Page 79 of Devlin

"You never said thatbefore."

"I'm not the most humble man, in case you hadn't noticed."

He laughed. "I've noticed."

His dad surprised him once more with a hug. And then they took theWind Warriorhome.

Her arms were aching, her legs shaking from the stress of the last few hours, but Hannah felt incredibly happy. She'd never really thought they could win, but they had.

"I still can't believe we did it," Hannah said, as they brought theDaisy Maeinto port.

"The old girl raced better than I thought she would," her father admitted. "And you weren'tbad, either."

"Thank you. But it was all you. You were amazing."

"I didn't think we had it. Devlin was right there. The win was his. Something happened."

"What happened is that we crossed the finish line in front of them."

"That's right," he said, but there was something in his gaze that made her frown.

"But that's not what you really think?"

"Honestly,I don't know, Hannah. But I've sailed for years with Devlin, and if he has a lead that close to the finish, he doesn't let it go."

"Maybe he got tired, or his dad did, but whatever—we won. And I want to celebrate."

"We will definitely do that. I'm going to lift that trophy high and hopefully right in Graham's face."

She smiled, but the last thing she wanted to do was rub theirwin in Devlin's face. She knew the loss would sting, probably more because he would have lost with his dad. And that would hurt.

As they got off the boat, the other racers were waiting to congratulate them. Words of praise washed over her in a warm, rosy haze. She felt like she was floating. And her dad seemed taller than he had before, as if he could hold his head up again. He'd neededthis win, and she'd helped him get it.

They didn't see Devlin and Graham until they lined up for the awards ceremony, and then they were on opposite sides of the big trophy. Devlin smiled and mouthed,Congratulations.

She was relieved that he didn't look too upset, but she wouldn't have expected him to be anything less than a gracious loser.

After speeches and the trophy presentation,the four of them posed for photos. It was crazy to think that two weeks ago, Frank and Graham had not even been on speaking terms, but now there was a thaw in the ice between them. They weren't being super friendly, but the level of animosity had dimmed.

When everything was over, they were congratulated by Fiona Blackthorne as well as Devlin's cousin, Jason, both of whom were extremelycomplimentary and had perhaps even enjoyed the fact that Graham had to deal with a loss. It was extremely rare for Graham Blackthorne to lose, and she was secretly thrilled to have been the one to help make that happen.

As Fiona and Jason moved on, the four of them had their first real chance to speak to each other.

"Well, Frank, looks like you finally beat me," Graham said.

Her father looked Graham straight in the eye. "You ran a good race, better than I expected."

"I'm sure you didn't expect much." Graham paused, then extended his hand. "Congratulations."

Her father hesitated, then shook Graham's hand. "Thank you. And from here on out, just so you know, I'll keep my mouth shut when it comes to you and Claire. You were right; it was none of my business."

Graham nodded. "You were right, too. I just didn't want to hear you. Why don't I buy you a drink?"

Hannah watched in shock as the two men made their way to the bar. "Well, that just happened. Are they friends again?"

Devlin laughed. "Looks that way."

She shook her head in bemusement. "That's crazy."

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