Voyage of the Dreadnaught: Four Stella Madison Capers by Lilly Maytree Read Free Book Online Page B

a person could do
just about anything. An ordinary person would be capable of doing
extraordinary things.
    Maybe even great things.
    All at once, an incredible sense of peace
and contentment settled over her. She wondered if it wasn’t truly
the most wonderful feeling she had ever experienced. What’s more,
for the first time in her entire life, she had someone to share it
with. A person who understood such things. She looked over to where
the Colonel was working away contentedly on his next book of
heroes.
    “Oliver?”
    “Yes, my dear?” he replied without looking
up right away. Stella loved it when he got involved in his work.
His face went through so many different expressions it was almost
like watching a movie.
    “I just thought you might like to know
something.”
    He looked over at her then. “Yes?”
    “I’m sixty-three.”
    “I thought so, Stel. You know that’s just
what I thought? It’s a wonder they don’t ask you to prove it
whenever you renew your driver’s license. It really is.”
    “When you have white hair, that’s all anyone
really notices about you.”
    “Hmm…” He drummed his fingers lightly on the
arm of his chair, as if thinking. “Anything else you want to tell
me about all that?”
    “Not at the moment.” There would be plenty
of time to tell him about those other things. She would tell him
little by little. And—who knows—in the telling, maybe she would
have more of this peace and contentment to fill her life. And less
of those visions like that lady standing at the stove. Where did
such things come from?
    “You know, my dear…” He suddenly closed down
his laptop and gave her his full attention. “Everyone has something
to hide. Every last one of us. Look at Cole and Lou Edna. The
lengths they went to pull this whole thing off. And all for
seven-hundred and fifty dollars, that made them feel worthless
inside.”
    “You have to admit it was clever the way
they managed it, though,” she said. Stella knew what it was like to
be forced into desperate decisions, and then end up in a worse
place because of them. “Her dropping him off in the rowboat on the
American side, late at night when we were all asleep, and then
bringing him over the next night, again, after the inspection. He’s
been aboard all this time, and not a one of us had a clue.”
    “Yes, and if they would put that much effort
toward honest work, they’d have more than enough respect to live on
by now. Along with everything else that comes from doing what’s
right.”
    “Maybe they will, after all this.” Stella
closed her book and smiled. “He was certainly surprised when he got
promoted to First Mate! Did you see the look on his face? It was
like that was the first decent thing anybody ever did for him in
his entire life.”
    “Wouldn’t be surprised if it was. For sure
he’ll turn out to be the best hand Stuart’s ever had. Wait and
see.”
    “I hope so.”
    “They’ll have a strong bond between them,
too. I could see it’s begun already. It’s what comes of sharing
something of yourself that gets met with acceptance and fair
judgment from others. On the other hand, hidden things eat away at
you a bit at a time, over a long period of time. It’s one of the
best forms of destruction there is.”
    Stella thought that was probably a good
lead-in to tell him her own story. But it had been such a long and
trying day. An extreme of highs and lows. The Colonel was right, of
course. She knew it in her heart as soon as he said those words.
But just as she was contemplating whether or not she was even up to
such an ordeal, he smiled that wonderful smile of his.
    “No need to speak of it any more, tonight,
Stel. We have all the time in the world.” He answered the question
as if she had spoken it out loud. “Besides that, we start with
ourselves. Just put ourselves in God’s hands, and let him reveal
what we need to change, a bit at a time. Somewhere along the line
we become more transparent