Courage and Comfort

Evernight
Publishing

www.evernightpublishing.com

Copyright©
2014 Berengaria Brown

 
ISBN: 978-1-77130-835-9

Cover Artist: Sour Cherry
Designs

Editor: Tricia
Kristufek

ALL RIGHTS
RESERVED

WARNING: The unauthorized
reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal.
 
No part of this book may be used or
reproduced electronically or in print without written permission, except in the
case of brief quotations embodied in reviews.

This is a work of fiction.
All names, characters, and places are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual
events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely
coincidental.

COURAGE AND COMFORT

Gemstone Romances, 1

Berengaria Brown

Copyright © 2014

Chapter One

Edmund watched his sister rock her baby. Tears dripped from her pale
blue eyes onto the sleeping infant’s head. Her normally soft blonde hair was in
desperate need of a shampoo, and her sweater had the remains of baby puke on
the right shoulder.

But Mavis’s unhappiness was not the usual exhaustion of a new mother.
Her husband, John, had been killed by a hit-and-run driver on his way to the
hospital to share in the birth of their son. John had never met John Jr., and
so far, Mavis was struggling to cope with the tragic loss of her husband.

Edmund didn’t know how to help her. He and his partner, Utah, had
washed dishes and laundry and floors. They’d cooked meals and taken out trash.
Utah had even walked the floor, rocking baby John for hours and hours one night
when the infant had cried inconsolably, hoping a deeper, male voice might
soothe the child.

The other woman in the room, AJ, spoke softly to the men. “You must go
and find the Aquamarine. It’s in the ocean off the coast of Rocky Point Beach.
Swim straight out from the line where the rock wall marks the end of the beach.
It will be near the sandbar, and you’ll recognize it. It’ll call to you,
Edmund, as you’re close to Mavis, but Utah must go with you. It will only
respond to lovers. That’s why I can’t retrieve it. The person who will be my
lover isn’t aware of our connection yet.”

Edmund looked over at Utah. This was the second time AJ had told them
to find the aquamarine. He really didn’t believe in this paranormal, witchy
woo-woo stuff, but the fact was that Mavis wasn’t coping. It couldn’t be good
for the baby to have a mother who was always crying. She cried as much, if not
more, than John Jr. did. “You’re convinced this will work?”

“When Mavis holds the Aquamarine, she’ll have a tangible connection with
John. Aquamarines bring courage and comfort. They soothe people, calming fears
and releasing anxiety. As well, they give courage, which Mavis needs right now.
You must go and retrieve the aquamarine.” AJ’s voice was stern, forceful.

Edmund nodded at her and Utah. “We’d best go now then. It’ll take us
four hours to get to Rocky Point Beach, and we’ll need to pack our bags and do
some chores before we leave. Do you want us to go to the store first, to buy
anything for Mavis?
Diapers?
Tissues?”

“No, you’ve already bought more than she needs for the moment. I’ll
stay here while you’re away, to help her, but it’s the Aquamarine she really
needs.” AJ’s gaze pinned Edmund to his chair. Her black eyes seemed to see
right through him, into his soul. He shrugged off the fanciful thought and
walked over to his sister, kissed her forehead, then dropped a kiss on the
sleeping infant’s head.

Utah followed him, gently stroking Mavis’s shoulder before whispering
to the baby.
“Sleep, precious child.”

Utah and Edmund held hands as they walked down the stairs toward the
apartment parking lot. Edmund automatically turned left, but Utah said, “The
usual places were full, remember. We’re in the back lot this time.”

“Oh yes, that’s right. Thank God we thought to move Mavis’s car into
her own parking space to reserve it for her.”

“Do you think there really is an Aquamarine? And if it does exist, that
we’ll find it?”

“Hell if I know. But I do know Mavis will end up in postpartum
depression or something even worse if we can’t help her to focus on the future.
Maybe if she feels John is really with her she’ll cope better.”

“Yeah, the little one needs all the help we can give him. It’ll be
tough for a boy growing up with no father. Heaps of kids don’t live with their
dads, but at least they see them sometimes. I hope the driver who killed John
rots in hell,” Utah said viciously.

“Someone must know who did it. Someone must have seen the damage to the
vehicle that hit him. I hope Karma gets that asshole real soon.”

“So what do we need to pack? How long do you think this’ll take?”

“AJ seemed pretty sure where the Aquamarine will be. But I don’t know.
Likely we should plan to stay a couple of days in case it doesn’t reveal itself
to us the first time we look,” said Edmund thoughtfully.

All the way home and while they were each packing a small bag, Utah and
Edmund tossed around the idea that a stone could help Mavis recover, could give
her courage and comfort. Edmund wanted to believe it was possible. He really
wanted Mavis to adjust to the terrible blow life had dealt her and concentrate
on raising her baby. But he wasn’t sure he had that much faith. The whole
concept was just too weird.

Chapter Two

Rocky Point Beach, despite its name, was a stretch of about a mile of
golden sand between a high cliff wall to the south and a curving rocky
promontory that extended well into the sea to the north. Keen swimmers could
swim out around the rocks and into a much smaller, sheltered cove. But few
bothered to do that, finding the main beach more than adequate for their
recreational needs.

