasped it around yours, Samantha. She said, ‘I love you’ and then she pulled the spyglass from behind her back.”
The gold cross now felt hot beneath Sam’s hand as she rubbed it between her fingers. “Spyglass?” Her voice was barely a whisper.
“Yes. She’d found it washed up on the beach a couple of years before. Once she discovered its miraculous power, she traveled through parallel universes from time to time looking for her true love—your father. But she never found Morgan, bless her heart. She shared her secret about the spyglass with me, and I always worried that she’d get stuck in another dimension on one of her voyages. But being the risk taker she was, she was willing to take that chance in order to find her soul mate.”
“What happened next?” Sam asked.
“Your mother lifted the spyglass to her eye. I know she was scared to death of going to jail. And she probably didn’t want you to be ashamed of her. Either way, I think she realized she was going to lose you. But she had a way out.”
“The spyglass.”
“Yes. But I couldn’t let her do it. She placed the instrument to her eye and I shouted, ‘Don’t do it! Do the right thing for once in your life!’”
You could have heard a pin drop, the room was so silent. All eyes were glued to Claire. “What did she do?” Aidan asked.
“She handed her little girl over to the social worker and gave herself up to the police. They handcuffed her and dragged her past me. As we touched hands, she slipped the spyglass to me. ‘Get rid of it,’ she whispered.”
Sam’s thoughts drifted back to her few hours in jail and recalled Claire mentioning her sister having had a similar experience. At the time, she hadn’t known it was her mother she spoke of.
“My sister was taken to jail, but somehow she managed to escape a couple of days later. She fled Pavee Cove, never to return. One night I returned to the lighthouse and busted a hole in the wall of the tower and stuffed the spyglass into it. Then I covered it up so it wouldn’t ever wreak havoc with anyone’s life again. And that’s the story.” Claire drew a deep breath into her lungs.
After several weighty moments, Samantha said, “Do you remember the social worker’s name?”
“No. I tried to find out, but the policemen never would tell me who she was or where she’d come from. I remembered she had short dark hair and olive skin, but that wasn’t enough to go on. There was never a way to track where you’d gone.”
“It was Bev Landers. She must have decided to keep me for herself, instead of putting me in foster care. No wonder I never felt like I belonged to her. I now know why she was secretive, and I grew up afraid of trusting anyone. Deep down, I must have always known I wasn’t her daughter.”
“I’m so sorry,” Claire said, reaching for Sam’s hand. Her body drooped with fatigue, visibly worn out from reliving that day when she’d lost both her sister and niece.
“I have one more question, Claire. What happened to my mother? Where did she go?”
Before she could answer, they heard someone banging on the front door. “Do you mind if I see who it is?” Claire asked. “People don’t expect the market to be closed in the middle of the day.”
“Of course. Go ahead. I think we all need a break anyway,” Samantha said.
“I’ll help you, Mom.” Jason followed his mother out of the storage room, leaving Sam and Aidan alone.
“Does any of this bring back memories of your own childhood on Pavee Cove?” she asked him.
“Remarkably, it does. I can recall hearing my mom whisper to her friends about people being carried off in the night and others being thrown in jail to rot, but I never understood what it all meant until now.” He scratched his head, his face still twisted with confusion. “Claire is your aunt? I don’t remember her ever mentioning she had a niece.”
Samantha’s heart gripped. If they were to move forward in their relationship, she could no longer hide the truth about Remy from him.
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
“Are you all right?” Aidan asked, stroking her hand. “This has been a lot to take in.”
Samantha nodded. “It has, but there’s more. I have something important to tell you.”
“Okay. Go ahead.” He pulled her into his shoulder and kissed the top of her head. “Don’t be afraid to share anything with me. We’ve been through so much already.”
That was true, but she had no idea how he would respond to the news she was about to throw at him. Hopefully he’d understand once she explained it thoroughly.
“This morning when we talked about the spyglass, I could tell you were disappointed that it didn’t work for you. I know how badly you wanted to find Remy.”
“I did. Even as a young boy, I believed her and I were soul mates. But I can see now how ridiculous that idea was.”
