Better Than Gold (22 page)

The air completely left the room and she grabbed Monique’s arm for support.

When Heather quieted he let her go. The older woman looked at him with longing, the way a mother might look at a long-lost son. He took a step away and reached into his pocket. Mia thought Heather might flee until Daniel pulled out her buttons.

“I’m glad I found you, Cousin Heather.”

She took her pouch and solemnly opened her hand and held his pouch up on her palm. He took it and tucked it into his pocket.

“I knew all along Liam Bailey had a treasure.” Her chin jutted and Mia thought she might be close to a tear. “I just didn’t know it would be so precious.”

Everyone watched as she stepped up to Daniel and returned the hug he had given her.

That exchange left many scratching their heads. Mia assumed it meant the remains of Liam Bailey now had provenance that would withstand the strongest scrutiny and that two of his descendents had found each other.

As the food came out, as it always did when a big crowd gathered in Bailey’s Cove, more people arrived, among them Chief Montcalm, Officer Doyle and other police officers, some on duty and some off. With each new face, Mia felt more humble.

Daniel escorted a skittish-looking Heather out the door and down the street in the direction of the museum.

“He’s not really back, is he?” Mia said to Monique who had come up and stood shoulder-to-shoulder with her.

“I’m so sorry, honey. I wish I could tell you different. He’s so in awe when he speaks of you. He’d do almost anything you asked of him. Did he ever tell you?”

Mia nodded.

“It didn’t help, did it?”

This time she shook her head.

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

M
IA
STOOD
IN
the middle of the new and gleaming Pirate’s Roost. Every distressed wood table had chairs and one special Captain’s Chair. Oil and acrylic renditions of ships, and even one of South Harbor, hung on the wall. One painting of a ship’s captain, based on the computer image and era of Liam Bailey, took center stage on the wall behind the counter. Melissa Long had painted it masterfully. She would not be the receptionist at the police station for long.

A pair of shoppers stopped and stood, hands shading their brows so they could see inside. She recognized two of tonight’s dinner guests, Millie Davies and Francine Erickson, the wives of a tavern goer and the tavern owner. When she waved, they waved back and moved on.

Her fingernails flashed red. She’d had a manicure for this very special occasion. Not the restaurant opening, but the occasion that through all this she had not chewed off a single nail.

The stools had been installed at the gleaming oak counter. The bakery display case awaited pastries, most of which she had only seen in pictures, but the ones she had tasted were each a delightful treat. Monique would never tell her she was too skinny again.

The kitchen had the space and equipment to lure a pair of recent culinary school graduates, who had wined and dined her to prove their worth. Monique and Lenny particularly enjoyed these meals, as did her parents. The pair of chefs were grateful to be given such a chance to prove themselves and Mia was willing to let them. They would all grow together.

A building extension had been added to the stairs, and the new elevator, leading to the hotel portion of the building could be segregated from the restaurant. Daniel had insisted the rest of Mia’s plans be carried out along with the restaurant. It was all breathtaking and as lovely as she had ever hoped it would be.

She even had a full staff.

The ex-vandal Mickey Thompson worked there on weekends and he actually seemed to enjoy something besides truancy. He and Edwin Beaudin had struck up a friendship because Mr. Beaudin had become the procurer of fresh seafood for the Roost and often delivered product himself.

Charlie, Rufus and Stella all had positions with Pirate’s Roost, even though they admitted to digging the hole in the root cellar... Well, Charlie had dug while the two of them encouraged him. As a condition of employment, they did promise to perpetrate no more destruction on the premises of Pirate’s Roost. That left the rest of Bailey’s Cove and it seemed a fair and adequate bargain for all involved.

In the area that had been the center wall, in between the load-bearing columns of two-hundred-year-old lumber was a three-foot-high partition. On the partition was a monument to the love story of Liam Bailey and Colleen Fletcher.

On the town’s new website and in all the official literature, only a minor reference had been made to Bailey’s previous job experience and but a handful of treasure hunters had come so far.

Liam Bailey had been interred in the old Sacred Heart Church cemetery next to Colleen Fletcher McClure. His tomb had been given to the Bailey’s Cove museum where Heather painstakingly reassembled it and restored the rose to the vibrant color it had been two hundred years ago. Heather Loch didn’t seem to be afraid of the people of Bailey’s Cove anymore, nor they of her.

Was there a treasure buried somewhere in town? No one knew. All they knew for sure was the pirate did not take his money and run. What most assumed is that Archibald Fletcher stole the treasure when he took the pirate’s life.

