Adam headed back towards home – if it could be called that anymore – flipping things over in his mind, trying to look at them from every possible angle. In the hour or so he’d spent with Brittany he’d tried every possible approach to figure out whether she was going to be reasonable about a meeting with Mary and Matty. Realistically, there was every chance she would be. She seemed like a considerably different person than the uptight woman he’d married, and from the hysterical and illogical person she’d been when he’d finally decided to divorce her. While he had no intention of ever settling down with her again – once was enough – there was every reason to think there was a good chance a meeting would come off well.

It also seemed pretty likely to him that Brittany had accepted some realities about the situation, that Matty was Mary’s child, not hers. He guessed – well, hoped – that Brittany realized that any intention she had of trying to get custody of the boy was pretty close to a hopeless cause. Adam hadn’t even hinted about the fact that the boy was Canadian, the son of a Canadian, and living in Canada, but it seemed to him that Brittany understood it from the fact of knowing that Mary was Canadian, after all. Maybe she even realized how much more difficult any legal custody action would be as a result of that fact.

But that settled nothing. He was going to be guessing, and he knew it. He realized that no matter what he’d told Brittany, the decision wasn’t in Mary’s lap, but his.

Back in the days when he’d known there were detectives snooping around him trying for a lead to the boy he’d really dug in his heels about revealing the slightest bit of information. It didn’t matter whether the detectives came from Brittany or the Balch bitch who was now serving fast food out of a drive-up window, the only thing he could do was stonewall. Now, it hardly seemed to matter – in a few days he would be out of the area on the Moonshadow, and there would be few leads to Mary and Matty unless he were to come out and give them away. So there was that to be considered, too.

He hadn’t yet made a decision when he got back to the apartment, but realized he was going to have to drop at least part of the question on Mary. As far as he knew Mary still didn’t have a phone, although that was something that could have changed, but he knew Sinead, the postmistress had one, and it was Sinead he called. After identifying himself and exchanging pleasantries, Adam told Sinead he needed to talk to Mary.

“Aye, that shouldn’t be a problem,” Sinead replied. “Nessa is in here now, an’ goin’ over ta the art colony kitchen ta do some work there. I can have her tell Mary ta give ye a call back. Shouldn’t be real long, Adam.”

There really wasn’t much he could do but sit around in the torn-up apartment filled with boxes of his things and wait for the phone to ring. It seemed like a long time before Mary called back. “Sinead said ye were callin’ fer me, Adam,” she said. “Is somethin’ the matter?”

“I don’t know,” he told her. “I’m going to be leaving to come your way in the Moonshadow in a few days, but I just talked to Brittany. I think if we’re going to have a meeting between you, Matty and her it really should happen in the next few days, since I’m not going to be seeing her for quite a while, very possibly a year or more. Mary, I had a long talk with her today, and she’s as reasonable as I’ve seen her in many years, long before Matt left here on the Mary Sue. I can’t guarantee a thing, but if we’re going to do it, I think we probably ought to do it now.”

“I’ve been wonderin’ about it myself, but I don’t know anythin’ enough ta say.”

“Today I told her that Matty is getting old enough that he might remember it if a meeting went badly, and that it could mess up any hopes of seeing him in the future. I don’t know how true that is, but I thought it was a good argument to throw in to see what her reaction would be. I can’t guarantee it, but she acts like she might well be on her good behavior.”

“I had na’ thought about it that way,” she replied. “But I’m thinkin’ ye might be right, that ’twere it done ’twould best be done soon.”

“Yes, and I still think we need to conceal your location, just in case it goes badly. If it does, at least I won’t be around for her or some detective to try to weasel it out of me. You know that we routed the money to you through St. John, just for the sake of the name confusion. I don’t think we should do it there, but Halifax seems like it might work.”

“Aye, an’ it would be in Canada, too,” she agreed. “But Adam, it’d take me three days ta get there, even if I was able ta get reservations on the Caribou.”

“Let me work on getting you airline tickets from St. John’s to Halifax,” he said. I’ll make the arrangements as soon as I can. If you call me back in the next two or three hours I should be able to have things worked out.”

