by Nat Burns
Wearily she punched at her suddenly irritating pillow. All Hazy would have to do was approach her when she was alone and she knew, without a doubt, that she would be in her arms again. The woman had that effect on her, plain and simple.
The thing to do was escape. Leave behind all her hopes and dreams and escape the conniving she-devil who had ruined her life.
Chapter 42
Mama New took a seat in one of the Adirondack chairs on the dock outside the office. Business had been slow that morning so Hazy was not surprised to see she was taking a little break. She was not prepared for the ultimatum, however.
“Hazy, it’s time,” Mama New said quietly.
Hazy sighed and pulled herself from the railing where she’d spent most of the morning, standing, staring out at the ocean. “Time for what, Carrie?” she asked, even though she knew.
“Hazel, I’ve known ye all of our lives and I’ve never seen you this way. I’m frankly insulted that ye’re na talking to me, your dearest friend, about what’s been goin’ on.”
Hazy sat in the chair next to her and leaned forward with her forearms on her knees. She clasped her hands together. “I’m sorry, love. I truly am.”
“It’s her, isn’t it? Nina.”
Hazy looked over and saw that Mama New’s chin was set firm and it jutted out toward the channel. “It is. I can’t begin to tell you what I feel for her.”
“I’m not sure I want to know,” Mama New said heatedly.
“You don’t?” Hazy was surprised.
Mama New turned and faced her square on. Her mouth was grim.
“You’re going to treat her just like all the others,” she chided. “You’re going to break that poor child’s heart; break all of our hearts again.”
She paused and drew in a deep breath. “Now, you know I love you, always have, but I just canna stan’ by and watch while you stomp all over that sweet young girl.” Her voice rose. “I tell you I can’t take it, Hazel. I won’t. I stand firm on that. You need to send her away.”
Hazy reached and took Mama New’s hands in hers. “No, no, it’s not like that. Really.” She sighed and squeezed the hands. “I hear what you’re saying and God help me. I know it’s true. Has been true. This is different, though.”
Mama New eyed her doubtfully. “How so?”
“I love her more than life itself, I do,” Hazy said with conviction.
Mama New wriggled free and rose to approach the railing. She seemed to be unable to look at Hazy.
Hazy stood and followed her.
“Do ye ken what ye’re sayin’, Hazel?” Mama New asked quietly. She looked up at Hazy with squinted eyes. “Do ye understand what it means?”
Hazy nodded and hung her head as she replied. “I do, Carrie. I do. And I wanted so badly to share my life with her. Start a whole new life with her. But it’ll not be.”
“Aye?”
“She’ll na have me. She tells me she wants to be with the other girl. The rich one.”
“But Hazy, you’re…” She broke off, then continued. “Look here, it’s for the best then, if that’s what she’s after, there’s no place here for her.”
Hazy nodded and bit her bottom lip. “When does the pain go away?”
Mama New pulled Hazy into an embrace and rubbed her back. “We’re doing just fine, my sweet gull, just fine. Time is the great healer.”
Hazy nodded into Mama New’s shoulder, holding her tightly.
“Come, let’s have some tea and talk this out. You’ve mooned to the ocean long enough, now’s time to talk to the livin’,” she said, drawing Hazy into the office.
By the time she had finished confiding the details of the past two weeks to Mama New, Hazy was as near tears as she’d ever been in her life. She never cried, wouldn’t let herself, but lately had discovered it took less and less to move her to tears.
“Turning into an old softie, that’s what,” she chided herself as she played out the lines on the rental boats.
She felt comfortable with the solutions she and Mama New had come up with. Time, it was all about time, she chanted mentally. She needed time to clear her head and break free of Nina’s spell.
Chapter 43
During breakfast with her parents the next morning, Nina told them of her decision not to live in Grandpapa Tom’s house.
“Have you lost your mind?” her father demanded angrily.
