My dad pulls out a big chair for me and I climb up onto it. I’m almost too short to reach the table and I barely manage to see over my soup bowl.

  “Gary, this is my son, Jake,” my dad introduces me.

  Gary reaches over to shake my hand. I put my hand in his. “Nice to meet you, Jake,” he says.

  “You too, sir,” I reply.

  “Very polite,” he comments.

  “Thank you,” my dad says smiling. “I’ve been working on him for a while now.” He winks at me.

  “And, of course, you know Miss Mary,” he adds.

  I look over at Mary, she’s sitting between Chloe and her dad, with a large smile plastered on her face.

  “Nice to see you again, Jake,” she says.

  The conversation at dinner is so boring I have a hard time paying attention. Several times, I looked over at Chloe, and each time, I caught her making a funny face at me or doing something silly. One time, I started giggling until my dad cleared his throat, reminding me to stop and behave.

  As soon as we finish eating, I feel a sharp kick in my shin. “Ouch!” I yell, then quickly clamp my mouth shut. I can feel my dad’s gaze boring into me.

  “Sorry,” I whisper. “Can Chloe and I go look at the beach?” I ask.

  My dad looks over at Chloe’s dad, who nods.

  “Go on, guys,” he says.

  “Just stay where we can see you,” Chloe’s dad tells us.

  Chloe and I both get down from our chairs and run to the outside porch of the restaurant. The sky is dark, but the stars and the moon light up the beach beautifully.

  “That was so boring,” I say to her.

  “Yeah, they always are,” Chloe responds. “My dad makes me come to these things a lot. And I have to be quiet all the time. It’s so hard because I don’t understand anything they’re saying.”

  “How come Miss Mary was touching your dad so much?” I ask, curiously. “Her hands were all over his arm throughout dinner.”

  She shrugs. “I don’t know. She probably likes him or something. My dad does this a lot. Every time we go somewhere, he tries to introduce me to someone new.”

  “She’s acting really weird,” I say, feeling uneasy.

  “I don’t let it bother me. I know that as soon as we leave, my dad won’t talk to her again and it will all be over. Like I said, this happens every time we go somewhere. He finds a girl that really likes him and he does a lot of stuff with her and leaves me with a nanny. But by the time the trip is over, it’s like nothing ever happened between them. When we leave, he never talks to them again. At least I don’t think he does. I never see him do it.”

  “That’s weird,” I comment. “My dad and I don’t go on vacation very often. This is the first one since my mom left.”

  “My mom’s not around either,” Chloe says. “It’s just me and my dad.”

  I put my hand on her back. “I’m so sorry,” I say.

  “Don’t be. I’ve gotten used to it. Haven’t you?”

  I shake my head. “No, I still miss my mom a lot.”

  “I try to pretend like I don’t care, but I really do,” she admits, lowering her head.

  We both look back at the table. The adults don’t seem to be paying any attention to us, except for Mary. I watch her stand from her chair and walk towards us. The little hairs stand up on the back of my neck. “She gives me the creeps,” I whisper.

  “Yeah, me too,” Chloe agrees. “I don’t really like hanging out with her.”

  “Me either,” I echo.

  Mary comes up to us. “What are you doing out here?” She asks.

  “Oh, just looking at the stars,” I say, not wanting to tell her about our conversation.

  She gets on her knees between us and puts her arms around us. “I’m so glad that you’re here,” she says, her voice filled with emotion. “It makes me feel happy and complete to have you guys around. I really wish you could stay forever.”

  “But we have school and our friends back home,” Chloe points out.

  “Oh, I know. It’s just a crazy little dream I have. But I want you guys to know that I love you very much,” she replies earnestly.

  I look at her strangely. “How can you love us? You barely know us.”

  “I know more than you realize,” she says softly. “And I know that I have loved you from the moment I saw you.”