Mia strode over and ran her hand over the shining surface of the counter.

Was it shiny enough?

She took the always-present rag from her pocket and began to polish.

The Pirate’s Roost staff would be arriving in a couple hours to begin preparation for the first public serving of food, a single buffet seating of VIPs. The guest list included the likes of the denizens of Braven’s tavern, several police officers, one chief of police, the mayor, who had finally returned to town, and the members of the town council who had promised to run the town like the democracy it was always intended to be. Invited also were Dr. Daniel MacCarey, Monique, Heather Loch and the people in town who had done their best to make sure the Roost came to be. She loved each and every one of these people and one in particular...

She couldn’t wait to have these Very Important People fill the dining room and spill out onto the gorgeous patio behind. The decorative paving and plantings would help make up for the lack of a harbor view back there. Tonight it would be lit with tea-light candles and twinkle lights.

All the guests were expected to roam the premises as they drank cocktails and tested the appetizer menu. Then a slightly altered menu, one designed to withstand the rigors of a buffet would be served, including dessert, of course. The food would be a test of the two new chefs, who reminded Mia of Monique and her at age twenty-two. Friends forever, then and now, they had a chance at always.

For the past two days, the staff had been there until late, prepping food and practicing the dance of serving and keeping guests happy. She had told them all not to show up until noon today.

Daniel hadn’t come to town often and the last two times he understood when she was too busy for more than a hello. Today he was stopping in to see her at ten o’clock—in two minutes. He said he needed to speak with her alone before the staff arrived.

She stopped polishing the counter when she noticed a black Cadillac convertible pull up in front of the Roost. The car Daniel’s great-aunt Margaret had left him. The car was immediately surrounded by people. She watched as he started getting hugs even before he got out of the car.

He’d be inside in a few moments.

She turned and fled into the kitchen. In there she could freak out for a minute before he got away from the crowd and none of those who peeked in the windows would see her. She leaned over the stainless-steel counter and let the cool of the metal ground her.

She could do this.

He’d most likely come to discuss something about the opening.

Or he probably wanted to deliver a grand bouquet of flowers personally. That would be just like him. Make sure they got there and found a place to be displayed without causing her any inconvenience. Ah-yuh. No inconvenience to see Daniel MacCarey. Only heartache. Of one thing she was sure, she could not die of a broken heart. Alas.

She heard the door open and let in the street sounds and then it closed again and everything was quiet except the hum of the refrigeration equipment. She was never ready enough to see Daniel’s face, hadn’t prepared herself enough to withstand the storm of loss that would follow when he left.

A second later, the kitchen door swung open and he stood in the doorway.

No flowers.

She refused to worry. It didn’t have to mean anything except the flowers would be delivered. Maybe they would arrive any minute and then she would have something to do with her hands, because now she had to tuck them into her pockets because she couldn’t find anything to clean.

“Daniel, I’m not sure I have the time right now.”
Or the courage
.

“I know I am responsible for the scared look on your face.”

“Don’t be silly. I have a restaurant opening, unless you’ve forgotten. That’s pretty scary.”

“So you’re ready to sell great seafood and a passable hamburger to the tourists?”

“You heard me say that? I thought you were too busy checking out the granite pieces after Earl trashed the site.”

“I have heard every word you have ever said to me.”

She had no idea why that took her breath away, but she pulled out the stool from under the stainless-steel counter and took a seat.

He sat next to her. Then he took hold of her stool and pulled her closer to him. He looked happier than she had ever seen him.

The change had begun subtly the day he rescued Pirate’s Roost when Heather Loch, his cousin many generations separated, quieted in his arms. If Heather was responsible for the change in Daniel, Mia was grateful.

Mia got that he didn’t need her for this transformation, that he had reconciled himself to the solo life. It seemed to be going well for him.

She smiled at him. “Hey, you said you weren’t sure how going over Dr. Donovan’s head to get Pirate’s Roost freed up would turn out. Do you still have a job?” She tried to make her words sound light but concerned.

“I’m no longer an assistant professor at the university.”

“Oh, Daniel, where will you go? Positions for an anthropologist in the state of Maine are few and far between.”

“Thin on the ground, Mrs. Wahl would say.”

The dread that began to clench her insides when he arrived with no flowers started to bloom in her chest.

“You’re pretty casual about your future.”

