Page 16 of Love Conquers All

Sylvie smiled.

In fact, she kept smiling until her father showed up.

James Bruckson appeared at the edge of the boardwalk with a stony-faced expression. Sylvie found out later that one of the guests had informed him of “some crazy environmental teenagers disrupting the regatta.” It hadn’t been hard for James to put two and two together.

As James stomped forward, Sylvie’s smile drained off her face, and she clutched Graham’s hand hard. Graham followed Sylvie’s eyes and whispered, “It’s going to be okay, Sylvie.”

But Sylvie’s knees clicked together.

When he reached her, James towered over her and muttered, “What do you think you’re doing?”

Sylvie’s chin quivered. In the face of her father’s anger, she always felt so small, so insecure.

She began to stutter, searching for the words to explain. But she knew that would only make her case weaker, so she clamped her mouth shut.

It was Graham who had the nerve to stand up to him. “Mr. Bruckson? Do you know how powerful your daughter is? Do you know how she’s inspired me?”

James swiveled around to glare at Graham. After a beat, he said, “You’re the Ellis boy. Where’s your mother?”

Suddenly, they heard Valerie. “I’m right over here, James.”

A moment later, Valerie appeared. Her arms were crossed, and she glared hard at James, eager to stand up for her son, no matter how many crimes he’d committed.

“You better step back, James,” Valerie said.

“Or what?” James growled.

“You’re intimidating her,” Valerie said. “It isn’t a good look.”

“She’s my daughter. I can act however I want,” James said.

“I think Child Protective Services would have something else to say about that,” Valerie said.

Sylvie’s stomach twisted into knots. More and more people had gathered, and more and more photographs were being taken. She told herself not to throw up.

“You can’t tell me you think this is normal,” James shot at Valerie.

“I think they’re our kids,” Valerie pointed out. “I think I love their idealism. I think I love that they’re standing up for something they believe in.”

“You know how Nantucket runs,” James declared. “You know how important this regatta is for our friends and neighbors.”

“I don’t care about that,” Valerie said.

Suddenly, the cops returned to pull James and Valerie away. They said they wanted to interview them. But Sylvie was pretty sure they just wanted them to stop making a scene.

This left Graham and Sylvie alone again. Sylvie blinked back tears.

“Hey,” Graham said, shaking his hand so that hers shook, too. “Hey, it’s going to be okay.”

Sylvie turned to look into Graham’s eyes.

“Believe me, okay?” Graham said.

Sylvie couldn’t speak. Slowly, Graham shifted his hand in his cuffs so he could lace his fingers through hers.

When the crowd saw that they were holding hands, they started to applaud. Sylvie couldn’t keep from laughing. It was a nervous but enthusiastic laughter. It was infectious, and Graham joined, too.

Over an hour later, when they were finally released from their cuffs and taken back to the waiting cop cars, Graham took a split second to clear the distance between them and kiss Sylvie for the first time. Sylvie’s ears rang, and her heart pounded, and the entire crowd erupted with joyful cheers. The cops pulled them gently apart and put them in separate cars. But as Sylviewas driven away, her lips still sizzled with the memory of Graham’s kiss.

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