  I squirm against her arms and push her away. A hurt expression crosses her face. “One day you’ll understand,” she says gently. “All I ever want for you is love and a true family. I just hope that I’ll get to be a part of it.” She then stands and turns around to walk back to the table.

  “That was weird,” I say to Chloe, still trying to process the encounter.

  “Totally,” she agrees.

  I shrug my shoulders and look back at the water. “Is that a dolphin I see way out there, under the moonlight?”

  Chloe squints her eyes. “I think it is. That’s so cool!” She exclaims.

  58

  MARY (FLASHBACK)

  My heart is breaking. They’re all leaving tomorrow. Well, actually, Tom left today with his family. Chloe, Jake and Chloe’s dad leave tomorrow. I feel so stupid. I really thought we had something special, but I guess I was wrong.

  Gary has barely talked to me today. Here I was, hoping for a proposal or something. I had convinced myself that he was going to ask me to go back to the States with him, to be his wife and a mother to Chloe, but instead, he’s been pulling away.

  My heart feels like it’s being torn in a million pieces. All I ever wanted was a family. I was an only child and when my parents passed away, they left me alone here on the island. I have no one.

  Being a part of Chloe and Gary’s life these past two weeks have been the best weeks of my life. It has meant everything to me. I was naive to think it meant the same to them.

  Gary said we could write to each other the last time I saw him. He gave me his address. I tucked it away neatly and put it in my purse. Writing is never going to be enough for me, but it might be all that I get. All that’s left of what we shared and what I thought was real.

  And the children... I have grown to love those kids as if they were my own. How can I say goodbye to them? I need to give them something to remember me by. But what?

  Then it hits me. There’s a shop in the village that makes ornaments from photographs. I walk up to Jerry’s house and knock on his door. His wife answers and opens it with a big smile. “Come on in, Mary. How can we help you? Jerry is in the dark room.”

  “Hi, I’m just looking to see if Jerry maybe took some pictures of the family I was nannying for.”

  “Let me go get him for you.”

  A few moments later he enters the room.

  “Hi Mary,” he says. “So you’re looking for some photos, huh?”

  “Yeah. I think I saw you taking pictures of the little kids that I was nannying. Did you by any chance take any that I can have a copy of?”

  He looks at me and then nods. “Sure, why not?” He goes back into his darkroom and comes out several seconds later with a stack of photos.

  “Here, I can just make second copies of these for myself from the film. You keep them.”

  “Thank you so much, Jerry. I appreciate it.”

  “Anytime, Mary.”

  I take the pictures down to the village to the little shop that makes Christmas ornaments and ask them to make two, one for Chloe and one for Jake.

  “Do you have a special message you want to put on them?” The owner asks me. “Please, just write ‘Our Little Family’,” I reply. He carefully writes the phrase on the ornaments and then wraps them up in nice paper and puts them in red boxes with white bows before handing them to me.

  “Thank you so much,” I say to him.

  “Anytime, Mary.” He replies.

  I carry the bags back up to the resort, my heart beating fast in my chest. I hope they like them. I don’t want them to forget about me and the special time we shared. I decide to drop off Jake’s gift first. I knock on his door. His dad answers. “Well hello, Mary. How can I help you?”

  “I brought something for Jake, just a little farewell gift,” I say.

  He nods his head and backs up. “Jake, Mary’s here with a gift for you.”

  Jake walks to the door timidly, looking uncomfortable.

  “Here, Jake, I got this for you. I just wanted you to remember your time here.”

  He looks at the gift, but his gaze moves past me.

  I turn around and see Chloe running across the yard towards the playground. I look at Jake as he watches her run and I can tell I’ve lost his attention.

  “Thanks, Miss Mary,” he says grabbing the gift roughly out of my hand and tossing it on his bed. “Hey, Dad, can I go play with Chloe?”

  “Of course, son,” his dad says. “Have a good time. This will be your last time to play since we leave tomorrow, so have fun,” he warns.

