He climbed up on the raft and sat beside her. He was aware of how close he sat, and became slightly embarrassed all over again. She spoke first.
"Uummm, let’s not get off to a bad start, okay, Joe? Of course who am I to talk, I was sitting here thinking about just ignoring what happened, but..."
His eye's bulged slightly. She did see, he thought, wonderful! What she said next threw him though, and it took a couple of seconds to click for him.
"Joe, I'm sorry if I embarrassed you, I just, you know, thought you might want me to go in with you."
She's apologizing to me? Joe thought. Why? Aloud he said, "I'm the one who should be apologizing, Arlene, not you. I did want you to come in with me... I probably wouldn't have asked though. I didn't think you would want to.., and I acted like a jerk, sort of. I should apologize, though, not you."
A smile lit up her face, as she spoke. "You mean I didn't embarrass myself, or you I guess?"
"No, Arlene, if anything I embarrassed myself. I acted like a freaking eighteen year old. I've just never been around... well... I've never been around a woman, I guess. I spent a lot of time, too much time, hanging around with girls..." He let the statement trail off, more embarrassed at the honesty than anything else. The girls he had gone out with never talked about anything personal at all, just stupid stuff. How you been? Or, are you going out Saturday night? Or, I heard so and so is going out with so and so, dumb stuff, nothing important ever.
"Joe?" he turned and looked at her as she spoke, "are you embarrassed because of what happened, or because it happened when you looked at me? I mean, well... because of what I used to be?" It hurt to ask the question, and she was afraid of the answer, but she had to know.
Joe took a deep breath before he answered. "Arlene, I only... because of the way I acted. Like a kid, well sort of. I was afraid you would think I was treating you like you were cheap or something," he paused and then added hastily. "I don't think that though. I just, well, when you took off your clothes, I... well... I mean you're beautiful, Arlene, and I guess..." He was too embarrassed to continue, and let his last words trail off. He half expected her to yell at him, or tell him he would have to learn to control himself, or something along those lines. Maybe even be mad, or hurt. He didn't know. When he had spoken he had been staring out into the calm lake, unable to meet her eyes, and so had not seen the smile that had lit up her face, and removed the wrinkled lines of worry from her forehead. She reached across and placed her hand gently over his.
"Joe?" when he turned she kissed him fully on the lips, and he found himself pulling her to him, returning the kiss passionately. He realized there would be no hiding his feelings this time. She pulled away reluctantly, and said, "Joe, you're shaking."
He was surprised to see that he was. Not a little either, a lot.
Arlene slipped easily off the raft and back into the water. "Come on, let's eat first," she said.
First? He asked himself, first?
She smiled up at him. Not seductively, just happily, as she reached up, took his hand, and pulled him into the water. His mind had not been on eating exactly, and he had to snap his mouth closed quickly, to keep from choking on the water. The coldness helped a great deal, and he eagerly swam towards the shore behind her.
The meal was excellent. Joe's mind was not entirely impaled upon what she had said, as she swam away from the dock. She was beautiful, and he did want her, but not just, or only, he corrected himself, sexually. She was interesting to just talk to, or just be with, and she seemed to only want to be with him. Just to be part of a whole.
He realized, on an unconscious level, that it was even more than that. He had liked her from the first, maybe even loved her from the first. She was totally different than anyone he had ever met in his life. Most of the girls he had met, and all of the guys he had worked with, or hung around with, which in truth were not very many, had seemed shallow and uncaring. Joe would not have termed himself as a romantic person, but the things he longed for out of life were, nevertheless, along romantic lines. He wanted a wife who would love him, not the pretty girl to show off to all his buddies. In all of his dreams of life he had always wished for a woman who could feel the same way he did. Not someone who was only interested in material things, or money to buy them with, but someone who was interested in life, and what it held. It seemed to him that what Arlene wanted out of life paralleled his own desires.
