by Tonya Kappes
We glanced over at Violet. Apparently she had tripped over her own flip-flops and the tray of champagne she’d taken over to the demanding wedding party had landed all down the bride-to-be’s dress. The bride was cursing under her breath and poor Violet had turned all shades of red.
“How do we do get signed up?” I asked, hoping to keep us busy all week long. I rubbed my hand around my wrist and felt the charms.
Mr. Victor’s eyes drew down to my arm. “Very nice. I hope you will be able to go to our shop and pick a nice beach charm for your bracelet.”
He smiled.
“Thank you.” Oscar put his arm around me and with the other took a flute off of Gene’s tray and handed it to me, then got himself one. “I’m sure we are going to have a wonderful time.”
“Yes.” Mr. Victor’s chin drew down and he gave a little head tilt before he walked back toward the tree line.
Oscar and I stood there sipping our champagne, watching all that was going on in front of us. The wedding group was rowdy, cheering and high-fiving.
“Welcome to Tulip Island.” Violet walked up. This time she’d exchanged the tray of champagne for a clipboard in her hand. I couldn’t help but wonder if Mr. Victor had red hair like hers and she’d gotten it from him. “I’m Violet and I will be helping you with all the island has to offer.”
I looked over my shoulder to see what Violet was staring at. She was talking to us, but paying attention to the wedding party. Granted, I knew that Oscar and I were an old married couple, and I was sure the island wedding was much more fun to be a part of, but it was our honeymoon.
“Wonderful.” I sucked in a deep breath and put the thoughts aside. Even though my nerves were still running through me like a live wire, I was stuck here for a few days and I guessed I had better make the best of it. “Do we sign up there?” I pointed to her clipboard.
The faster Oscar and I got into an activity, the sooner I’d feel safer.
“No, silly.” Violet shoo-shooed me. “You are going to go to your villa and unwind while we do it all for you.”
Inside my stomach was churning, outside my lips were smiling.
“Sounds good to me.” Oscar stood up and reached over, pulling me to him. “This is the perfect way to start out our honeymoon.”
“Great.” Violet clapped her hands and Gene came running over. “Gene, please show the newlyweds to their villa.” She used the pen to mark something off on her clipboard. “If you follow Gene, he is going to give you the guided tour to your villa and I’ll see you two lovebirds back here for lunch at noon, island time.” She winked before she went to give her spiel to the wedding group.
“Please follow me.” Gene gestured us to follow him. I slipped off my shoes and let the sand run between my toes. It was soft and warm just how I thought it would feel.
The trail was shaded by the palm trees on each side. They were the prettiest trees I’d ever seen. In fact, Tulip Island was beautiful. At first I was upset the Order of Elders had sent us here, but now I can see they picked the perfect place.
“This is our lodge.” Gene took us through the open air room. The view of the ocean was behind us and the view of a mountain was in front of us. “You will come here if you’d like the breakfast buffet as well as any sort of snacks during the day.”
There was a long table with baskets made out of the rinds of watermelons and filled with all sorts of melons. Raw shrimp skewers were stuck in an ice sculpture in the shape of a pineapple.
“Here are the offices if you should need to come see Mr. Victor or Violet for anything.” We followed him down a hallway that was open to another path at the end.
Pictures of Mr. Victor and Violet, through the years, were framed on both sides of the wall. Violet’s hair was even redder when she was a baby. The pictures depicted Violet’s life growing up on the island. I stopped when I looked at the photos where Violet had seemed to go through a little plump stage like most girls going through puberty.
We walked out of the open building and onto the path. It took us about five minutes until we came to a fork on the trail, and Gene stopped.
“This is your path to your villa and only your path. There shouldn’t be anyone walking down here but you and it’s for your privacy. There are hammocks along the trail for you to stop and enjoy the breathtaking shoreline at any point.”
He stopped and let his eyes wander in a simple gesture for us to follow. Gene was right. It was breathtaking. There wasn’t a soul around but us and the only sound was the waves hitting the beach in a whisper, though it was so close. We followed him in silence as he continued to tell us about the non-motorized water sports on the island and we should take full advantage of the snorkeling equipment in our room because Tulip Island had the best snorkeling in the Caribbean.
