A Treasure Worth Keeping (16 page)

Over her shoulder, Sam watched the
Fury
drop anchor a mere hundred yards from the
Natalie.

“Let’s just stick to our original plan for now.”

Evie could have cried with relief when the bottom of the boat finally scraped against a shelf of sand in the shallow water. Their clothing was almost dry, compliments of the wind, and Faith no longer clung to Sam like a barnacle.

Not that Evie blamed her. The stomach-churning boat ride reminded her why she avoided amusement park rides.

Sam rolled up the bottom of his jeans and hopped out of the boat. He reached for Faith, but she gave him an armful of wiggling puppy first. He deposited Rocky on the sand and reached for his niece. As soon as Faith’s feet touched dry land, she and Rocky scurried away to explore.

Evie peeled off her shoes and socks and wrung the water from them.

“Sandals are a good choice for the beach.” Sam returned, eyeing the dripping socks with that familiar glint of amusement in his eyes.

She was glad he found something humorous about their near-death experience.

Evie stuffed the socks into the toes of her shoes. “You’re forgetting one small detail. I wasn’t planning to
go
to the beach today. And another thing…your methods of convincing me to
like
the water need some fine-tuning.”

Sam’s lips twitched. “Really? Because I thought you turned a much lighter shade of green this time.” Before she could protest, he reached down and plucked her out of the boat and waded toward shore.

Evie smiled up at him. Which didn’t make any sense. After what they’d just been through, and with the
Fury
looming like a specter right off
Natalie
’s stern, the last thing she should feel like doing was laughing. But she did. “That’s all right, then. According to Caitlin, green is a good color on me.”

“Evangeline McBride, you are…” Sam searched for a word.

Even without a thesaurus handy, Evie could have filled in the blank.
A worrywart
—Caitlin’s personal favorite.
Organized—
Meghan’s more tactful description.
Capable—
Patrick’s loving moniker.

“Amazing.”

That simple word would have been enough to render Evie speechless.

But then he kissed her.

H
e’d kissed her. Kissed her! And then apologized.

I’m sorry, Evie. I don’t know why I did that.

At least afterward, Evie thought wryly, he hadn’t asked her for her notes from her first class. The first kiss she’d ever received was from a boy who’d charmed his way through her defenses to bump up his ACT scores.

An hour had passed and she could still feel the warm press of his lips against hers.

Evie groaned silently.

She
couldn’t
be falling for Sam.

She had a pretty good idea of the kind of man God would choose for her to spend the rest of her life with. Maybe a fellow teacher. Definitely someone who loved to spend quiet evenings at home and enjoyed home projects…

An image of Sam walking the roofline of the cabin, his T-shirt casually draped over his shoulder, came to mind. Evie shook it away. Replacing a roof wasn’t the kind of home project she had in mind. Gardening. Painting a front door. They had to have some sort of common ground…some of the same interests and hobbies.

But more important, Evie knew her future husband’s life had to be centered on Jesus’ greatest commandment:
Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind…and love your neighbor as yourself.

She sensed Sam’s heart softening toward God, but it was obvious an internal battle waged inside him. She could tell he’d really been listening to her after he’d opened up about the change in Rachel, but Evie still didn’t know if he’d put his trust in God.

Evie found herself frequently praying for Sam over the course of a day. And not only praying for him. Thinking about him. A lot.

When had she started to care so much?

Sam stalked the perimeter of Evie’s personal space for over an hour after they came ashore, trying to figure out the best way to apologize. Because the way she kept avoiding his eyes told him that she hadn’t forgiven him. She and Faith stuck together, making a private conversation with her impossible.

It wasn’t until Rocky scampered down the beach and Faith chased after him that Sam had an opportunity to approach Evie. He followed the imprint of her shoes in the damp sand to a tangle of driftwood.

“Evie?”

Her shoulders tensed at the sound of his voice, but she didn’t turn around. “Faith is doing really well in math. In fact, I think she might even be ahead of her classmates by fall. This week, we’ll concentrate on grammar. She’s still struggling a little with diagramming sentences, but she’s smart. She’ll get it.”

Sam hadn’t followed her to get an update on Faith’s progress but the message was clear.
You hired me to be Faith’s tutor.

She put him firmly back in his place and the regret that weighted Sam down took him by surprise. That afternoon, when she’d told him about her sisters, he’d felt the first tenuous threads of
something
between them. And the threads had multiplied again when he’d confided in her about the change in Rachel.

He decided to try again anyway. “I’m—”

“Sorry. I know. You don’t have to say it again.” Evie sat down on a large piece of driftwood and stared at the horizon.