Her mother seemed very hurt. “Nina, please reconsider. If you don’t live here, the house will have to be sold or rented out. I don’t want that to happen,” Freda said, wringing her napkin anxiously.
“Well, I’ll tell you one thing,” Patrick said around a mouthful of toast. “If you think you’re going to get out of living in Tom’s house without telling us why, exactly why, I think you’d better reconsider.”
“Nina, I don’t understand,” Freda resumed. “You were so excited about the house, so happy to be coming to the island to live. Just yesterday! What has happened to that?”
“What I want to know is who’s hurt you to make you decide something like this,” Patrick added. “Did someone say something to you? Treat you as unwelcome? What?”
Nina shrugged and kept her eyes cast down into her plate. “I just don’t think I like the island as much as I thought I would. Everyone makes mistakes.”
“Nonsense,” Nina’s mother said impatiently. “You’ve loved it here since you were three years old. You’re not being truthful with us and I think we deserve to know why.”
She felt so dishonest lying to her parents this way. Why couldn’t she tell them the truth? They would understand. They were human too. The shame though, the shame of being duped by Hazy kept her silent.
After almost an hour of wheedling, her parents gave up. After all, she was an adult and had the right to live wherever she chose. Freda finally stopped arguing only when Nina assured her she would find a new apartment close to her parents’ home in Alexandria.
“You know it’s too late to stop the moving trucks, don’t you,” Nina’s father interjected as a final note. “And I was going to pay for the move but now you’ll have to and they’ll charge you an arm and a leg for moving your things here then back home. Are you absolutely positive about this?”
This was the final straw for Nina. She had been perilously close to tears during the entire exchange but her father’s extreme disapproval, so uncharacteristic of their relationship, proved too much for her to bear. Rising to her feet, she rushed from the restaurant and onto the hot pavement outside.
Since she had ridden to the restaurant in her parents’ car, Nina found herself forced to walk back to Mrs. Loreli’s. She set out immediately, crossing through several alleys and a grassy field to stay on back roads so her parents couldn’t catch up with her as quickly. After walking for about ten minutes, Nina came to the Chincoteague Memorial Park and realized she was at the complete opposite end of the island from Sweeping Pines.
Hot and discouraged, she walked a short way into the park and plopped onto a handy rock to consider her options. She could try to hitchhike to the other side of the island but that way she’d be unable to avoid her parents. She could wait here until her parents finally combed the island and found her. Or she could walk backstreets the hour or so it would take to get to Mrs. Loreli’s.
Some choices. She blew dejectedly at a piece of hair that had fallen into her face.
“I know you,” said a curious voice behind her. “You stayed at Mema’s place.”
Nina turned and saw Heather studying her.
Just what she needed. Today was not a good day.
“Yes,” she sighed, “I once stayed at Channel Haven. Your name is Heather, right?”
Heather twirled a loose piece of her platinum hair that always seemed precariously bound. “What’s your name?”
“Nina,” she replied, glancing around the park. “Where’s your mama, honey?”
“She’s at the water.”
Silence descended as they regarded one another.
Finally, Heather seated herself on a second rock.
“You must be the one my Mema is in love with.”
Her heart thudding, Nina stared at the child but found her cherubic face unreadable. “Why do you say that, Heather?”
“I heard her telling Mama all about it,” she replied quickly, then, lowering her voice conspiratorially, she confided, “I wasn’t s’posed to listen but I have this place where I can hear real good.” She paused and squinted at her confidant. “You won’t tell, will you?”
“Oh no,” Nina hastened to reassure the little girl. “What else did you hear?”
“Oh, lotsa t’ings,” Heather said, her voice taking on a boastful quality. “I hear Sammie and Alice fight. They’re so stupid I can’t stand it.”
Nina’s mind had drifted and she wasn’t really listening anymore. If Hazy had told Mama New that she loved her…No, the quandary still existed. Was this what she wanted? A life with Hazy Duncan at the expense of the others?
