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you, cookie? Did you find anything?”
    “Yes.” Alex opened a plastic bag she was holding and took out a small stuffed blue and yellow rabbit with a white bow on each ear. “She’s my lucky rabbit foot.”
    Richard and Catherine laughed as Alex hopped around holding up her new purchase. Is this what it would’ve been like had she stayed? Would they be this perfect family?
    Richard looked at her as if he was thinking the same thing. But maybe the thought was too dangerous, because he said nothing and turned away.
    Alex stopped hopping by a booth featuring antique jewelry. She fingered some bracelets and then settled on a blue suede jewelry case with a twirling ballerina inside. Richard came up behind her to see the tiny plastic dancer spin slowly to one of the pieces from The Nutcracker . “Can you make her go faster, Papa?”
    While Richard attended to Alex, Catherine admired a display of rings on a black velvet cloth on the same table. The bands were the usual sterling silver, some carved, and some set with turquoise, black onyx, or malachite stones. She tried on several, but nothing seemed special. The vendor, a woman with frizzy, red hair partly covered by a paisley scarf, watched Catherine for a few moments before bending under the table. She brought up a small wooden box and opened it, revealing a slightly tarnished gold ring.
    Fascinated by the design—two hands holding a heart—Catherine tried the ring on her right hand. It slid on easily with no room to spare. 
    “This is nice, huh?” Catherine said to Alex.
    “Oh, that’s so cute!”
    The redheaded vendor tucked her hair behind her ear. “It’s a Claddagh ring. Very old Irish wedding ring. More than a hundred years old.”
    Catherine raised her hand, allowing the sunlight to bathe her fingers. The heart with the crown on top glistened in the light.
    “Why don’t you buy it, Mama? It’s so pretty.”
    “It’s a wedding ring, Alex. I don’t need a wedding ring.”
    The vendor said, “You can buy it for good luck. Everyone needs good luck.”
    “But it’s not a good luck ring.”
    Alex looked closer at it. “Maybe it is, Mama. I have my rabbit’s foot. You can have a ring.”
    Catherine took the gold ring off, and examined the inside of it. There was some kind of hallmark, followed by numbers that were too small to make out. She put it back on the velvet cloth and looked at the others, but her attention kept coming back to the Irish ring. “Can I ask you where you got it?’
    The vendor shrugged. “In an estate sale. The guy who died was an Irish immigrant. A fisherman. He apparently found it in a large cod caught off the coast of Ireland.”
    “In a fish?”
    “That’s what the seller said.”
    “Strange.”
    Alex screwed up her face in distaste. “Ooo. The fish ate it? Does it still smell?”
    Catherine laughed and put the ring up to Alex’s nose.
    “It doesn’t,” said Alex, wide-eyed.
    Catherine said, “It’s a beautiful ring. How much is it?”
    “One hundred and fifty dollars. You won’t find another one like it. It’s a genuine antique. You’re lucky, it already fits. You won’t have to have it sized.”
    Richard turned to Catherine. “Do you need another ring?”
    She hated when he used that tone. As if she were a child. It was her own fault. She shouldn’t have asked for his opinion. She glanced down at her finger again. “I’ll take it.”
    The vendor got a small paper bag from under the table, but Catherine had already slipped the ring on. “It’s okay. I’ll wear it.” She figured she could use some luck.
     

 
     
     
     
     
    FOUR
     
    The skies turned black and the sea below swelled. Towering waves thrashed the wooden deck of the old sailing ship. Catherine could see the mast falling, splintering in the gales. She glanced around, desperate to find him, but he was nowhere to be found. Where was he? Only moments before, they’d been in each other’s arms, and now she had no idea where he was. He