Page 44 of Through the Dark Night
She wasn’t sure whether his fingers entwined with hers first, or whether she had reached out to him, but it felt like a perfect and a fitting end to the day.
“You did it. These dreams, these things that no one was sure that you could do, are finally happening.”
“I couldn’t have done it without you. Every step of the way, I felt your strength behind me. And when that failed, you pointed me to the Lord and told me He had something planned for me. I can’t believe it.”
They gave each other soft smiles and then looked back out at the sunset. There were a few things in her life she needed to work on, things she needed to get right, and her relationship with Lance was one of them, but for now, the inn planning had taken over it all, and to see it come to fruition was a success that gave her a satisfaction that she couldn’t put into words. And to share it with Lance made it perfect.
“Thank you. You are the best.” Her tone was soft and sweet, and his eyes glowed as he looked down at her. If he thought about kissing her, she couldn’t tell. But she definitely thoughtabout it. Thought about the earlier almost kiss and how she wanted their relationship to move in that direction as well. But maybe just one thing at a time. They were building something here, something like the inn, and they couldn’t rush it. It had to happen and unfold the way it was supposed to, without her rushing into things.
Eighteen
Two weeks before the inn’s official opening, Shannon stood in the inn’s lobby arranging flowers. There were still workmen wandering around at times and a few things that needed to be finished—mostly fixtures that needed to be hung and things that were backordered. She couldn’t believe how quickly everything came together and how amazing the old inn looked, restored to its former grandeur. She had to admit she was excited about the future.
She was a little sad though, since Lance no longer had an excuse to show up every day. Most of his work was finished, although Dominic had pretty much assigned all the odds and ends to Lance to finish up.
Still, she missed him. Missed working with him. Missed having him around.
She was deep in thought, not even really paying attention to the bouquet of flowers that she was arranging, when a man in an expensive suit walked through the front door.
She turned, taking him in, realizing that everything about him screamed that he was not local, and her instincts said even more loudly that he was dangerous.
“Hello, I’m looking for Shannon,” he said, then paused as if trying to remember her last name.
“I’m Shannon Callahan. That was my married name,” she said evenly, trying to hide the fact that she was afraid. She clasped her hands behind herself so that he would not see they were trembling.
“I’m Detective Rick Morison.” He grabbed a badge out of his pocket, flipped it around, then put it away before she could actually read what was on it. “I have questions about the incident that happened years ago in which your daughter drowned.”
“All right,” she said, closing her eyes and steeling herself. That seemed like it would be a normal reaction anyway and not one born out of total fear and nervousness that some type of official person was standing in front of her, and she was scared to death she was going to be charged with murder.
“What happened that day?”
“My daughter and her friends went out on the lake. From what I understand from them, a rogue wave flipped the kayak over, and Yolanda never resurfaced. They were in a hurry to get back to shore because there was a storm coming, and they looked for her for a while, couldn’t find her, and came back.”
“And where were you?”
“I was home.”
“Why weren’t you out there with them, supervising?”
“They were all experienced on the lake. It was supposed to be a nice day. There were no thunderstorms forecast.” She said that all robotically. She had answered those questions a hundred times in her head and almost as many to the authorities when they came to question her. They hadn’t spent a whole lot of time with her, since they had seen that she was a grieving mom and knew that she certainly hadn’t caused the accident. Whether she was going to be charged with negligence or some other associated crime had always been her fear.
“What else can you tell me?” the man asked, and she shook her head.
“I was grief-stricken. Absolutely devastated that my daughter might be gone. I really don’t remember a whole lot about the investigation or about what happened. I’m not a good person to talk to about those details.”
She lifted a shoulder and then looked him in the eye. “The policehave a full record. I suggest you contact them if you’re interested in what all of the witnesses said about that day.”
Morison smiled, but it did not reach his eyes as he handed her his card. “You can contact me if you think of anything else.”
Out of the corner of her eye, Shannon could see Marina come to the door of the kitchen and push it open. She froze when she saw the official-looking man in the suit and then slowly backed away, closing the door until it was only open a crack.
After Morison left and the front door clicked closed behind him, Marina hurried out.
“I know that type. That man is dangerous. What did he want?”
“He claimed to be a detective asking questions about the accident in which my daughter drowned.”
“I’m so sorry. That must be hard. Did it happen a long time ago?”
