Stolen Dreams, Heather M. Borger [top novels of all time .txt] 📗

from Mark without having to explain why.

“Hey, listen, I need to talk to Rafe, so I’ll see you later, okay?”

“Yeah, sure.” Mark didn’t seem convinced that nothing was wrong. “You sure you’re okay?”

“I’m as good as I’ll be for a while. Let’s leave it at that for now. Okay?”

“Hey, man, I’m your friend. If something is wrong, you can talk to me. You know that, right?”

“Yeah, I know. It’s just that this isn’t just about me. So, for now, I need to deal with it. I’ll see you later.”

Mark was disappointed. “Okay. See you around.”

Brock knocked on Rafe’s door and heard a chair move. The door opened seconds later. He was surprised to see his father standing there.

“What’s wrong? You guys look upset.”

Neither of them answered right away. His father, Trace, motioned him inside and closed the door before speaking.

“Billy decided to leave the dock and try to get back here before we gave him the go-ahead. Now, we only have sporadic reception with his radio and all we know is that he’s three, maybe four days from the nearest dock and it doesn’t look like they’ll have three days of clear weather out there. We’re trying to persuade him to turn around and wait, but he’s convinced this is the best chance he’s going to get.”

“Why would he do something so stupid?”

“Like I said, he doesn’t think he’ll get another chance this good. He said the reports he saw before leaving looked promising. I just hope he got more accurate information than we did.”

“Wow. Okay. So what do we do?”

“Well, for now, we keep a close eye on the weather and hope he makes it. We also need to try to keep really close contact with him so that if it starts to look bad we can get the most updated information to him immediately. There might be closer places to dock in an emergency.

Brock hesitated long enough that both Trace and Rafe knew what he was thinking.

“If you want to talk to Skye about it, go ahead. She’ll handle the news better from you than anyone else on the island.”

“All right. Can I tell her everything?”

“You better. She’s going to hear it somewhere sooner or later.”

“I’ll talk to her tonight.” Brock hesitated again, but couldn’t put off asking any longer, especially with a perfect opening for what he needed to request. “Hey, is it okay if I take off tomorrow. I’d like to take Skye to the mainland and get her away from here a bit.”

Both men looked at Brock as if he were crazy.

“If she’ll agree to go to the mainland with you, you’re better than we thought. But, give it the old college try, anyway. It would certainly help to keep her away from this for a day or two.”

“I think I can persuade her.”

Brock ignored the playful smile from his father. He knew what he was thinking. Everyone thought Brock and Skye would eventually ‘end up together.’ Only Brock and Skye knew how wrong they all were.

“Have fun tomorrow.” Rafe was trying to hide a chuckle by now.

Brock shook his head and waved as he walked out.

Four

“Brock, is that you?” Jaslynn called from upstairs. She could always tell the difference between her husband’s, and her son’s much different ways of entering the house.

“Yeah, mom. It’s me.”

“I’ll be right down. I want to talk to you so don’t go anywhere.”

Brock pulled out a chair and sat at the table. He was worried that the news he was about to share with Skye would push her over the edge. If she thought her father was in any kind of danger, would she go through with the surgery? She already didn’t want to do it. What if this was enough to make her think she should stay on the island until he was safe? The only thing Brock could do was leave with her tonight, before she heard anything, then tell her once they were on the mainland.

“You’re father just called. Are you going to be okay talking to Skye? I can come with you if you’d like.”

Jaslynn had been more of a mother to Skye than Alaina from the day she was born. It made sense that she would want to be supportive.

“Thanks, but, no. I think I’m going to take her to the mainland tonight, then I can tell her once we’re away from all this.”

Jaslynn frowned. “Your father said you wanted to take her off the island. Are you sure that’s such a good idea? It seems odd that she’d want to leave.”

Brock crumbled under the pressure he was feeling. “She needs to go to the mainland.”

Jaslynn gave him a questioning look, but seemed to instantly realize what was going on. “Oh, Brock. No! What did the doctor say?”

“Please don’t tell anyone; she doesn’t want anyone to know. She hasn’t even told her mom yet.”

“Is it that bad?” The tears welled up in Jaslynn’s eyes. Skye was the daughter she never had. The young woman she was so proud to say she knew.

