Chapter 49

Clutching at the hood of the oilskin slicker with her frozen fingers, Laurie used her other hand to grip the boat’s railing. Spray blew into her face, stinging her cheeks. She pulled the hood over her hair but immediately shoved it off, scanning the inky blackness. She hurried back into the boat’s wheelhouse.

“It’s going to be pretty tough.” Daniel lifted his voice against the sound of the wind. “I’m not certain we can find them in the dark.”

As he steered the boat into another swell, Laurie’s stomach rolled. The wave lifted them and sent them sliding down the opposite side. She swallowed hard, pushing down the nausea. “They’re out here, somewhere.”

She stared out into the night but saw only the foam on the whitecaps.

Daniel’s brow creased. “Do you swim?”

“Of course. Don’t you?”

“Not well. Granddad’s got a life ring strapped on the back, just in case.”

She wrapped her fingers around his arm. “No one could swim long in these conditions, anyway. Let’s focus on staying out of the water.”

Daniel nodded and faced the front, the strength of his jaw even more pronounced in the shadows. “Sounds good to me.”

Laurie stepped closer and weaved her arm around his waist as he gripped the controls. She struggled to connect the man standing next to her with the drunken college student from his past.

“There’s the Race Rocks light.” Daniel pointed into the distance.

She leaned forward as if the signal had a magnetic pull. “We’re near Victoria. Shouldn’t they be on the return journey by now? Did we miss them?”

“They’re like a needle in a haystack.” He yanked on the wheel, bringing them about while keeping a good angle on the swells. “I’ll take us a bit further west on the return. Maybe with the tidal currents, they’ve been pushed off course.”

“Johnny says if you don’t time the currents just right, you could end up rowing twice as far to get the same distance.” Laurie leaned down and plucked at her wet stockings. They clung to her skin, doing little to protect her knees from the icy chill.

“It’s a moonless night, too. They could be anywhere.”

God, please. Laurie paced to the back of the boat. Out in the spray, she lifted her arm over her head, pushing her hair from her eyes. Her brother was out there in the darkness—heading into a disaster of her making.

A swell lifted them, nearly jostling Laurie off her feet.

You can calm the storm, God. You find lost lambs and bring them home. Johnny was no lamb, but he did need divine intervention.

A flicker of light—like a candle in the darkness—caught her eye for a second before vanishing in the gloom. She clutched the side of the boat, willing the light to reappear. Would Johnny’s boat even have a light?

“Daniel!” The wind sucked the sound away. She slid across the deck, surging into the wheelhouse with the wind. “I saw something.”

“Point.”

She raised a hand and gestured in the direction of the phantom light.

He spun the wheel, the waves buffeting them as the boat bounced like a cork bobber on a fishing line.

She kept drawing quick breaths as the wind snatched the air from her lungs. “It was a light.”

He leaned against the wheel, trying to keep them facing the direction Laurie had indicated. “I sure hope it’s not the Coast Guard.”

She tucked her fingers under her arms, but little warmth remained.

“How far away?” Daniel lifted his voice over the storm.

“I couldn’t tell. It was just a flicker and then it vanished.” Laurie chewed on her lip, scanning the darkness. The wind even seemed to hold its breath, the air growing calmer as they bobbed along with the surges.

The flash blinked again, like a firefly in the night air. “There!” She grabbed Daniel’s shoulder.

“I see it, hold on.”

He gunned the motor for a few seconds, sending them surging toward the faint speck as it rose and fell in the darkness.

Laurie grabbed the flashlight and aimed it out across the water, illuminating the rain-pocked waves. She swung it from side to side, willing the longboats to appear from the darkness.

The beam lit up a craft struggling in the waves. Six men huddled in the boat, arms spread across the oars, faces twisted against the glare.

“There!” She fought to keep the circle of glow locked on the longboat refusing to let it disappear back into the storm.

Daniel guided them alongside. The men ceased straining against the oars, apparently resigned to not outrunning the more powerful vessel.

“Johnny!” Laurie threw back her hood and leaned over the side.

Johnny stared up at the larger vessel, his mouth a circle of slack-jawed surprise. “What—what do you think you’re doing?”

Daniel threw him a rope and pulled the boat in close. Johnny clambered aboard, followed by Big Jerry. The other men stayed huddled in the long boat, their collars turned up against the weather.

Jerry’s eyes bulged, his face mottled red and white. “What’s going on, Johnny?”

Laurie grabbed her brother’s arm and pulled him into the wheelhouse. “Samuel knows about the shipment. He’s waiting for you at Freshwater Bay.”

Johnny pushed back his hood. “What? How do you know that?”

