LeAnn tried to open her eyes, but her eyelids felt like they were glued shut. She forced her body onto her back. Her body ached, and she thought her head was going to split open. This must be what a weekend drunk must feel like, she thought. What had happened last night? She couldn’t remember. All she knew was she felt awful and hurt all over.
She heard a creaking on the stairs. Memories of the previous night came rushing back. She was terrified and her body starting shaking. As she was just getting ready to hide under the bed, Matt came into view.
“LeAnn, what are you doing?” he asked, alarmed, seeing her on the floor.
“I…I…don’t know. I got scared,” she answered in a shaky voice.
“Come here. Let me help you back into bed.” He set the tray he was carrying on the dresser and walked over to her. He took her arm and helped her get back under the sheet and blanket.
She looked at him questioningly. “Matt?”
“Yes?” he asked with a smile. He sat on the bed next to her.
“Why are you here?” Suspicious, she looked down at what she was wearing. “What happened? Why am I in my night tee shirt?”
“You don’t remember?” he carefully asked her.
“No.” There was a quiver in her voice. “No.”
“What is the last thing you remember about last night?” He was going to do this slowly. He didn’t need her to get hysterical on him again. She had moaned all night in her sleep. He had hoped the valium would have helped her get restful nights sleep, but it hadn’t. She had obviously had nightmares all night. Needless to say, he, too, had little sleep. Mostly he had watched her toss and turn.
“I’m not sure.” She looked lost in thought trying, to remember, “I was reading the journal and then….” Her voice trailed off as if she was remembering something. She looked up at him. “I went into the boathouse.” Then she bolted upright in bed, “I went into the boathouse, and someone tried to kill me!”
“Easy, sweetie, easy. It’s okay. Calm down. You’re in your house. It’s daylight, and there is nothing to be afraid of.” He tried to sound comforting. “It’s all over. Relax,” he said gently, trying to, unsuccessfully, get her to lie back down.
She looked up at him with crazed eyes as she started to remember everything that had happened in the boathouse.
“Oh, Matt. It was awful, awful!” Her eyes filled with tears.
“LeAnn, I’m going to give you another valium.” He started for the bathroom.
She screamed “No!” He stopped and turned around. “No,” she said more softly but with tears streaming down her face, “I don’t want a pill. I promise I’ll stay calm.” After a long silence, she asked, “ Did you stay with me all night? When did you get here?” she asked puzzled. She was trying to fit the pieces together. She could not remember Matt coming to the house, only the horror of the boathouse.
He realized she didn’t remember everything. Maybe it was the valium, but he doubted it. “Yes. Do you remember calling me?”
“I called you?” She looked confused. “No, I don’t remember calling you.”
“I think you should have some coffee and breakfast. Then we can discuss last night after that. Okay?” He didn’t like that she was so confused and that she was starting to get upset again.
She just looked at him without saying a word. Matt was convinced she was still in some kind of shock. He was sure he needed to get her to the resort and away from the island. He walked over to the dresser, picked up the tray, and carried it to the bed. Matt had fixed coffee, orange juice and French toast.
She smiled as he laid the tray on her lap. “You did this for me? You are a special man, aren’t you? Matt, thank you, but I don’t think I can eat anything.”
“Oh, yes, you can. I didn’t slave over a hot stove for nothing.” He smiled and then said, “Seriously, LeAnn, please eat something. It would make me feel better.”
“Okay. I’ll try.” She took a sip of the coffee and a nibble of the French toast. It tasted good, but she was having a hard time eating. Her mind was trying to figure out what had happened to her the night before. She could see bits and pieces, but the only thing she knew for certain was that she had been terrified.
Matt had brought up a cup of coffee for himself. He sipped it silently and watched her. She had an uncomfortable far away look in her eyes. After a few minutes, he broke the silence. “I think I need to get you away from here, LeAnn. I think it’s time for a break. You have been working so hard on getting this place clean and into shape, that you’ve worn yourself out.” He knew he needed to get her off the island. He was scared of what might happen to her if she didn’t leave.
She looked up at him and asked, “Matt, what happened? Did I tell you anything? Did you see anything? Matt, I know something happened last night, and I know it happened in the boathouse. Please, tell me. I have to remember! I really think someone was trying to kill me!”
Matt thought about what to say and then he answered her, “I’ll make a deal with you. I’ll tell you everything you said if you promise to go to the resort with me and stay a few days. Deal?”
She stared at him for a minute, and then said, “Deal.”
Relieved, Matt said, “Okay, good. Are you done eating?” He saw she had barely eaten anything.
“Yes, but I would like the orange juice.”
