Light Over Water (25 page)

His expression
changed from disbelief to anger as he realized what she said.  “I can’t believe
it.  Why would he…?”

Alison simply stood
shaking her head. 

“What else?  Why
did Cleo have to tell you that?  Why did she hang on until she could tell you? 
Why are you so upset about this?”  Sam’s pleaded with her to answer him.

The rain poured
down.  Alison wiped her eyes and drew a deep breath.  Sam stared at her as the
truth dawned on him.  “He tried…he tried it with you too?”

Alison nodded, sobs
welling up again. 

“He…?  He hurt
you?”

“Yes.  Yes.  I
wasn’t going to tell you because he rescued you.  You’re alive because of him,
so I didn’t want to…” She broke off as a wail escaped Sam’s lips and he
stumbled back, leaning against the tree, his hands on his legs and his head
hanging down.

“I’m sorry, Sam. 
I’m sorry.”  She tried to lift up his head, to get close to him, but he groaned
and pulled away.  Then he lifted his head and saw her misery and seemed to
realize what she was saying.  He pulled her into his arms. 

“If I had known,”
he gasped.  “I’d have…” He held her tightly until she flinched, then he rained
kisses across her cheeks and lips.   “You have nothing to be sorry for. This
was not your fault.  Do you hear me?” 

After a time, as
they calmed, the rain lessened and their tears slowed.  Alison told Sam the
whole story, even about the baby and how Mary had planned to adopt it.  She told
him how his father tried to keep them apart, and how she thought her life was
ruined, and of the miscarriage.  Sam listened to it all without a word, his
face as pale as moonlight and his head shaking once in a while.  He was silent
as she finished.  Then abruptly he started off.

“Where are you
going?”

“I have to find my
father,” Sam answered.

Alison caught up
with him and twined her fingers into his.  “I’m coming with you.”

Chapter Twenty-Four

Into the Full Light of a
Perfect Day

          “Why would my father
think you were…that you…”   Sam couldn’t finish his thought but Alison
understood what he was trying to ask.

          “It was Cleo.  She
told him I was expecting when she overhead me talking with Mary one afternoon
after school.  We thought everyone had gone home, but she was listening
outside.”

          Sam considered this
ruefully.  “I loved my sister, but she was always sneaking around, trying to
find out about stuff that was none of her business.”

          “Well, so, he knew
that I was pregnant, but not that I…that it wasn’t…”  She hesitated too, and
then went on bluntly, “He didn’t know I was raped.  Cleo left that part out,
out of spite or meanness.  I don’t know.  She knew what happened.”

          “She was probably
jealous of you.  She always wanted to be different, to have a different family
and be the only girl,” Sam commented.

          They were walking
through the soft afternoon.  The air was warm after the downpour and the wind
had stopped.  Sunlight filtered through the greening trees and made the road
before them dappled with light.  

          “Your father was
trying to protect you from getting hurt,” she continued.  “I understood that,
but he wouldn’t listen to the truth until Cleo explained it to him.  When she
knew she probably wouldn’t live, I think she wanted to clear her conscience. 
She told him what happened, to both of us.”

          Sam walked in
silence, gripping Alison’s hand.  He had the look of someone who’d been ill. 
He was still pale.  The skin around his mouth was tinged with green, as if he
was almost sick.  “He’s been acting strangely since I got back.  Sneaky
almost.  And these last two days I don’t even know where he’s been.  Mr. Cooper
said…”  Sam stopped walking.  He turned to Alison, but his eyes were focused on
something behind her.  “Hey.  Oh no...”

          He grabbed her hand
and began running, shouting back to her as they moved quickly up the hill.  “In
his letter Chap Hudson said Aubrey was coming here.  And Mr. Cooper said he saw
my father with him, earlier.”

          “Then he’s here, you
mean?” Alison questioned as her lungs started burning and her legs grew tired.

          “Somewhere!”

