Setting the hurricane lantern next to her glass, Rory sat down near Daria on the sofa. He looked toward the boarded windows, which rattled in the wind.

“I have a feeling there’s still more to come,” he said.

“I wonder what part of the storm is over us now?”

“We’ve been spared, so far,” Daria said.

“Let’s hope it continues that way. Iwish Shelly weren’t right there on the sound, though.” She looked at Rory.

“Why have my sisters kept their lives secret from me?” she asked, hoping Rory didn’t hear the catch in her voice.

“I

thought I knew both of them so well. I thought I knew everything about them, that they loved me and trusted me and knew I’d be there for them, no matter what. I failed them somehow. And I feel. betrayed and hurt and just plain confused. “

Rory rested his arm across the back of the sofa and touched her shoulder with his fingertips.

“Well, Chloe could hardly tell anyone what was going on with her and Sean Macy,” he said.

“And Shelly…” He looked away from her, toward the dark ceiling, as if this was difficult for him to say.

“I remember you telling me that you were pleased she wasn’t involved with anyone. And you told me you put an end to a couple of relationships she’d had. So, I don’t think it’s surprising that she would keep this relationship from you.”

Daria lowered her head. She wasn’t certain what she would have done had she known about Shelly and Andy. While she didn’t think she would have tried to end their relationship, she no doubt would have intervened to make sure that Andy treated her sister well.

“I thought Shelly was content with her life,” she said.

“I thought she wanted nothing more than long walks on the beach and stringing shells for her necklaces.” How could she have wanted so little for her sister?

“I

thought I was giving her everything she needed. I didn’t know she needed more than what I could provide. I bet she was actually seeing Andy some of those times she told me she was out walking. “

“Well,” Rory said, “from the little I saw of them together tonight, it seems that Andy is taking good care of her.”

Images from the pier suddenly flashed into her mind:

the little boy reaching for her hand from beneath the boat;

the woman’s face as the water threatened to pull her under.

“I’m glad you went with me tonight,” she said.

“That mother and son wouldn’t have survived without your help. I think, somehow, we were meant not to evacuate. If we had, they would be dead.”

“Whew,” Rory said with a shudder.

“I hadn’t thought of that.” His fingers touched her shoulder again, lingering there a moment, and she wanted to move closer to him to receive more.

“I thought you were incredible,” he said.

“I know you must have been afraid, since you haven’t worked as an EMT for a while, but you sure didn’t let it show. I couldn’t believe the way you just dived under that boat to get the little boy. You weren’t even thinking about yourself. was more afraid for you than you were for yourself, I think. Then when the water washed over the woman…” He shook his head.p>

“I thought it was going to drag all of us out into the sound.”

Daria smoothed a tear away from her cheek with her fingertips, and Rory must have known she was crying, because he moved closer, putting his arm around her shoulders.

“Did it remind you of… Grace’s daughter?” he asked.

“Seeing the woman go underwater like that, when she was trapped by the boat?”

It touched her deeply that he was thinking of that, that he understood so well. Lowering her face to her hands, she let the tears come.

Rory stroked her hair, letting her cry for a minute, then pulled her into his arms. She felt his warmth and strength, the seductive comfort of his embrace. They were quiet for a moment and, as her tears abated, she became aware of the pressure of his arm against the side of her breast, bare beneath the sweatshirt. The sensation was delicious and provocative, and before she had time to think, she lifted her head from his shoulder and found his mouth with her lips. She felt his surprise; for a second, his body stiffened. Then he reached between their faces with his fingers, drawing back from her to look into her eyes, to touch her lips. In a moment, he was kissing her again, this time with a fever she had not expected. Impulsively, she straddled him, catching her breath when she felt his erection, already hard, already teasing her, from beneath the layers of soft fabric that separated them. His hands stroked her back through the sweatshirt, and she was the one to pull the shirt over her head and drop it to the floor. But he needed no more invitation than that to take over—to lay her down on the sofa, finish undressing her, cover her body with heated kisses. He slipped inside her and rocked with her in the lantern-lit darkness, until her body burned and the howling of the wind was forgotten.

She lay next to him, naked, afterward, and he reached over her to lift pieces of their clothing from the floor and lay them across their bodies, rubbing her arms and back through the fabric to warm her.

