All she had now was this little compass to guide her.
Muirinn peered out the small window as the floatplane approached the dock, thinking that nothing had changed, yet everything had. Then suddenly she saw him.
Jett Rutledge.
The one person shed sought to avoid for the past eleven years. The reason shed stayed away from her hometown.
He stood at the ferry dock on the opposite side of the harbor, wearing jeans and a white T-shirt, his skin tanned summer dark, his body lean and strong. His thick blue-black hair glistened in the late-evening sun.
Muirinns stomach turned to water.
She leaned forward, hand pressing up against the window as the plane swung around and bumped against the dock. And like a hungry voyeur she watched as the man shed never stopped loving crouched down to talk to a boya boy with the same shock of blue-black hair. The same olive-toned complexion.
His son.
Muirinns eyes brimmed with emotion.
He ruffled the childs hair, put a baseball cap on the boys head and cocked the peak down over his eyes. Jett stood as his kid raced toward the ferry, little red backpack bobbing against his back.
The child hesitated at the base of the gangplank, drawn by some invisible tie to his father. He spun around suddenly, and even from this distance Muirinn could see the bright slash of a smile in the boys sun-browned face as he waved fiercely to his dad one last time before boarding the boat.
At the same time a woman approached Jett, the ocean wind toying with strands of her long blond hair. Her stride was confident, happy. She placed her hand on Jetts arm, gave him a kiss, then followed the child up the passenger ramp.
That vignetteframed by the small float plane windowstruck Muirinn hard.
Her eyes blurred with emotion and a lump formed in her throat. As the sound of the prop died down and the plane door was swung open, Muirinn heard the ferry horn and saw the boat pulling out into the choppy inlet.
Jett walked slowly to the edge of the dock, hands thrust deep in his jeans pockets as he watched the ferry drawing away in a steady white V of foam. He gave one last salute, hand held high in the air, a solitary yet powerful figure on the dock. A lighthouse, a rock to which his boy would return.
You ready to deplane, maam?
Shocked, she turned to face the pilot. He had a hand held out to her, a look of concern in his eyes. She got that a lot at this stage of her pregnancy.
Thank you, she said, quickly donning her big, protective sunglasses as she took his hand. She stepped down onto the wooden dock, disoriented after her long series of flights from New York. Two cabs waited up on the road as the handful of passengers from Anchorage disembarked around her.
Muirinn climbed into the first taxi and gave directions to what was now her property on Mermaids Cove, a small bay tucked into the ragged coastline a few miles north of town. But on second thought she leaned forward. Im sorry, but could you take the long way around town? Not along the harbor road.
Or the past the airstrip.
There was a risk of seeing Jett again if they went that way. She wasnt ready for thateven from a distance. Not now.
Not after seeing him with his son. And his wife.
Muirinns lawyer in New York had told her that Jett Rutledge had led the search team that located Guss body in the mine. This news had rattled herthe idea of Jett still here in Safe Harbor, still saving people when she hadnt allowed him to save her all those years ago. It was almost too painful to imagine.
Muirinn also knew from her grandfather that Jett had married in Las Vegas shortly after shed left town eleven years ago, and that hed had a child. The news had nearly killed her because Jett had refused to follow her to Los Angeles just
a few months before. And when shed learned that she was pregnant with Jetts baby, shed been too proudtoo afraidto return home. And so shed chosen to bear the child alone.
At nineteen, with no money and few prospects, Muirinn had ended up giving their baby up for adoption, a decision that still haunted her.
Shed never gotten over it.
Muirinn had also learned from Gus that Jett had joined the ranks of Alaskas bush pilots, a free-spirited breed unto themselves. And thats when shed told her grandfather to stop.
She didnt want to hear one more word about Jett and his happy little family. It was driving her crazy with the pain of her own losses, so Muirinn had resorted to her tried-and-true coping mechanismshe just severed ties, cutting herself off from the source of her angst. And her grandfather had respected her request.
From that point on, Muirinn knew nothing more about Jetts life. She hadnt even wanted to know his wifes name. And sheer stubborn pride forbade her from ever asking about Jett again, or from coming home. Pride, and her dark secret.
All Muirinn knew for certain was that shed lost the only man shed ever loved through the biggest mistake of her life. One shed never stopped regretting. Because after Jett shed had one failed relationship after another, no man ever quite measuring up to him.