“Ah, see, that’s the thing,” Birdie said. “All rumors start with one person, don’t they? What happened after that was all about curiosity. What Mitzi meant as a warning became for many a challenge. Some people really did want to know about their life, to search and find. And many did.”

“So what do you think it is about this house … your house, that … does this for people?”

“I can’t answer that part. I just know that if you are really searching for the truth, you’ll often find it in the quiet here. It might not be what you want to hear, but if you listen, you will hear. You’ll discover synchronistic events all around you.”

Babs leaned closer, pushing with her words. “But why this house? Why here?”

Birdie sipped her lemonade and smiled without an answer.

“Why here?” Babs asked again.

Birdie started the boat. “I don’t know. I hope you didn’t think I could answer the why part of the story for you.”

Hutch leaned over then, whispered in my ear, his breath warm, “Did you know any of this?”

I shook my head. “Only the story that if you came here, your life could change.”

“Let’s go to the beach for a little while. You all okay with that?” Birdie asked.

“Perfect,” I said, leaning back into the seat.

As we flew over the water in Blind Faith, I lifted my face to the wind until Birdie anchored the boat and we jumped into knee-high water to walk toward the beach. Babs stared out over the edge of the boat, biting her bottom lip. “Um, maybe I’ll wait here.”

Uncle Cotton held out his hand. “Come on. You’ll enjoy it. Roll up your pants and get in.”

Babs smiled at him and allowed him to guide her over the edge, laughing.

We walked through water until we reached the beach, where a ribbon strand of wet sand told of a retreating tide. Small shells like scattered stars sprinkled the beach. The waves were diminutive but insistent in their steady presence and sound.

I smiled at Hutch. “So do you believe all that about a single place changing a life?”

He pointed to Birdie and Babs walking away down the shoreline, still talking. “Sounds true to me.”

I trailed my toe through the sand. “You know, the only time I’ve ever been to the Gulf Coast beaches were when we would go with the sorority in college. Remember when you and I went for that long weekend in February? We sat on the beach in sweaters and didn’t even care.”

“Yep, how could I forget?”

“Otherwise, my family has always gone to the Georgia coast.”

“Same here. When I hear the word beach I think of the Georgia coast. The beaches we love end up being the ones we went to as a child.”