“When did Hazy, your Mema, tell your Mama that she loved me?” Nina asked suddenly.
“Just this morning,” said Mama New coolly as she approached from Nina’s left.
“Well, there you are,” she said to her daughter as Nina gaped at her. “I thought I’d lost you.”
“Sorry, Mama,” the child chimed automatically.
“Well, stay closer next time. Why don’t you go swing now, just over there, and let me talk to this lady.”
“Okay.” The child called to a watching squirrel and blissfully skipped after it.
Mama New settled herself onto the vacated rock and stared out across the channel waters. Several seconds ticked by. The woman seemed to be mulling over what she would say.
“I don’t mean to pry, Miss Nina, but for the life of me I can’t understand why you feel the need to hurt our Hazy this way.” She faced Nina. “Then again, maybe I can understand it. She doesn’t always put her best foot forward now, does she?”
“No,” Nina choked out in amazement.
She had expected anger, pain, accusations, but here was Mama New calmly asking why Nina was hurting her lover.
“Mama New, I—”
“I know, I’m a busybody,” Mama New exclaimed, holding up her hands, “but if you can’t help the people you love, what’s the purpose of bein’ on this earth? Answer me that.”
“Well,” Nina replied, her head spinning from this astounding turn of events. “I suppose you’re right.”
“Yes, I reckon I am.” Mama New’s tone softened and she leaned forward, studying Nina’s face. “You don’t seem the type who cares only for the finer things of the world.”
She sighed and leaned back. “Hazy has been so good to me, Miss Nina. I know she comes across rough, but she’s such a heart inside. Give you the shirt off her back, she will. And so good with Heather too, teachin’ her the ways of the island and the sea. She’ll be a fine partner if she can find someone to get through the hull she’s built around herself. And I believe that’s what you did, little miss, you got right through to her in a big way.”
Again she held up her hands. “Oh, I saw she’d been acting so strange and I tol’ her that she just had ta tell me what ta trouble was. I’d it figured some, but the way she told it fair made tears start to my eyes. She thinks the world of you, Miss Nina, but neither of us can quite figure out exactly why you’re runnin’ from her. Did you really find someone else? Someone with more money?”
“But Mama New,” Nina protested, amazement in her voice. “It’s not that. I thought you and Hazy were together, that the two of you were a couple and Heather your child.”
Mama New appeared stunned at this revelation. “Hazy and me, that way? Oh, no, love, ye got it all wrong. Hazy and me just taken care of one ’tother. We’re like brother and sister.”
“But what about Heather? Isn’t she Hazy’s daughter? She’s the image of her,” Nina protested.
Mama New stared at her in astonishment. Realization dawned visibly and she chuckled. “Wait a minute,” she said with a secretive smile. “This should clear ta up.”
Glancing around to make sure they weren’t observed too closely, she reached deep into the bodice of her dress and retrieved a small rectangle. Passing it to Nina, she said, “This is my Seth.”
Nina took the small object, still warm and fragrant from Mama New’s body, and studied it. A man’s face stared back at her from a laminated photograph. His face was lined and ruddy from the elements but his wide smile and crinkled, twinkling eyes immediately bespoke a young, fun-loving nature. Atop his head was a shock of the same platinum, white-blond hair that adorned Heather’s head. And he could have been Hazy’s twin.
“Oh,” Nina said dumbly.
“The hair is common among the island folk here. Seth and Hazel been best friends since grade school,” Mama New told Nina softly. “Lots of people thought them brother and sister, they were so much alike.”
She chuckled. “And I had to come between their friendship some when Seth and me started courtin’ and let me tell you, it was a task with both of them charmin’ me off my feet. Or dealing with their devilment, I should say. I loved my Seth, though, and his friends became mine. Hazy, though I love her dearly, ain’t much like me. I have no love of books and readin’ and such as she does. It’s a lonely road she walks.”