Arlene felt the same way. In a world that was constantly cruel to her, she had held out hope that it would not always be that way that somehow, someday, she would meet that one special person who would care about her. It was a pretty unlikely dream for her to have, and she had almost given it up several times. This, however, was even better than she had dreamed. She didn't have to pretend about her past, he knew, and he didn't care at all. She didn't have to be anything, or anyone, other than who she had always wanted to be, herself, the woman that she had buried deep within her. The one who was not so much concerned with what went on, on Beechwood Avenue, but the one that had waited and waited for someone to come along who could love her. The age difference didn't seem to matter to Joe at all, and her past definitely didn't matter to him... maybe?
She was happier than she could ever recall being in her entire life. It was as if she had been blind, and now through some unimaginable miracle could see. It was so much and so many different feelings that it threatened to overwhelm her.
Joe spoke as they finished eating. He had been thinking non-stop about everything that had happened, in just the last few days, and he was no longer certain he wanted to risk what he had just found, and continue onward across what was left of the United States to find Frank Morgan.
"Arlene?" he began, not quite sure how to proceed with what he had been thinking. "Do you want to go? I mean, do you want to go all the way across this country to find Frank? It's just that, well, I'm not as positive as I was that it has to be done, or that we should."
She thought for only a brief second before she answered him.
"I think that we have to, Joe. It's not a question of whether we should. We have to," she paused. "I knew we had to when you told me. Do you know that I've wanted to meet someone like you forever? I mean that, at least it seems like forever. I think you feel the same way, Joe, and I don't want to lose us any more than you do, but if you think about it, who put us together? Who sent you to me? You see?" she reached out and took his hand as she spoke. "If we don't go, it might be the worst thing we could have ever done. Not just to us, but to whoever else needs us to come. It may only be Frank, but I don't think so, I think you know that too. It's more than that even. Joe, if God hadn't sent you, we wouldn't even be here discussing this right now. I know it may be dangerous, and I suppose it could mean that we may even die, but to me it would be worthwhile. To me it would be, because if He hadn't sent you there would be nothing to discuss at all." Arlene locked her eyes on Joe's as she finished speaking, waiting for him to respond.
Joe thought over what she had said. It was not really a decisive thinking though, as he knew she was right. It was more of an acceptance of a decision he had already made, and not really wavered from. Now that she had spoken the words out loud, he felt them in his own heart the same way that she did. They had to go, not a forced going, but they just had to. If they didn't, he felt that he would be turning his face against God, and now that she had made him look at it, he realized that he couldn't do that. She was right.
His thoughts were suddenly interrupted when Arlene shouted excitedly beside him.
"Joe! Joe!"
He looked towards her, and then shifted his eyes to follow her gaze. It was full dark now, and he could just barely make out an approaching figure through the trees. He quickly looked back at Arlene. He thought that she might be frightened, even though he realized that he himself was not. Instead, although tears were spilling down her cheeks, he realized that she was happy, that they both were. He turned back and watched as the figure moved into the shadowy ligh
t the still burning fire provided.
"Lord?" Arlene said, asked. To her he seemed much as he did to Joe, although he did not appear in long flowing robes as he did to Joe. He was a kindly older man, and reminded her of the minister in the small Baptist church, back in Killeen where she had grown up as a little girl. He approached and gently took her hand in his.
"Are you afraid?" he asked. She tried to stop the tears before she answered but could not. Instead she shook her head, and said that she was not.
"Good," the man said. "Joe, are you holding up too?" he directed his kindly gaze towards Joe as he spoke. To Joe he was still the pope and probably always would be.
"I'm fine, and I'm glad to see you again," Joe managed. His own eyes were filled with tears.
"Okay then, let's begin," the man said as he stepped back.
To Joe it was, "Let us proceed then." Joe looked up puzzled as he spoke the words, and as he looked over at Arlene he saw the same puzzlement in her eyes.
