“Why not?”
“It just wasn’t the big deal it is now. I mean, I’d sometimes stumble across a nest and think it was neat, but I never thought much about it. The closest I ever came to seeing an actual hatching was coming across a nest the day after it happened. I saw all the broken shells around the nest, but it was just part of life around here. In any case, I’ll bet this isn’t what you expected, huh? All these people around?”
“What do you mean?”
“Between you and Will, you watched that nest every night, keeping it safe. And now that the exciting part is about to happen, you have to share it with everyone.”
“That’s okay. I don’t mind.”
“Even a little?”
She smiled. It was amazing how well her dad had come to know her. “How’s your song coming?”
“It’s a work in progress. I’ve probably written a hundred variations of it so far, but it’s still not right. I know it’s kind of a pointless exercise—if I haven’t figured it out yet, I probably never will—but it gives me something to do.”
“I saw the window this morning. It’s almost done.”
Her dad nodded. “It’s getting close.”
“Have they figured out when they’re going to install it?”
“No,” he said. “Still waiting for the money for the rest of the church. They don’t want to put it in until the place is being used. Pastor Harris is worried some vandals might throw rocks at it. The fire has made him a lot more cautious about everything.”
“I’d probably be cautious, too.”
Steve straightened his legs out on the sand, then drew them back in, wincing.
“Are you okay?” she asked.
“Just been standing too much these last few days. Jonah wants to finish the window before he leaves.”
“He’s had a good time this summer.”
“Yeah?”
“He told me the other night that he doesn’t want to go back to New York. That he wants to stay with you.”
“He’s a sweet kid,” he said. He hesitated before turning toward her. “I guess the next question is whether you had a good time this summer.”
“Yeah, I did.”
“Because of Will?”
“Because of everything,” she said. “I’m glad we spent time together.”
“Me, too.”
“So when’s your next trip to New York?”
“Oh, I don’t know. We’ll play that by ear.”
She smiled. “Too busy these days?”
“Not hardly,” he said. “But you want to know something?”
“What’s that?”
“I think you’re a terrific young lady. I never want you to forget how proud I am of you.”
“What brought that up?”
“I wasn’t sure I’d told you that lately.”
She rested her head on his shoulder. “You’re okay, too, Dad.”
“Hey,” he said, motioning to the nest. “I think it’s starting.”
She turned toward the nest, then scrambled to her feet. As Will had predicted, Elliot and Todd were moving around with great excitement while a hush came over the crowd.
It unfolded the way Will had originally described it, except that words didn’t really do it justice. Because she was able to get so close, she could see it all: the first egg beginning to crack open, followed by another and then another, all the eggs seemingly wiggling on their own until the first turtle actually emerged and began to scramble over the wiggling eggs and out of the nest.
Still, it was what followed that was most amazing: first a little movement, then some movement, and then so much movement that it was impossible for the eye to capture it all as five and then ten and then twenty and then too many turtles to count joined in a massive frenzy of activity.
Like a crazy beehive on steroids…
And then there was the sight of the tiny, prehistoric-looking turtles trying to escape the hole; clawing their way up and slipping back down, crawling over the tops of one another… until one finally got out, followed by a second, and then a third, all moving along the sandy trench toward the light Todd was holding as he stood in the surf.
One by one, Ronnie watched them crawling past, thinking them so incredibly small that survival seemed almost inconceivable. The ocean would simply swallow them up, making them disappear, which was exactly what happened as they reached the water and were tossed and rolled in the surf, bobbing briefly to the surface before vanishing from sight.
She’d stood beside Will, squeezing his hand tightly, immensely happy that she’d spent all those nights by the nest and that she’d played some small part in this miracle of new life. It was incredible to think that after weeks of absolutely nothing happening, everything she’d been waiting for would be over in a matter of minutes.