“Why do you say that?”
“Because a person doesn’t meet his soul mate when he’s a kid. It just wasn’t my destiny to be with her. I’m convinced you and I were fated to meet each other.”
She gulped. “Aidan, the spyglass did work. Remember when I pulled it out of your hands that night in the tower? Without thinking, I looked through it. You probably don’t even remember my having done it. I didn’t until later. Anyway, the next day, you weren’t in my bed. It was as if you’d never been there the night before.”
“I don’t understand. You’re talking about last night. I woke up at the lighthouse this morning and came to town to buy donuts.”
She shook her head. “No, the first time we made love was two nights ago. You don’t remember, but there was a very significant change in your life the next day.”
“What was the change?” He rested his hands on his knees and leaned forward in anticipation.
Her mouth felt like chalk, and her voice came out very small when she finally gathered the courage to say it out loud. “I went to your house and I discovered…”
“What?” he prodded.
“I discovered you were married to Remy and the two of you had a son.” Her chest rose and fell in a staccato rhythm as she waited for him to say something. “I saw your boy outside with you. I didn’t see Remy, but she was inside the cottage. I saw her shadow pass by the window and I heard her call your name.”
The skin around his eyes crinkled. “I don’t get it. If I was married to her, why don’t I remember? You’ve recalled every detail each time you experienced a different reality.”
“I don’t know why it wasn’t the same for you, but I felt I should tell you. I don’t want there to be any secrets between us.”
“I was a father. I had a son.” He stared past her, blankly, as if he were caught in a dream. Then he bowed his head in thought. After a few moments, his neck snapped up. “What was my son’s name?”
“Dylan.”
“Where are Dylan and Remy now?”
This was the hardest thing, for her to confess that she’d peered through the spyglass again, hoping they’d vanish, which is exactly what had occurred. When she was finished explaining to Aidan, his eyes flashed with fury and he bolted up from the chair.
“How could you do that, Sam? How could you be so selfish? You knew I’ve been looking for Remy my entire life. I’ve missed her and longed after her. And come to find out, I was actually married to her! But you chose your happiness over mine. You took away all I’ve ever wanted.”
“Wait, Aidan.” She grabbed his arm. “You don’t completely understand. I’m…”
Jerking out of her hold, he didn’t allow her finish. “I’m sorry I trusted you. What kind of woman would do that?”
Her jaw dropped. “The woman who loves you. Please hear me out. It’s not as it seems. Let me explain.”
Throwing his hands into the air, Aidan stormed toward the door. “I can’t stay here right now. I have to go.”
“Aidan, please wait!” She trailed him out of the storage room and through the store and caught the front door before it banged into the wall. Her cheeks flushed in embarrassment as Claire, Jason, and a customer stared at her. Aidan strode out of the market without a backwards glance.
With as much dignity as she could muster, she fled to the storeroom, collapsed onto the chair, and held her face in her hands. When Claire returned to her several minutes later, she hugged her. “Why did he stomp out of here like a constipated gorilla?”
Sam shook her head. “I thought I was doing the right thing. But I messed things up even more. I tried to tell him the truth, but he wouldn’t listen. He’ll never trust me now. And he may never speak to me again.”
“You have to give the man more credit than that.” Claire flashed her an encouraging smile.
“I was married to my soul mate in a parallel universe and I ruined it by looking through the spyglass. I doubt I’ll ever get that chance with him again. I may as well pack my bags tonight and go back to Portland. At least I know what to expect there when I wake up every day.”
Claire tossed an arm around her shoulder. “You might want to hear the rest of my story before you go.”
“Don’t do this to me, Claire.” Samantha slumped further down the chair. “I’m not sure I can take anymore.”
“Wouldn’t you like to hear what I have to say about Aidan? There’s more.”
“What about him? What you are talking about?”
“I’m talking about the accident that happened in Portland. The lightning strike that left him in a coma.”
That grabbed Sam’s attention. Her back straightened and her lip caught between her teeth. “How do you know about that? And why did you say Aidan? A man named Chad was struck by lightning.”
