Heavenly Stranger Read online

  Heavenly Stranger

  Tina Wainscott

  Heavenly Stranger

  Copyright© 2020 by Tina Wainscott

  ISBN: 9781945143779

  www.WrittenMusings.com

  www.TinaWainscott.com

  Cover Design www.AustinWalp.com

  U.S.A.

  This is a fictional work. All characters and events in this publication, other than those clearly in the public domain, are solely the concepts and products of the author’s imagination or are used to create a fictitious story and should not be construed as real. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form by any means, without the prior permission in writing, except in the case of brief quotations, reviews, and articles.

  For any other permission, please visit www.WrittenMusings.com/contact.

  Contents

  CHAPTER 1

  CHAPTER 2

  CHAPTER 3

  CHAPTER 4

  CHAPTER 5

  CHAPTER 6

  CHAPTER 7

  CHAPTER 8

  CHAPTER 9

  CHAPTER 10

  CHAPTER 11

  CHAPTER 12

  CHAPTER 13

  CHAPTER 14

  CHAPTER 15

  CHAPTER 16

  CHAPTER 17

  CHAPTER 18

  CHAPTER 19

  CHAPTER 20

  CHAPTER 21

  CHAPTER 22

  CHAPTER 23

  CHAPTER 24

  CHAPTER 25

  EPILOGUE

  SNEAK PEEK

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  CHAPTER 1

  “This baby is going to kick some serious butt.” Wayne Schaeffer scrambled from the engine to the cockpit of the sleek red boat with the fancy name Maddie had forgotten.

  “Hey, I thought I was your baby.” She gave him a faux pout.

  In return, he gave her the smile that had captured her heart in high school and hadn’t let go, even after six years of marriage. “You’re the Baby. This is a generic baby. Come for a test drive with me. The guy I bought it from says it roars like a lion.”

  She cursed her fine, shoulder-length hair that whipped into her face for the gazillionth time. It didn’t have the decency to be blonde or brown, so it hovered somewhere between. “Nah. It’s too choppy today.”

  Wayne’s thick, black hair danced in the warm breeze blowing off Sugar Bay. The Sugar Bay Marina hugged the curve of the half-moon bay. Three rows of docks snaked out into a bay where a maze of sandbars and oyster beds lurked. Her uncle Barnie said someday the dangers of the bay would chew up a boat and its passengers, that it was just a matter of time. So far, so good though.

  Wayne made another adjustment. “How could I have married a girl who gets seasick?”

  “I don’t get seasick, just queasy.”

  “I keep telling you, that is seasickness.”

  She didn’t much like going fast either, but she kept that to herself. It was Wayne who loved careening through the black night on the Gulf of Mexico, hugging her against his chest as she squeezed her eyes shut in abject terror.

  “Should I go faster?” he’d call out next to her ear. She wanted to say no but always said yes because she didn’t want to seem lame.

  What she enjoyed was taking out the dinghy—the Dinky Wayne called it—and skirting the little islands looking for shells and driftwood. She also knew it bored him to death, going slow and leisurely. She did not want to bore Wayne.

  He came from money, if there was such a thing in Sugar Bay. The real distinction was whether you lived on the water, had a pool, and owned the place where you worked. Back in the thirties, Wayne’s family bought up acres of land on the water and built the marina that had recently been bequeathed to Wayne. The Schaeffers envisioned Sugar Bay as a resort town for the northern coast of Florida.

  Unfortunately, they forgot one tiny requirement for resort towns: beaches. Oh, they’d tried to bring in the beach. They’d dredged and pumped and trucked it in and dumped it onto the rocks. Mother Nature laughed in their faces and washed it all away with every storm.

  The sudden roar of the boat’s engine made Maddie jump. The green piling she brushed against sent a sliver of wood into her thumb. Wayne cut the engine and hopped onto the dock.

  “What’s a’matter, Baby?”

  “Splinter,” she muttered, thumb jammed against her teeth as she tried to extract it.

  “Here, let me see.” He squeezed it out and kissed the pad of her thumb. “Okay?”

