Well, she smacked one of the kids around pretty viciously. The little girl had a couple of bruises on her arm. I know my aunt and uncle spoke to Mr. and Mrs. Cato about it, and probably to Ellen’s mother, as well. That was the end of it, as far as I know. But I think about that incident from time to time. There was no denying that Ellen had been abusive. I could see her leaving a baby on the beach and not giving it another thought. “

Now that she said it, so could he.

“Ellen doesn’t look anything like Shelly, though,” he said.

“Well, I haven’t seen Shelly since she was tiny,” Cindy said.

“But I remember she had brown eyes. Very light hair, but big brown eyes, like Ellen’s.” Cindy suddenly sat up straight in her chair and looked toward the sky.

“Don’t go by what I’m telling you, Rory,” she said.

“It’s a big stretch from hitting a child she was baby-sitting to leaving a newborn to die on the beach.” He sensed her trying to backpedal and knew that speaking her hunch out loud had made her uncomfortable.

“I was probably right with my first guess. It was most likely a tourist. Maybe if you do a show about it, that person or someone who knew her will come forward with the truth.”

“Maybe,” he admitted, but he was still thinking about Ellen, about how she was always trying to interfere in Daria’s parenting of Shelly.

“How is your sister?” Cindy changed the subject. “Polly? I remember her so well. She was the first mentally retarded person I ever really got to know. I liked her a lot.”

Her words touched him.

“She died a few years ago,” he said.

“Oh, I’m sorry, Rory. How unfair. You know, m;

strongest memory of you was of your devotion to her. “

“She was special to me.”

“It wasn’t just Polly,” Cindy said.

“You were al way so nice to everyone. Remember that boy who couldn’ catch any fish, and you” — “Yes, yes.” His claim to sainthood. “That was unusual for a boy, to be so sensitive to other people. If I’d had to predict what you would have become I would have guessed a social worker.”

“A social worker!”

“Yeah, think about it. That’s really what you do on Tm Life Stories, isn’t it?” she asked.

“I always get the feelin your heart breaks for the people whose stories you tell 01 your show. I bet some viewers think it’s an act, but any body who knew you when you were a kid would know that you’ve always been a sucker for people in need.”

He thought suddenly of Grace. He’d been a sucker, al right, seduced by her neediness. Was that why he’d beei drawn to her?

It had been the same with Glorianne. He remembered what his ex-wife had been like when he first met her, how unsure of herself she’d been, how desperate to find some one to lean on.

And then there was Daria, who didn’t seem to nee< anyone at all. He’d been so smitten by Grace’s beauty, s< seduced by her need for him, that he’d failed to see thi loving woman standing right in front of him.

“Cindy,” he said, abruptly standing up, anxious now t( get back to Kill Devil Hills. “I have a feeling you just di( me a big favor.”

Uaria came home from teaching her EMT class that night to find Rory waiting for her on the Sea Shanty steps.

“Isn’t it a beautiful night?” he asked as he got to his feet.

She hadn’t noticed. She’d gone through her class in a fog. Everyone had wanted to talk about the hurricane and the real-life drama that had played out on Andy’s pier, easily the most exciting rescue of the night. She’d tried to shift the discussion to the need for emergency readiness during the heart of a storm, but no one was interested.

Instead, they wanted to know how she’d gotten two people from beneath an overturned boat, with the sound rising and whirling around her feet. Supergirl, they thought, was back.

Now she looked up at the sky and saw that it was filled with stars.

“Come out to the beach with me,” Rory said. He was carrying a blanket.

“There’s a meteor shower tonight. We ican watch the sky.”

j Her heart was saying yes, her head, no.

“I don’t think fo, Rory,” she said. } “Come on,” he pleaded.

“Just for a while.”

Against her better judgment, she walked with him out [the dark beach and helped him spread the blanket on e sand. She lay next to him, and the instant her head uched the blanket, three stars sailed across the sky. “I told you it would be worth it,” he said.

How did he think she could simply lie there with r after what had happened the night before?

“How was your visit with Cindy?” she asked. “Interesting,” he said.

“She looks just like she did b;

in the old days. Even had on a bikini. “

“Did she shed any light on your story?”

“Oh, she has her theories, just like everyone else.”

“What are they?”

“She has kind of a crazy one,” he said.

“Don’t lau Her primary suspect is your cousin Ellen.”

Another white diamond, this one with a tail, shot acr the sky, but Daria barely registered its existence. She too stunned by what Rory had just said. “What makes think that?” she asked.

“Well, first of all, I got the sense that Cindy could stand Ellen, so this probably needs to be taken with a gr of salt. She said that Ellen once baby-sat for Cindy’s co ins, and she apparently hit one of the kids a few tiff. That made Cindy think that Ellen was capable of dump a baby on the beach. Seemed kind of a stretch to me.”

Daria shut her eyes. This was it. Time for the tn “Cindy’s very perceptive,” she said.

“What do you mean?” he asked.

“I mean she’s right. Ellen is Shelly’s mother.”

Rory sat up abruptly, turning to look at her, and ;

could barely see his face in the darkness.

“Do you kn this for certain?” he asked.

“Have you known all along ” Shelly wasn’t the only thing I found on the beach t morning,” she admitted. ” I also found a pukka-shell ne lace that I knew belonged to Ellen. It was lying on beach right next to the baby. ”” My God, Daria. Did you ever tell anyone? ” he ask ” No one,” she said.

“I was horrified to realize t Ellen could have done such a thing, but she was fam and she was also one of the older kids. I wouldn’t dare say anything to anyone about her.” “Did you ever talk to Ellen herself about it? Does she know that you know?”