Brimming with love for him, she turned her head to press her lips against the warm, quick pulse in his neck.

“Do you realize how long we’ve known each other?” Rory asked.

“I think I’ve known you longer than anyone else, outside my family.”

Daria smiled. “Who would have guessed back when we were kids, pulling crabs out of the bay, that we’d be lying here like this right now?” she said.

“I admired you back then, just like I admire you now. You were so strong and self-confident. I always felt as though I was in competition with you, even though you were younger than me. You were the best at everything. You caught more crabs, you could cast your fishing line the farthest, you could wallop anybody at volleyball and build the highest sand castle on the beach. You were something else.”

He gave her a squeeze.

“You still are.”

She felt his lips press against her temple.

“I had an agonizing crush on you back then,” she said.

Rory laughed. “You did?” he asked. “I had no idea. 7 had a crush on Chloe.”

“Chloe?” Daria repeated in astonishment.

“She was so much older than you.”

“Yeah, well, I had big dreams,” Rory said.

“And now she’s a nun.”

Daria laughed.

“I have to admit, she was never really my type,” he said.

“She was just such a… knockout. It was the yearning of an adolescent male for the best-looking girl on the beach.”

Daria was quiet, thinking that some things never changed. Rory was still attracted to the best-looking girl on the beach: Grace. But she didn’t want to think about Grace just then. Surely what Rory now knew about Grace, not to mention what had just passed between him and Daria, had changed his feelings.

Rory suddenly squeezed her tight, letting out a long sigh.

“I hope what we just did wasn’t a mistake,” he said.

The comfortable warmth she’d been feeling turned suddenly to ice. What did he mean? It was anything but a mistake to her.

“I’m sorry,” he said.

“I’m not sure what got into me.”

“I kissed you first,” Daria said.

“Remember?”

“Well, I’m sure that we were both just responding to what an emotional night it’s been. Let’s not let it harm our friendship. Okay?”

The pain she felt was physical, in her throat, in her chest. He didn’t have a clue what this had meant to her. He could rationalize it all away. She sat up and pulled on the sweatshirt and pants, feeling his eyes on her, his hand on her back, and she wondered if he felt the icy tension coursing through her muscles.

“Well, Rory,” she said, standing up.

“This may have been nothing more than a response to an emotional evening for you, but for me it was something much more. I’m in love with you. Haven’t you figured that out yet?” Without waiting for his response, she turned and left the cottage, running as fast as the wind would let her across the cul-de-sac to the Sea Shanty.

(jfrace stared out the motel window, and her eyes ached from trying to pierce the darkness and the rain. Where was Rory? Where was Shelly?

She was certain she’d heard Rory correctly when he’d told her the name of the motel where they were planning to wait out the storm. She’d checked and rechecked the name and number. Every time a new car pulled into the motel parking lot, she followed it with her eyes, hoping, hoping. She wondered if some how she had missed them, and they were in the motel, after all, maybe just down the hall from her. She would have loved to call the front desk and ask if Rory Taylor ^ had kept his reservation, but she couldn’t. She wasn’t alone in the room.

“Do you want any of this?” Eddie’s voice came from behind her, where he was sitting on the bed. She glanced over her shoulder at him. He was eating chow mein from a carton.

“No, thanks.” She returned her gaze to the window, although by now she knew her vigilance was futile. For one reason or another, they weren’t coming. Dear God, let Shelly be all right.

Eddie finished the chow mein and put the empty carton on the nightstand. 5:

“Grace,” he said, “you’ve been standing at that win dow all night. Who are you waiting for?” He spoke so softly that she barely heard him above the sound of the storm. There was no accusation in his voice, only the gentle question.

“No one.” She walked over to the chair at the side of the room and sat down, giving up.

“Just watching the storm,” she said. It had shocked her to discover that Eddie had followed her all the way from Rodanthe.

She’d been angry at first to find him at her motel-room door, but now that she realized Shelly and Rory weren’t coming, she was glad she was not alone. Eddie had said nothing about why she had picked a motel so far from Rodanthe, and she’d offered no explanation. Now he shifted his position on the bed, and she knew that he wanted to talk.