          They hurried into the
kitchen of the Eliot house but it was empty.  Everyone had gone outside as soon
as the rain stopped, and they could hear the voices of the children shouting
out in the back yard.

          Esther was sitting
out on the back porch in a rocking chair and Remick was with her. They were
taking their ease before darkness fell and he must tend to the light.  “Have
you seen Father?” asked Sam urgently.

          “No, not at all.  I
told you he took food with him,” Esther replied.  “Why?”

          “I think he’s in
trouble.  Something is wrong,” Sam said cryptically.  He moved out onto the
lawn as Alison leaned against the railing, catching her breath.  Esther came
and stood beside her. 

          “What is he talking
about?” she asked Alison.  She moved her hand up and brushed Alison’s damp hair
out of her eyes.  “You look ill, Ally.  Are you okay?”

          Alison took Esther’s
hand and gripped it for a moment.  She blinked back tears that were prickling
at her eyes.  “I’ll tell you later.  Right now we have to find your father.” 
She moved to join Sam, who was questioning his siblings.  William and Henry
were up in the old maple tree.  She stood with him under the branches where the
raindrops were still dropping off the leaves. 

          “Hey, Will, have you
seen Father?” Sam yelled up to his brother.  Henry answered though.

          “He’s down to the
wharf, getting into the boat.  I can see him from here.  I thought it was you
with him.”

          Sam and Alison raced
to the edge of the lawn where the Eliot dock could be seen from the high edge. 
The tide was still running in, and Reg was pulling the boat in from its
mooring.  Standing next to him, unmoving, was a figure shrouded in a dark green
oilcloth coat, one that they kept in the bait shack for wet weather.

          “That’s him!” Sam
exclaimed.  “Come on!”

          They ran headlong
back down the road.  Alison soon felt as though her legs had turned to wood and
she couldn’t keep up with Sam.  She stopped after they reached the bottom of
the hill, urging Sam to go on while she caught her breath.  There was a
weakness in her legs that she’d sensed since she lost the baby, and they
trembled now as she walked hurriedly after him.  She heard the sound of the
gasoline engine as it caught and ran, and then she heard Sam’s voice yelling. 

          It felt as though she
was moving through the mud at low tide as she rounded the rocks and came to the
wharf.  Sam stood at the end of the dock waving his arms and yelling, “Come
back!  Dad, come back here!”

          The boat moved slowly
away. Alison could see Reg looking back at them as he stood at the wheel. 
Beside him, shadowed but pale, they both saw the face of Aubrey Newell, staring
as if they were apparitions.

          “Where are they
going, Sam?  Why won’t he come back?”  Alison felt near tears again and she moved
to Sam’s side, slipping her arms around him.  She could feel his heart pounding
in his chest.  His arms tightened around her.

          “I don’t know.  But
he’s not thinking right,” Sam said.  Then he groaned.  “Look.  He’s got a gun!”

          Reg’s stance had
shifted and they could see that to one side he held his hunting rifle. 

          Aubrey’s eyes were
still on them, and now he was shaking his head from side to side.

          “What do we do, Sam?”
Alison implored.

          “Spencer’s,” Sam said
tersely.  They cut through the woods, avoiding the long hill, and rounded the
deep cove, leaping from rock to rock.  The rocks were wet and slippery from the
rain and they moved slowly, but steadily to the side where Nelson Spencer had
his lobster pound.  He had a small dory that he had fitted with an engine and
Sam knew that it could catch up with the larger boat.  Reg was always making
modifications to his lobster boat, but still the engine was crude and small for
the size of the boat.  It allowed him to fish farther out, but sometimes it had
seemed to Sam to take longer than rowing had.

          Nelson Spencer was
working on his smack, the boat he used to ship the lobster to the canneries and
other customers.  When he heard Sam and Alison approaching he straightened up
in surprise.

          Sam hastily explained,
“My father is just leaving the cove and it’s urgent that I catch him.  May we
borrow your dory?”