“How soon d’ya think we can do it?”

“Depends on the airline connections, but it could be as soon as the day after tomorrow,” he said. “I have movers coming in tomorrow, and I’ll be living on the Moonshadow and away from a land line after that. I’ll give you my cell number in case you need to reach me. It might work or it might not.”

The next couple hours were a flurry of computer usage and phone calls, but he was able to have the arrangements made by the time Mary called back. “All right, for better or worse, it’s set up,” he told her. “I figured we could meet right at the airport, in a coffee shop or something, and if things get out of hand there might be less of a scene in public. That also cuts out the need to mess around with hotel rooms or rental cars. I’ll be leaving in the late afternoon with Brittany to come back here, and you and Matty will be flying back to St. John’s an hour or so after that.”

“Aye, that should work.”

“I think maybe we’d better not say very much about how often we’ve been seeing each other, just in case, or the fact that I’m planning on bringing the Moonshadow up to see you and Matty later in the summer,” he said. “So maybe we’d better talk about anything else we need to cover now, and perhaps you could call me when you get back to Blanche Tickle from Halifax.”

“Aye, we probably will have some things ta talk about,” she agreed. “Like maybe if ye think we should do it again some time.”

“We’ll be able to tell a lot more after Thursday,” he said. “A lot is going to depend on how this meeting winds up going.”

“That’s a fact,” she said. “An’ there’s no point in beatin’ it ta death right now. So you’re plannin’ on livin’ on your new boat, eh? How d’ye like it?”

“I like it a lot. In some ways it handles like a bigger Mary Sue. I came down Lake Huron in some fairly rough weather and hardly got a drop on board. It’s a comfortable boat and I think I’ll be comfortable on it. Maybe you and Matty would be up for sailing with me on it sometime.”

“Might be,” she said. “But it’s not goin’ ta be before fall, now. Things are gettin’ perked up with the artist people. Andrew is already here an’ there’s gonna be more comin’ soon. I can get away for the day Thursday, no problem, but it’s goin’ ta be hard ta get away after that till after school starts again.”

“It might work out, and it might not,” Adam said sadly. “By the time school starts I would hope to be heading down the East Coast. That means the states, of course, and no matter how well Brittany acts I think you need to be careful about bringing Matty into the states for a long time to come.”

“Aye, ye might be havin’ a point there. Well, maybe we’ll be havin’ the chance ta sail with ye on it sometime.”

Adam didn’t want to admit it to himself, but he was a little dispirited at Mary’s response to his suggestion that she go sailing with him for a few days. She had a logical reason, one he couldn’t fault, but still, that was the main connection left between Matt and himself, and her approval was, to at least a degree, Matt’s approval of the course he’d decided to take with his life. Oh, well, it might happen sometime, or it might not. He was starting to get used to people he liked turning him down at the suggestion that they go sailing with him.

The tight schedule meant that he and Brittany had to meet at the airport early on Thursday morning. He’d spent the night on the Moonshadow, of course; the apartment was now empty. “Adam,” she said as they met in the waiting area for their flight. “I can hardly believe this is going to happen.”

“I’m afraid it’s not going to be a very long time with him,” he said. “But at least you’ll get a chance to meet your grandson. What happens after that, well, I suppose it’ll depend on what happens today.”

“Adam, I can’t tell you how nervous I am about this,” she told him. “I’ve dreamed of even just seeing Matty for so long, and I do want everything to go right and for Mary to feel comfortable with me.”

“Honestly, Brittany, it’s going to be up to you. I plan on mostly staying out of the way, and letting the three of you have your time together.”

There were no flights straight from Detroit to Halifax; an intermediate stop was needed in Toronto. Adam wasn’t far away from Audrey, at least in miles, but he managed to withhold his temptation to give her a call. That was another hope that would probably go nowhere, and he might as well get used to it.

He and Brittany didn’t have a great deal to talk about on the flight to Halifax; their lives had grown very far apart, except for this one thing. At least he was able to figure out that she was moderately happy in Wychbold, and that she was getting along better with her parents than she had in years. They talked more about her tomatoes and zinnias than they did about people they used to know, or things they’d once done; Adam was happy to not get into any of the latter.

