Treasure Beach: Chapter Three, Part Four

Not sure why you're here or what to do?  Visit this page for enlightenment and instructions.  And don't forget to visit quilter Pat Sloan's website to sew along on the Happiness Key quilt that goes along with the series.

Chapter Four begins next week.  Do you prefer to read  in one big gulp instead of having the story doled out in parts?  Here's the pdf of Chapter Three .  Look for a complete chapter pdf on the last Tuesday of each month through July.

Treasure Beach: Chapter Three, Part Four

"Your grandmother does seem better," Janya said, once they were on their way. "She will be well soon, so I would not worry too much now. If you want to spend time with your friends, I can watch out for her. I have no murals to paint until next week."

"I don't really want to go anywhere."

"You are still worried?"

"No. I just . . . I don't know. Did Wanda or Tracy tell you about the note I found? In the bottle?"

"They did. It seems exciting."

"They don't think it's real. Officer Ken doesn't think it's real, either."

"Well, it is certainly real. But perhaps it is also a joke. Perhaps someone had nothing better to do."

"Lizzie would understand why I'm worried. I wish she weren't, you know. . . Gone."

From the beginning Janya had been unhappy that the women hadn't been able to tell Olivia why Lizzie and Dana had left so suddenly. She wondered if perhaps telling her something now, just a tiny piece of it, might relieve the girl's mind and stop her from imagining the worse. Perhaps then she would be able to close the door of that friendship and open another. Perhaps then she would not worry about secret messages.

"If I tell you a secret, will you promise never to tell anyone else?" Janya asked. "This is something I have not even told Rishi."

"About Lizzie?"

"And Dana, yes. You will promise? To tell no one, not even Lizzie if you see her or speak to her again?"

"I promise."

"I know you can be trusted. Dana and Lizzie had to go away because of something in their past."

Olivia shook her head, as if to say that wasn't enough. "Lizzie already knew that. She told me they were running from something, but she didn't know what."

Janya thought there was an English saying that fit the situation. Something about being in for a penny or a pound, although she didn't think that was quite right.

She tried to find the words. "Sometimes people must find a new life when an old life becomes . . ." She turned into the parking lot of Randall's and turned off the engine, facing Olivia.

"Becomes what?" Olivia asked.

"Difficult. Even impossible. When you get older, you will find that knowing the right thing to do is not always easy. And sometimes we make a decision that is right, but that does not look right to others. Sometimes it looks very wrong. Dana had to make one of those decisions, so now she must be careful always that the truth does not catch up with her. Because not everyone will understand what she did. Perhaps not even Lizzie until she is much older."

"Is this kind of like the witness protection program?"

Janya managed not to smile. "Only a little. But she and Lizzie will be fine. They are with Pete, and Pete will help them stay safe always." She touched Olivia's arm. "The other women would not be happy I told you this. So you will not tell them either?"

"Oh, I won't tell them," Olivia said, nodding decisively. "I promise it will be our secret."