Page 2 (1/2)

The only thing they all had in common was their love of San Juan Island It was part of an archipelago that consisted of approximately two hundred islands, soton it The Nolans had spent their childhood in the rain shadow of the Olyrayness of the rest of the Pacific Northwest

The Nolans had grown up breathing in humid ocean air, their bare feet constantly coated with the silt of exposed s, dry blue days, and thecould co the waves Or of bald eagles swooping low and fast in pursuit of prey Or of the dance of orcas, their sleek forh the Salish Sea as they fed on the rich pulse of salmon runs

The brothers had rambled over every inch of the island, up and doind-bitten slopes above the seacoast, a somber colurasses and wild-floith alluring na Star, Sea Blush No mix of water, sand, and sky had ever been as perfectly proportioned

Although they had gone off to college and tried living in other places, the island had always lured them back Even Alex, with all his hard-shelled ambitions, had come back It was the kind of life in which you knew the local faruy who made the soap you washed with, and you were on a first-name basis with the owners of the restaurants you went to You could hitchhike safely, with friendly islanders giving one another a lift when they needed it

Victoria had been the only one in the fa the island for She had fallen in love with the glass peaks and cement valleys of Seattle, the urban coffee-and-culture scene, the stylishly understated restaurants that seduced your taste buds, the sensory labyrinth of Pike Place Market

In response to a co in the city, Victoria had replied that Seattle made her smarter

"I don’t need to be smarter," Sam had said "The smarter you are, the more reasons you have to be miserable"

"That explains e Nolans are always in such high spirits," Mark had told Victoria,after a minute "I don’t think Alex has been happy a day in his life"

"Alex doesn’t want happiness," Mark had replied "He’s fine with the substitutes"

Bringing his mind back to the present, Mark wondered what Victoria would say if she knew that he was going to raise Holly on San Juan Island He didn’t realize he had given voice to the thought until Sam replied

"Like she would have been surprised? Vick knew you’d never move away from the island Your coffee business is there, your home, your friends I’ happened to her"

Mark nodded, feeling hollow and bleak Thehe could dwell on for long

"Did she say anything today?" Sam asked "I didn’t hear a peep out of her"

In the days since she had been told of herto questions by nodding or shaking her head She wore a distant, dazed expression, having retreated to an inner world where no one could intrude On the night of Victoria’s death, Mark had gone straight fro after the little girl He had broken the news to the child in the , and had stayed practically within ar," Mark said "If she doesn’t start talking by to to take her to the pediatrician" He let out a shallow, shaken breath before adding, "I don’t even knoho that is"

"There’s a list on the fridge," Sa one for Holly’s doctor I’ Vick kept it there in case a babysitter needed it in an eerator, pulled off a Post-it note, and stuck it in his wallet "Great," he said sardonically "Now I know at least asto the table, Mark took a long, deliberate shiskey "There’s so into work for me and Holly There’s only one bedroo to sell it?"

"Rent it out, o?"

Mark paused for a long, deliberate ot plenty of room"

Sam’s eyes widened "No, I don’t"

Two years earlier Sa-held dream to establish his oinery The property, with its well-drained sand and gravel soil and cool-cli with the land had come a cavernous dilapidated Victorian country far corner turret, and les