“It tested positive for melanoma. They think it was in an early enough stage that with another minor surgery, Skye will be fine. She’s devastated, though. She thinks her life is over because they want her to leave the island, work indoors, and stay out of the sun.”

“She can stay here on the island and still be out of the sun. We’ll find something for her!”

“Mom, please, don’t say anything to anyone. If she finds out I told you, she’ll never forgive me. I promised her I wouldn’t tell anyone.” Brock debated whether to continue. The hopeful look on his mother’s face convinced him, “She’s not even sure she’s going to go through with the surgery. If she finds out you know, she may refuse to have it done out of spite.”

“Okay. I’ll keep quiet. But, please promise me you’ll tell me if you need anything. I’d do anything I can for her.”

“I know you would. I promise to let you know, but I better go. I told her I’d meet her tonight after work. I don’t know how long we’ll be gone, but I’ll keep in touch.”

“All right, dear. Take care of her.”

“I will.”

Brock hoped Skye would be at home so he could talk to her about leaving right away, but everything was locked up as he passed her house. He continued on to the beach.

Dusk was approaching and her silhouette was barely visible along the surface of the water; she was out well past the buoy. He waved and she waved back before starting to swim toward the shore. It was then that he realized she was alone. Sadie was nowhere to be seen.

He hardly gave Skye a chance to step out of the water before questioning her, “Where’s Sadie?”

“She stopped by this morning, but I wanted to go out for a swim again this afternoon. She never came back.”

“I thought you promised not to go so far out there if she wasn’t around!”

“I’ve promised a lot of things over the years. I just wanted to get a swim in. Relax.”

“What if the shark would have been around?”

Skye cocked her head as she answered Brock, “We haven’t seen him around for weeks. He’s probably long gone by now. You worry too much.”

Brock was angry with her lack of fear. The shark had been hunting along the coast of their island for almost a month. He never came close while Sadie was in the water, but was sure to show up after she left. Especially at dusk.

“You just haven’t seen him in a few weeks. It doesn’t mean he’s gone!”

“Stop yelling at me. What’s wrong with you lately?”

“I don’t want to have to identify your body parts when they wash ashore.” Brock turned and walked toward their tree. He hated to argue with Skye. It was even worse now, because he felt guilty every time he yelled at her. What if she was gone tomorrow? He’d have plenty of regrets.

Turning back toward her, he noticed her bloodshot eyes. “I’m sorry, Skye. I worry about you. It seems like suddenly you don’t have much concern for your safety.”

“Why should I? It hasn’t helped me yet.”

“You can’t think like that.”

“Well, I am. I don’t want to die with things left undone. If I want to swim, I’m not going to let my fear of a shark stop me.”

“Just stay closer to shore next time, okay?”

Skye nodded, tears streaming down her face.

“Hey, what’s wrong?” Brock rushed back to her side.

“I wanted to get a good swim in today, because if I decide to go ahead with the surgery, I won’t be allowed in the water for a few weeks. By then, it’ll probably be too rough to go swimming. I was hoping Sadie would stop by this afternoon so I could say good-bye for a while. She won’t understand why I’m not coming out to swim with her.”

He pulled her in for a hug, “She’ll be fine. You’ll get a chance to see her again before you know it.”

Skye looked up at Brock, “Are you sure?”

He nodded. Finding the perfect opportunity for what he needed to say, he began quickly, “What do you think about leaving tonight and going to the mainland? I’ll take you for a few drinks and we can talk. You know, just relax a little.”

Skye smiled. Going to the mainland never interested her, but tonight, it seemed like the perfect thing to do. “I’d like that … a lot.”

“Then go pack and meet me at the boat ASAP. We’re going out tonight.”

Brock’s excitement seemed forced, but, then again, so was Skye’s. She nodded and turned to head back and pack a few things.

Five

“How in the world did you finish packing before me?”

Skye smiled, “I had just about everything I needed ready to go. Don’t forget, this is my slow season. I don’t really have much work to do until my dad gets back and we look over his research.”

Brock nodded, but looked away quickly.

Skye became suspicious, “What’s wrong?”

“Just a bad day at work. We’ll talk about it later. Let’s get out of here for now.”

Hesitantly, Skye nodded. She handed Brock her bag and stepped into the rocking boat. It seemed early to have the water be so rough. Then again, nothing in her life seemed normal anymore; maybe