Page 276 of Hidden Tide
The person Dad trusted to preserve the truth.
Robert had hidden the film inside a locked safety-deposit box under an assumed name. Captain Marquez’s brass key opened it.
Dad hadn’t trusted one man with everything.
He gave Robert the film.
Captain Marquez the key.
Grandpa the compass.
And me the choice of what to do when all three pieces finally came together.
He made certain no one could destroy the evidence by killing a single person.
He also made certain the truth couldn’t be uncovered until the people he loved had enough help to survive it.
“I wish he could see what you did,” Storm says.
“We did it.”
“He chose you.”
“He chose all of us.”
I look across the deck.
Willow moves between the tables, rearranging food that has already been arranged perfectly. She is wearing a blue dress, but she has an apron tied over it because she refuses to let anyone else touch the meal she prepared.
Hazel is helping Thomas into a chair near the stern. His health has improved since Donald’s arrest. The burden he carried for twenty-three years hasn’t disappeared, but he no longer carries it alone.
Ivy sits beside Naomi on the cushioned bench.
Naomi still has nightmares.
She doesn’t hide them from us anymore.
She has started working with Agent Marquez and the federal victim-support team to help identify other people transported through Simon’s network. Some days are more difficult than others, but every morning she wakes up free.
Captain David Marquez walks onto the dock beside his daughter.
He carries a cane, although he uses it more to point at things than to support himself. Agent Marquez pretends to be irritated by this.
The way she holds his arm tells a different story.
Mom waits at the end of the gangway.
Nathan stands with her.
Their hands are almost touching.
Almost.
My sisters and I have noticed.
Mom believes we haven’t.
Nathan looks at her as though every room becomes brighter when she enters it. Mom looks at him when she thinks no one is watching.