  “Okay, thanks, Dad,” he says, running past me.

  I watch him run towards Chloe and can’t help but feel destroyed. All the thought and effort I put into the gift and he just tossed it on the bed. Doesn’t he understand that what we had here is so special, so precious? Did I mean nothing to him? I know he’s just a kid and I’m trying to remember that, but it hurts nonetheless.

  I look down at my hand and the single gift I’m now holding. I don’t think I can give it to Chloe. My heart can’t take being dismissed by her like I was just dismissed by Jake. Maybe it’s better if I just allow them to leave and walk away from me forever.

  59

  JAKE (PAST)

  “Where did you go just now?” Mary asks me.

  “I was flooded with memories from when I was here with my dad. I remember you now, but you were just my nanny. You watched me for a few hours during the day while my dad did his business. I don’t understand how you thought we were a family.”

  “Come outside with me,” she says. “I want to show you something.”

  I hesitate, not sure that I want to go out on the ledge of the lighthouse with her, but my curiosity gets the best of me. We walk outside onto the ledge. The wind whips my hair and the view is breathtaking. Even in the moonlight, I can see the calm ocean and the gentle waves lapping on the shore. The beach, bathed in the pale blue light of the moon, stretches for miles. I keep a safe distance from her.

  “See those waves?” She asks me. “The water comes in, hits the sand and goes out. The only trace that the water was there is that the ground is still wet and the sand is smooth, but otherwise, it leaves no lasting trace.”

  I nod, but say nothing.

  “That’s what it’s like for me when people come to the resort. I normally work the front desk. They come in. They make a few waves, but then they leave and I barely notice them gone. But you were different.”

  “How?” I ask.

  “I was working as a nanny during the time that you were here. I had volunteered so I could spend more time with Chloe and her family. You and the other little boy, Tom, were added to my care last minute, but I was happy to watch you. Being your nanny was different than checking people in and out of the resort. We became friends. We played together. You guys left a permanent mark on me that couldn’t be erased when you left. I have loved you and those two kids since the day you left.”

  “You know that’s crazy, right? You barely spent any time with us. How could you love us? You don’t know anything about me.”

  “But I do. I follow you on social media. I’ve watched from a distance ever since you were a kid. Congratulations to you and Stacia, by the way. She’s going to make a beautiful bride.”

  My mind is reeling. This woman has been following me my entire life. “This is insane, Mary. You can’t stalk people like this. You have to stop. I barely remember you from when I was a kid. And I certainly don’t love you. We are not a family.”

  Hurt crosses her face, followed by anger. “You don’t know what you’re talking about. You may not remember it, but we were a family, the four of us. You, Chloe, Tom and Chloe’s dad. We could have been so happy.”

  “Well, you better find this happiness you are seeking somewhere else. Because I’m not it,” I say, shaking my head. “You know I have to report this. You can’t keep doing this to people. Who knows who else you’ve done this to. Leave me alone, Mary. I want nothing to do with you.”

  I turn around and step back towards the open door to the lighthouse. Suddenly, I feel a strong force shove me in the back. I stumble towards the edge of the walkway. I try to grab ahold of the railing to stop myself, but it’s no use.

  My body flips over the railing and I’m hanging on by just one hand. I struggle to climb back up, but my grip on the rail falters and the next thing I know, I’m falling. The wind whips around me as the ground rushes towards me. Then darkness.

  60

  CHLOE

  “God, Mary, this is madness. You have to stop. We can’t be a family. We’re never going to be a family,” I insist.

  “I can’t,” she says, her voice trembling. “I’ve been dreaming about most of my life and now you’re my only hope. Everyone else is gone, including your dad. I wept for days when I found out he passed away. He really was the love of my life.”

  I shake my head in disbelief. She’s delusional. She barely even knew my dad, yet she’s created this entire delusion in her mind.