“Good!” He handed it to her with an approving smile. He moved the tray to the dresser and went back to the bed.
“Okay, here goes. There’s not a lot I can tell you, because I wasn’t there when it happened.”
She looked at him puzzled.
“LeAnn, you called me and begged me to come out. You sounded so frightened on the phone that I came right out to the island. I found you on the floor by the stairs with your phone in your hand. You grabbed me like you were afraid for your life.” Matt paused to watch her expression. Her brows furrowed as if she was trying to dig into her memory to remember something, anything at all.
Matt continued. “I carried you to the couch, and you wouldn’t let me go. You said something about loud music and a strong wind and then….” He paused, then continued, “You said something was trying to kill you.”
“Something not someone?” she said in a low voice.
“Something,” he repeated.
LeAnn let out a slow groan, “Oh, my God, the music! It was so loud, and the wind knocked me down, and I couldn’t get out. Before the wind started, the doors were all locked, and I was trapped! Matt, I was trapped!”
“LeAnn, stop it. Don’t do this again. Stop!” He grabbed her shoulders and lightly shook her. She calmed down, and he continued to talk to her. “Honey, we’re going to get you dressed, and then I’m going to take you to Ridgewood’s. I’ll get you the best room we have, and you are going to rest. Then we will get this all sorted out. I will help you. All right?” he asked, knowing he had to get her out of this house and off the island.
She stared at him for a moment and then whispered, “Yes.”
“Good. Now where do you keep your overnight bag?”
She pointed to the closet, and Matt quickly moved over to it. He found a duffle bag and proceeded to her dresser. He knew going through her dresser drawers and packing her bag with personal stuff wasn’t the norm for a new relationship, but this wasn’t a normal situation. He then went back to her closet and got some clothes, mostly jeans and tops. He probably was getting more than she needed, but he wasn’t going to let her come back here anytime soon. He went into the bathroom and started to throw make up and stuff in the bag. Just then, he heard her laughing behind him. He turned around, and she was standing in the doorway, shaking her head laughing,
“I think I’d better pack my own bag.” She smiled weakly. “I’m not sure what you’ve got in there for me, and that scares me.”
He looked in the bag and then at her, and they both laughed. She walked over to him and put her arms around him. “Thank you. Thank you for coming and being here for me when I really needed you.” She looked up at his handsome face, and he bent down and kissed her. It was a long, lingering kiss. They clung to each other as if they never wanted the moment to end. She broke away and holding onto the sink said, “I think I better get dressed so we can go.”
“I’ll take the tray down and clean up the mess in the kitchen. You don’t want to see what I did to your stove.” He smiled like a guilty little boy.
“Ah, no. I don’t.” She closed the door.
She turned towards the sink and grabbed hold to steady herself. She was so weak. She took a long look at herself in the mirror. Her reflection shocked her. Her hair was matted and dirty. The circles under her eyes were black. She knew some of it was mascara, but most of it was the trauma of the night before. Her face was ghostly pale. Poor, Matt. He had to see me like this, she thought to herself. Then, she remembered the kiss. “Wow, he must really care for me if he kissed me looking like this!” she said out loud with a smile. Still, she was embarrassed that for their first real kiss she had looked half dead. She opened the medicine cabinet, reaching inside for her toothbrush, toothpaste and the aspirin bottle.
While LeAnn was in the shower, her memory started to come back slowly. She remembered the door being unlocked and the music starting up, only there was no band. She remembered calling out to Mrs. Tabor and how she couldn’t figure out why Mrs. Tabor was so angry or why she would want to hurt her. Then, she remembered the wind, the awful wind that had knocked her down and had blown all of the doors open. She sank to the bottom of the tub, with the warm water hitting her body. It was all coming back to her now. She remembered lying in the middle of the ballroom floor and screaming out “Mommy”. Abruptly everything had stopped. LeAnn wondered if her own mother had saved her.
“Did you, Mommy? Did you save me?” she whispered.
LeAnn stood and quickly finished her shower and climbed out of the tub. Her thick blue terry cloth bathrobe was there on the rack waiting for her. She wrapped it around her body and enjoyed the feel of the velvety soft cotton. Inhaling deeply, she let her breath out slowly. After wiping the steam from the mirror, she stared at herself. “Get a hold of yourself, LeAnn. You’ve always been a strong person. Don’t fall apart now.” She started to get herself ready so that she could get off the island.
Matt came upstairs and said, “Kitchen’s all clean. Are you ready to go?”
“Yes,” she responded as she zipped her duffel bag. She looked around the bedroom to see if she had forgotten anything, and then she looked at Matt and said anxiously, “Let’s go.”