As planned, Mary and Matty were waiting for them when they came off the jetway in the Halifax terminal, with the boy riding on his mother’s hip, seeming a little bit shy. He had visibly grown since Adam had seen him last, about six months before; kids changed fast at that age. He was talking a lot more freely now, and Adam could pick up more than a little Newfoundland accent in his voice. He wondered what Brittany would say about that, but as it turned out, she didn’t say anything, she was so happy to see him.

“Mary,” Brittany said as soon as they met them, “I feel I have to apologize for the way I acted the last two times I met you. I wasn’t exactly myself either of those times, and I really feel like I made an ass of myself. I should have been much more reasonable, and I’m afraid it’s thrown up a wall between us I really think we shouldn’t have.”

“I didn’t think you could be that way all the time,” Mary replied, obviously making some effort to hold down on her Newfoundland accent. “But both of those times had to be very emotional for ye.”

“Too emotional,” Brittany said. “I’ve, well, I’ve been under treatment ever since we lost Matt to try to deal with that. The fact that I’m standing in front of you and not crying at his memory tells me that the treatments have done some good.”

“I have ta admit there have been times I’ve cried myself ta sleep at night missin’ Matt myself,” Mary said sadly. “At least I’m grateful for the times we had together, and for leaving me with Matty.”

That got things off to a much better start than Adam could have expected. For Mary’s part, she seemed relieved that Brittany was acting calm and reasonable, even charming; that was nothing like the way she’d been on the other two occasions they’d met.

They soon wound up in a coffee shop in the terminal, mostly with Mary and Brittany talking about Matty, some of the cute things he’d done, and the way he was growing. They talked about Matt, too, and for the first time Adam heard the story of how he had died from the woman who had been at his side when he passed his final breath. Everyone – except for Matty – had tears in their eyes as she ended that tale.

They talked a bit about what Mary was doing; she told Brittany that she owned and was managing a seasonal resort that catered to artists, but didn’t get into details of where it was, or things like that.

The airline schedule didn’t allow a lot of time to talk, which was as Adam had intended. After two and a half hours of much more pleasant conversation than he could possibly have expected, it was time for Brittany and him to go; Mary and Matty accompanied them to the gate, and waved goodbye to them as they boarded the plane.

It had all gone much better than Adam could have dreamed. “I sure hope I’ll be able to see him again someday,” Brittany said wistfully as the plane started its engines and began to taxi out to the runway.

“Well, maybe you can,” Adam told her. “I gave Mary your phone number, and I’ll let her work out future meetings with you. I’m probably not going to be available for a while.”

“You’re pretty serious about going out on this boat, aren’t you?” she asked, to Adam’s mind at least a little to get her mind off of the poignant moments they’d just been through. “Where are you going with it, anyway?”

“Florida, eventually, although it’s going to take me a while to get there. I’ll be going down the East Coast. I’m planning on spending the winter down there, but I’m not sure what I’m going to do in the spring. Possibly come back to the Great Lakes, possibly not. It’s a little too far in the future to make any concrete plans.”

“Are you going by yourself, or will you be taking someone with you?”

“I’ll be by myself most of the time, but there’s a chance I may have some friends with me from time to time. Again, I don’t know, I’m just going to have to wait and see what happens.”

“This boat. You said it’s bigger than Matthew’s boat. Is it nice?”

“Pretty nice, but it’s still a boat. It’s a lot more comfortable than a boat as small as his was.”

“I hope you like it. I don’t think I would. I was always scared for Matthew, out in that tiny boat on a big ocean like that, and I’m not sure I’m going to be much less scared for you.”

“It’s pretty safe most of the time,” he explained, just making conversation. “I spent two months last winter on a smaller boat in Florida. It was on canals and waterways, and the biggest danger I faced was sunburn. It was really pretty interesting, and better than spending the winter up here in all the snow and ice.”

“Well, if you like it, I suppose it’s all right for you, but I don’t think I would like it.”

