Tides of blue, p.1
Tides of Blue, page 1
Tides of Blue
Tides of Blue
SHARON BRUBAKER
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or deceased, or actual events is purely coincidental.
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Copyright © 2022 by Sharon Brubaker
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All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the author, except by reviewers, who may quote brief passages in a review.
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Library of Congress Control Number 2022917229
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Paperback ISBN 978-1-954175-66-2
Hardback ISBN 978-1-954175-67-9
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Distributed by Tivshe Publishing
Printed in the United States of America
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Cover design by Dark Queen Designs
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Visit www.tivshepublishing.com
Contents
Acknowledgments
Author’s Note:
Chapter 1
Anna Grace – 1860
Chapter 2
Beth – Present Day
Chapter 3
Anna Grace – 1860
Chapter 4
Josiah – 1860
Chapter 5
Matthew
Chapter 6
Beth
Chapter 7
Anna Grace – 1860
Chapter 8
Josiah - 1860
Chapter 9
Matthew
Chapter 10
Beth
Chapter 11
Anna Grace – 1860
Chapter 12
Josiah – 1860
Chapter 13
Anna Grace – 1860
Chapter 14
Anna Grace – 1860
Chapter 15
Beth
Chapter 16
Matthew
Chapter 17
Josiah – 1860
Chapter 18
Anna Grace – 1860
Chapter 19
Beth
Chapter 20
Matthew
Chapter 21
Josiah – 1860
Chapter 22
Anna Grace – 1860
Chapter 23
Beth
Chapter 24
Matthew
Chapter 25
Anna Grace – 1860
Chapter 26
Josiah – 1860
Chapter 27
Anna Grace – 1860
Chapter 28
Josiah – 1860
Chapter 29
Beth
Chapter 30
Anna Grace – 1860
Chapter 31
Matthew
Chapter 32
Beth
Chapter 33
Matthew
Chapter 34
Beth
Chapter 35
Matthew
Chapter 36
Beth
Chapter 37
Matthew
Chapter 38
Josiah – 1860
Chapter 39
Beth
Chapter 40
Matthew
Chapter 41
Beth
Chapter 42
Anna Grace – 1860
Chapter 43
Matthew
Chapter 44
Beth
Chapter 45
Matthew
Chapter 46
Beth
Chapter 47
Matthew
Chapter 48
Josiah – 1860
Chapter 49
Beth
Chapter 50
Matthew
Chapter 51
Beth
Chapter 52
Matthew
Chapter 53
Beth
Chapter 54
Beth
Chapter 55
Josiah – 1860
Chapter 56
Beth
About the Author
Acknowledgments
As always, thank you to my family. You are incredible!
Many thanks to my wonderful friends and beta-readers Alice, Barbara, Linda, Peggy, MaryBeth, Roxann, Shauna, Sonia, and Sue.
Thank you to Linda Roller, The Liberty Bookshop in Avis, PA for writing camp and research adventures!
A special thanks to Roxann and Steve Williams for opening up the world at NASGA.
Many thanks to the Kent County Maryland Historical Society.
Many thanks to NASGA – the North American Sea Glass Association (https://seaglassassociation.org/), its board members, members, vendors, and visitors.
Thank you, Laura Minker, for introducing me to the world of vintage carousels.
Thank you, Ralph Watkins, Shirley Hess-Phillips, and George Wilbur, for your insight and information.
A special thanks to Alice Lundgren for her support.
And very special thanks to Jodi Jackola of Tivshe Publishing for helping make dreams come true.
Author’s Note:
Sea glass and beach glass are nearly one and the same. The glass is usually dumped in the water or at the shoreline where the glass is found and smoothed by sand and the water’s erosive action until these broken pieces possess a silky, smooth finish. Small, pitted marks in the shape of the letter “C” also indicate sea glass. It takes between twenty and one hundred years for the shiny glass to change to the silky, sanded appearance prized by collectors. Sea glass originates from the ocean. Beach glass originates in freshwater areas. Due to PH differences in water, sea glass from freshwater sources is usually not as frosted as sea glass, so sea glass is considered the jewel of the sea and is prized by collectors. The colors of glass are ranked by rarity. Finding pieces of sea glass makes one wonder where it came from, what type of glass, and the history behind each piece. Some are treasured; some are tossed back into the water to further perfect into a jewel, sometimes referred to as ‘mermaid’s tears.’ The sea glass we find holds echoes from the past. There is a story that lies within those echoes.
