Page 64 of Refuge for Ailsa

So many things… His touch. His laugh. Those eyes. The feel of his hands on her waist from behind as she stood at the counter. The hair on his chest raking across her nipples. The heat of his body against hers. Their lovemaking. Their fucking. Their dinners together. And Starlight. She chuckled at the way Tavish had pretended to be pissed off because his dog had taken up with her. She’d laughed and laughed. That was all gone.

But the one thing that hurt the absolute worst, the one that broke her heart, was knowing he had that beautiful farmhouse and they’d never live in it together. It felt like she was standing there, in the middle of the living room, decorating a Christmas tree. She was putting up stars and banners for the Fourth of July?the day they met. She was putting a turkey out on the dining room table, and around it were the smiling faces of her family, with Tavish at the head of the table.

She was hanging fake spiderwebs and plastic skeletons, and draping streamers around the room. Voices sounded behind her, and she turned, smiling.

Standing there on the brightly polished hardwood floor was a little boy of about six with a mop of brown hair and big brown eyes, and he held the hand of an angelic little girl, probably four, with a headful of wildly curly red hair and white-blue eyes. Tavish stepped up between them and took the hand of each. “Ready to go? Come on, Mommy. It’s time to trick or treat!”

Before she could speak, it seemed she was moving backward, and the brightness of the scene in which she’d been standing started to fade as she got farther and farther away. There was no ambiguity there. She understood. It was the life she’d never have, the husband and children she’d never have, the home she’d never have. Her vision was filled with the faces of people who’d taunted her and bullied her, yelling and calling her names. Then Eric appeared, and he screamed at her, “Why didn’t you help me?” But he was drowned out by Mason, and she remembered… That was a nightmare. She didn’t know a human body could be reduced to that, and she’d stumbled out the funeral home’s back door and thrown up on the grass. But in her mind, Mason was there, smiling and laughing with her father’s dark eyes and that funny little grin of his. And in the next second, he was reduced to a pile of glop, blood and gooey plasma, with a little bit of bone and some hair, all wrapped in a clear plastic bag. Suddenly, there was a casket in front of her with the bag in it, and when it closed, the slamming sound reverberated in her darkness. And it was dark there. Black and deep. A darkness like she’d never known.

Somewhere deep inside her, she heard a little voice cry out,I love you, Tavish. I’ll always love you. I hope you won’t forget me.Then the visions faded and there was nothing else but darkness.

* * *

Wednesday morning dawnedbright and beautiful, with a sky full of white, fluffy clouds and the sunlight glinting off the water in the marina. There was a big piece of cake on the table in the dining area, and a note lay beside it. When he picked it up, something fell out of it, but he read the note first.

We love you, Tav. Please eat. We’ll be bringing Ailsa home today, and you’ll need all your strength. We love you.

Maeve and Magnus

Tavish stood there, a million things running through his head. They trusted him to bring Ailsa home, but unless they got some kind of break, they’d never find her. Squatting down, he picked up the piece of paper that had fallen out of the note and turned it over.

It was a picture of Ailsa, a little three by five. She was smiling as she stood between Donovan and a man he had to assume was Mason, and she looked so happy. Those beautiful eyes looked out at him from the photo, and his heart broke. He wouldn’t be able to spend time around the MacDougals because every time he saw Maeve’s eyes, they would remind him too much of Ailsa, and he didn’t think he could stand that.

The sounds of some kind of commotion drew his attention to the people outside the houseboat, and then Harley burst through the door. “Come on. We’ve gotta go.”

Grabbing his tool belt as he ran, he asked, “Where are we going?”

“To pick up your dog.”

* * *

It seemedto take forever to get there. On the way, Harley filled him in on the call he’d gotten from animal control. “They said a guy called and asked them to pick up the dog. Said it’s been there for a while and needs to go. When they got there, they decided the description looked too much like Starlight to not call. And besides, they’ve been trying to get hold of it for an hour and it won’t let them anywhere near it.”

“That sounds like my girl,” Tavish said. “So exactly where are we going?”

“Some place called Honey Hill Pearl Farm. Familiar with it?”

“Yeah. I’ve been past it on patrol. They have a marina, but I don’t think they rent out slips anymore. I heard that the wake of the boats disturbed the mussels, and they can make a lot more on pearls than they can on renting slips. Supposed to be a big, hush-hush operation. They give tours, but the public only sees what they want the public to see. They don’t see the real operation. Of course, that’s all hearsay.”

Harley shrugged as he drove. “I’ve never been out there, so I wouldn’t know.”

“Looks like we’re about to find out.” The sign up ahead had a stylized bee and hive on it, more like a cartoon, and it plainly readHoney Hill Pearl Farm. Harley cut the wheel to turn into the drive, and when he rolled up near the buildings, Tavish could see the animal control wagon down the hill near the water. “Pull on back there.”

The two men got out of Harley’s cruiser, and two animal control agents met them. “Your dog?” one asked Harley.

“May be mine,” Tavish answered. “Where is it?”

The female agent pointed down the concrete parking lot. “Right down there.”

“You the owner?” a voice asked, and Tavish and Harley turned to find a man standing there, hands on his hips.

“May be my dog, sir.”

“Good. Get it out of here. It’s been here since Monday afternoon and it’s driving us crazy.” Monday afternoon… Tavish and Harley looked at each other, and Tavish knew what Harley was thinking. “Just walk on down there. I’ll go with you.”

The five people walked down the concrete parking lot. It ended at an area that was part sand and part large rocks. By the water, whining and running back and forth, was a dog. She wasn’t looking at the people; she was looking at the water, barking and whining as she ran.

Tavish’s heart stopped. It was definitely Starlight. She was filthy and her hair was wet and matted, but it was her. “STARLIGHT! Hey, girl! Starlight.”

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