Adam didn’t know why he said what he said next, but he did. “Well, if you wanted to ride along with me for a while, you might discover it’s a little different than what you’re thinking.”

“Adam, I appreciate your offer, but I think I’d better not. I don’t think I’d like it, and I’ve come to realize that we’ve grown apart. In fact, I don’t think we were very close together in the first place, except for Matthew. Maybe we’d better consider it a lesson learned and move on with our lives.”

“I have to think you’re right on that, Brittany. We had some pretty good years, but we had some bad ones, and I don’t think it would be a good idea to try to patch things back together.”

“I suppose you’re right. I think we both made some mistakes right at the beginning and compounded them as time went on, and that drove some walls between us. It would be a huge job to overcome them. We’re probably better off to not try.”

They rode back to Toronto without saying a great deal, nor did they say much while they were on the layover in the terminal. On the relatively short flight to Detroit they did talk a little more, but really didn’t warm up to each other more than they were now. Finally, they got off the flight. “I’ll see you around sometime, Brittany,” he said, not knowing how long it would be before he saw her again. It might be a long time; he would be gone, and to a great extent out from between Brittany and Mary, because he wouldn’t be around, which had been at least somewhat his decision. Now that he’d even left his apartment, only minor shreds of his old life were left, and he was moving on to something new.

“Yes, I hope to see you sometime,” she replied. “Thank you for arranging this meeting, Adam. I don’t know if it’s going to turn into a real relationship with Matty, but at least you allowed me to see him and give me something to build on. I’ll admit I was wrong about Mary. She seems to be a nice girl, and from what I can see she’s doing a good job with Matty. I think it’ll come out all right.”

“I think he’s going to turn out to be a fine young man, just like his father.”

“I think he will, too. I hope I’ll get a chance to look in on him from time to time. I think, no, I know he’s going to wind up being a lot like Matthew. But that’s probably not going to be very close to what I had hoped Matthew would be.” She let out a sigh and said, “I guess all we can do is wait and see. Keep in touch, Adam. It would be nice if we can see each other once in a while.”

“We’ll have to work on it, Brittany. I’ll see you around.”

His last sight of her was as he got aboard a bus for a ride to where his car was parked. He might see her again, perhaps soon, perhaps not – and perhaps never. It didn’t matter, she was behind him now, all the way.

He drove back to the Moonshadow, his only home since he’d turned in the keys to his apartment the day before. He was just getting settled in nicely when his cell phone rang. It turned out to be Mary; it was a call he had been expecting. “I take it you made it back all right,” he asked.

“Aye,” she said. “We just now got in ta Blanche Tickle, and little Matty was all tuckered out so I put him down for the night. Adam, that went a lot better than I expected.”

“That it did,” he replied. “I think you know that I had no idea what to expect. She could have gone off her cams, or been very contrite. As it was, she was warm and friendly.”

“Aye, an’ that was not what I was expectin’,” she replied, her Newfoundland accent back to normal. “In fact, she seemed pretty nice. Adam, I’ve been thinkin’ ’bout it, an’ I’m wonderin’ if you think it might be a good idea ta invite her up ta see Blanche Tickle an’ where we live.”

“That would absolutely blow up any idea of keeping your location secret, of course,”

“It would indeed. But I’m thinkin’ we might be able ta be friends now, so maybe it might not be such a bad idea.”

“I don’t know, Mary. I just don’t know. What’s more, I’m not going to be able to monitor things from this end anymore, not that I ever was able to do a good job of it. If you do invite her there, you’re going to be the one taking the risk. I really don’t think she’d try for a custody action now. Back after Matty was born I think that was about all she could think about. At a minimum, though, she might have some idea of how difficult it would be. I just don’t know what to tell you.”

“I was afraid ye were goin’ ta say somethin’ like that,” she sighed. “I’d like ta be closer friends with her, though, so Matty would have at least one grandmother as he’s growin’ up.”

“About all I can suggest is to call her up from time to time and see what happens,” he said. “It’s not like you have to make a decision about it right now, but I think we’ve reached the point where whatever happens, you have to be the one to make the decision.”

