‘She fooled us,’ he told Harry. ‘Don’t look so worried. The doggy fooled us both. Isn’t she clever?’
Harry gave a tight little smile. His rigid body didn’t unbend, however, and after a moment Jack put him down.
‘This is a very strange place,’ he told Harry. ‘Do you know, I think it might even be fun. I’m not sure yet, but maybe we should give it a try.’
To be fooled by a dog was one thing. To be fooled by a woman you didn’t trust was another. He set Harry down, looked up, and Cathy was there. Or Kate. Whichever, both of them were laughing.
‘I’m sorry. Donna should have warned you. Maisie always tries that on.’
‘Donna?’ he said dangerously.
‘Our receptionist. She’s supposed to warn everyone. This is Maisie’s favourite party trick to get adults into the water. Strangely, she never tries it on kids. Only adults. She’s so clever.’
‘Right,’ Jack growled. To say he was feeling at a disadvantage was an understatement. He was dripping. He was in his boxers. On the other hand, Kate had obviously cleaned up after her time with Toby. She was wearing a soft blue skirt and white blouse. Her hair was neatly curled on top of her head. She looked fresh, professional … and deeply amused, but …
‘Maisie saved herself,’ Harry pronounced, and he was talking again. That was almost enough to make Jack forget about Kate. Almost. Her chuckle had him entranced.
Kate wasn’t his type. She’d never really been his type, he conceded. Yes, there had been that initial attraction but he liked his women cool, sophisticated.
Kate was cute rather than classically beautiful, he thought. She had freckles. Lots of freckles.
She looked like the girl next door, he thought. So why was he looking at a pair of laughing eyes and thinking … thinking …
He didn’t need to think in that direction. She’d always had secrets and he didn’t like it. This woman had some hidden agenda and Harry’s welfare was at stake. He needed to find out what was going on.
But Kate was no longer looking at him. She’d stooped to crouch before Harry.
‘Hi,’ she said. ‘I’m Kate, Maisie’s mother. I hear your uncle has brought you here to stay for a few days so you can meet Maisie and my friends, the dolphins.’
Harry was back to saying nothing. Kate, however, didn’t appear in the least bit disconcerted. She rose, headed over the sandhill and came back carrying a bucket. Of fish.
‘I dumped these when I saw your uncle saving Maisie,’ she said, returning to them. ‘Wasn’t he brave? But isn’t Maisie clever to trick him? Jack, would you like to go and get dry while Harry and I feed the dolphins? Would you like a little time out?’
It was exactly what he’d like. He was feeling … exposed. He was bare chested, bare legged and a bit chilly now the sun was sinking low, but he still had reservations about this woman. He wasn’t about to leave her alone with his nephew until he knew more.
Harry was still not speaking, but he was peering into the bucket. Fish!
‘These are a snack for the wild dolphins,’ Kate said, talking exclusively to Harry. ‘We feed the dolphins in the healing pool, but every now and then we give our wild dolphins a treat. Some of the wild dolphins are ones we’ve treated here for injuries and let go, but most are just free dolphins who come to say hello. If we encourage them to stick around, when we have an injured dolphin who’s better we can release him into a group of friends. Do you think that’s a good idea?’
Harry nodded.
Jack had resolved not to trust this woman, but every ounce of Kate’s attention was focussed on Harry. He thought, It doesn’t matter if I trust or not, but if Harry trusts …
He had to stick with him. He wasn’t going as far as letting this woman take over but something seemed to be working. He hauled his shirt over his still-damp torso and took Harry’s hand.
Harry didn’t respond. There was never a moment when those small fingers curled around his. He trusted no one.
‘Where do you feed them?’ he asked, and she motioned to where the net divided the free bay from the pool.
‘At the boundary. I feed those in the pool and out so they see each other.’
‘But the pool ones can’t get out?’ Harry asked, and once more Jack held his breath.
‘The ones in the pool all have something wrong with them,’ Kate said, starting to walk down to the water, leaving them to follow if they willed. And, of course, they willed. Harry was moving even before Jack led. ‘If we let them out into the ocean they’ll die. But we’ve made the pool enormous and we try and make them feel as free as we can.’
They reached the netted boundary. She walked into the water—she might look professional from the knees up but she had bare feet—and she lifted a fish out of the bucket. She slapped the surface a few times with the fish and she yelled.
‘Grub’s up. Come and get it.’
He was as fascinated as Harry. They stood on the shoreline and watched as far out a fin appeared and then another and another. And then there was a line of eight dolphins, surfing in on a wave to reach the shallows. They paused as a group in about two feet of water, and a couple reared back as if standing on tiptoe, watching.
And in the enclosure four more dolphins assembled and did the same, so Kate had a dozen dolphins at attention.
‘Now, the trick is, one fish each,’ she told Harry. ‘And they’re very tricky. Every time one gets a fish he pretends that he hasn’t. So the ones who do the most jumping up and down and pleading are the ones who’ve had a fish. The others know I’m fair and if they wait their turn they’ll get one.’
She lifted the fish—a fish Jack thought was a good breakfast size—and tossed it to the first wild dolphin. He caught it with dexterity. She then tossed a fish to each wild dolphin in turn. She was right, the ones who’d been fed became sneaky but Kate was sneakier still, and not one dolphin got more than his share.
‘If we feed them too much they won’t bother to hunt themselves,’ she told Harry briskly, as she moved from the outer rim of the pool to the inner. ‘And that’d never do. Now, would you like to give one of my tame guys a fish?’
Without waiting for an answer, she delved in the bucket, snagged a fish and held it up. ‘This would make a good meal for me. Our dolphins get very well fed. Harry, if you’d like to meet my friends, the closest is Hobble. The next one is Bubbles. Then we have Smiley and Squirt. If you and your uncle decide to stay here for a while then you’ll meet them close up. They like playing with a ball just as much as Maisie does.’
But it was enough. Harry closed up, as he’d closed up for months. Jack felt him withdraw, felt his small body clench with tension, felt his hand become rigid in his clasp.
Did Kate know how much progress he’d made in the last hour? he wondered.
‘Maybe we need to stop …’ he started, but Kate was there before him.
‘Only if you want, of course,’ she said cheerfully. ‘You decide, but if you stay you’ll have a nice little bedroom overlooking the sea. Some people who come here stay in bed the whole time and every now and then they peek through the curtains at the dolphins. That’s all they want to do and it’s why we call it a sanctuary. Everyone here is allowed to do exactly what they want to do. Now, I gather Donna has shown you your bungalow? It’s the yellow one, and your bedroom is all yellow, too. If you want you can go there now. Dinner’s in the dining room in half an hour but if you want to you can have it in your little house. There’s a menu on the wall. We have everything from sausage rolls to pizza to great big hamburgers for your uncle. But you decide. Harry, I’m going to feed the rest of my dolphins now, but you can do whatever you want.’