One
ANNA GRACE – 1860
Anyone who has picked up a piece of sea glass has touched history and touched other lives.
Anna Grace and Tyrone stared at Augustus’s lifeless body. In death, he looked at peace and free from pain. In death, his face showed a vestige of his youth.
“It is done,” she whispered as she stared from Augustus to the small, cobalt blue glass bottle on the nightstand.
“Yes, missus,” Tyrone agreed, and he bowed his head.
There were no other words. After a moment of silence, he reached for the bottle, but Anna Grace’s hand stopped him.
“I’ll take it,” she told him rigidly as her hand reached for the small, uncorked bottle, innocently standing guard by the cup drained of liquid.
She picked up the bottle, cradling it in her hand, wanting to keep it. She wanted it safe, as it was one of the last things Josiah had touched. But Anna Grace knew she had to be rid of it.
Tears pricked at her eyes. They weren’t tears of mourning for Augustus but rather tears of relief. She turned to look up at Tyrone’s impassive face with one tear trickling down the side of her face, then wiped it away quickly while Tyrone averted his eyes.
“We’re free now, Tyrone. Free,” she stated steadfastly.
“Yes, Missus,” he answered, turning to look at her. There was a glimmer of hope in his eyes.
“A mercy killing,” Anna Grace asserted quietly.
“Yes, missus,” he agreed.
He wouldn’t meet her eyes now, so she looked down then quietly left the bedchamber with the bottle clutched tightly in her hand. Anna Grace swung the large, heavy front door open, stepping deliberately down the steps and onto the path that led to the small wharf that jutted out into the Sassafras River. A sharp, little wind tore at her hair, tearing it from the pins Pansy had carefully used to lock down her tresses earlier that day.
She felt no remorse in having given Augustus the last of the colchicine. What he had done to Sadie with Mr. Reece was unconscionable. What he had said about Josiah was cruel. She would no longer be a victim of his rages, belt, and rape. She was numb, knowing the poison in the bottle had caused Augustus’s demise. Would it be considered murder or self-defense? She didn’t know. She did know the Colchicine in that bottle was her ticket to freedom.
Anna Grace stared at the small bottle in her hand. It gleamed brightly in the rays of the setting sun. She thought of Sadie. She thought of Josiah. She thought of herself. Then, she smiled a triumphant smile and tossed the small, cobalt blue ridged bottle as far out into the river as she could. The sunlight caught it mid-arc, and briefly, the bottle glittered brightly, looking as though it had wings before it dropped into the muddy river.
As the bottle struck the water, the bottle gave a little “plop-plop” sound before sinking below the surface. River water filled the bottle as it sank deeper and deeper until finally resting on the sand and silty mud. The bottle lay nestled in the muddy, sandy bottom of the river, oblivious to the commotion happening above.
Now, the bottle was at the mercy of time and tides. Minutes turned to hours. Hours turned to days. Days turned to weeks. Weeks turned to months. Months turned to years. The small, ridged, co
Many years passed before the bottle met the Chesapeake Bay. Waves heaved, and whitecaps roiled as if it were a violent sea. The watery chaos churned, and the tiny bottle struck a rock. A tiny chip emerged, turning into a fissure. Like hoar frost, the fissures created a lacy effect of a network of tiny cracks. As minutes turned to hours, hours into days, days into weeks, and weeks into years, the fissures deepened into a beautiful pattern.
Eventually, through time and tides, the bottle cracked into several pieces, large and small. The pieces formed a dense heap on the murky bottom of the Chesapeake Bay. Sunlight did not pierce the water to show its blue beauty, leaving the pieces as dark as the rocks. They were as dark as the blue of the depths of the night sky. The sand and silty mud caressed each piece turning the glossy, smooth, shiny pieces into satiny treasures. The pieces loosened from their resting place, drifting and bumping along. Small “C” shapes adorned the cobalt treasures like a brooch on a beautiful dress.
