Yesterday's Tides


 
 
 
 
 
 Half Title Page
 
 
 
 
 Books by Roseanna M. White
 
 LADIES OF THE MANOR
 
 The Lost Heiress
 
 The Reluctant Duchess
 
 A Lady Unrivaled
 
 SHADOWS OVER ENGLAND
 
 A Name Unknown
 
 A Song Unheard
 
 An Hour Unspent
 
 THE CODEBREAKERS
 
 The Number of Love
 
 On Wings of Devotion
 
 A Portrait of Loyalty
 
 Dreams of Savannah
 
 SECRETS OF THE ISLES
 
 The Nature of a Lady
 
 To Treasure an Heiress
 
 Worthy of Legend
 
 Yesterday’s Tides
 
 
 
 
 Title Page
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Copyright Page
 
 © 2023 by Roseanna M. White
 
 Published by Bethany House Publishers
 
 Minneapolis, Minnesota
 
 www.bethanyhouse.com
 
 Bethany House Publishers is a division of
 
 Baker Publishing Group, Grand Rapids, Michigan
 
 www.bakerpublishinggroup.com
 
 Ebook edition created 2023
 
 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—for example, electronic, photocopy, recording—without the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.
 
 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file at the Library of Congress, Washington, DC.
 
 ISBN 978-1-4934-4064-1
 
 Scripture quotations are from the King James Version of the Bible.
 
 This is a work of historical reconstruction; the appearances of certain historical figures are therefore inevitable. All other characters, however, are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is coincidental.
 
 Cover design by Dan Thornberg, Design Source Creative Services
 
 Cover model photography by Ildiko Neer / Trevillion Images
 
 Author is represented by The Steve Laube Agency.
 
 Baker Publishing Group publications use paper produced from sustainable forestry practices and post-consumer waste whenever possible.
 
 
 
 
 Dedication
 
 To Aunt Pam, who loved Ocracoke long before I discovered it.
 
 
 1 Today
 
 MAY 11, 1942 OCRACOKE ISLAND, NORTH CAROLINA
 
 The first light of sunrise turned the water of the Pamlico Sound to gold, the clouds to rose, and the dark to morning, promising Evie Farrow that today would be just like yesterday. Just like tomorrow. Just like every other day on this tiny island in North Carolina’s Outer Banks. She could fight it, or she could embrace it.
 
 But there was fighting enough going on in the world, and Evie had always preferred the way of peace. So she drew in a long breath filled with her favorite perfume—yeast, sugar, and cinnamon—and slid the still-warm sweet rolls into her basket. She paused one moment more to stare out the window of the kitchen, toward the view of the sound that had always, always soothed her. Later, she’d walk its shores. Perhaps even circle around to where the Atlantic joined its tamer sister with heightened waves and currents. She’d take her familiar path. She’d search for shells and sea glass. She’d pray for everyone she loved most.
 
 Too many of them were on the other side of that ocean now. Too many of them were caught up in the war that made the ocean a harbinger of enemies instead of friends. But then, they had always been capricious, those waters. They stole as often as they gave. But she loved them.
 
 A light hand touched her arm, and Evie spun around, smiling at Grandma See, who held out a cup of steaming coffee. Evie touched her fingertips to her mouth and then lowered them away from her in the second sign she’d ever been taught. Thank you. She slid her fingers into the familiar handle and lifted the mug for a fortifying sip.
 
 Grandma See smiled, too, and made a series of quick hand movements. Her usual morning greeting: Time to race the sun.
 
 Evie chuckled and leaned over to smack a kiss onto the familiar feathery-soft cheek. “I’m going, I’m going.” No need to sign those words—though Grandma See wouldn’t hear them, she could read them well enough, and knew to expect them. It was their daily script.
 
 With the basket’s handle looped over her arm, Evie stepped out into the spring morning. Just as she had done yesterday, just as she would do tomorrow. Walked the familiar path toward the Coast Guard station, as she’d done every morning for the last six years. As she would likely do for six more, for ten more.
 
 Forever.
 
 She drew in a long breath and reminded herself, again, that she’d chosen this. Chosen to make Ocracoke not half her home, but her whole home. She’d chosen to relegate her other ties to visits and holidays.
 
 So why did she find herself missing so much lately?
 
 A silly question. How could she not? The biggest part of her heart was stuck an ocean away.
 
 “Morning, Miss Evie.”
 
 Evie’s gaze swept over, upward a few feet, to where her closest neighbor stood on her porch, her own mug of coffee in hand. Evie frowned. Miss Marge wasn’t usually out this early. “Morning, Miss Marge. How’d you sleep last night? Your back still bothering you?”
 
 At the mere mention, the old woman rubbed at her lower back and heaved a sigh even the doves on the newly strung electrical wires probably heard. “Gave up—you know I ain’t much these days. Figured I’d sit out here on the pizzer for a little while, then maybe stretch out on the couch. You hear them noises last night?”
 
 Evie didn’t slow her pace, but she did change her trajectory and aim for the porch’s steps, shifting her coffee to her already-burdened arm so she had a free hand. Ever since Mr. Mack had died last year, Miss Marge was always hearing noises, and she refused to believe they could all be from the antics of the neighborhood’s feral cat colony. “Nothing out