  She nodded. Everything was okay since Wayne had rescued her from terminal wallflower-dom all those years ago. The rest of the boys in town saw her as the scrawny girl who was sick through most of her school years. Besides all of them picking up her family’s nickname for her, “Baby,” the boys said those dreaded words whenever she even thought about kissing them: You’re just like a sister to me.

  Well, heck, she could have told them having a sister wasn’t all it was cracked up to be. But she didn’t, because she was quiet, nice Maddie Danbury who didn’t cause any trouble, no how, no way.

  Then Wayne’s dad, God bless him, had moved back to Sugar Bay. He took over the old marina and turned it into something new and full of life. And Wayne walked into her English class and did the same for her.

  “You gonna come for a ride, or what?”

  “Well…”

  “Come on, you never say no to the one who loves you. Besides, this is your place, too. It’s your duty to get a feel for the boats we sell.” He kissed her on the forehead and, before she could even kiss him back, hopped onto the boat. “Selling used speedboats is much more exciting than just taking care of other people’s boats. Look at this Mystic Powerboat. This baby’ll go over a hundred miles per hour; you’ll pee your pants.”

  She pulled an impressed face. “Ooh yeah, that convinces me.” A twinge lit her stomach when she felt herself giving in like she always did. No, she wasn’t feeling it. At all. And she did need to put her foot down and say no sometimes, even to the one she loved. “Not today. Besides, it’s my day to walk the dogs at the Society.”

  “You’d put dogs before your own husband?”

  “Those dogs are homeless and you’re not, so today I would. Plus, don’t really feel like peeing my pants.”

  He chuckled. “All right, I won’t twist your arm. Maybe we’ll make our date taking the Dinky out and catching the sunset.”

  She didn’t miss his disappointment and tried to make up for it with her enthusiasm. “Kewl. I’ll grab some subs and a six-pack from Homer’s. Did you fix the gas gauge yet?”

  “Nah. Got to be some excitement on that thing, never knowing if we’ll be stranded out there.” She must have let her apprehension show, because he added, “You know I wouldn’t let anything happen to you, don’t you?”

  She smiled. “Nobody takes care of me like you do.”

  “’Sides, it’d be romantic, alone on the Dinky at night, no one knowing where we are.”

  He did look right at home on that snazzy catamaran, moving deftly around, yet taking a moment to touch the fiberglass curves like it was some sexy woman. Wayne didn’t even like sexy women. If he did, he sure wouldn’t have married her skinny, flat-chested self. When he started that blasted motor again, she stopped breathing for a minute. The hari-kari look flickering in his blue eyes sent a thrill of fear through her. He got the look when he was skirting the edges of oyster beds or sending a boat into full throttle.

  The engine churned the green water as he maneuvered out of the navigational challenge of Sugar Bay. No one had removed the pilings fro
m the original marina. They had disintegrated into spiky talons over the years. Wayne thought they added atmosphere and had dredged the pass to go right by them. As long as boaters made the passage warily, they’d be fine.

  But Wayne was showing off. She couldn’t complain too much, since he was showing off for her. He’d threaded through the maze a gazillion times, even on moonless nights with a couple of beers in his belly. Which she hated.

  He gunned the engine as soon as he cleared the docks and the one boat coming in. She knew exactly what he was going to do: head straight for the warning sign on the mound of oysters, then feint to the right at the last possible second. She leaned against the piling, mindful of splinters and powdery white pelican poop. Yep, he was going to give her a scare.

  A seagull squawked from above. Wavelets sloshed around the pilings and sent a tiny brown crab scurrying out of the water’s reach.

  Wayne glanced back at her and grinned. She smiled back because he expected it.

  “Someday that boy’s gonna get himself hurt fooling ‘round like that,” Barnie said from his docked sailboat, just like he always did when he saw Wayne pulling his stunts. Barnie was her dad’s uncle, her great uncle, but she just called him Barnie.

  “Not Wayne.”

  Wayne tugged on the wheel, but the boat wasn’t turning to the right.

  She forced a laugh, but it sounded brittle. “Always fooling, isn’t he?”