"Becky?" the man asked, looking into Arlene's eyes, "do you take this man to be your lawfully wedded husband? To have and to hold? As long as you both shall live?"
She was too shocked at first to even think about answering. No one had called her Becky in years, and fresh tears spilled down her cheeks as she answered, "I Do, or will, which is it?"
"Doesn't matter in the slightest, Becky," he said, "only that you want to. That's the only real important thing," he smiled at her as he spoke, and then shifted his gaze to Joe.
Arlene listened as he asked the same question of Joe.
To Joe it was. "Joseph, do you take this woman to be your wife, in my eyes? To cleave only unto her for as long as you both shall live?" Joe was openly weeping himself, but managed a short, "I do."
"Becky," the man said. "You will no longer be Arlene. That part of you is dead to me. It's gone forever. Do you understand?"
She nodded her head. It was all she could manage.
"Then by my word, I now pronounce you man and wife," the man said. "Joseph, you may now kiss the bride."
Joe reached across the short space and took Becky in his arms. Her arms found their way around his shoulders, and she kissed him back as they both wept. They pulled apart, and Joe turned back to the man who still stood before them.
"You don't have to go," the man said. He looked down at them as he spoke, and although his face bore a smile, his own tears cut tracks across his cheeks. "You have the choice. I want you to know that I did not give you to one another simply so that you would do as I asked."
Becky had regained her composure, and now replied in a calm, but firm, voice. "I know that. I knew that there would be no strings attached. I want to go. I need to."
"Me as well," Joe replied. "I guess I may have tried to fool myself, but I knew that I needed to go."
The man nodded his head as he listened, and then spoke. "I will walk with you. Keep me always in your heart, and I will always walk with you. I love you both, you know." He paused for a second and just looked at them, then turned and walked back into the dark forest of trees that surrounded them.
Joe held Becky. They did not speak, but instead stared into the leaping flames lost in thought. After a few minutes Becky rose and added more fuel to the fire.
"How about some tea?" she asked.
"Tea?" he looked puzzled. "Where did you get tea from?"
She held up a small package, and said, "It was in the camping gear, a free sample package. Want some?"
"Sure," he said, as he smiled at her, "it sounds good, actually."
While Becky made the tea, Joe took the small tin cups, along with the plastic bowls that had also been in the camping kit, and walked down to the water to wash them. The moon had begun to rise and a silver trail spread across the lake, seemingly alive as it rode the small ripples of the water. When he finished, he stared off across the shimmering surface. It was calm and peaceful, and he listened as somewhere in the distance an owl hooted its greeting into the night. He was just about to return to the fire when he felt Becky's arm encircle his waist.
"Do you want to go for another swim while the tea's brewing?" she whispered in his ear. He could feel the soft press of her body against him and he turned, his arms finding their way around her, and pulled her to him. She kissed him, pulled away and quickly slipped out of her clothes. His eyes were filled with the beauty they beheld, and she could see the longing in his eyes, as he also slipped out of his clothes and followed her into the water. Joe hardly noticed the cold lake water as he reached out with strong strokes towards the raft. She reached it first, pulled herself out of the water, and watched as he swam the last few feet and joined her on the raft. He took her in his arms and kissed her, and she responded passionately. They made love slowly, with feeling, and to both of them, in a way, it seemed as though it was their first time. Nothing else either of them had ever experienced compared.
When they had finished they held each other closely, staring out across the water to the dark woods that surrounded the lake. She spoke. "Joe, where do you want to be when this is over? I mean to live?" Joe thought for a second and considered before he responded.
"I guess it would depend upon you," he said. "It would depend upon where you wanted to live, not just me. I don't think I would want to live in a city though. I like it here...It's peaceful. Really nice, and it's also special to me. I mean, I've been with women before, well, girls I guess, at least mentally, but at the time that was my mind set too so I guess I was the same. But I've never made love to anyone, and I was almost to the point where I thought I never would... I really do love you. I guess if anyone asked me if something like this could happen I would have had to have said no, but not now. Now I know better. I love you, and that's the difference between just sex, and making love. Sounds corny, right? But, it's true. Would you want to live here? Or someplace like here?"
