The Chesapeake Diaries Series 7-Book Bundle: Coming HOme, Home Again, Almost Home, Hometown Girl, Home for the Summer, The Long Way Home, At the River's Edge

by Stewart, Mariah

  He got up and went outside. From the kitchen window, Dallas saw him lean over the side of the dock, then stand and take his phone from his pocket and make a call. When he finished it, he held the phone in his hand, slapping his palm with it as if impatient. Moments later, the phone was at his ear again. He turned and made his way back to the house.

  “What’s up?” Dallas asked when he came into the kitchen.

  “Cody’s boat isn’t out there,” he told her.

  “But the rope—”

  “Whoever untied it, did so from the wrong end.”

  “You mean from the boat instead of the dock?”

  He nodded. “I think Cody and Logan took the boat and went off in search of an adventure yesterday.”

  Her face drained of what little color it had left. “But if they were out there during the storm …” She couldn’t bring herself to finish the thought.

  “I called Beck to pass the idea by him, and he tried to call Agent Turner. But if he’s still in the marsh, he’s in a dead zone, because the calls failed.” Grant knelt down in front of Dallas. “Beck is borrowing Hal’s boat, and we’re going to go see … if there’s anything to be seen. If they had the boat out and the storm came up, they could have gotten caught in the current and they could be up around the bend somewhere.”

  “Or they could have capsized or they could have lost their oars, or the boat could have been swamped …” Dallas began to shake again. Up until this moment, “lost” had not been narrowed to any specific danger. Now the possibility that the boys had gone into the Bay in a storm made her light-headed, and for a moment, she thought she might pass out. If they’d gone into the Bay during the storm, they might well have drowned.

  “Oh, dear God …” She stood on weak legs. “I’m going with you.”

  Grant took her by both arms. “You can’t go with us. There’s a chance we’re wrong, and there still might be a phone call. Agent Turner said if there was going to be a ransom call, it most likely would come today.” He eased her back into the chair. “You stay here with Berry.”

  “I could go …” Paige began, her eyes beginning to fill, her bottom lip quivering. “If Cody went to have an adventure because I brought him these books, it’s my fault. I read the books to him. I made him think—”

  Dallas reached out to her. “It’s not your fault.”

  “But I told him how fun it would be to be like Max and sail off to an island …” Paige began to wail.

  “Island,” Grant repeated almost imperceptively.

  They heard the sound of a boat’s engine drawing near.

  Grant looked out the window. Hal’s boat, the Shady Lady, was idling near the end of the dock.

  “Hal and Beck are here. We’ll be back.” He kissed her mouth. “Say a prayer.”

  He unlocked the back door. “All of you, say a prayer …”

  The Bay was choppy and the waves higher than normal, but the Shady Lady cut through them with ease, though they weren’t able to pick up too much speed because visibility wasn’t the best.

  “Stay as close to the shoreline as you can without scraping bottom,” Grant told Hal, “so Beck and I can keep an eye on the beach.”

  “He had one of those lightweight little rowboats, you say?” Hal had one hand on the steering wheel and the other wrapped around a travel mug of coffee. “Beck, toss Grant one of those parkas with the hood on it. He’s going to be soaked to the skin before we make it to the mouth of the river.”

  Beck disappeared into the cabin and moments later returned with a yellow parka, which he tossed in Grant’s direction.

  “Thanks.” Grant pulled the parka over his head and pulled up the hood.

  “You know, it’s entirely possible that the wind tore the rope from the boat back there at the dock,” Beck tried to shout over the wind. “He and Logan may not have taken it out.”

  “I guess that could have happened, but my gut is telling me they went off in search of an adventure. They wouldn’t have thought about the weather. They’re six years old, both of them.” Grant paused for a moment to think. “Hal, head over toward Goat Island.”

  “Goat Island?” Hal frowned. “You think they could have gone that far?”

  “Cody was real curious about it when I mentioned it the other day.”

  “If they set out for Goat Island yesterday, the boaters would have seen them,” Beck pointed out. “The boats all had to do a pass around it. They’d have been sure to notice a couple of six-year-olds in a rowboat in their path.”