          “Well, take her. 
She’s right there,” he said laconically.  “Don’t know why he’d be goin’ out
this time of day though.  Be dark soon.”

          Sam nodded.  “I know. 
Thank you, Mr. Spencer.”

          “Good to see you back
in one piece, Sammy!” Nelson exclaimed as he turned back to his work. 

          They scrambled into
the dory and headed out of the cove, Sam moving the throttle as high as it
would go.  As they cleared the smaller cove, they could see far ahead of them
the “Olivia E.”.  Alison gripped her seat and watched as they slowly but
steadily moved closer.  The air over the water was cold and her eyes began to
water.  She shivered, but kept her eyes on the boat ahead of them.

          After what seemed
hours they were near enough for Sam to veer in front of them, causing his
father to slow and finally stop the boat to keep from hitting them.  The boats
drifted together until they were close enough for Sam to reach over and grab the
side of his father’s boat.

          Reg’s shoulders
slumped and he sat down suddenly.  “Sam.  What are you doing, son?”

          Sam tied the dory to
the stern of the larger boat and helped Alison clamber over.  The boat moved
restlessly in the wake as it rippled past them and Alison clutched Sam’s arm. 
She found that her heart was pounding and she couldn’t look at Aubrey, who
still huddled miserably at the bow.

          Aubrey sat on the
engine housing and his father was across from him on a barrel.  Sam studied his
father, shaking his head.  Reg’s cheeks were flushed and his eyes glazed.  He
was unshaven and he trembled slightly.  “The question is what are you doing?”

          Reg gestured at
Aubrey.  “I got me a chance to make things right.  And I’m going to.”

          “What do you mean?”
Alison asked.  She hated to hear the tremor in her voice but it felt as though
her whole body were quaking.

          Reg’s pointed with
his rifle at Aubrey.  “He should pay for what he’s done.  Not be treated like a
hero.  Come back here like he was gonna get some kind of trophy from us.  Well,
it ain’t gonna happen.”

          “Dad, we can call the
sheriff from Bath.  Do it the right way,” Sam said softly.

          “No.”  Reg’s mouth
pursed and he shook his head grimly.  “No.  Won’t be no justice in him going to
prison.  He deserves to die!”

          Alison could feel the
current in Sam, as if he was barely controlling himself.  He turned to face
Aubrey.

          Aubrey’s head hung
down.  Alison flicked her eyes across at him and saw there was blood dripping
from his nose, but she looked away.  She felt paralyzed in his presence, but
curiously it wasn’t fear she felt but a mixture of revulsion and pity. 

          “Aubrey, look at me.”
Sam ordered.

          Aubrey raised his
head.  His nose was not the only thing that had been battered, for one eye was
black and swollen and his lips were puffy.  He met Sam’s eyes for a moment,
then looked past him to Alison.

          “I tried to tell
him,” Aubrey croaked.  He licked his lips carefully, and began again.  “I tried
to tell him I came back to make things right.  I know I ain’t no hero, Sam!”

          The muscles in Sam’s
jaw worked as he absorbed the sight before him.  “How long have you been here?”

          “Two days.”

          Sam turned back to
his father, seeing him as if for the first time.  “What have you been doing
with him?  Holding him prisoner?” 

          Reg nodded with a
measured non-apologetic stare.  “Yeah.  That old fort is still good for
something.”  At Sam’s look he continued, explaining, “He came walking into
Cooper’s store day before yesterday, asking for you.  Only he didn’t know I was
there.  I took him up to the fort till I could decide what I’m gonna do with
him.  And now I know.”

          Reg stood suddenly
and took a step towards Aubrey.  Sam moved in front of him, gripping his
shoulders and moving him inexorably back to the bait barrel upon which he’d
been sitting.  Reg looked surprised at Sam’s strength and threw off his arms
with a look of disgust.

          “Do you know what he
did?”  He pointed to Alison.  “To her?  Do you know?”