Page 121 of The Shell Collector
“You know how I love the bay,” she teased.
Amanda laughed all the way to the car.
James closed the door behind them. Then, as he pulled away, he raised the partition.
Amanda stretched out. “Want to watch a movie? Or maybe listen to some music? We’ve got a little less than five hours to get there.”
“No movies. I’ll just fall asleep. Music would be nice. Although none of that loud stuff.”
Amanda fiddled with the radio, finally landing on an oldies station. “This will be fun. I love the oldies.” Amanda thought James was worried something was wrong with the car because he kept rolling down the windows as if he were listening for something, but then she realized he might be trying to drown out their bad singing. Not that she cared.
When James stopped for fuel, the two women sat quietly for a while, until Amanda spoke up.
“Maeve, can I ask you something?”
“Anything, dear.”
“I wanted to ask you if you had anything to do with the message in the shell for Kimmy. The one Becky found.”
Maeve inhaled deeply, as if she were getting ready to go underwater. “I didn’t even know she’d stumbled upon it until someone mentioned it in the diner. But no, I didn’t write that for Kimmy.” She sat there staring at Amanda for a long moment. “However, I did write the message in that shell.” She looked away, then back at her hands folded in her lap. “I have no idea how that same shell showed back up again.”
“But you did write the message?”
“Yes, I did. Twenty-five years ago.”
Amanda thought she’d heard wrong at first. “Twenty-five years ago?”
Maeve nodded. “After Jarvis died. That shell was special to me. I still remember so vividly every moment from the day I found it. Jarvis had taken me over to Sand Dollar Cove to collect sand dollars. There’s not a dock there, so Jarvis anchored out in the water. The water isn’t deep there when the tide is out, so we walked to shore. It never got up to our hips.”
She went on to tell her she’d collected several flawless sand dollars. “Jarvis didn’t care about that stuff, but he knew it was a perfect day for me. Excited with my bounty, I waded back to the boat but stepped on the sharp edge of that shell.”
She removed her shoe, showing Amanda the scar in the middle of her foot. “It bled like a shark had bitten me, blood pooling in the water around my calves.”
“That sounds so painful.”
“It was. Jarvis picked me up and carried me to the boat. He took off his shirt and wrapped my foot to slow the bleeding. Then he grabbed a roll of silver duct tape and slapped it on the gash to hold it together until he got me to the hospital.”
“Oh. My. Gosh.”
“I bet you’re wondering if I dropped my sand dollars.”
Amanda laughed. “Actually, knowing you, I’d be surprised if youdid.”
“You’d be right. I didn’t drop any, but a few ended up with bloodstains that I never could get out. They’re in the window in my special room.”
“That’sa story.”
“Jarvis was so sweet, sitting with me for hours in the emergency room, holding my hand and getting me cups of water. He was good about things like that. That shell was a symbol of how much he loved me. How he’d take care of me. I knew if I fell ill, I’d be in excellent hands with him. Never had crossed my mind that he’d be the first to go, or that it would be with no notice.”
Amanda waited while Maeve seemed to gather her thoughts.
“I hate that we didn’t get to say proper goodbyes, but I know it was better for him that way. I hope for the same for myself—to just not wake up one morning.”
“I can see why that shell was so special to you. But what made you write that message, and how did Becky end up withit?”
“Do you remember I told you about taking out the boat in the rain? After Jarvis died?” She cast a questioning glance at Amanda. “Out of the thin air that night—the night I couldn’t go on—I took action. I took that shell down from the mantel, where it had been since the weekend we found it. I sat at the table on our sunporch under the light of a single bulb and carefully wrote a note to Jarvis.”
“That’s so sweet.”