  “The speedboats went around Goat, but the sailboats went off in the opposite direction when the speedboats were finished. They watched the speedboat races with Clay. It wasn’t until the sailboat races began that Brooke took them up to Charles Street.”

  “I guess it’s possible, but how could two kids that small row a boat into the Bay?” Beck still wasn’t convinced.

  “Dallas said the oars are super light, and that Cody was actually pretty good with them. I don’t know about Logan,” Grant said.

  “I called Clay right before we picked you up to let him know what we were doing,” Beck told him. “I wanted him to be prepared in case … well, in case the boys did what you think they might have done. Anyway, he mentioned that Logan knows how to row. Clay took him out a couple of times on the river in a dinghy.”

  The Shady Lady rode through the wake of a passing cabin cruiser and headed off to the right. In the distance they could see the outline of the trees on Goat Island. The spray blew in their eyes and they hunched inside their parkas and prayed for the wind to die down.

  As they neared the island, Grant called to Hal, “Is there a light on the front of this boat?”

  Hal nodded.

  Grant pointed to the left. “There’s something there, near the beach, but I can’t tell what it is. Can’t even tell if it’s on the beach or in the … yes, that’s it, there.” He raised a hand to try to keep the spray out of his eyes. “I think it could be the boat. That could be them.”

  Beck joined him at the rail.

  “I don’t know. I just see a shape,” he told Grant.

  “Hal, do you have a dinghy?” Grant asked.

  Hal nodded. “Back of the boat.”

  Grant turned and saw the dinghy tied to the back.

  “Oars?”

  “Under the seat there on the left.” Hal pointed. “But you’re not thinking to …”

  Grant found the oars.

  “Grant, this is nuts,” Beck told him. “At least wait until the wind dies down before you go out there.”

  “If the kids are there, we need to know.” He began to untie the dinghy.

  “I’ll go with you. If you’re stupid enough to do this, at least don’t be stupid enough to go alone.” Beck began to follow him, but Grant was already in the dinghy and had shoved off.

  “The dinghy’s not big enough for two men and two boys,” he called back over his shoulder.

  “You’ve lost your mind,” Beck shouted. “Look, it’s going to be bad enough if I have to go back there and tell Dallas we couldn’t find Cody, but if I have to tell her we lost you, too …”

  “You won’t. Hey, champion swimmer, remember?” Grant began to row the dinghy through the choppy sea. They were only twenty-five feet from the shoreline, but in the storm, it seemed like ten times that much; still he made it to the shore. Dragging the dinghy with him lest it blow away, he put his head down and made for the rowboat that was farther down the beach since he’d been blown so far off course.

  As he drew nearer, he realized the boat was overturned, which meant one of two things. Either it had flipped over in the storm and the boys had been washed away, or …

  He lifted the end of the boat. There, huddled together against the cold, were two very frightened little boys.

  “Dr. Wyler!” Their faces lit with surprise. “You found us!”

  Chapter 22

  Dallas stood in the midst of the crowd gathered on the dock in anticipation of the Shady Lady�
�s arrival. She could barely stand still.

  “You’re fidgeting unmercifully,” Berry had noted. “Stop it before I shove you into the river.”

  “I can’t help it. I’m so anxious to see Cody,” Dallas had replied.

  “Patience, dear. And please note that Brooke is every bit as anxious to see her son, and she’s standing perfectly still.”

  “Brooke hasn’t come out of her catatonic state yet, Miz Eberle,” Brooke told them. “She isn’t moving because she’s frozen to the spot.”

  Berry rolled her eyes at both of them.

  “This is a joyous time, girls. The boys have been found, they’re fine, they’re on their way home,” Berry reminded them.

  “We know that. We just need to see them to make sure.” Dallas raised a hand to her eyes and scanned the horizon. “There’s a boat coming toward the mouth of the river. See? Is that Hal’s boat? I don’t know what it looks like.”

  “Hal has a—oh my God, that is him!” Brooke cried. “Oh, and there’s Grant on the deck. Or is that Beck?”