Matt, picking up the duffle bag, was surprised to see that she was eager to get out of her own house. But, then she had experienced the scare of her life, and he was happy she realized she needed to leave.
They walked down the stairs slowly. LeAnn’s legs were still weak, and shaky. LeAnn spotted the journal on the coffee table. She went into the living room and picked it up.
“LeAnn, no,” Matt said, remanding her.
“Matt, I’m going to finish this journal. I have to know what happened on this island. Now, I can finish it at Ridgewood’s, or I can finish it here. What do you suggest?” She stared him down.
He didn’t want to argue with her. He was getting her away from here, and that’s what he wanted. “Fine.”
She was relieved that he had given in. She really didn’t want to stay on the island alone again—at least not just yet.
They walked out onto the porch, and before they closed and locked the door, she asked him if he had locked the back door. He nodded that he had. She locked the front door, he took her hand, and they proceeded down the path.
As they got closer to the boathouse, LeAnn started to slow down and her body became rigid.
Realizing her fear, Matt, quickly said, “LeAnn, I’m here for you. I’m not going to let anything hurt you. There is nothing there.” Matt tried to convince her tat she would be safe with him, and held her hand tighter.
When they reached the boathouse, LeAnn looked up at the French doors. Were they closed? That was impossible. The wind had blown every one of them open! She had seen it with her own eyes.
“Matt, the doors…they were open…the wind.” She couldn’t take her eyes off the doors.
“LeAnn, the doors are closed. If there was a microburst, it would only blow the doors open if they were not latched,” he explained, trying to get her to see reason. “And they could have blown hard from the blast and swung back hard enough to latch.”
“Matt, let’s….” she started still looking up at the French doors.
He knew where she was going with this and interrupted her sternly. “No! We are not going up there. You are going to walk forward right now and get into my boat. And, I am not going to ask you twice,” he said, getting angry now and unable to believe that after all she had been through the night before, she would even consider going up there. “LeAnn, I will carry you if I have to!”
She turned her eyes towards him and saw he was not kidding. She looked back up at the boathouse and allowed him to pull her down the path to the pier. She stepped into his boat. He handed her the duffel bag, untethered the boat, and climbed in after her. He started the motor then headed the boat towards Ridgewood’s.
She turned in her seat to look at her house, and boathouse. She watched as they grew smaller, and smaller as they sailed away. At least tonight she would not be awoken by any ghostly music. Her hands closed tighter over the journal.
She was determined to read this journal and find out the secret that Tabor Island was holding. If she was going to continue living there, she had to find out what that secret was. Along with reading the journal, she just might have to go visit Amelia Tabor and Phoebe Armstrong. One of them had to know something!
She stopped her thoughts long enough to look at Matt. She smiled to herself, thinking what a handsome man he was. Why would he help her like he was? She really was attracted to him. Was he attracted to her, too? Truth be known, she had a crush on him back when they were kids, but he had been a little older, and she was Adams sister. He never paid attention to her.
He turned to look at her. They smiled at each other. “I’m glad you decided to get off the island and stay at Ridgewood’s for awhile.”
“Did I have a choice?” she asked with a smirk.
“Not really,” he responded with a laugh and turned his attention back to steering his boat.
They were coming into the slip at Ridgewood’s, where Matt maneuvered the boat perfectly. She slowly climbed out and tied the rope to the pier. Her legs were stiff and sore. He grabbed her duffel bag and stepped onto the pier. He again took her hand and started to lead her to the lodge. She stopped and turned to look at the island. It looked very lonely out there by itself. She couldn’t see the boathouse and was glad.
Matt pulled gently to nudge her along. She smiled at him, and they continued up the pier to the Ridgewood Resort.
He unlocked the door to a large condo overlooking the lake.
“Oh, Matt. This is fantastic!” she exclaimed as she entered the condo. It was amazing. One whole wall was a floor to ceiling window facing the lake. It was as if the lake was part of the condo.
“I didn’t realize you had condos here with this kind of view.”
Matt didn’t say anything; he just took her duffle bag to the bedroom. Looking around the room, LeAnn noticed a picture on the fireplace mantle of Matt and his parents. She picked up the photo to get a closer look. She looked around the condo. Then it dawned on her, “Matt, is this your condo?” Matt didn’t answer her. “What are you doing? I can’t take your home. Where will you sleep?” There was only one bedroom in the condo.
“Relax. I’m going to stay at the main lodge. It’s the beginning of the off season, and we have plenty of empty rooms. I’ll get one of the best ones and be perfectly comfortable. I want you to stay here so that I know that you’re safe. Now, my sweet, what can I get you?”