Daniel spoke up. “That doesn’t matter right now. What matters is that you and your men don’t sail right into his clutches.”

Big Jerry snorted. “What are we supposed to do? Row back to Canada?”

Johnny wiped the sea spray from his face. “We could land at Crescent Beach, but we got no vehicles there.”

“She don’t know nothing. We ain’t changing plans now.” Jerry pulled his hood low over his head, his eyes shadowed.

A red-hot flare shot through Laurie. “Do you think I came out here for pleasure? Samuel Brown told me himself.”

Daniel gripped the rail as the boat rocked over a large swell. “Johnny, just dump the cargo and go in. If you’ve got nothing in your boat, they’ve got nothing to pin on you.”

Big Jerry’s balled his fists. “Do you have a clue how much money you’re talking about pouring down the drain?”

“But if Brown’s just going to take it, anyway . . . ” Johnny rubbed a hand over the stubble on his chin. “I think Daniel’s right. If we got nothing, he can’t book us.”

The icy rain trickled down Laurie’s face. “He could still shoot you, though.”

Big Jerry lifted his arms. “This is insane. I’m the boss and I say we land as normal. That’s why we got a spotter. Lew will signal if G-men are on the beach.”

Johnny shook his head. “We could really dig in with the oars and see how far down the beach we can get by morning. Maybe put in at Port Townsend or LaPush.”

The portly man growled. “I tell you, we ain’t changing nothing.”

Laurie threw back her hood, battling the urge to shove Jerry over the side. “Then give us the whiskey.” The words spilled from her lips.

Daniel’s mouth dropped open.

Laurie’s stomach tensed. If Daniel objected to whiskey on his grandfather’s boat, her plan wouldn’t hold water.

Johnny and Jerry exchanged glances. Big Jerry hooked his fingers through his belt loops. “How do we know that you won’t just chuck it overboard as soon as we’re out of sight?”

Laurie clamped a hand on her hip. “You don’t.”

“No deal. That booze ain’t leaving my sight and I sure ain’t gonna trust Little Miss Temperance here.” Jerry hooked a thumb at Laurie.

Daniel stepped forward, grabbing Johnny’s elbow. “Then I’ll buy it from you.”

Laurie gasped, her heart jumping. “You shouldn’t have to do that.”

Johnny turned, locking gazes with his friend. “What are you talking about?”

Daniel squinted through the driving rain. “Sell it to me, right here. You’ll make your profit and still get home in one piece.” He reached a hand inside his slicker. “What’s the price?”

Big Jerry laughed. “More than you got on you, Mr. Druggist. There’s twenty-five hundred dollars of liquor in this boat.”

“Twenty-five hundred?” Laurie stumbled, a swell knocking her off balance.

“No way.” Johnny shook his head. “Don’t do this, Daniel.”

Daniel opened his wallet and peeled out several large bills. “Here.”

Laurie dropped his arm. “Why are you carrying that sort of money around?”

Daniel leaned close and spoke into her ear. “When Amelia came to me, I knew I might have to take matters into my own hands. Cash is one of the few things that men like Brown understand.”

A tremor traveled down Laurie’s back, tears stinging her eyes. After how she had treated him?

Johnny gestured to the long boat bobbing in the waves. “Can you sell this lot at the pharmacy?”

“Let me worry about that. Just get yourself home in one piece.”

Big Jerry swiped the money from Daniel’s hand, an unholy gleam in his smile. “Pleasure doing business with you, Shepherd. I guess there’s more cash in ice cream sodas than I thought.”

He turned to the men waiting in the other boat. “Transfer the load, boys.”

Johnny lifted his hands, his skin raw and cracked. “I hope you know what you’re doing, Daniel.”

Daniel fingers stiffened in the cold as he jostled the heavy bags across the slippery boards and lashed them together. “Didn’t you have two boats tonight?”

Johnny grunted. “We could only get enough men together for one. That’s why the loads’s so heavy and we’re so far behind. Kind of makes me wonder if some of the boys aren’t on the take for Brown. I should have known we were pushing our luck.”

Daniel turned away, securing the knots holding the bags in place. The sight of the bulky cargo brought a sour taste to his mouth.

Johnny placed a hand on his sister’s shoulder, his voice carrying on the wind. “I never wanted to involve you in this, you know.”

Laurie tipped her head. “Why don’t you come with us? I don’t trust Samuel. He might just kill you all, anyway.”

Johnny leaned forward, resting his forehead against the top of her head. “How many times have I got to tell you? I can take care of myself.”

Johnny turned and reached his hand out toward Daniel.