They talked for a few more minutes about his upcoming voyage. “I’m lookin’ forward ta seein’ ye again, Adam,” she said finally. “You’re thinkin’ it’s goin’ ta be in July, right?”

“Sometime around then. I’ll know more when I get closer. When I have a better idea, I’ll call Sinead and have her give you the message.”

“Aye, that’ll work. Take care an’ be safe, Adam. I’ll be thinkin’ o’ ye.”

Friday was a day of finalities. There were a few items he had to get for the boat, and he needed to finish loading up with groceries, so he concentrated on that after he made a quick call at Caldwell-Deerfield. He wished once again that he’d have someone with him, but he knew he’d go it alone if he had to. After all, a little more than five years before Matt had set out from this same place in the Mary Sue, and he’d been alone for the first part of the journey, before he and Mary had found each other.

He took the groceries to the boat and put them away, just about the final piece of running around he had to do before he left. He’d pretty well finished cleaning up all the loose ends he had left, at least the ones that could be cleaned up at the moment. There were a few he’d have to come back for, and none requiring him to return very soon.

The final stop was at a car dealer he’d talked to earlier in the week. He’d made up his mind he wouldn’t need the sedan any longer, and after some haggling he’d been able to work out a good deal on the car – not really good, but adequate under the circumstances. Part of the deal was that the dealer would give him a ride back to the Moonshadow, and the dealer made good on that part of it.

Now there was nothing left to do. He actually had the dealer’s driver drop him off at a small restaurant up the road from the marina. It hadn’t been very a real good meal when he’d been in it before, and it really wasn’t any better now, but it was food that he didn’t have to cook and it might be a few days before he allowed himself that luxury again. Since he would be walking back to the boat, he had a couple more beers than he normally would, just to celebrate the end of one part of his life and setting out on a new one.

He went back to the boat after dinner, called Jake to tell him he’d be leaving in the morning and would be keeping in touch, then took a quick look around the boat to make sure everything was all right before turning in for the night.

Possibly it was the beer or the stress of the last few days, but he wound up sleeping late the next morning. He was a little bit upset with himself over that; it was a nice day and he could have been out on the water much sooner, but when he got down to it, it didn’t matter. A couple hours wasted now was acceptable; while he’d have some schedules to meet in the future, right now he wasn’t in a major hurry.

He also wasn’t in a major hurry as he brewed some coffee and sat in the cockpit drinking it, eating some packaged doughnuts he’d bought the day before. Not a bad morning, he thought, but I’m going to have to knuckle down and do it. He finished the doughnuts, put the mug below, and started taking the sail cover off the mainsail.

He heard a car pull up behind him, a common enough occurrence to not cause him to turn around and look. He was rolling up the sail cover and getting set to put it below when he heard a woman’s voice call out. “Adam, thank God you’re still here. Will you still take me with you?”

He turned to see who was talking to him, and got a smile on his face when he saw who it was. “I thought you didn’t want to put up with the static from your family.”

“I changed my mind. You were right. I have to do what I want to do, not what they want me to do. I’m afraid they’re not going to be very happy when they find out, but that’s going to be their problem, and not mine.”

“It’s all right with me,” he said. “I was just thinking again about how I really didn’t want to take this trip by myself, and when you get right down to it, I can’t think of someone I’d rather have with me. Grab your stuff and bring it on board so we can get going.”

“Everything is in the taxi,” she replied. “I didn’t bring a lot. Will that be all right?”

“That’ll be fine.”

“By the way, I love the look of your new boat. I think we’re going to have some fun with it.”

“I’m sure we are,” he said as he stepped off the boat to help her with her bags. She was right; there wasn’t a lot of it, but it was still going to take some rearrangement below to make things fit. But no matter; there was plenty of time for that.

A couple minutes later he was warming up the motor as she got the dock lines, then stepped aboard. “Are you still sure you want to do this?” he asked.

“I’ve very sure,” she said. “I just had to convince myself it was the right thing to do.”

“I’m sure it was,” he smiled as he started to back the boat out of the slip. “We’re going to have some great times. Welcome aboard the Moonshadow, Audrey.”

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