She turned her head to look at him.

“I’ve never said a word to anyone, until now. Ellen doesn’t have a clue that I know. It’s one of the reasons why I have such a hard time tolerating her. She’s always trying to tell me what to do with Shelly, and she makes me feel as though everything I’ve done with her has been wrong. But I don’t believe she really cares about Shelly; sometimes she’s even cruel to her. And she’s a rotten mother to her own two daughters, as far as I’m concerned.”

Rory stared out at the ocean, his arm resting on his knee, and she could only imagine how he felt about her having kept this from him.

Reaching up, she touched his shoulder.

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner,” she said.

“I simply didn’t want you to find out. I didn’t want anyone to know.”

Rory lay down again and let out a sigh.

“No one will know, Daria,” he said.

“Revealing the fact that Ellen is Shelly’s mother can bring no good to anyone, least of all Shelly. I’ll just have to be satisfied that the mystery is solved for me, personally.”

Daria’s eyes burned with relief.

“Thank you for understanding,” she said.

“Come here,” he said, slipping his arm beneath her shoulders and pulling her closer.

“No, Rory,” she resisted.

“I can’t go through that again.”

Rolling over, he propped himself on his elbows and looked at her. ‘ “Remember when I told you that I saw you working on a roof?” he asked.

She nodded.

“Well, I didn’t realize it was you at first,” he said.

“All I knew was that I wanted the woman who was up there. I wanted her bad.

When I realized it was you, I was sort of shocked that I could have those feelings for you. I’d al ways thought of you more like a kid sister. “

“I know you did,” she said. “This has been a wonderful summer, even without get ting a story for my show,” he said, “because I’ve gotten to know you again.” He smiled at her, and she couldn’t resist reaching up to touch the tips of her fingers to his lips. He turned his head instantly to kiss her hand, then looked at her again. “Our old pal Cindy and I had a little chat this afternoon that opened my eyes,” he said.

“You were right about me being a caretaker. Glorianne needed that. Grace did, too. You don’t.

And I think it’s time I broke out of that role. Time I had an equal partner. I’m not quite sure how to run a relationship with someone as strong, if not stronger, than I am,” he said, ” but I’d like to try. If you’re willing, that is. “

That made her smile.

“I love you, too, Daria,” he said.

“The feelings snuck up on me when I wasn’t looking. I’m sorry I was so blind.” He pulled her close to him, and this time, she gave no thought to resisting.

jr ace found Rory at his cottage, where he was repairing some of the siding that had been damaged by the storm. She had come without calling, afraid that if she’d called first, he might have told her he was busy, and then she would have no opportunity to see Shelly. It had been too long since she’d seen her.

Rory spotted her as she walked toward him.

“Hi.” He stood up, and she knew she’d surprised him.

“I was out all morning and didn’t have a chance to call,” she said, “so I hope you don’t mind that I just stopped by.”

“No,” he said.

“I’m just about finished up here. Why don’t you wait for me on the porch?”

“Okay.” She turned and walked around the cottage to the front steps.

From Poll-Rory’s porch, she studied the Sea Shanty. There were no cars in the driveway; Daria and Chloe were probably at work. Shelly might be at work, as well. She hoped not; she had no good reason to stop by | St. Esther’s today.

After a few minutes, Rory walked up the steps and sat near her on the porch.

“I’m glad you’re here, actually,” he said.

“I wanted to talk with you.”

His voice was so serious that her heartbeat quickened. There’s no way he could know, she told herself. No way. Unless maybe. Could he have somehow found the nurse?

“What about?” she asked.

“Well, it’s a bit awkward,” he said.

“I need to tell you that, over the past few days, I’ve come to realize that I care about Daria as more than a friend.”

It took her a moment to understand.

“You mean… you’re in love with her?” she asked.

“Yes.”

She could not help but smile, despite the implications of that news for herself. Daria and Rory. She had certainly never thought of them as a couple, but it made very good sense. They were a team.

“I’m glad for you,” she said.

He leaned over to take her hand.

“Thank you,” he said.

“I wasn’t sure how you’d feel about it.”

“I can’t blame you for that,” she said.

“I haven’t exactly been an open book with you, have I?”

“No,” he admitted.

“You haven’t.”

“Well, I’ve enjoyed the time you and I spent together, but I think it’s really good that you and Daria found each other.” She kept the smile on her face, but inside, her heart was twisting. She no longer had an excuse to come to Kill Devil Hills or to see Shelly. She’d hoped that somehow she and Shelly could have developed a bond that would transcend her need for a relationship with Rory, but that had not happened. And now, she’d run out of time.

“I guess I won’t be seeing you again, then, huh?” she asked.

“You don’t need to be a stranger,” Rory said, although he had to know as well as she did that there was no point in her visiting Kill Devil Hills again.

She struggled to find a way to shift the conversation to Shelly.

“It must make Shelly happy, that you and Daria are together,” she said.

Not exactly a seamless transition, but it was the best she could do.

“I don’t know if she knows yet,” he said.

“Daria and I just came to this conclusion last night, and I think Shelly was at Andy’s.”

“Oh, yes, what’s that all about?” she asked.

“Apparently, they’ve been seeing each other for a couple of years. And Shelly is pregnant. They want to get married, but Daria’s worried about” — “She’s pregnant?” Grace leaned forward. The rapid heartbeat again. Her doctor would have a fit if he knew the stress she was putting herself under.

“How far along?”

“Not far,” Rory said.

“You’ve seen her in her bathing suit.”