Daniel grasped it, a lump rising in his throat.

“I’m trusting you, Daniel.” Johnny glanced down at his sister and tightened his grip. “Get her safely back to shore.”

Daniel released his friend’s hand, an ache lodging in his chest. He cleared his throat and leaned in to speak into Johnny’s ear. “Last trip?”

“One way or the other.” Johnny pressed a hand to his heart before lowering himself over the edge and landing two-footed in the rocking longboat. The other men sat huddled against the wind, blowing on their hands and rubbing them together. Johnny gripped the oars. “You’re a good man, Daniel.” He shouted against the wind.

Daniel lifted a hand in farewell.

Big Jerry cupped his hands around his mouth and shouted. “Smooth sailing, Shepherd!” The man’s small snake-like eyes glittered in the near-darkness.

Laurie’s fingers touched his hand in the darkness, sending a shiver through Daniel. He squeezed them in his palm as he stared down at Johnny, already straining at the oars. Protect him, Lord. He may be a sinner and a lawbreaker, God, but so am I.

Daniel turned and surveyed the row of bags lashed to the rocking deck. So am I.

The wind died down as Daniel gripped the wheel and guided them along the dark coastline. His arms ached after hours of battling the controls and the waves. The beam from the Ediz Hook lighthouse pierced the night, escorting them through the murky water.

Laurie stood silent at his side, casting anxious, uncomfortable glances over her shoulder at the cargo hidden in the back.

Daniel didn’t need to look back. It called to him, taunting him in the depths of his chest—over two thousand dollars of illegal liquor. I’m sorry, Lord. But what else could I do?

The boat negotiated the swells, the motor pushing them through the night toward their destination. Daniel tipped his hat further back on his hat and glanced down at the young woman leaning against his side. Her tremors seemed to have eased. Perhaps she had accepted that Johnny’s fate lay in God’s hands. She stared off into the distance, clutching at her hood.

Lights dotted the edges of the bay beyond the spit where the smokestacks of the mills rose into the darkness.

“They’ll be okay.” Daniel mustered his most confident tone. “When they show up empty-handed, Brown will have no choice but to release them all.”

Laurie blinked. “I know.”

His arms ached to hold her, but he kept his hands firm on the wheel. “Then what is it?”

“I keep thinking about how I always try to pull the strings on everyone’s lives and make them do what I want.”

“You’re trying to protect them.”

Laurie shook her head, sodden hair slapping against her cheeks. “That’s just it. I’m not. I’m protecting myself.” A shadow crossed her face. “I’ve spent my life searching for one man worthy of my trust. Unfortunately, I seem to be a magnet for rogues and miscreants.”

Daniel fought back a chuckle. “Well, I guess that explains it.”

Laurie jerked her head back, blinking. “What?”

He reached for her hand, this time pulling her close to his side. “How you ended up with a loser like me.”

Laurie smiled and pinched his arm. “I suppose we do deserve each other.” She sighed, the smile withering as the moment passed. “But maybe my goal is all wrong. What if God wants me to trust Him?”

The muscles around his spine tightened. “I understand you not trusting me—but you don’t trust God?”

“I’m trying. But since everyone always breaks my heart . . . ”

Daniel frowned. “I don’t ever want to do anything to hurt you, Laurie. I love you. You must know that.”

Tears glistened in her eyes. She looped her hands around his arm, settling her chin against his shoulder. “I—I know. I think.” She shook her head, as if shaking off an insect. “I find it hard to believe, I guess.” She cleared her throat. “And that’s the thing—instead of searching for someone to trust, perhaps I should be praying for someone to love.”

“Have you found anyone?”

She smiled. “Though I tried to avoid it, I think I may have loved you practically from the moment we met.”

“Was that the moment you cracked me across the face with a flashlight?”

Laurie laughed. “Well, maybe not that moment, exactly.”

He pulled his arm close, squeezing her hand between his elbow and his side. “Can you forgive me for not telling you about my past?”

“I can understand why you didn’t. I hadn’t exactly been a fountain of information either.” She turned and gazed up at him, her eyes peeping out under her wet hair. “I will forgive you, but I have a condition.”

“Name it.”

“You can’t push me away because you’re afraid of what might happen.” Laurie took a deep breath. “If I decide to trust God on this, you’d better trust Him, too.”

Laurie had never looked more beautiful than she did at that moment: her face pale, eyes somber, and a tiny droplet of rain lingering on the tip of her nose. A lump formed in his throat. “I can’t believe you’re willing to trust me after what I told you.”

Her soft laugh took him by surprise. “I said I was trusting God. I was right about you all along—you are a rumrunner.”