Claire’s hand was warm and comforting when it lit on hers. “When Mary Gallagher left Pavee Cove, she and her son traipsed all over the state before ending up in Portland, where they finally settled into a normal life. In the spirit of truly starting over, Mary changed their names. She became Sandra and Aidan became Chad—two good American names. She raised her boy to be a loving, caring man who earned a living the honest way, by working hard. He used his hands, both in work and for pleasure. His occupation was construction, but the thing that inspired him most was painting. I bet you never knew that about him.”
A hand flew to Sam’s mouth when the realization of Claire’s words sank in. She felt lightheaded. “Chad was…is…”
“Yes, dear. Chad and Aidan are one in the same.” She grinned. “Let me explain before you pass out.”
Sam slapped a hand to her forehead. “Please do.”
“Your mother also ended up in Portland,” she said softly. “We’ve been in touch all these years.” She molded Sam’s hand to hers. “She did change her life after she left Pavee Cove. She went to school and got herself a good job. By complete coincidence, she and Mary Gallagher, who then went by the name of Sandra Payton, ran into each other one day several years before Mary passed away. When Chad was struck by lightning, my sister read about it in the newspaper. But she also heard it from…from…”
“From who?” Sam felt like a piece of glass about to shatter.
“I’m not the one to be telling you,” Claire said. “Your mother should tell you herself.”
“Tell me what?” Sam shouted. “Who is my mother? Is she still alive?”
A hand flew to Claire’s chest and covered her heart. “Yes, sweetheart. She’s alive, and she is here in Pavee Cove. In fact, she’s waiting for you at the lighthouse. Go to her! She’ll explain everything else.”
Reeling with an endless array of emotions, Samantha jumped up from the chair, flung open the storage room door, and streaked out of the market. Since Aidan had given her a lift in his truck and left without her, she ran as fast as her legs would carry her until she was exhausted and had to stop to gulp in oxygen. Breathing heavily and walking the rest of the way was torturous. Knowing her mother waited for her was ab
out to cause her brain to short circuit.
Upon feeling a few drops of rain on her skin, she looked up and saw a dark cloud overhead. It was about to start raining, but the lighthouse was just ahead.
A distant crack of thunder jump-started her into jogging the rest of the way.
Expecting to see a woman on her stoop when she arrived, her heart sank with disappointment. When her key entered the lock, she realized the door was already ajar. Her entire body began to tremble when she shoved it all the way open and entered. A woman stood in the living room with her back to her.
“Hello.”
The woman turned. In her hand was the spyglass.
Samantha sucked in air to keep from hyperventilating. Her tense body suddenly became a shivering mass of gelatin. “Dr. Teagan! What are you doing here?”
The petite psychiatrist with the light brown hair smiled. She looked very different, relaxed and at ease in jeans and a sleeveless blouse and sandals. “I came to see you. It’s been a very long time since I was in this lighthouse. It’s changed so much.” Her gaze locked on Sam’s face. She took several steps toward her.
Goose pimples raced up and down Sam’s arms. Without warning, her legs buckled and the doctor rushed forward to catch her before she fell. Their gazes fused as she eased Samantha onto the sofa.
“Are you…?”
“Yes, darling. I’m your mama. We’re finally together again.”
Sam stared for what seemed an eternity before she was able to string coherent words together. “I don’t understand how this can be.”
“Let me start at the beginning. My name is Teagan O’Neill, but for the past fifteen years, I’ve used Teagan as my professional name. As your Aunt Claire told you, I left Pavee Cove to avoid going to jail. It was the worst mistake of my life, because it also meant leaving you behind. I should have stayed and fought to keep you, but I was young, headstrong, unmarried, and didn’t know what to do except to run and keep running. When that social worker told me you were better off without me, there was a little part of me that believed her. After all, what kind of a mother teaches her child to steal?” She shook her head. “You would have ended up in jail eventually, too, if you’d stayed with me. In that split second when I had to make a decision, I thought handing you over to the social worker would be the best thing for you.”
The Spyglass Portal: A Lighthouse Novel Page 21
