“Calliope has an errand to run,” Paige told her with a laugh. “So we’re going to keep an eye on Stella. In the meantime, we’ve been mulling over the future regarding those three.”
Abby leaned her head on Paige’s shoulder and together the four women looked on at the scene behind them. “Not just those three. All of us. We make a pretty good family, don’t we?”
“Speaking of, did you invite Kendall?” Abby asked Holly.
“I did, but I didn’t push.” Holly shook her head.
Calliope wasn’t surprised. Kendall’s time in the military had ended when an IED had destroyed her patrol save for Kendall and Matt Knight, who had lost his leg dragging Kendall out of the burning vehicle. They’d survived, but barely and while Kendall had been burned over most of her body, it wasn’t the physical scars she carried that gave her the most trouble. Calliope knew there was a deeper pain inside the woman. Not that Kendall talked about any of that. Or about anything, come to think of it.
“She’s still adjusting, according to Matt. He went out to the lighthouse yesterday to check in on her, took her some pie.”
“She’s always so...sad,” Paige said. “I like her, but she does guard her solitude.”
“Some hearts don’t heal,” Calliope said. “Others take a bit more time than the rest.” Thunder rumbled again as if reminding her she was needed elsewhere. “Paige, you sure about Stella?”
“You have met your sister, right?” Paige asked with a roll of her eyes. “The kid is better behaved than the man I married. Trust me, we’ll be fine.”
“Good. Okay, thank you. Holly, blessings on you and your two beauties.” Calliope gave Holly a hug and added an extra push of energy for the babies she carried. “I’ll see you all soon. Stella?” Calliope called as she stepped off the porch and into the backyard where the kids were racing around with the dogs.
A few minutes later, she was tugging on her sweater and speed-walking down the road toward Main Street. Seconds after that, she was running.
The cloud had settled among the others that blew across the horizon with the gentle wind. Her thin-soled sandals slapped against the concrete as she darted across Main Street toward the wooden plank stairs leading down to the beach.
The chill in the air had people packing up their things, bundling into jackets as they headed out, retreating to the stores and the diner. Calliope remained shy of the shoreline, her feet sinking into the damp sand as she scanned one way, then the other. There.
The solitary woman stood inches from the water, arms huddled around her thin frame, waist-length curly black hair caught in the sea-kissed breeze. The worn jeans and oversize sweatshirt seemed almost too big on her. An overstuffed backpack sat on the sand behind her as she stared out at the endless horizon.
Calliope’s first instinct was to run toward her, but she found herself frozen as images of Xander shifted through her mind. There, beneath the woman’s pain, a pain so piercing and exquisite Calliope’s entire body stung, she felt the love and affection the woman was clinging to. Calliope looked up at the cloud as the thunder echoed again, not quite so strong. Not quite so deafening.
Slow and easy, Calliope walked down the beach. The closer she approached, the clearer her focus became. She’d misjudged the woman’s age, put her at maybe late teens, early twenties, but there was no denying she had come here looking for something, searching for something. Xander, Calliope told herself.
Or someone. Even knowing that, Calliope also knew without a doubt, the young woman felt utterly and completely lost.
“Hello.” Calliope called to her before she approached. “Getting a little cold out here, isn’t it?”
The woman blinked and turned to look at her.
Calliope froze. Those eyes. She knew those eyes. She’d stared into them often enough. Dreamed of them often enough. Xander’s eyes.
“Would you like to come inside and get warm?”
The woman blinked again. Two large tears spilled from her blue eyes and plopped onto her cheeks. “I need to find my brother.”
“Yes, I know.” Calliope looked at the woman’s backpack and noticed a jacket tied through the straps. She pulled it free and draped it around her shoulders. “Xander’s your brother, isn’t he? Xander Costas.”