  “Mary, this family that you’ve dreamed about, isn’t real. The person that you think I am is not the person I really am. You don’t actually know me. I don’t know you. The stalking and the gifts… it’s all just too much. You have to see that it’s wrong.”

  She shakes her head, tears running down her face. “No, Chloe. You have to see. We’re both alone. We don’t have to be. We have each other.”

  I shake my head firmly. “No, Mary. As soon as I walk away from here, I’m going to the police. I’m going to tell them everything and you will be lucky if you have one more night free before they put you behind bars. What you’ve done is not okay.”

  The sadness in her eyes turns to rage as she roars and rushes towards me. I hold up the fire poker in my hand, straight out, pointing it at her chest. “Stay back! Don’t come any closer!” I scream, my heart pounding.

  She quickly stops, looking from the fire poker to me and then back to the fire poker.

  “I don’t want to hurt you, Mary. You have to let me go.”

  She looks around as if she is trying to figure out how to escape.

  I continue. “How do you live with yourself, Mary? You’ve killed two people just because they didn’t want to be a part of your family. You see how insane that is, right?”

  She shakes her head. “I didn’t mean to do it. I swear I didn’t mean to. And it wasn’t just because they didn’t want to be my family,” she says.

  “Then what? What was a good enough reason to kill them?” I yell.

  “If they would have just walked away from me, everything would have been okay. But they both threatened to tell the police. If I don’t have a family, my job at the resort is everything to me. It’s the only thing I have left. They threatened to take that from me too. It was just too much.”

  “So you killed them because of it?” I ask.

  “I honestly didn’t mean to kill them. I was just trying to stop them from destroying everything,” she replies. Tears spilling from her eyes.

  I feel no sympathy for her. It’s one thing to try and stop someone. But it’s a completely different thing to kill them for it. “You may have delayed the inevitable for three years by killing them, Mary, but I have to go to the police. You know that,” I tell her firmly.

  “I can’t let you do that,” she says, her voice taking on a calm yet chilling tone. She puts her hands in her pocket and pulls out a handgun, pointing it at me.

  “What are you doing?” I ask her, shock and fear gripping me.

  “I’m doing what I have to do to save myself,” Mary responds calmly.

  61

  JERRY

  “This way,” I tell them. “We’re almost there.”

  It’s dark, but I know the way like the back of my hand; I’ve lived on this island my entire life. We make our way through the darkness towards the lighthouse, going as quickly as we can without injuring ourselves.

  As we get closer to the lighthouse, our surroundings get brighter, the light from the lighthouse illuminating everything around it. Suddenly, a noise catches my attention and I look up.

  “Look,” I whisper.

  Chloe and Mary are outside the lighthouse. Chloe is holding a poker in an aggressive stance and Mary is holding a gun pointed towards Chloe.

  Stephan immediately tries to pull away and run up there, but I stop him. “Wait,” I whisper. “You don’t want to surprise her. Anything you do could make her pull that trigger.”

  He stops, recognizing the truth of my words. We get to the steps and go up fast, but quietly. We head to the ledge where Chloe and Mary are.

  “Who’s there?” Mary yells, hearing us approach.

  “It’s me, Jerry,” I say. “Mary, what are you doing?” I yell.

  Mary turns to us, keeping the gun on Chloe. “All I ever wanted was a family, but they won’t let me have one. None of them let me have one. I was thoughtful. I was nice and the love I showered on them was never enough.”

  “She killed those other two guys. The ones that fell from the lighthouse,” Chloe says. “She pushed them off the edge.”

  “Miss. Please stop,” says Tawni. “You don’t have to do this.”

  “I had no choice,” Mary says. “They were going to destroy me if I had let them go, just like Chloe is going to destroy me now too. The way they talked about the things I did for them made them seem so bad. If I had let them go to the police, I would have lost everything. But I was just trying to show them love, to show them that I cared, even all these years later. Is that so wrong?” Tears are streaming down her face.