  “It’s Grant,” Dallas said breathlessly. “It’s Grant.”

  Was there ever a sight as wonderful as that of Grant, standing on the bow of the boat, between two small figures, both of whom were jumping up and down as the boat neared the dock? Was there ever a man braver, more fearless, more selfless … more beautiful, than Grant Wyler? Too choked up to speak, Dallas moved to the end of the pier as the boat pulled up alongside.

  Clay Madison stepped up and reached out with both arms to lift the shivering boys as Grant handed them out of the boat.

  “Mom, we had an adventure!” Cody cried as he ran to his mother. “Me and Logan went to the island like Rob’son Caruso but we lost the oars and it started to rain and we hid under the boat when the thunder started and we had to wait until the rain stopped so we could come home but Dr. Wyler found us and he gave us his sweatshirt ’cause we were cold and we both put it on together and we were like one big person …”

  Dallas hugged him and held on even as he babbled on about his adventure.

  “Sweetie, you’re cold …”

  “Yeah, but it got dark last night and it kept raining so we couldn’t go to look for berries and we didn’t have dinner.” He held up his hand, three fingers pointing skyward. “We missed lunch and dinner and breakfast and lunch again.” He raised his pinkie. “Four times we didn’t eat.”

  “Well, you can come in the house and get warm and eat something right now,” Berry told him. “But first come give your old aunt Berry a hug.”

  “There were lots of bugs on Goat Island. Me and Logan called it Bug Island and not Goat Island because there were no goats but lots of bugs.” He struggled to get loose from Dallas’s arms and held up his own to show off his many insect bites, then turned to give Berry a quick hug.

  “Why is everybody crying?” he asked.

  “Because we were afraid for you and Logan,” Dallas told him.

  “Why?” Logan pushed away from his mother.

  “Because you’ve been lost since yesterday, and it was storming …” Brooke began.

  Cody and Logan exchanged a puzzled look.

  “We weren’t lost,” Logan told her. “We knew where we were.”

  “Well, unfortunately, no one else did,” Brooke replied.

  “Boys, we are going to have to have a talk about going off and not telling anyone where you’re going, and taking the boat out without an adult. You scared the life out of everyone.”

  “But we wore our life jackets.” Cody pointed to the orange vest that he still wore. “Just like you said.”

  “And that was very good and very smart of you. But the fact remains that you had no business leaving Charles Street without telling Logan’s mother. And, Cody, I told you not to take the boat out alone.”

  “But I wasn’t alone,” he protested. “Logan was with me.”

  “Logan isn’t a grown-up. Sorry, but there will be consequences,” Dallas told them both. Now that the boys were back and they knew that no harm had come to them, there were other matters to be dealt with.

  “What are ‘consequences’?” Logan asked.

  “It’s when you do something bad and your mother finds out and you’re going to get punished for it,” Cody explained.

  “Nonsense.” Emilio stormed down the pier like a freight train, pushing the Madison family out of the way. “There’s no need to punish him. He was just being a boy. Come here, son, and let Daddy hug you.”

  Cody froze at the sight of his father.

  “I’ve missed you so much, son.” Emilio lifted the boy off his feet, apparently not noticing that his son was stiff in his arms.

  Cody looked over his father’s shoulder to his mother, his face white and his eyes wide with uncertainty. When Emilio started to carry him toward the front yard and the gathering of reporters near the end of the drive, Cody’s uncertainty turned to fear.

  “Emilio, put him down,” Dallas said softly. “You’re frightening him.”

  “Don’t be ridiculous, Dallas,” Emilio called over his shoulder. “He’s just surprised to see me, aren’t you, Cody?”

  “Put me down,” Cody begged. “Put me down, please.”

  Emilio stopped, hesitated, then lowered Cody to the ground. Cody broke the grip his father had on him and ran to his mother.

  “He isn’t a thing to be paraded around to the press, Emilio. He’s a little boy.” Dallas unconsciously smoothed back Cody’s wet hair from his forehead.

  “He’s my little boy, Dallas. I was just as panicked as you were when he went missing. I have as much right to be here as you do.”