“Apparently, Dr. Donovan had been doing some creative billing of expenses over the last few years and was hoping to use the treasure of Liam Bailey as a get-out-of-jail-free card with the university. That’s why he was so adamant about keeping Pirate’s Roost. It was for himself, not the university.”

“Oh, my, what does that mean?”

“It means he has a lot to pay back and now he is free to seek another job to do so.”

“They fired him? And they gave his job to you?”

“They fired him, and they gave the job to a very deserving woman who has been a professor there for several years.”

“Stop teasing me. I still care what happens to you.”

“They promoted me to full professor and gave me tenure.”

“Oh, Daniel.” She hugged him. “That’s wonderful.”

“I have something else to tell you.”

“You’re off to Guatemala?”

“I’m staying right in Maine for as long as I need to be here.”

“Okay, I’m not guessing anymore. What else do you have to tell me?” She knew it made no difference where he worked or lived or traveled for his job, it would not affect her much—yet she felt a sense of relief knowing he wouldn’t be in another country.

“Are you ready?”

“Not yet.” She pointed at his boots. “You had them fixed. You had those old boots you wore the first day fixed. They look great.”

“Aunt Margaret gave them to me. Said they would give me a good
understanding
as I pursued my dreams. I couldn’t part with them.”

Mia swallowed the lump of gratitude in her throat. Daniel had found his way. He’d go on with his life and he’d do it well. “Okay, now I’m ready. What else do you have to tell me?”

“Heather Loch came to see me at the university. She had some very important things to say to me.”

Mia didn’t move. She breathed only a few molecules at a time. She was afraid if she breathed more, she might disturb the fragile healing that had begun in Daniel. “What did she say?”

“She said in fifty years I’d be her.”

“That you’d have bushy white hair?”

He nudged her gently. They both leaned against the stainless-steel counter and stared face out toward the large hooded grill. Thanks to him, the kitchen was everything she had dreamed of.

“She didn’t promise that.”

“Then I don’t know what that means,” she managed to say.

“She said she felt as I did when she was my age and look where it got her. She said she stopped taking real life chances, stopped letting people get close to her, and she missed out on a lot, which she now regrets.”

Mia tried to stay calm. The words he spoke changed nothing.

“Then she asked me what my wife would have done if she found out a child of ours might die. Would she have married me or not? I thought I knew the answer to that, but Heather wouldn’t let me tell her. She said the answer was not for her, but for me. That I should think about it and not to be selfish when I did.”

He took hold of her hand. Mia wasn’t even sure he realized he had done it. She sat quietly.

“And then she told me I was an idiot.”

A laugh burst from Mia. “An idiot? When was the last time someone called you an idiot?”

“Never happened before.” He squeezed her hand. “Have I burned every bridge between us?”

She looked into his eyes, searching for a hint of hope that this was anything but more of the same. “I don’t know. Why did Heather call you an idiot?”

“The first time she called me an idiot...” He let her chuckle about that and then continued. “She said if I got into a relationship thinking there were guarantees, I needed to take my head out of the sand. Only she didn’t say out of the sand. She was more anatomical.”

“She said that to you?”

He nodded slowly.

“I might—have kept one or two bridges hidden from you.”

He leaned in and kissed her on the lips.

It was a wonderful, long kiss, but she’d been here before. Exactly here. What if this was goodbye?

She broke the kiss and started to get up, but he stopped her and pulled her back down onto the stool.

He kissed her again and this time the contact paralyzed her. He put a hand behind her head and deepened the kiss, and then pulled back.

“I’m desperately searching for that bridge here.”

“I thought...”

He pulled her against him and kissed her until she put her arms around his neck and kissed him back.

She broke away and panted before she spoke. “I can’t let myself dream about us anymore, Daniel. I can’t.”

* * *

“M
IA
...”

“I lost you, Daniel. I had lost you forever. I could never get used to that.” There was still fear in her voice and he wanted to make that go away.

“I’m here now.”

She remained still, stayed where she was. He hadn’t planned this very well today. He just knew he had to find her, make her believe in him again. If he could just figure out the words to make things better.

“I could not see any other way that seemed fair,” he said at last.

“That’s part of what makes you who you are. Funny, no matter how much I hurt, I could never hate you.”

“I would like to make it up to you for my being the idiot.”

She turned toward him and reached out her hand. Her gentle tentative touch on his face gave him hope. She couldn’t hate him and that gave him hope, too. She was his friend. She loved him as a friend. That was a start.