He laughed, too, glancing back at their cargo. “Not for long.”

She tipped her head to the side. “What do you mean?”

Daniel cut the engine and grinned at her. “Let’s get rid of that lot.”

Her eyes widened. “You paid a lot of money for it.”

“I paid for Johnny’s life, not for the liquor. I swore to myself years ago that I’d never buy another drink.” He took her hand and kissed it before striding to the rear of the boat. “Give me a hand, will you?”

“Gladly.”

The first light of dawn began to spill over the mountaintops as Daniel gripped the first bag and hoisted it to the railing. “Do you want to do the honor?”

Laurie grinned. She rubbed her hands together and blew on them. Pressing her palms against the burlap, she gave it a shove.

The bundle splashed in the water. It floated for a brief moment before sinking beneath the waves, bubbles trickling to the surface.

Moving faster now, Daniel hefted one bag after another while Laurie shoved them off the side, until the last bag disappeared into the depths.

She came up behind him and wrapped both arms around his waist. “You’re full of surprises, Daniel Shepherd.”

He pulled her arms tighter, staring out into the brightening sky, a lump growing in his throat for a second time that morning. “You deserve some pleasant surprises, Laurie.” He stepped free and turned to take her hands in his. “I hope you will let me keep surprising you.”

Her eyes shone, the sunrise casting a glow on her face. “What do you mean?”

Daniel’s pulse quickened. “I want to marry you, Laurie. I want to spend every day with you—not just crazy nights at sea, stolen moments on the bluff, and coffee breaks at the fountain. I want to wake up and see those gorgeous blue eyes every morning. And I want your face to be the last thing I see at night.”

Her eyes widened, her lips parting and closing, a flurry of emotions scurrying across her features. Her eyes glazed, as if she stared somewhere past his left shoulder.

Daniel squeezed her hands. “Laurie? Will you marry me?” His heart pounded.

Her face paled, hands tightening on his until his knuckles ached. “Daniel . . . ”

“Yes?”

“Another boat.”

He spun, breath catching in his chest as he identified the approaching craft. “Coast Guard.” He glanced around the deck to make sure that no bags remained. “We’ve got nothing to worry about. The liquor’s all gone. We’re just out on an early-morning sail.”

The flash of gunfire made them both jump. He yanked Laurie down to the deck. “Then again . . . ”

The cutter loomed ever closer. Daniel scrambled to the wheelhouse, Laurie on his heels.

“Was that a warning shot?” Laurie’s voice wavered.

“I hope so.” Daniel hurried to the hatch. “Granddad has a set of bunks below. I’ll grab a sheet. We’ll show them we’re not fighting back.”

He climbed down the ladder, searching in the darkness for the berth. His hand closed on a box of matches. The flash of bluish-orange flame lit up a small area crammed with wooden crates before fizzling in his fingers. Daniel struck a second match and held it steady while he leaned forward to read the labels.

Pure Rye Whiskey. Bottled in Bond.

The lit match fell to his feet and Daniel smashed it with his damp shoe. Lunging forward, he lifted the lid on the nearest crate and thrust his hands inside, his fingers closing around smooth glass.

Stumbling back, Daniel cracked his head against the ladder. He scrabbled up to the deck, heart threatening to pound its way out of his chest.

Laurie crouched on the wooden boards, her eyes round.

Daniel pushed past, leaping for the controls. Gunning the engine, he wrenched the wheel to the side.

Laurie pushed to her feet, stumbling as the boat lurched. “Where are we going?”

Daniel glanced over his shoulder, his stomach churning as the cutter approached. He pointed the boat toward the bay entrance and accelerated, sending a spray of water in their wake.

“Daniel, what’s going on?” She gripped the rail with both hands, splaying her feet to keep her balance.

“I need you to trust me.” After their recent conversation, the words tasted bitter in his mouth.

“But, we look guilty.” She staggered as the boat bounced over the swells. “They’re going to think we’re running.”

“We are running, Laurie.”

The rocky point of Ediz Hook rose from the water ahead.

Laurie’s pressed both hands over her temples. “You’re almost to the lighthouse—why are we heading for shore?”

“Because I made a promise to your brother!” He slowed the boat and sent them into a gentle curve.

Grabbing Laurie’s arm, he yanked her out from the cab and into the open air at the rear of the boat. “There’s no time to explain. You sure you can swim?”

She pulled against his hold, like a donkey on a line, her lids opening until the whites of her eyes were visible.

Without waiting for her answer, Daniel thrust arms under her back and knees and flung her up on the rail, like one more burlap bag. Only this time, he was the one who pushed.