Beside a Dreamswept Sea Read Online Free PDF Page B

really hard for a mom, then—for Jeremy and Lyssie.”
    Suzie nodded. “How come your fingers are cold?”
    He stared at them. What could he say? I have no life. And the absence of life renders the absence of warmth? Would she accept that?
    “Tony? You promised never to lie.”
    He tried, but he couldn’t make himself meet her eyes and maybe see her condemnation of him reflected there. “Being alive makes you warm, Suzie.”
    “Outside.” She touched his jacket over his heart. “But you’re warm in here. That’s where it’s important—Selena said.”
    To Suzie, Selena obviously was the ultimate authority. “She’s a wise woman.” And with the gift Suzie’d just given him, if he’d ever doubted it, Tony now had seen it proven true: Seascape was a magical place. And how he prayed he had the skills to bring Suzie a gift she’d treasure as much as he did her acknowledgment that he had heart: a new mom.
    He and Hattie certainly would do everything possible, and they’d pray hard—more than hard, if he knew his beloved, and he certainly did—that the special guests did their part.
    “Tony.”
    “Hmm?”
    “I lied to you.” Suzie blinked furiously then forced her gaze up to his. Guilt radiated from her in pulsing waves. “I really do want a mom.”
    “I know.” Understanding what that admission had cost her, he swallowed down a hard lump from his throat and stroked her sleep-tangled hair. “Sometimes when something’s really important to us, well, we all tell ourselves it isn’t important so it won’t hurt so much if we don’t get it.”
    “Even you?”
    “Even me.” He met her big brown eyes, thinking of Hattie. “But I’ll share a secret with you. If we wish really hard, you might just get a new mom.”
    Remorse slithered through him. He shouldn’t have told Suzie that. He hadn’t meant to, but the longing in her had struck a chord in him, the same chord that reminded him of all those nevers between him and Hattie, and it had just slipped out.
    Suzie’s eyes sparkled and her mouth dropped open into a big O. “Honest? You’re not just telling me that? Grown-ups do that sometimes. I don’t like it.”
    How could he recant after that? “No, I’m not just saying it. It could happen, Suzie, but it could not happen, too. That’s why we have to wish hard. It all depends on your dad and, er, the lady who’s coming.”
    “She’s coming here?” When he nodded, Suzie’s eyes stretched even wider. “But what if we don’t know it’s her? She could go away, and Jeremy and Lyssie—”
    “You’ll know her. I promise.” Tony touched a finger to the flower at his lapel. “She’ll be wearing a yellow carnation, just like this one.”
    “But—”
    “Shh, it’s time to sleep now. And, remember. No nightmares, not at Seascape.” He tucked the thick quilt up under her chin then tapped a fingertip to her nose. “Miss Hattie would pitch a fit.”
    “Miss Hattie doesn’t do that.” Suzie giggled, then sobered. “Mrs. Wiggins might, though.”
    Tony grunted. The battleaxe surely might. “I want you to listen carefully, Suzie. This is very important, okay?”
    “Okay.”
    “We can’t interfere with your dad and the lady who’s coming here.” He dropped his voice to a soft whisper and spoke straight to the child’s soul. “But—and this is a promise—if only one has the courage to believe, miracles can happen beside a dreamswept sea.”
    Suzie looked awestruck, then frowned, clearly worried. “But I don’t believe in miracles anymore. I even told Missy and Selena.”
    The child had grasped the significance of his words to her; no doubt about it. “Then you’ve got to try to believe in them again. So you’ll heal.”
    For a long moment, the child stared at his jacket buttons and worried her lip with her teeth. Then she looked back at his eyes, her own filled with resolve. “I can’t promise, but if you say it’s true, then I’ll try hard to believe it. I really will,