She turned her face back to the water. “I miss my Seth. And my life was perfect up until he was taken from me.” She sighed audibly. “I’ve often wondered why the good Lord saw fit to take him away but I’m a good Christian woman and won’t question it more than a few times.”
Nina was stunned. Hazy and Mama New were friends only. Close, like siblings.
Her heart suddenly lurched in delight as the realization hit her. She could have Hazy. She no longer had to fight against the attraction that insistently pulled them together.
“So tell me now, was that the only reason you was puttin’ Hazy off,” Mama New asked, amusement shining in her dusky eyes.
“Yes,” Nina admitted. “I thought she was with you. If you were partners—well, I’d have no part of that. I like and admire you and wouldn’t dream of trying to lure her away from you. I felt so helpless. Hazy and I seem to have this attraction, some type of chemistry between us.” She grinned sheepishly at the admission. “I have a hard time behaving myself when she’s around.”
Mama New laughed and slapped one of her hearty thighs. “It was just that way with Seth and myself. Sometimes I felt as though I didn’t belong in polite society.”
“Do you think Hazy knows the way I feel?” Nina asked.
“Well that’s what’s got her so bamboozled. She’d been getting hot and cold from you, so never knowed exactly what was going on in that pretty head of yourn,” Mama New replied.
“I’ve got to tell her,” Nina said, leaping to her feet. “Is she at Channel Haven?”
Mama New’s face suddenly fell what looked to Nina like a half a mile.
“Oh, goodness,” Mama New said curtly.
Nina was alarmed. “What’s the matter?”
‘‘Hazy is gone.”
“What do you mean, gone. Where has she gone?”
Mama New stood abruptly and began moving toward the parking area. “Come on, Nina, maybe we can catch her before she shoves off,” she called over her shoulder as she scooped Heather from one of the swings.
In Mama New’s very old, but very tidy pickup truck, Heather ensconced between them, they bounced over the rough island back roads as Mama New explained that Hazy had decided the night before to leave for one of her week-long fishing excursions. And this was the reason Mama New and Heather were taking advantage of the park, because they knew they’d be tied down to the business until she returned.
“We’ve got to catch her,” Nina muttered as they gained the quiet village streets. “Hurry, Mama New, I don’t think I can wait a whole week to be with her.”
The older woman grinned and drove even faster.
Within several minutes they ar
rived at the same boarding dock on Chincoteague Bay where Aaron Clark lived in his houseboat.
Nina was out of the truck before it even came to a complete stop. She knew which boat was Hazy’s and knew exactly where it was berthed.
Chapter 44
Hazy was loading the final box of canned and freeze-dried food onto her thirty-five-foot cruiser, Shepherd’s Moon, when she heard the voice that had been etched into her heart.
Thinking she was hallucinating, she looked around and her heart leapt in joy when she saw Nina running toward her along the dock. Nina was wearing a long pale blue skirt and a lace blouse and Hazy thought she must be dreaming because she was so beautiful.
But within seconds she was clasped in her arms and they were holding each other close.
“Nina,” she said with a sigh. “I almost didna believe you were real.”
Nina pulled back and smiled up at her. “Of course I’m real. Are you glad I’m here?”
Hazy laid her hands alongside Nina’s face and pressed a firm kiss to her lips. “What do you think? I’m…I don’ know what’s going on.”
Nina spoke rapidly. “Hazy, I thought you and Mama New were together, a couple, and that Heather was your little girl.”
Hazy dropped her hands and stepped back to study Nina with a mystified expression. “Wherever did you get that idea? She just lives in the cottage next to mine. What did you...”
Nina shook her head, shrugging her helplessness about the misunderstanding. “Several people referred to her as your better half and, since she was always there…”
“You thought…” A deep chuckle welled in Hazy’s chest.
“So that’s why I acted kind of…”
Hazy lifted her pale eyebrows. “There’s nothin’ quite like jumpin’ to conclusions, now is there?”
