Beside a Dreamswept Sea by Hinze Vicki

Author:Hinze, Vicki [Hinze, Vicki]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: BelleBooks, Inc.
Published: 2011-12-12T16:00:00+00:00

She couldn’t imagine.

“That bit of business from Hatch about Little Island,” Bryce said, twitching his nose. “Choreographed, I suspect, Miss Tate.”

“Noted, Counselor.” Cally smiled at Bryce.

He smiled back, and her stomach furled. She didn’t like it a bit, but looped her hands around his bent arm, anyway.

“Well,” Miss Millie said. “Once my family owned all the land around here for miles and miles. It owned Little Island, too. And eventually I inherited it.” She paced a short path before the kids. “We older locals have watched Sea Haven Village change a lot in our lifetimes. And, while we appreciate tourists and depend on them, a few years ago, it occurred to some of us that our village was getting too touristical.”

Bryce whispered, “Too many tourists, Miss Tate?”

“I expect so, Counselor.”

“We became afraid that our young people wouldn’t have the opportunity to see the beauty here that we’d been fortunate enough to see.” Miss Millie paused to sip water from a yellow paper cup. “Villagers, young and old, deserved the chance to know the Maine we had known. We believed, you see, that if they had a special place where only they could go, then they’d nurture it, and respect it, and they’d come to love that place. And they have. That place is Little Island.”

Miss Millie let her gaze drift over the kids’ faces. “You children are villagers, too. Did you know that you and your parents now own Little Island? Well, you do. And your parents and all the rest of the villagers are depending on you to take care of it.”

She looked over at Vic, who pointedly tapped his watch crystal. “Oh my, it’s time for the three-legged races. Scoot and find your parents now.”

Cally sighed wistfully. “What a beautiful way to teach kids respect for the environment. By loving the land.”

Bryce nodded, met Cally’s gaze. “There’s a lot of good in this village. A lot of care, and even more love.”

The sunlight caught on the pristine church’s stained-glass window. Reflected color splashed blue, yellow, and green onto the white clapboard. “I think when I settle down again it’ll be in a small town. I like the way it feels.”

“How did you end up in New Orleans?” Bryce asked.

“Born to it.”

“Me, too.”

Suzie was holding a very serious conversation with Hatch, the crusty old lighthouse keeper, and he appeared to be hanging on to her every word. He was an interesting character, Cally thought. A face lined and weathered from long exposure to sea salt and sun, a yellow bandana tied at his throat, a rumpled T-shirt and blue slacks that sagged at his knees, and an unlit corncob pipe perched in the corner of his mouth. A lot of people, she supposed, mistook him as a man having little to say worth hearing, but Cally knew better. Looking into his eyes, she saw wisdom. Hatch was special. Gifted in ways she couldn’t begin to fathom. Suzie had chosen well, having her serious discussion with him.

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