Becky lay on her back, staring up into the diamond studded sky. She rolled over and propped herself up on one elbow next to him as she spoke.
"Not like this place," she said, "this place. It used to be a state park, but now it's just a nice lake. Nobody owns it anymore. Joe, I would like to come back, if you want to. I'd like to live here; you know, build a house and live here. You could do it, and you could teach me how so I could help you build it. This place is special to me too. Joe, I've never made love to a man in my life. That other stuff, what I was, was nothing. It wasn't anything that ever held any sort of feeling for me at all. Do you understand?" Joe turned his eyes towards her and saw that she was once again close to tears. He sat up and gently pushed her back down onto the raft.
"If this is the place you want to be, then it's the place I want to be, Becky. I want to be here too." He bent and kissed her softly, and as he did she drew him down towards her, returning his kiss. His hands slipped across her body, and she could feel his need pressing against her.
"Water's gonna boil away," she whispered through a kiss.
"Too late for tea anyhow, it'll keep us up all night," he whispered back. They made love once more as the gentle swell of the lake rocked the raft, and when they had finished they swam slowly back to the shore. Becky removed the pot from the fire, and refilled it, this time setting it to one side so it would be there in the morning when they awoke. They crawled into the tent and were asleep in each other’s arms within minutes.
The silvery moonlight shown down as they slept, the nearly full circle slowly traveling across the darkened sky.
- 2 -
They awoke early to the chatter of squirrel-talk in the trees. Gray squirrels playfully leaping through the pine branches and running up and down the thick trunks, scolding as they went.
Becky set the water to boil, once she had rekindled the fire from the still glowing coals, as Joe broke camp and quickly loaded the truck. They ate a small breakfast of the leftovers of the meal from the night before, and sipped the hot tea as the sun began to slowly peek over the tops of the trees across the lake. After they rinsed the utensils in the l
ake, and after dousing the fire, they climbed into the truck and drove slowly back to the main road. They both felt an urgency to be under way, and once they regained the main road Joe pointed the truck north.
The going was slow, but the farther they traveled from Seattle, the less traffic there seemed to be, and, Joe discovered, if they stayed on the shoulder they could make pretty good time.
Towards mid-morning they turned off onto state Route 82, and began to angle towards the Oregon border. The going was much easier and they found that they could keep to the pavement, most of the time, which allowed them to make even better time.
Late afternoon found them in the small city of Hermiston just inside the Oregon border, and Joe drove the truck into the parking lot of a large shopping mall on the outskirts.
The mall served as an anchor for several large department stores, and a large grocery chain. There were several other specialty shops scattered throughout the mall. They stocked up on canned goods, as well as several packages of freeze dried meats from a sporting goods store in the mall. Becky wandered across the empty mall to a clothing store, and Joe walked off towards a small shop he had spotted as she picked out some clothing for both of them. By the time they had finished it was late in the afternoon. They left the small city behind, and continued into Oregon until they picked up Route 84. Just before nightfall they reached the Wallowa National Forest and Joe pulled the truck off onto one of the dirt roads of the park and found a place to park among the trees. He unloaded the truck and set up camp, as Becky made dinner. She experimented with canned meat along with some of the freeze dried food, and the result was a tasty stew-like dish.
"Where did you learn to cook, Becky?" he asked, "this is really good."
"Oh it's just a little something I threw together," she joked, as she blew lightly on her finger-tips.
"All I ever ate when I was by myself was fast food," Joe said, "and it all sort of tasted like cardboard after a while. I can't believe you made this out of that stuff we picked up today."
The Nation Chronicles: Book Two (The Nation Chronicles Trilogy 2) Page 9