As the years passed, the tides took the pieces out into the bay and onto neighboring shores. The small, blue pieces drifted apart, moving away from the whole shards becoming part of other stories yet to be told.
Two
BETH – PRESENT DAY
Sea glass is often regarded as a symbol of renewal.
You stupid bitch!” Mike shouted with such vehemence that spittle flew out in small drops with the mean words. “You’re a selfish bitch! Did you know that? What were you thinking? You knew we had plans! Now you’ve ruined everything.”
Beth cowed as a hailstorm of expletives and insults continued to spew from his mouth. The verbal abuse was nothing new. He always seemed to find fault in everything she did. This time, Beth had agreed to work a different shift to help a colleague on her floor at the hospital. It wasn’t a crime, but Mike didn’t like changes to his plans. He didn’t like it when she failed to consult him before making any changes to his plans. As a hospital administrator, he was anal about his job and everything else in his life. Mike liked control.
His ire could be raised by something as simple as folding his clothing incorrectly or placing the herbs and spices out of alphabetical order. Lately, his anger and rage seemed to be increasing exponentially.
Eventually, the shouting subsided to words hissed in seething anger. Beth stood silently, shoulders drooping as his foul words swept around her like a tyrannical wind. Once again, each ugly word seeped into her skin like drops of rain, each one causing her confidence to dwindle. She sank under the storm of words, slumping into the old couch and hunching her shoulders.
“I’m sorry,” Beth whispered. She doubted if her apology would have any effect.
“Sorry,” Mike hissed in disgust.
He turned on his heel and strode out, slamming the door behind him. His eyes flashed, and she saw a hard look in them that sent fear into her. Mike hadn’t hit her, but the ‘yet’ seemed to whisper in her head like a fragment of a song. And it was an ugly song that reverberated in her head and would not go away. Her breath hitched tenuously after his tirade. She always held her breath when he spewed his poison as if she was waiting for a blow. He was beginning to frighten her, and she wanted to escape. It was in that instant that Beth realized she could escape if she tried.
The question was, ‘could’ she escape? Beth had heard of safe houses for women, where they changed their names and found a new identity. Posters of the organization that helped women find safety were posted at the hospital where she worked. Beth had jotted down the number and torn up the scrap of paper several times, not knowing what to do. She questioned herself constantly. Was it abuse when he didn’t hit her? She doubted herself over and over again. Fear and self-loathing were becoming her close companions.
As the days and weeks went by after Mike’s recent outburst, Beth daydreamed of a life away from him. Was it possible? She wasn’t certain, but his complaints and rages made her feel claustrophobic, as though she couldn’t breathe.
Finally, Beth came to the realization that she didn’t want to live this way. She decided that she didn’t need to live in fear anymore and resolved to pull herself away from Mike in degrees. She would escape. And so, she began to devise a plan. She could begin a new life somewhere new. But where? The possibility enticed her, but she knew she needed to be careful planning her escape from Mike.
That night, Beth pulled herself to the very edge of the bed, turning her back on Mike. She blocked his snores with a pillow and stared into the darkness with burning eyes until she fell asleep. Mentally, she berated herself, wondering what she had ever seen in Mike. At this point, any feelings she had for him crumbled into dust. Disgust was the only thing left. She was bereft of any love of him.
Her plan of escape was inadvertently helped by her nursing supervisor, Mary. The hospital, as always, was short-staffed, and Mary asked Beth to work nights for a month.
The night shift offered Beth the opportunity to work on her plan. Because Mike was always snooping on her phone and email, she set up a new email account that she only accessed at work. Then she found an old road atlas and looked for potential areas to move to, ones she knew had employment areas She wanted to go somewhere different from the mountainous region of Eagle Heights, but she didn’t want to go to the city. She wanted to leave Pennsylvania, so she looked south to the Chesapeake Bay area. The upper part of the bay was central to a number of hospitals in both northern Maryland and the northern Delaware area. Her plan was to drive to the area, find a place to live, and then begin applying to the hospitals. This area would give her the option of several hospitals between the Baltimore to Philadelphia corridor.