  He wasn’t fooling. His motions turned frantic as he jerked the wheel. Time slowed to a halt as she stood helpless on the dock, hoping it was a joke after all. He pushed on the throttle, but it was too late.

  The boat hit the piling with a deafening thud that shuddered through her entire body and loosened the hold of shock and fear that paralyzed her. Wayne was thrown free, and his arms and legs pummeled the air. His scream rivaled the warped sound of the boat’s engine as it rocked sideways and hit the oyster beds.

  Signs didn’t have to warn what the eye could see: jagged edges clawing out of the green depths. Wayne sailed through the air, hit one of the warning signs, and dropped into the water.

  She started to run but stumbled. Her rubbery legs weren’t cooperating.

  “Calling for help,” Barnie yelled and grabbed his cell phone.

  She never took her eyes off the place where Wayne had disappeared.

  Two men on a nearby boat headed over. Maddie reached the corner of the docks and ran down the narrow dock. Someone’s senseless wails penetrated her brain. Who was screaming like that, she wondered, then realized the screams were coming from her.

  The men reached Wayne, and she heard them say, “Oh, my God,” and “Let’s get him out of there,” but she refused to hear the resignation in their voices. Wayne was all right. He’d be bruised, sure, maybe even break a bone or ten. It would teach him not to be so reckless.

  The two men lifted him gingerly out of the water. They wouldn’t have done that if there was no hope, so he must be all right, and the blood running down the side of his head just superficial cuts, that was all.

  She climbed to the stern of one of the docked boats, then tumbled into the water. She rolled right into the breaststroke. Only a minute in, they were headed back, pausing as they came close. “I’m his wife, I’m his wife,” she heard herself say as they helped her aboard.

  “It don’t look good. Let’s get him to the dock,” one of the men said.

  Wayne was curled in on himself. One arm was pressed over his stomach where the torn fabric of his shirt was soaked in blood. Superficial, just a scratch. The tiny cuts on his face wouldn’t even scar probably.

  She knelt beside him. “Wayne, you’re going to be all right, you hear me. Help’s on the way.”

  She bent to kiss him, but the kiss was warm and sticky. A trickle of blood seeped from the corner of his mouth. She brushed it away with her trembling fingers.

  “I’m sorry, Baby.” He sounded like he was gargling.

  “You have nothing to be sorry about. You’re going to be fine,” she said firmly, in case anyone dared doubt her.

  He swallowed, then winced. “I don’t…think so, Baby.”

  She stared into his eyes, willing him to believe her words. “You’re fine, dammit.”

  His eyes were glassy and filled with tears. “I’m sorry…stupid…” He coughed, and more blood poured out. She quickly wiped it with the bottom edge of her shirt. He’d probably bitten his tongue.

  “You promised you wouldn’t break my heart.” Her voice was a stretched whisper. “You promised.”

  “I know…”

  He took a wheezy breath. More coughing, more blood. She wiped it away again.

  “I won’t break your heart. I’ll…” He squeezed his eyes shut and swallowed like he had a sore throat. When he opened his eyes, he was looking beyond her. His expression changed from pained to peaceful. “An angel.”

  “What?”

  “Look, Baby.”

  She didn’t want to take her eyes off him, but she looked anyway. Through the waves of her tears, she saw two rainbows. She blinked to clear her eyes, but there were still two of them, one above the other. That had to be a good sign.

  “I’ll send you an angel, okay?” he said. “To heal your broken heart.”

  She looked back at Wayne and was startled by the gray pallor of his face. “My heart’s not broken, because you are not dying. Do you hear me?”

  He closed his eyes again. “Baby, are you going to listen to me, or what?”

  “Or what. Look, we’re docking, and I hear the ambulance coming. Don’t move—”

  He reached out with a shaking hand and took hers. “I love you, Baby. I always will.”

  “I love you, too,” she said on a choked breath.

  But he was already gone.

  Whenever you feel alone, look for the end of the rainbow, and I’ll be there.