  “Actually, no, you don’t.” A tall dark-haired woman came through the crowd that had gone silent on the dock as the drama had begun to play out.

  “What the hell are you doing here?” Emilio looked at the woman as if she were a bug to be stepped on.

  Norma Bradshaw positioned herself between Emilio and Dallas. “As Dallas’s friend, I took the first flight I could get out of L.A. to give her emotional support. As her attorney, I had a feeling you were going to show up as well and thought perhaps I should be on hand to remind you of the way things stand. You signed an agreement very recently in which you gave full custody of your son to your ex-wife. That would be Dallas. So no, you don’t have every right. Actually, you have very few rights here.” She paused as if considering, then added, “Probably none.”

  “I am entitled to see my son,” Emilio protested. “My God, you don’t know what it’s like to find out that your only child has gone missing, that he’s been lost—”

  “Cut the drama. Spare everyone.” Norma lowered her voice so that Cody couldn’t hear her words. “Holding on to your properties was more important to you than holding on to your son.”

  “Cody, say good-bye to your father for now,” Dallas told him before more words could be exchanged. “You may see him later, if you wish, but only if you wish. Right now, I want you to go into the house with Berry and get warm and cleaned up and get something to eat. I’ll be in very shortly.”

  “Come along, Cody. You must be starving after not having anything to eat since yesterday morning.” Berry held out her hand, and he took it.

  “We had something to eat. We had peppermints.”

  “Peppermints?” Dallas frowned.

  He let go of Berry’s hand and stuck it into the pocket of his shorts. “See? The ones Aunt Berry threw to us from the parade car.”

  “Say good-bye to your father, child.” Berry’s eyes had misted.

  “Good-bye,” Cody muttered. He had still to look Emilio in the eyes.

  Paige came out onto the back porch, and the dogs followed her.

  “Fleur!” Cody took off across the lawn, all else seemingly forgotten.

  “You’ve turned him against me,” Emilio said angrily. “You’ve alienated his affection.”

  “Oh, please. You’ve never had time for Cody. You totally underestimated how your behavior affected your son,” D
allas told him. “He’s having a problem forgiving you.”

  “He’s too young to have known about … any of that.” His eyes narrowed. “Unless you told him. I’ll bet you showed him all those stories to turn him against me.” He looked at Norma and added, “You’ll be hearing from my lawyer. I’m going to go to court and ask that my rights be restored.”

  “I don’t think you want to do that, Emilio,” Norma told him. “You’ll only end up looking worse than you do now.”

  He waved a hand as if to dismiss her. “There was only that one incident. Anyone can make a mistake.”

  “We both know there was more than one video,” Norma said meaningfully.

  “What are you talking about?” He frowned.

  “Oh, I think you know.”

  He eyed her suspiciously.

  “I represent a lot of people in your world, Emilio. You’d be very surprised if you saw the names on my client list. Some of whom you know.” She paused. “Intimately.”

  He tried to stare Norma down.

  “So don’t even try to sell me that ‘only one video’ bullshit. I know there are many more than one.” She chuckled. “Actually, I own more than one. I suspect I could make a nice chunk of change if I put them up for pay-per-view on the Internet.”

  When his face went white, she added, “Trust me when I tell you that my clients owe a much greater allegiance to me than they do to you.”

  “Are you blackmailing me, Norma?” he asked.

  Norma shook her head. “Not at all. But I am suggesting that now is a good time to walk away. Leave Dallas and Cody alone. When—if—your son wants to see you, I guarantee that Dallas will certainly permit him to do so. Otherwise, stay out of the picture. You’ll be much better off if you do.”

  Emilio took two steps backward, then turned and walked swiftly up the drive.

  Dallas turned to Norma. “Do you really have more tapes?”

  “No.” She shrugged. “But I figured if he was stupid enough to have made one, he’d have been stupid enough to have made others.”

  “Way to bluff.” Dallas hugged her.

  “I think Cody’s body language spoke volumes,” Norma said. “He clearly was uncomfortable when he saw Emilio and didn’t seem to have anything to say to him.”