He didn’t? Then why wouldn’t she look at him?

Sam pushed his fingers through his hair. Maybe the fact she had to spend the night on the
Natalie
in the shadow of the
Fury
had her upset. “I know you don’t like the water and I’m sorry I made it hard for you to go back to Cooper’s Landing until tomorrow—”
Now
she looked at him. And it almost burned off the top layer of his skin.
Ouch.
“Okay…I made it
impossible
for you to go back to Cooper’s Landing. But after what happened at Sophie’s, I have to know you’re all right.”

“Why?”

The simple question ripped apart his prepared speech. Because she’d gotten under his skin? Because waiting to see what she was going to do next reminded him of trying to keep up with the changing wind currents when he sailed?

“I have no idea. You were just—”

“There. I know.”

“No, you
don’t
know. You make it sound like I would have kissed anyone,” Sam said irritably.

Evie didn’t answer.

Was
that
what she thought? That he made a habit of randomly kissing women standing within a five-foot radius?

Sam studied the faint blush of color on her cheeks in disbelief and realized that was
exactly
what she thought.

Maybe some guys’ overinflated egos liked the idea of being labeled a “player,” but it didn’t sit well with Sam. “I don’t play games like that,” he said flatly. “Ever.”

The confusion on Evie’s face confused
him.
And then, almost as if someone turned on the proverbial lightbulb in his head, Sam knew. The day he’d told her she had brains and beauty, she’d totally shut down on him. He’d assumed she’d been reacting out of her fatigue, but now he wasn’t so sure. Maybe her sudden retreat had been due to her rejection of his compliment.

The logical part of him, the part that was scared to death of giving Evie a weapon she could use against him in the future, urged him to go ahead and let her think he was some kind of Casanova.

But he couldn’t do it.

“
You
were the reason I kissed you,” Sam told her with quiet force. “You weren’t conveniently in range. Or practice. Or a challenge. Or a chalk mark on the board. I kissed you because I’m attracted to you. And to tell you the truth, the only thing I really regret is upsetting you.”

He rose to his feet and stared down at her. “Are we clear?”

She nodded mutely.

“Good. I’m going to find some wood to make a fire and try to concentrate on what to do about Lansky instead of kissing you again.” Did he say that out loud?

Evie blushed.

Apparently so.

While Sam gathered driftwood for a campfire, Evie coached Faith through the dinner preparations. Which involved wrapping their food in tin foil and burying it in a hole they’d dug in the sand. It helped keep her mind focused on a task instead of Sam’s stunning disclosure.

You
were the reason I kissed you.

He’d stalked away, leaving her alone to sort out her tangled emotions. And to send up several fervent prayers asking for wisdom. She had a feeling she and Sam had just turned a corner. Instead of being nervous, she found herself actually looking forward to what would come next. Which made her more nervous. She didn’t even
like
surprises.

“Earth to Evie.” Faith waggled a stick in front of her nose. “When can we eat? I’m starving.”

“In about an hour.” Evie sat back on her heels and retrieved a handful of tiny packets of disposable washcloths from her purse. She peeled one open and wiped the sand off her fingers as Faith peered doubtfully into the makeshift oven.

“Does it really cook in there?”

“It’ll be delicious. I promise.” Evie handed her one of the packets.

“Who taught you how to make them?”

“My mom. We camped a lot when I was growing up.” Funny how she’d forgotten how much time her family had spent camping and hiking through state parks over summer vacation. Laura saved all her vacation days for the months of June, July and August so she was free to travel with them.

Under their parents’ watchful eyes, Evie and her sisters had learned how to bait a hook and clean whatever fish they caught. And cook it in the cast-iron skillet over an open fire. They’d also become expert outdoor chefs with gooey homemade “pies” cooked in a special iron and had copied Laura’s famous recipe for “shipwreck” dinner.

Evie caught herself smiling. She and Meghan loved to fish but Caitlin hated it. The only way they could get her to join in was to make it a competition to see who could catch the biggest one.

She could still see her mother flipping pancakes on the griddle or rigging up an outdoor shower. During the day Laura brought their attention to wildlife camouflaged by the trees and after the sun set she’d spread out blankets on the ground and point out the constellations as they lay on their backs under the night sky.

Somewhere along the way, Evie had forgotten those summer camping trips that had fostered her love for science. Her mother’s passion and enthusiasm had been contagious—and out of the three girls, Evie had been the one who’d wholeheartedly embraced it.

