The Boatman's Wife(7)

‘Close the damn window!’ her mom had shouted at her father, who’d been laughing at the audacity of his child. But her mom had been real angry. One of the rare times she’d used a curse word.

‘Our child’s pure wild, Jack,’ her mom had said as she’d grabbed Lily’s hands and shaken her. Lily had never forgotten the look of fear in her mom’s eyes.

But her dad had shrugged. ‘Good thing she’s not scared of a big storm,’ he’d said, sounding proud. ‘That’s my girl!’

When she was older, Lily had liked to run with the wind. If it were a blustery day, she would run from their house down the road, past the pier and along by the beach. Thrilled by the roar of the ocean, wanting to run into the waves. Yet knowing that if she did so, within seconds she could be consumed and washed away to a watery grave.

What was at the bottom of their ocean? The practical part of Lily knew it was teeming with life. Most importantly for her and her family, with lobsters. These giant crustaceous creatures made their sand pits on the bed of the cold Atlantic, burrowing to find a safe place to dispatch their eggs.

But as a little girl, Lily had daydreamed about kingdoms under the sea. She had been a tomboy, never wanting to seem silly or girlish with her cousin Ryan and his friends, yet out on a row boat, her eyes had been hypnotised by all the light reflections on the water. She’d gazed into the depths, wanting to slip off the boat and dive right down to the bottom. Find a secret kingdom of mermaids and mermen.



The wind battered Lily seemingly from every direction as she fought through it, walking down the hill towards her parents’ house. She cut across the front yard, through chestnut trees completely stripped bare. The last of their leaves swirled around her in a spiral of burnt umber. Rain, ice and snow flung against her, as if a great big sea giant was hurling them right at her. She found it hard to breathe, as if the wind were stealing her air. As she opened the gate into her parents’ backyard, an old porch chair was picked up and hurled towards her. She leaped out of the way and it slammed against the fence. She dragged it into her father’s garage.

Despite her rain jacket, Lily was completely drenched. Her clothing stuck to her skin; she had to peel her rain jacket off in the back porch. It must be like hell out at sea: at least sixteen-foot waves, which was way over the limit of her father’s forty-foot vessel. Connor had never been out in such conditions before. Lily’s stomach felt tight with dread. How would her husband cope? The one time they’d been out in rough seas – and it had been nowhere near the scale of this storm – Connor had been crippled by seasickness.

‘Hi, Mom, I’m just grabbing a towel,’ she called out as she ran upstairs to the bathroom.

She wrapped her hair in a turban, coming back down to her mom in the living room, who had the weather channel on. Lily didn’t like what she saw on the screen. The nor’easter was bigger than predicted, and the weather warnings were clear. Stay inside. Ferries had been cancelled, but Lily’s husband, her father and her cousin were out all on the Atlantic. Exposed and highly vulnerable. She didn’t understand why her father wasn’t back yet. Something must have happened to them.

Lily clenched her hands. No. She couldn’t let herself think about it.

‘Have you heard from the Coast Guard?’ she asked her mom.

‘No, honey,’ her mom said, patting the seat beside her. She was looking pale now, and was no longer saying it would be okay.

‘Did you call Cherie?’ Lily asked, thinking of Ryan’s mom, her aunt. Already she’d lost her husband – Lily’s uncle and her father’s brother – to cancer, when Lily had been twelve. She had to be in a terrible state at the idea her only son was in danger.

‘Yeah, she was going to come over, but it’s too bad to leave her house.’

‘Where did the storm come from?’ Lily asked, sitting down beside her mom. ‘Like, it’s got so bad real fast.’

It was a question which didn’t need an answer. They both knew well enough how the weather could change in a heartbeat. There were times when Lily loved the fury of the sea, thrived on the challenge of riding the bucking waves in their fishing boat. Together with her dad in the helm, they had witnessed the power of the vast ocean. The rush of staying on course, and the high once you got home safe with a big lobster haul. But she didn’t like being the one at home, watching and waiting for loved ones.

‘I can’t just sit here, Mom,’ Lily said, standing up in agitation. Why had her appointment had to be today? Of all days, why had she let Connor go out fishing in her place? He wasn’t experienced enough, even in the best of conditions. ‘Let’s go down to the point,’ she suggested. ‘See if we can sight them returning.’

‘We shouldn’t leave the house,’ her mom said. ‘There’s weather warnings…’

‘Well, you can stay here,’ Lily said. ‘But I’m going, and I’ll pick up Cherie on the way back. She can’t be alone.’ She charged into the back porch to put her rain jacket back on.

‘Okay, I’m coming,’ her mom said, following her.

‘I’ll drive if you want, okay?’

Her mom nodded mutely as Lily took the keys off the hook.

‘You got your cell phone with you in case the Coast Guard calls, right?’ she said to her mom as they got in her station wagon.