Edmund had the pale skin that commonly accompanied blond hair and light
blue eyes. But he loved swimming and the beach, so he usually wore a full-body
wetsuit, including a hood, which protected him from his ears down to his
ankles. He only had to worry about sunburn on the few inches of skin on his
face not covered by his goggles and the equally small amount of skin on his
feet not covered by his flippers.

Utah, on the other hand, had the solid tan of an outdoorsman. His black
hair and dark brown eyes hinted at a more Mediterranean heritage, although his
name seemed to imply Native American antecedents. Utah had no idea which was
correct. What he knew of his family tree seemed to include a bit of everything
from everywhere. However, he almost never had to worry about being sunburned,
so he watched with a smile as Edmund slathered his face and feet with
waterproof sunblock.

Utah wore short black board shorts, his black goggles dangling around
his neck for when they reached the sandbar and started to look for the Aquamarine.
Although he looked more the bad, beach-boy-type, he cheerfully admitted Edmund’s
swimming and diving skills were superior to his. He’d grown up where it was too
cold to swim outdoors most of the year. Edmund, on the other hand, seemed to
revel in cold water—or likely it was the wetsuit’s protection that enabled him
to cope with lower temperatures.

Thank God today was hot and sunny, and the water was warm.

Utah faced the ocean and stared into the distance, mentally marking the
line from the rock wall out to the sandbar. It was about two hundred yards, he
thought, which made him grateful the sandbar was there for him to rest on
before he had to get back to shore. He was a strong swimmer, but when he added
in the diving around they’d likely have to do while looking for the Aquamarine,
it’d be close to half a mile of swimming, and that was pretty much his limit.

“Are you working out where to look?” Edmund asked, dropping the
sunblock onto his towel.

“Yeah.
It’s lucky you’re such a good swimmer. I reckon I’ll need to sit on
the sandbar and rest after a while.”

“
There’s
other things we can do on the sandbar
too,” Edmund said softly, waggling his eyebrows.

“Uh-huh. Like get arrested for public indecency?”

“Nah.
No one will see anything they shouldn’t. We’ll keep our backs to the
beach.”

“And no one will be watching us with binoculars from those speedboats
out there?” challenged Utah.

“We’ll be fine.”

Utah just smiled at his partner. Edmund had all the confidence in the
world and likely some naughty plan in mind. Well, they’d soon see just how
doable his plans were. One of the things Utah loved about Edmund was his
insouciant acceptance of sex as an integral part of daily life. And Utah’s dick
was always ready to get involved in sex with Edmund!

Even just looking at Edmund in that tight, body-hugging wetsuit made
Utah’s cock grow and harden and his balls tighten.
Down boy
, he thought, widening his stance a little to ease the
pressure on his equipment.
First we find
this mystical Aquamarine for Mavis. Then we fuck each other’s brains out.

The more he thought about it, the crazier it sounded. Here on a public
beach where dozens, even hundreds, of people visited every day, they were going
to swim out to a sandbar and find a precious stone. They would then give this
stone to Edmund’s sister, and with no other help—no therapy, no psychiatrists,
no lawyers, nothing else at all—she would accept the loss of her husband and
focus on rearing her kid. When he put it like that, it almost sounded like he
was the one who needed a good therapist. Deluded didn’t come close to
explaining the lack of logic in those thoughts.
Ah well, all I can do is support Edmund
. AJ had made it quite plain
Edmund would not succeed if Utah wasn’t there with him. And anyway, he wanted
to be with Edmund, wanted to help him.

Shrugging, he swung around to look at Edmund. “Are you ready to go
fetch this rock?”

“Yes, sure.
But how are we supposed to recognize it?”

“Hell if I know. Isn’t it supposed to call to you, or something?”

“Just as well our business clients can’t see us now, then.”

Together they walked into the water until it was waist high. Then Utah
watched as Edmund dived into the surf and sped through it like a sleek black
fish.
He hardly seems to make any
movements,
Utah thought
, just the
occasional wiggle of his hips and kick of his flippers, yet one minute he’s
there, and the next he’d disappeared.

Much less neatly, Utah dived in and followed his partner, lover, friend,
swimming as directly as he could to the place he’d mentally marked as where the
Aquamarine should be. When he thought he was about in the right place, Utah
bobbed upright, treading water and looking around. On an east-west axis, he was
almost exactly where he
’d figured he should be, but maybe a
few more yards south would
be better.

Sure enough, there was a
streak of black on the ocean floor. Edmund was already here, and looking for
the stone. Once again Utah treaded water while he pulled his goggles over his
eyes, and then he filled his lungs and released the air several times,
oxygenating himself thoroughly before filling them one more time and diving
deep, all the way the bottom.

It was a bright, sunny day
and the water was clear, so the ocean floor was very easy to see. In fact,
everything looked as crisp and clear as if it weren’t underwater, although Utah
knew if he tried to pick something
up,
it wasn’t
actually where it looked like it was, thanks to the light’s refraction at this
depth.