Page 403 of The Romance Adventure
Lola stops just short of the cave, paddling her little flippers as if waiting for me. If I didn’t have a mouthpiece in right now, my smile would be so big.
Never before have I been so certain about something, but I am sure the crown is in the cave. With a nod at Lola, I carefully swim in and turn on my light. It’s not deep and there are rocks heaped up irregularly. Could be a cave-in, but my guess is something else arranged the rocks this way. My imagination tells me it could’ve been from a flipper-in. A massive aquatic animal stashed something in here that she didn’t want anyone to find.
Maybe except for me.
I remove the sand-colored stones and something glimmers. Gasping, not a good idea while wearing scuba gear, I carefully remove the crown. There is some algae on the points and a couple of knicks on the base, but otherwise, it’s in perfect condition. Not that it matters.
We found the Coroa de Lágrimas!
If the manatee could understand me, I’d tell her thank you. Heck, I’d like to hug her. Instead, we exchange another moment of knowing connection, gazes meeting.
“Thank you,” I say, not caring that I’m letting out bubbles.
Then I swim home, treasure in hand. Like Poseidon emerging from the ocean, I hold the crown overhead as I emerge.
Everyone on shore cheers. Jolie and my brothers rush into the shallows. The others follow.
“You found it. How’d you find it?” Jolie asks, eyes sparkling.
“It wasn’t me.”
Everyone goes quiet.
“I had some help. Lola is the true Miss Manatee who wears the crown.”
“Lola the Sassy Sea Cow found the crown?” Harley asks, dubious.
“No, she hid it.”
“I think CJ needs some extra oxygen,” Ryan says.
Isla smiles. “I’ve heard stranger things.”
We head back to the house, but not before I take note that the Dark Seas is closer than before. Did Captain J see our triumph? I sense he has yet a role to play, so I keep my concern to myself.
After a quick shower, I tug on clean board shorts and meet everyone downstairs.
The ladies take turns trying on the crown. When it comes to Jolie, she waves her hand as if to say, No, thank you.
“Too tempting?” Royal asks.
Kissing my wife on the temple, I say, “She’s more beautiful without a crown.”
Harley throws one of Luke’s socks at me. I can’t be too upset because the kid has cute little toes. I break away for a moment and tickle what I call his dino toes and recite a variation of This Little Piggy Went to Market.
When I return to the group, I can’t read the meaning in Jolie’s gaze. Is it longing, sadness, regret, or something else?
Magnus comes over to me and plants a heavy hand on my shoulder, “Brother, at Isla and Royal’s wedding, I asked, ‘What will happen when we find the crown? Send it to a museum?’”
“And I said ‘No, we’ll get our parents back.’”
“How?” Royal asks.
Ryan comes over. “Yeah, how?”
“Refer to the will. It’s all here. It has to be.” I send up a silent prayer because this is the moment everything has built toward. Will we be able to find our parents? I cling to hope.
From a folder I grab from the home office, I pull out two copies of Chip’s will. The others view it on their phone. Pairing off, but not as couples, we review it, line by line. Isla thought that would be a good strategy to mix it up because something new might jump out at us. We pore over it. Hours pass. Snacks are made. Ideas tossed about.
