“No!” I cried and Mom held up a feeble hand.
“Honey, please do as he says,” she said weakly and pushed her face into Tammer’s chest.
I started pacing. Something was drastically wrong and it obviously involved Mom. I had never heard her like that. She was mournful and it chilled me to the bone.
One of Tammer’s housekeepers brought me a glass of water.
“No thanks,” I said. The last thing on my mind was eating or drinking.
“I’ll take that.” Tammer strode up to her, taking the elegant goblet in his hand. “Thank you,” he dismissed her.
“Morgan, I’ve got to tell you something. It’d be better if your mother told you, but she’s too distraught.” He plopped down onto the couch. “Do you want to sit?”
“No, just tell me what’s going on.”
“It’s your father.”
I already knew. “He’s dead, isn’t he?” I prayed I was wrong.
Tammer nodded. “He had a heart attack.”
I dropped down beside him, the pillows bouncing. A loud ringing started in my ears and I stared into the hurricane lamp on the coffee table. He couldn’t be dead! My dad was strong and unstoppable. Something as stupid as a blocked artery couldn’t kill him. I should never have left.
“Morgan,” Tammer’s voice snapped me back to reality. “What can I do for you?”
“Let me see my mom,” I said.
He stood and held out his hand. Like a little girl, I took it and he led me to their bedroom.
She lay in the middle of the bed, sobbing. I climbed next to her and lay facing her. Her shoulders shivered and her skin looked a sickly green.
“Morgandy he’s dead! He’s dead!” She repeated. “It’s all my fault!”
“No, it’s not. He had a heart attack. It wasn’t your fault.”
“I never should have left him.”
I didn’t know what to say. She was speaking nonsense. I just lay next to her as she cried. I couldn’t cry. She cried for the both of us. Eventually, she cried herself to sleep.
Slowly, I slid out of bed, closed the door, and went outside. I could see Tammer through the giant windows. He was swimming laps in the pool.
I sat down at the pool’s edge and watched him. He was a graceful swimmer. The water glided around him without breaking into too many ripples. Staring into the water, I started to think about Dad again. What was going to happen now? I was going to have to move here with Mom and Tammer. And my baby sister. What was going to happen to the ranch back home? Who would take care of everything? How was I going to do all this?
A flash of silver woke me out of my daze. Tammer was treading water a few feet in front of me. For a second I could have sworn his eyes were lighter – almost white.
“I’m sorry, Morgan.” He swam toward me. Holding onto the edge of the pool, he ran his hand through his hair. “I know this seems a bit strange of me – swimming at a time like this, but honestly, it’s the only thing that brings me back to reality.”
I was quiet.
“I’m so sorry about your father.” He shook his head. When I didn’t say anything, he hesitated. “I lost my father when I was eighteen.”
“What happened to him?”
“He was murdered.”
That woke me up. “Murdered?” I asked, stunned.
“Yeah,” he pulled himself out of the water and sat next to me. “People in the salvaging business can be dangerous. They said he was on their turf, which is nuts because you can’t claim turf in the sea, especially when it’s in international waters. But he found a haul that was worth a lot of money and they decided they wanted it. Both of my brothers and father were killed in that fight.”
He lifted his arm slightly, revealing a huge scar I hadn’t noticed in the three days I’d been there. It ran from his back around his side down to his hip bone.
“Spear gun,” he said in a monotone. “It shattered four ribs and punctured my liver. I nearly died. It was your mom who saved me.” Abruptly, he stopped talking.
“My mom,” I said slowly. “How’s that possible? I thought you guys met just a couple of years ago.”
A look of anxiety filled his face and he looked at his hands.
I finally blew and slammed my hand down on the tile. “What the hell is going on? What’s with all this secrecy? You guys act like you’re from another world. Why won’t you tell me the truth?”
“There’s way too much happening right now. We will tell you.” He stood and offered his hand to help me up. I ignored it. “I promise we’ll tell you.” He grabbed his towel from a chair and walked into the house.