Silent Fall

motel, where they promptly collapsed on the bed. Catherine hoped exhaustion would send her into a dreamless sleep, but as she drifted off, a voice came into her head.
    "Don’t come," the woman said. "Protect him. Save him. I couldn’t. I tried, but I failed. It’s not who you think. It’s never who you think."
    Catherine opened her eyes and stared at the ceiling, wondering whom the warning had come from. The voice had sounded like Olivia’s, Dylan’s mother. Was she trying to send them a message? Or was Catherine hearing words from a lifetime ago?
    She glanced over at Dylan. He was asleep on his side, his breathing deep and steady, his face turned away from her. She scooted up next to him and put her arm around his waist, snuggling into his back. She would protect him any way she could.
    They woke up by eight o’clock the next morning and made the two-hour drive north to Anacortes, where they would catch the ferry to Orcas Island just before noon. The ferry landing was busy, and it took a while to get through the line and on board. After leaving the car on the lower deck, they made their way up to the top deck and looked out at the view.
    Catherine had always been a water and beach kind of person, and the vista before her was stunning. She’d never before been to the San Juan Islands, a chain of over a hundred and fifty islands in Puget Sound. She knew that the island they were going to, Orcas Island, was one of the three larger islands, but beyond that she didn’t know much, except that Dylan had spent every summer there until his mother had left.
    Dylan drew in a deep breath and slowly let it out. "It’s strange to be on this boat again. It’s been so long. I shouldn’t remember anything, but there’s a familiarity to the sounds, the smells, the roll of the waves. I feel a sense of excitement, as if I’m going home. That’s stupid. The island wasn’t home."
    "But you were happy there."
    "Yes," he admitted. "Summers were awesome --   boating, swimming, hiking, picnicking, just running free, wasting hours collecting pebbles on the beach and trying to make them skip across the water."
    "It sounds like a lot of fun." In fact, it sounded like more fun than she’d ever had in her childhood. Then again, the good times hadn’t lasted that long for Dylan. And the rest of his childhood had been rough.
    Dylan put his arm around her shoulders. "The one thing that’s different about this trip is you. You weren’t with me before."
    "I’m with you now," she murmured.
    "I’m glad."
    His simple words warmed her heart. She never really thought she was helping him much, but maybe in a small way she was. Dylan sneaked a quick kiss and said, "You didn’t dream last night. Or if you did I didn’t hear you."
    "No," she said after a moment. "I didn’t dream." She knew he wouldn’t want to hear about his mother again, and there was no purpose in telling him. They would find out soon enough whether the island held any answers.
    For a few minutes they gazed out at the view. "We might see some whales," Dylan said. "I think this is the season."
    "I’ve never seen a whale up close."
    "Then keep your eyes open. Do you want anything to drink?" Dylan asked. "I’m getting some coffee."
    "I’m fine, thanks." After he walked away she sat down on a nearby bench. She had a few moments of privacy, and she was itching to read the rest of Dylan’s grandmother’s journal. Pulling the book out of her purse she skimmed the pages, feeling an intense need to get to the moment when Dylan’s mother had left. Perhaps there would be some clue to the breakup of the marriage and where Olivia had gone.
    Catherine’s heart sped up as she read Ruth’s words: I feared it would come to this. I tried to keep Richard away from the hospital, but like a bloodhound he sensed a secret, and he was determined to sniff it out. He didn’t understand why Olivia was having private conversations with the doctor, why she was acting so guilty, making calls from a pay phone in the lobby to someone she wouldn’t identify, why no one was asking him to donate blood when it appeared that Dylan would need a transfusion. He hadn’t wanted Dylan to get blood from a stranger, but in the end Olivia had to tell the truth for Dylan’s sake. Richard’s blood couldn’t save Dylan’s life, because Richard was not Dylan’s father.