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Myra poured a cup of coffee and added creamer before handing it to me, then poured one for herself. “Not much. He didn’t like to think about it.” She sat on the stool next to mine and leaned her elbow on the counter with a sigh. “I think he felt responsible.”
“Why? The man was after me.”
“Maybe he thought he should have been here.” She took a sip of her coffee. “He said he wished he’d never left the house that night.”
“I don’t remember much about the attack and nothing at all about the investigation after. I only know what Daddy told me. He said they thought the man who did it was someone who didn’t like him.”
“Yes, he told me there had been some kind of zoning meeting and his was the deciding vote against the man who had made the zoning request. I don’t even remember what it was about.” She frowned and reached over to tuck a loose tendril of hair behind my ear. “It seems wrong of me not to know.”
“It’s okay, Myra.”
She shook her head. “No, it’s not. It’s normal for you to ask questions. Especially after what happened to your dad. Honestly, I’m surprised you haven’t asked sooner.”
I never thought to ask because I carried so much blame myself. But the new dreams and the stain on the floor made me wonder if what I remembered was true. Why it mattered now, of all times, was more of a mystery.
“The man made threatening calls to your father and mother. Then he started mentioning you, threatening to harm you. That’s when your dad called the police. The police questioned him, your dad filed a restraining order, and that seemed to be that. In fact, the man moved off the island, so everyone thought you were safe.”
“But I wasn’t.”
She frowned. “No, you weren’t.”
“If they knew who did it, why didn’t they arrest him?”
She sighed and crossed her legs. “Well, for one thing, they never had concrete proof it was him. They only suspected. And for another, they couldn’t find him. He left the island about a month before your mother’s death. And when the police tried to find him to question him, it was like he fell off the face of the earth. They had no idea where he was.”
I leaned my elbows on the counter. “So he got away with murder.”
“If he did it, yeah, I guess so.”
I expected to feel bitter at the realization. Instead, I only felt profound sadness. “I remember being upstairs getting ready for bed. A storm was blowing in, and I was scared, especially since a tree branch kept banging against my window. Momma told me to pick a book for her to read to me, but first she went downstairs to make sure the doors were locked. Then I heard breaking glass.”
Myra took my hand in hers.
“There was shouting, and I went to sit at the top of the stairs, too scared to go down even though I heard the man yelling for me.” I still lived with the guilt of my cowardice. I looked into Myra’s face. “I didn’t know that man had threatened me before that night until you just told me.”
“I’m not surprised. You were only eight. They probably didn’t want you to be scared.”
“I should have gone downstairs, Myra. If I’d gone downstairs, Momma might still be alive.”
Tears in her eyes, Myra squeezed my hand and shook her head. “No, Ellie. You would have been killed.”
“But I could have saved her.”
“Do you really think your mother could have lived with the knowledge that you were murdered in front her, and she couldn’t stop it? I assure you that she very willingly sacrificed herself for you. And she’d make the exact same choice again. Just like I would.”
My voice broke. “It’s not fair. Daddy sacrificed himself for me too. I didn’t ask either of them to do that.”
She smiled through her tears. “Oh, Ellie. You carry so many burdens, sometimes I forget how young you really are.” Tears streamed down her cheeks. “Of course you didn’t have to ask them to do it. That’s what it means to be a parent.”
I threw my arms around her neck and clung to her, needing to feel close to her. I knew that soon I’d have to sacrifice my own needs to keep her safe, just as my parents had done for me. I was dangerous to Myra. I had to figure out a way to send her away. Even if it meant losing her.
“You have no idea how much it hurts me to see you with all this responsibility heaped on your shoulders.”
I sat up. “You know I don’t mind helping with the inn.”
“That’s not what I’m talking about.”
My mouth parted, but no words came.
