Tide and Timber
When a severe chemical exposure at a historic harbor workshop lands master shipwright Clara Vance in emergency care, she discovers her husband has liquidated her family shipyard and declared her incompetent—until an unyielding harbor commissioner intervenes with cold hard evidence.
Fictional story. Contains themes of emotional distress, medical emergency, marital betrayal, and legal financial dispute.Chapter 1: The Fading Beacon
By the time the storm shutter ripped free from the east wall of Sentinel Bay Shipyard, Clara Vance could no longer draw a complete breath. The heavy, sweet stench of industrial solvent hung like a thick curtain in the unventilated loft of the historic timber workshop. She dropped her brass calipers onto the oak workbench, her hands trembling so violently that the tool skittered across the blue blueprints and fell into the sawdust below.
The gale outside howled against the Maine coastline, battering the cedar shingles with salt spray and ice. Clara pressed a wet shop rag over her mouth, stumbling toward the heavy double doors that led down to the harbor slipway. But the bronze latch was immobilized from the outside, secured by heavy deadbolts that should never have been thrown while a craftsman was working inside.