  CHAPTER 2

  Eighteen months later…

  Maddie made the morning transfer from her bedroom to the couch. She couldn’t muster enough energy to change, so she stayed in her oversized pajamas. Who cared? She wasn’t going out anyway. She snuggled into the faded comforter with the pink flowers and stared at the television while the morning routine went on around her. It was comforting, that routine, even if she wasn’t part of it. Dad came in wearing his blue uniform with the grease smudges on it even though Mom had washed it a gazillion times. He said he didn’t mind the stains; he was a mechanic and proud of it. Even if he did work for the Schaeffers.

  Everything about being back home was comforting. Nothing had changed since she was a kid, except that Mom had turned PTA bake sales into something of a career. By six in the morning she’d already baked and delivered her goodies to local restaurants and stores.

  And just like when Maddie was a kid, the clowns watched her. They didn’t jive with the country charm décor (farmhouse clutter, Dad called it), but Mom didn’t care. Clowns were nestled between cow and pig figurines, were sitting on top of the pine cones in a bucket, and were tucked into nearly every basket in sight.

  Maddie didn’t mind the rustic furniture or the cast-iron duck she stubbed her toe on regularly. But she hated clowns.

  Her sister Colleen walked in the front door, looked at her, and rolled her eyes. Just like she had every single morning for the last few months. She was born mean-looking and hadn’t changed much since then. “Wow, big surprise: Baby’s sitting on the couch, still wearing her PJs, and dirty hair to boot.”

  Through the magic of maternal instinct, Mom sailed into the room with the brush and planted herself beside Maddie. “Just like when you were a little girl,” she said, running the brush through Maddie’s hair. Mom’s strawberry curls billowed around her hairband. “You were too sick to do it yourself sometimes, but you loved having your hair brushed.”

  “Oh, gawd, she’s not a little girl anymore,” Colleen said. “She outgrew the asthma when she was fourteen.”

  Mom pushed her big glasses down her nose. “She has gone through hell in
a handbasket, and don’t you forget it.”

  “How could I? Wayne might be gone, but Baby’s the ghost. She’s never going to get over it if y’all keep babying her—”

  Mom shoved her glasses back up to the bridge of her nose. “Colleen Anne Danbury Sewell, I swear you don’t have a heart at all. What if your Bobby left suddenly? Wouldn’t you want your family to rally around you, try to ease your pain? That’s all we’re doing, and…” This was where Mom’s voice got shrill from impending tears. “if you can’t understand that’s what family is all about, I…I have failed as a mother.”

  Colleen opened her mouth to say something but let out a sigh instead. “You didn’t fail, Mom. It’s just that Baby’s been getting this kind of attention since the day she was born, and I don’t think you’re helping by doing every little thing for her.”

  “I am helping, by giving her time to heal without having to sweat the details. She can stay here as long as she likes, forever even. And you can’t blame your sister for being born with asthma. We almost lost her three times.”

  “I know, I know,” Colleen muttered.

  “You almost didn’t have a little sister.”

  “I know.”

  Mom’s shrill voice returned. “It was only by the goodness and mercy of the Lord God that she lived to be here today.”

  Maddie always faded off whenever they started talking about her as though she weren’t there. She stared through the picture window to the pink house across the street. That was where Colleen lived with her husband and son, who was standing by the mailbox waiting for the bus.

  Maddie had moved farther away when she’d married. Wayne’s grandparents had given them a little cottage on the Gulf, and Wayne had added a pool. But living there alone…heck, living alone period was beyond comprehension. Her family and friends had closed up the house and moved Maddie back home. She hadn’t been back since, not there or to the marina. It hurt too much.

  It hurt that life went on. After Wayne died, the sun came up bright and clear, people went to work, and the marina kept operating. Maddie’s life screeched to a halt, but everyone else kept on living. It hurt to see her family look at her the way they used to when she was sick. This time she wasn’t sure she could get better, and she felt like she was letting them down. It even hurt when her dad kissed her on the forehead every morning and said, “Bye, pumpkin. You try and have a good day, hear?” like he really wanted her to, but knew she couldn’t.