Three

“We’re doing what?” Hollan’s words ended in a shriek. “I—you—what? No. No! I won’t do this. You want me to marry a complete stranger?”

“Jacob’s hardly a stranger, Hollan. You two were engaged. You’ve known him since you were young.”

“Oh yes. I remember. Right before he ran off with his outlaw family after they pillaged the town. The night my mother. . .” Hollan let her voice drift away as she stomped away from her uncle and headed for her place of refuge—the sand dune overlooking the ocean—wanting to leave everyone behind. Her astute hearing told her that her uncle ignored the fact that she’d purposely left him in her dust and continued to follow along.

“He didn’t run off with them. He went after them to bring them to justice.”

Hollan spun to face him. “How can you want this for me? How will this fix my present situation? Our love disappeared along with him the night he left. An arrangement like this will only bring more problems.” She figured her horrified words could be heard all the way to the mainland, but she didn’t care. What was her uncle thinking? “There must be another way.”

Her uncle raised his gentle voice so he could be heard above the wind that blew in off the water. “I’m open to suggestions, Hollan. You need to be reasonable. You know you can’t stay out here alone. Do you have a better plan?”

Hollan would find one. She had to. Anything was better than an arranged marriage to someone she no longer knew. The man she’d known no longer existed, if he ever had. She hadn’t seen Jacob in years. The night he left, Hollan had lost her mother, her vision, and Jacob’s love. It was a night she never wanted to think about again.

The man had outlaw roots, plain and simple, and in the end, when it mattered the most, those outlaw tendencies seemed to come to the forefront. Why else would he run off with his outlaw family and leave her to pick up the pieces? It didn’t matter how long or how well Uncle Edward had known the man. Hollan didn’t want any part of this.

Soon after Jacob had left—after she’d recovered from her accident—she’d made the decision to never marry. With her visual difficulties, she’d feel like a burden in the eyes of whoever ended up with her. She’d lose her independence. Her mother had unraveled on that horrible night, and she could only imagine why. If her mother had been happy, why would she have jumped from the lighthouse?

For her uncle to be desperate enough to marry her off to an outlaw, she was in a worse situation than she’d ever imagined. Marriage in any situation wasn’t a good idea, but this was oh-so-much worse.

“How can you not see that this isn’t an option for me?” Her mother’s desperate attempt to escape from their life closed the door on that idea for Hollan years ago.

“Your mother wasn’t of sound mind, Hollan. The accident wasn’t what you think. Your parents had a wonderful marriage.”

“What changed that? If something could go so horribly wrong in their marriage, how am I to know the same thing won’t happen to me?” A balmy wind blew around her. She breathed in the comforting scent. “And I already come along with enough of my own challenges—challenges that would cause undue burden even in the strongest of marriages. Even in a marriage filled with love, which this one won’t have.”

“The two of you loved each other before. I know you can find your way back to each other and love again. As for your mother’s accident, we do need to discuss it further, but now isn’t the time. Just know her decision that night had nothing to do with her love for you or your father.” Her uncle’s speech ended, and he stood silently beside her.

Her father and Sylvia both wrote Hollan’s mother’s demise off to an unstable mind, but she couldn’t understand that. Why hadn’t her father been able to fix whatever was wrong? Why hadn’t the need to be around for Hollan been enough to keep her mother’s mind intact? What could be so awful that her mother thought the answer lay in plummeting from the deck that ran around the lighthouse? In any case, her family history didn’t bode well for marriage, especially when marriage to her came with the additional challenge of dealing with a sightless wife.

Well, she amended, her heart jumping with a momentary lilt—a partially sightless wife. Her vision still improved daily, returning in bits and pieces. Even now she could see the outline of Sylvia’s slightly curved figure to her left and her uncle’s more barrel-shaped chest to her right. A bit of a distance away, the bright midmorning sun highlighted the tall figure of her husband-to-be.

Hollan turned toward her caretaker. “Sylvia, you’ll stay on to help me, won’t you? I’ll make sure you’re well paid for your time. And Fletcher can take over the lighthouse. You know you’re both welcome here.”

Fletcher was a good man and a hard worker. After dropping off her uncle and Jacob, he left with the supply boat to fulfill his normal workday, even after the long night of tending to the lighthouse.

Sylvia moved forward to place a reassuring hand against Hollan’s cheek. “You know I can’t stay, dear. We’ve had this talk. I’m needed in town, and Fletcher’s work doesn’t allow him to be out here on the island. He can’t continue to work the lighthouse and run the boat. You’ll be fine with your uncle’s arrangement. You know he wouldn’t do anything to hurt you.”

“But Sylvia, I—”

Her caretaker dropped her voice to a whisper and leaned close as if Hollan hadn’t spoken. “And we all know how much that man over there once loved you. You’ll find your way back to him again.” She planted a soft kiss on Hollan’s cheek and moved back toward the house.

“But—Sylvia! Wait.”

“I can’t, darling. I need to pack up and be ready to go when Fletcher returns.”

“Argh!” Hollan stomped her foot.