As she let herself think about the past, Evie realized her memories had divided into two categories. “Life Before Mom Died” and “Life After Mom Died.” And it occurred to her that she dwelled more on the ones in the second category. In many ways Laura’s death had become the defining moment of Evie’s life.

That day had drawn an invisible curtain between the past and the future and cast a shadow over the good memories the family had shared. And irrevocably changed how they created new memories.

After the funeral, Evie had made her father promise he’d always be there for her—that he’d take care of himself so nothing would happen to him.

Evie didn’t even miss the camping trips the following summer. It would have been too difficult to enjoy them without Laura’s presence. Patrick’s hobbies changed from rock collecting to collecting antiques at auctions and estate sales. Evie spent her summers reading while Patrick remained close by, restoring vintage furniture to its original charm and then selling it to a local antique store.

Her dad hadn’t seemed to mind staying close to home. And he’d kept his promise. Until now. Why had he broken it? Because of Sophie? His friendship with Jacob? Didn’t he care that she was worried about him?

“Evie, can I ask you a question?” Faith dragged a path through the sand with the tip of a stick.

Evie took a ragged breath, still shaken by the bittersweet memories. Somehow she’d lost sight of the fact that Laura had been a devoted mother and not just a respected police officer. “Of course you can, sweetheart.”

“How old were you when your mom died?”

“Fourteen.”

“How did…What happened?”

Pain shot through Evie. It wasn’t the question she’d been expecting, but it was the one she’d been dreading since she’d found out Faith’s father was a police officer. “She died…at work.”

Confusion clouded Faith’s eyes. “Was she a teacher like you and your dad?”

Evie knew there was no way around such a direct question. “No. She was a police officer.”

“Really? Like my Dad? And Sam?”

“Sam?” Evie’s world suddenly tilted. “I thought you said Sam works at a desk all day.”

“He does. He’s a chief of police.”

Sam didn’t mean to eavesdrop. He’d gone to get more kindling and when he returned, Faith and Evie didn’t hear him come up behind them.

Faith’s first tentative question welded his feet to the ground. The second one nearly wrecked him.

Evie’s mother had been a police officer? How could Jacob have failed to mention that? He and Patrick had been friends for months—he had to have known.

She died at work.

In the line of duty.

Sam’s lungs burned at the pain he saw etched on Evie’s face.
Fourteen.
She hadn’t been much older than Faith when her mother died.

Because of Dan’s injury, he had an idea what Evie’s family had gone through. Sam had wrestled with the reality of losing his brother during the long surgery after the shooting. But even though Dan had survived, Sam discovered there were other ways you could lose someone you loved.

Just as he was processing how hard it must have been on Evie, Faith dropped her next question. And Evie’s response ripped through him like shrapnel.

She thought he had a
desk
job?

Sam replayed conversations he and Evie had had since they first met and realized she’d never asked him what he did for a living. He’d assumed she knew. Apparently, their dads weren’t the doting type that talked about their kids’ accomplishments!

His law enforcement career had started at eighteen when he and Dan had applied to the tech school. But their careers had taken different paths. Dan loved being a patrol officer. He thrived in the middle of chaos and enjoyed dealing with the public. He had a reputation for being fair and even-tempered in the community while his zany sense of humor provided comic relief for his fellow officers during the course of a stressful day.

Sam had discovered his strengths rose to the surface while dealing with his peers and taking on roles of leadership within the department. While Dan had passed up promotion after promotion in order to stay on the road, Sam had taken every one they offered him. Eventually, he’d applied and been hired as chief of police in Summer Harbor, a small town in Door County. The rare opportunity to make it to the top of command at the age of thirty had forced him to make some difficult decisions, but he hadn’t regretted it. Even when his dedication to his career had meant sacrificing his relationship with his fiancée.

But now Sam realized he must not have loved Kelly at all. Because he hadn’t experienced a tenth of the pain when she’d walked out on him as he did now when he saw the look of horror in Evie’s eyes.

She’d looked doubtful enough when he’d described his favorite hobbies. There was no way she would willingly accept his choice of career.

Especially a career responsible for taking her mother’s life.

Everything suddenly made sense to Evie.

Sam’s suspicious attitude when Seth Lansky had wormed his way into her dad’s house. His take-charge attitude. His innate confidence. The way he’d reacted at Sophie’s.

Evie closed her eyes.

Sam had practically processed the crime scene. The only thing he hadn’t done was file a report. He’d asked Sophie the right questions. He’d warned them not to touch anything until the deputies had an opportunity to photograph the damage.