Faye clapped her hands. “Exactly! I thought the same thing. I mean, I raised him to have manners, but he was so much better behaved than his brother. But now he has you and you’re just as pretty as a picture. Dennis is going to be thrilled.” She stopped and pointed toward the far booth. “Oh look, there’s Marsha right now.” She hurried off in that direction, waving her hand. “Marsha!”
Charli watched Faye go, still giggling, and looked up at Jack. “I really like her!”
“I’m starting to think it was a mistake to bring you here,” Jack grumbled, his expression resigned.
Charli shook her head and wiped her eyes. “No, no, I’m glad you did.” She glanced over at Faye whowas studying something in the Artist Guild booth. “She’s like the energizer bunny.”
Jack smiled at that and laughed. “That’s a good way to describe her. She literally never stops.” He reached down and grabbed her hand. “Are you okay?” he asked, a concerned look on his face.
Charli leaned slightly away and tilted her head back so she could look him in the eye. “Why wouldn’t I be? Your mother is great, and it’s a beautiful day.”
Jack pressed his lips together as if fighting with himself to say something. “She called you my girlfriend. I didn’t want that to upset you.”
Charli grinned and ran her hand lightly over his chest. “Why would I be upset? I thought I was your girlfriend. Aren’t I?”
Jack’s eyes widened and a huge smile cut across his face, and if Charli wasn’t mistaken, there was a flash of relief in his eyes. “Yeah, you are.” He leaned down and kissed her deeply. His head popped up at a loud whistle to find his mother waving them over.
“Oh lord...come on. She’s on a roll right now.” He squeezed her hand. “You don’t mind going to their place for dinner on Sunday?”
Charli melted.This man...
“Of course not. Maybe I’ll have more to tell them about Amelia by then.”
He laced his fingers through hers and started walking toward the Artist Guild booth. “I forgot to ask you...how did it go at the library this morning?”
“Not bad at all. I found the family in the census records and discovered a few other things about her father’s business online. But most of the genealogy and newspaper files for that time period are located at the Marathon branch. Those are being transferred down here for me. They should be here first thing tomorrow.”
Jack nodded. “You know, you should talk to Miriam and the girls about the files that Dottie willed to the society. There may be something in there as well.”
“Oh my god!” Charli exclaimed, her hands coming up to her mouth. “I completely forgot about those. I don’t know why I didn’t say something to Miriam yesterday.”
Jack snorted. “I’m surprised Miriam didn’t suggest it. Guess she was too rattled pretending to be a ghost hunter.”
* * * *
The next morning, Charli combed through a rather detailed book on the history of Key West, searching for possible information on the fate of Amelia’s young lover. She somehow knew she was close to discovering...whatever it was that Amelia was tryingto show them. She felt like she was on the right track, tracing back through time to uncover the mystery of Amelia’s lost love. That information had to be in these records.
She and Jack had spent the previous night reading through the rest of the fourth diary, and it had been an absolute roller coaster. Amelia’s description of her relationship with Ian, and her falling ever more deeply in love had been beautiful.
However, the journal had ended with incredible heartbreak as the last entry retold the events surrounding Ian perishing in the shipwreck and Amelia left to deal with the consequences of a pregnancy out of wedlock. It had been so depressing that she and Jack hadn’t made love as had been their usual evening activity since their weekend on Sunset Key. Instead, they just held each other and drifted off to a troubled sleep.
Charli leaned back and stared at the library ceiling, releasing a long sigh. There was definitely something more to Amelia’s story than just a broken heart, an unexpected pregnancy, and a suicide. But what, Charli couldn’t fathom. And what happened to the baby after she died?
Her head snapped up and she pulled the fourth diary from her bag. If she remembered correctly about halfway through the account, Amelia had revealedseveral details about her sailor. There had to be a record of him somewhere. From what Charli could determine, Amelia’s father had kept impeccable employment records. Maybe Ian was there.
Thumbing carefully through the pages, Charli came to the long entry and smiled. Amelia had certainly had an adventure that day.
April 20, 1870
I went down to the docks today by myself. It was so dangerous and yet exhilarating at the same time, I feared my heart would pound out of my chest. Last night, Gordon had mentioned that one of father’s ships had recently arrived in the harbor and was currently being overhauled. He explained that the hull had been damaged in the last voyage and needed repairs. When I asked the name of the ship, it was the Marybeth. Ian’s ship!
I snuck several of Gordon’s clothes down to the carriage house and changed in there, then jumped over the back fence and made it to the harbor with no further problem. It’s amazing what you can do when people think you are a man. And the trousers were incredibly freeing! My luck was further extended when I ran right into Ian himself. At first, he didn’t recognize me and thought I was a boy. He towered over me and told me to leave then knocked off my hat.When my hair fell out around my shoulders, I thought for certain his eyes would pop out of their sockets. He put the hat back on my head, told me to fix my hair, and took me to a nearby ale house. He was just as handsome as I remembered, if not more so, and not too happy that I had gone to the docks by myself. But he let me stay and even gave me a glass of beer to drink with him! That was my first drink of beer and I cannot say that I liked it. But I learned so many wonderful things about my sailor.
His name is Ian Kennedy and he’s from Galway, Ireland. He is twenty years old and has been at sea since he was fourteen—can you imagine leaving home at fourteen for a life on the sea? He has a dream to own his own fleet someday and says that he is close to buying his own ship. We talked for what felt like hours and then he walked me home. He helped me sneak back into the carriage house so I could change and made me promise to never do anything so reckless again. I told him I would only promise that if I could see him again. I do not think I’ll ever know where I got the nerve to be so bold. It must be love!
Amelia had finished the entry with a drawn heart. Kennedy...that was Ian’s last name and the ship’s name was the Marybeth. That should help. Charlipursed her lips and stared at the diary, her mind whirling on which direction to go.
Key West had lost several ships in the two hurricane’s that hit the Caribbean that October—the Marybeth had only been one. Amelia’s father had noted the loss of the ship and twenty men in his records, but no names had been mentioned. But surely there would be something in Key West’s newspaper.
