Page 17 of In the Pursuit of Haven
My tongue ran over my lips as I checked the clock again. Fifteen minutes. What was he doing?
He’s with some girl named Divine. What do you think, you idiot?
I let out a cry of anguish and marched into our bedroom. He wasn’t coming back. I peeled off that slip and found sweats and a t-shirt. Sliding out the duffel bag, I threw in a few changes of clothes. I swallowed, hoping I wouldn’t have to do this.
“Please, Jessie,” I whispered. “Please, just walk through that door right now! Tell me that this is a mistake; tell me everything you’re doing.” Twenty minutes passed. Then thirty. An hour. I texted him. “Where are you?”
I got nothing. Time to go. The tears running down my face were frozen—I was frozen; time was frozen. I wandered through the apartment, finding photographs, memoirs, even tried to locate that creepy Dimond rattle we’d picked up when we’d first met. I couldn’t find it anywhere. It had vanished along with Jessie’s love for me.
Two hours now.
I left, turning one last time to see our anniversary dinner on the table. That stupid card still rested next to his plate baring my heart about how much I loved him.
It served him right if that was the last thing he got from me. Those words wouldn’t keep him warm at night… or me because he didn’t care anymore. I was the one left heartbroken.
I stared at the wedding invitation that Haven had pinned next to her bed. My eyes darted to the photographs of her and me. We laughed up at the camera, so happy before Jessie came between us.
“… the Crabbs are only good at one thing,” she said after I’d trudged up the steps that morning after the storm, “… using people up and then throwing them away.”
“You were right.” I sighed. My aunt must’ve found that out for herself once upon a time. I thought Jessie was different. I thought I was too. I swallowed back the pain. I was going to be the cool girl now, untouchable. “I should’ve listened to you.”
Something crashed in the closet. I jumped and swung around just in time to catch the cat spring guiltily away from the cascade of falling papers. “Stu!” I cried out. “What did you do?”
Rushing over to clean up the mess, I began shuffling the papers together. They’d spilled from a shoebox on the top shelf. Well, at least I’d found the bills and other important documents. The deeds to the property were here too. Haven’s condo on Baker’s Island had been in her family for generations.
Frankly, it was a relief to locate these documents so quickly, though I should’ve guessed they wouldn’t be too difficult to find in a home as neat as a pin.
Picking up the shoe box, I noticed a bundle of letters tied with red twine. That was interesting. They were addressed to Haven from someone named Matthew.
Love letters?
My heart lifted.Oh Haven, I think I found some of your secrets!Had she truly been in love? She’d been so closed-lipped when it came to her former flames, even when I’d accused her of never understanding what love meant. Man, I was a terrible teenager!
This would get my mind off my troubles… or maybe not. My hand stilled on the bundle. What if her love story ended as horribly as mine did?
Why wouldn’t it? It wasn’t like she’d gotten together with the guy. She could’ve understood what I was getting into more than I knew.
Sighing, I set them aside, picking up the title of Haven’s other property to read through instead, and only saw the name… Matthew Crabb.
I straightened, the blood draining from my face. I reread it. Her family’s home belonged to Matthew Crabb.
No!
The injustice of what that family had done to ours weighed against me. No wonder she hated them. Nothing Haven owned was hers.
Chapter Five
The first thing I saw of Jessie at the wharf was his broad shoulders. The muscles against his back rippled as he worked the rope on the replica of The Friendship.
What was he doing working on that historical ship? I knew he had some friends from high school who’d gone into the tourism business. He wasn’t possibly planning on sailing such an unwieldy pile of lumber, was he?
He hadn’t turned around yet. I could still get out of here, but no, fury fueled me. The Crabbs might get away with what they’d done to me, but not to Haven! I tied up her boat and leaped onto the dock, clutching to that deed, having no idea what it meant.
Haven hated the Crabbs more than she did anyone. Was it because they owned her? Matthew Crabb was dead. For how long? I only knew what Jessie told me. He’d died going after that treasure. That meant that the property would go to his family, not to Haven and not to me. They’d cheated our family again!
Well, that wasn’t going to fly. I’d get Jessie to sign theseallback to me… and maybe I’d slip those divorce papers in there too, but… well, one thing at a time.
And yeah, I really don’t have the heart to question why I can’t do that right now.