LeAnn didn’t know what to say. This man was giving up his home for her, no matter for how long. She just stared at him in wonder.
Smiling, he walked over to her and put his arms around her. “LeAnn, I have to know you’re safe. I have to have you close to me so that I can take care of you. I don’t pretend to know what happened to you last night, but I don’t ever want to see you like that again. I do believe that something happened, and we will figure it out together. You are not going to do this alone. You have become very special to me.” He paused looking into her eyes, and continued, “You’ve been very special to me for quite a long time.”
“Matt—” he didn’t let her finish. He pressed his lips to hers and kissed her passionately.
They broke the embrace and he, reluctantly, said he had to go to work. He held her tightly, then kissed the top of her head. Releasing her, he said, “Okay, I really have to go. The refrigerator is full, the pantry is full, and the bar is full. Make yourself at home. Mi casa es su casa. If there is something you need and can’t find it here, you call me or you call housekeeping.”
“Wow, the royal treatment. I could really get use to this.” She grinned.
“I hope so,” he quipped back. “I wish I could stay with you, especially after what happened last night, but we’ve already cut the staff because of the off season. I will, however, check on you later.”
“Matt, you’ve done way too much already. Thank you. I actually do feel better.”
“Good!” he said with a big smile. Then he saw the journal. “Are you going to read that thing while I’m gone?” He nodded his head in the direction of the journal.
“I really don’t know.” she said truthfully. “I want to because I’m hoping there’s something in there that will shed some light on what happened last night. But I’m not sure what actually did happen last night.”
“I wish you’d just throw it away!” he exclaimed.
Shaking her head, she said, “You know that’s not going to happen.”
“Yeah, that’s the bad part. I do know.” Then he quickly said, “Okay, kiddo, I really do have to go. Is there anything I can do or get you before I go?”
“No, thank you. Go before I get you into trouble with your folks.”
She stood on her toes to reach him and kissed him. Matt pulled her closer and started to give her one of his long kisses, but she broke away, “Good-bye!” she said laughing, as she lightly pushed him toward the door.
He groaned and left.
LeAnn went to the bedroom to unpack her toiletries. She looked around Matt’s bedroom and noticed that everything was neatly in place. “Well, he’s really neat, or housekeeping takes very good care of him.” She thought it was probably the latter. She smiled to herself reliving their long, lingering kiss. Butterflies fluttered in her stomach as she remembered how his lips felt on hers.
“What had he meant when he said I had been very special to him for a long time? Did he care for me as long as I had cared for him?” she said out loud.
After unpacking she went back into the living room and saw the journal on the table. She hesitated before walking over to it. Should she pick it up and read it? She knew she was safe here at the resort. She allowed her fingertips to touch the soft, aging leather, but she just couldn’t pick it up, not just yet.
She went to the kitchen and opened the refrigerator door. She saw that it was very well stocked. She found orange juice and took it out. She started opening cabinets, looking for the glasses. She found one, poured some juice, put the carton back in the fridge, and walked back into the living room.
She looked around and admired the way he had decorated. Had he done it or his mom? Maybe a decorator? Whoever had done it, it was just like she had seen in the decorating magazines. The dining area had a mahogany table with six chairs. This area opened into the living room, where Matt had a white leather couch with navy blue and red accent pillows. He had excellent taste, she thought, admiring the navy blue candles in crystal holders and silk flowers in crystal vases. There was a gas fireplace instead of a wood-burning one like hers, and a large plasma TV above the mantle, and a stereo system in the corner. She was drawn again to the lake view out of the window wall. She noticed the handle to the sliding door. “Of course the whole wall is a sliding door, what else?” She was maybe a little too sarcastic, but the wall did open and disappear into the plastered wall. She walked out onto the large, long balcony. The air was wonderful and fresh as a small breeze greeted her. The patio furniture was bronze colored, wrought-iron, with colorful cushions. The balcony stretched across to the left outside the master bedroom, and there was a small table with two chairs. The view was indescribable. “Hmmm, a view from the bed,” she said with a smile.
LeAnn decided to lounge on one of the patio chaise and relax. She didn’t want to think about last night. She couldn’t explain what had happened. All she knew was she was not going to ruin this peaceful moment by thinking about it. She just couldn’t think about it right now. She knew she would eventually have to remember but not yet.
She settled more comfortable on the chaise and allowed herself to relax. The sun felt so warm on her skin, especially her face. She sat there for a long time just watching the water. She didn’t realize she was actually watching the island…her island.