The action was rewarded with a deep chuckle from up the hill. Jacob. The heartbreaking outlaw. She ignored him and spun back around to her uncle.

“An outlaw, Uncle Edward? Is that really what my future has come to? Am I such a burden that only he will take me?”

“I don’t consider you to be a burden at all. As a matter of fact, your aunt Ettie and I would like nothing more than to have you pack up and return to the mainland to stay with us. We can forget this conversation ever happened, and you can start anew in our home. You do have a choice.”

Hollan turned away so he’d not see her face crumple at the dismal choices set before her. She loved her uncle and aunt, but she loved her island, too. “Marriage to an outlaw or I leave the only home I’ve ever known to start over again in town. And what a choice it is.”

“Don’t sound so despondent, dear one. You know I’d never do anything to hurt you. And Jacob isn’t an outlaw.”

“The history of the Swan family made it all the way out here, Uncle. I know what his family did.”

“Their history isn’t Jacob’s. You knew him as a boy and as a young man. He’s a good person. That hasn’t changed. He wasn’t with his brothers or father when they pillaged and set fire that night. Their actions have caused him enough pain, and I won’t have you joining in with the townsfolk and judging him unfairly. Jacob is a wonderful man of God. He wants nothing more than to live in peace, free from the demons that pursue him. He only seeks quiet and relaxation. The marriage will be in name only, for propriety’s sake. You both seem determined in your quest to avoid marriage. Perhaps this arrangement will protect you from the very institution you both abhor.”

Hollan couldn’t help but laugh. “Marriage will protect us from marriage? That makes no sense.”

“Nothing much makes sense lately, Hollan.” Her uncle sighed. “But if you’re both sure you don’t want to seek out love and settle down with someone else—someone else you care deeply for—then this arrangement is for the best. You’ll have the protection you require and, in exchange, someone to run the lighthouse.”

“And what will Jacob get?”

“The quiet life on the island will agree with Jacob and will salve the scars of his past. I have no doubt he’ll like it here. The two of you loved each other before. I know you’ll take care of each other, even if your love is gone. You’ll see the good in him. And in time the townspeople will see it, too.”

Hollan started to ask what scars he carried but figured with his family history it was obvious. When Jacob went to serve in the war, his brothers and father had evaded any type of service. They’d been suspected of pillaging and raiding local towns instead.

“If you don’t want to agree to this arrangement, you’ll need to head up to the house and pack your things. We’ll leave late afternoon when Fletcher returns for his mother.”

“I marry Jacob, or I leave the island.” The whispered words blew away on the breeze. “I can’t leave my island. It’s all Samson and I have left. It’s our home.”

“Then you agree to the marriage?”

She thought hard, but no better solution came to her. “Yes, Uncle Edward. Prepare the way for my wedding. I guess I’ll marry the outlaw.”

“You’ll marry a gentleman. I’ll have you see it no other way.”

“Perhaps you should reintroduce me to my groom.” She folded her arms at her chest and refused to turn around to see if Jacob stood nearby. “Is he still standing on the hill listening?”

Her uncle chuckled. “No, he fled after your foot stomp. He’s down the beach a bit with Samson.”

“With Samson? The traitor.”

They fell into step together and headed in that direction. The sound of the surf rose in volume as they neared the shore. Hollan’s bare feet sank into the soft sand, and an impetuous thought made her smile. What would her new husband think of her perpetually shoeless state? Perhaps he’d never know. But with the loss of her sight, she needed to use each and every sense she could. She loved to feel the textures of the ground around her. And she found the sensation of sand beneath her toes to be her favorite sensation of all. She wouldn’t have that pleasure in town. She’d made the right decision, even if it was scary and hard.

She stopped momentarily to breathe in the always-present, reassuring scent of her surroundings. Marriage couldn’t be worse than losing the island. She’d come through this and be just fine on the other side. She was not her mother.

Her uncle’s voice broke into her musings. “Samson seems content. He’s retrieving sticks thrown into the water by Jacob. Maybe the animal sees the merit of the situation better than you do.”

“Samson doesn’t make up with anyone, Uncle Edward. You know that. All the changes of late must be muddling his little doggy brain.”

“That dog has more brain than most men I know, your fiancé not included.”

“My fiancé.” She groaned.

“Your fiancé only for a short while.” Her uncle’s voice held a hint of laughter. “Before you have a chance to get used to the idea, your fiancé will be your spouse.”

“Maybe I could have a bit more time to get used to the fiancé angle before we jump into marriage?” she asked hopefully.

“Take all the time you need. After reintroductions, you’ll have the better part of the next hour to get used to the spouse part of the idea. You’ll get through this just fine.”

Hollan stopped, and Samson ran to her side. She ran a clammy hand self-consciously through her wind-tossed hair. The hot sun beat down on her back. What must her husband-to-be think of her? Did he, too, see the ceremony as “something to get through”? Would he someday mourn his loss of choice in handpicking a bride in the future? He’d already turned his back on her once. Would he spend the rest of his life regretting her?

She squared her shoulders and moved forward. She wouldn’t be pathetic. Her fiancé would meet the independent woman who was his future wife.