“We have you down for the tiki hut dinner tonight, which is the best dining experience, in my opinion.” Gene took the curve of the path to the most spectacular view.
Oscar and I stood there for about a minute and took it all in. The palm trees opened up to a small white-planked villa that stood on stilts in the middle of the ocean. There was a large wooden float anchored next to it for hours of lying around. There was a wooden bridge that extended from the sandy beach to the villa that let you cross the water, or you could swim up to the ladder of the villa.
“This is ours?” Oscar squeaked out.
“I love the reaction when I show someone this for the first time.” Gene rocked on the heels of his flip-flops with a big smile on his face. “This also happens to be the quietest spot on Tulip Island. You literally never have to leave this area.”
“But Violet said we had lunch at noon.” I reminded them after my stomach growled.
“She also said island time.” He winked just like she had.
“Island time, which means our time.” Oscar grabbed my hand and dragged me toward the bridge. “Which means we can do whatever we want.”
He dropped my hand and took off. I rubbed my wrist. No amount of trepidation I had was ever going to override the look on Oscar’s face. He was like a kid in a candy shop.
“Here is a phone for the island.” Gene handed me a small flip phone. “This will ring me or Violet for any unforeseen needs you may have, but we are pretty good at getting your needs covered before you even know what you need.”
“Thank you.” I couldn’t take my eyes off Oscar who had taken his shoes off and was running through the tide, kicking up sand as he went along. “I think I might need a shovel and pail,” I joked.
“Those are already in the villa for your pleasure.” Gene didn’t get the joke, but I simply thanked him again and sent him on his way.
“I can’t wait to snorkel!” Oscar called from the water. He motioned for me to join him. “Come on, June! We aren’t going to waste a minute.”
I bit my lip and let out a heavy sigh before I took a step toward him. No matter how much of a paradise we were in, something told me that snorkeling wasn’t going to be the thing I needed to do. In fact, my nightmare had told me. How was I going to tell Oscar?
Chapter Six
“There is something about not being home that makes it so good.” Oscar ran his finger along my arm propping up my chin as I looked out over the water from the bed in the villa. “I love being with my wife.”
“Wife.” I grinned every time I heard myself being referred to as his wife. This time was even better. It came from his mouth. I stayed on my belly and looked out the open wall in front of me. The sheer curtains waved in the light breeze and the champagne and strawberries did exactly what Mr. Victor had intended them to do for us. Relax me.
“I love you, June.” Oscar ran his hand down my back. “Thank you for agreeing to let go of our home life even if it is for a few days.”
Next to the bed was a bottle of champagne, two flutes and a few stacked Ding Dongs that had been waiting upon our arrival.
“You’re welcome.” My heart filled with joy. I reached over to the table and grabbed a Din
g Dong. After I unwrapped it, I took a bite and offered Oscar a bite. “What do you say we get our swimsuits on and go explore the shoreline?” I stuffed the rest of it in my mouth before I got out of bed.
Being the non-romantic person I was, I’d had enough mush for one early afternoon in what was going to be a few days of mush.
“You are hopeless,” Oscar joked and got out of bed.
“I’ve never seen anything so fancy.” I unzipped the suitcase that had been placed on the suitcase stand before we’d gotten there. I took out one angry Madame Torres. “And I’ve never seen anyone so mad.”
Oscar looked over at me as he tied up his swim trunks.
“She’s all black.” I held Madame Torres up to show him. “Madame Torres, you can come out now.” I tapped my fingernail on the glass ball.
“I will not.” Her voice boomed from deep within. “What you have done to me should be against spiritual law.”
“Really?” I asked. “I brought you to this beautiful slice of heaven on Earth and if you’d just take a peek, you’ll know what I’m talking about.”
Suddenly one of her purple eye shadowed eyes took up the entire glass ball. It opened, rolled around to get a view, and then narrowed when it looked at me.
“I guess I can try to come out and get over this sickness,” she groaned. “Do you know what they do to your luggage at those airports?”
I shook my head.
“They open up your stuff and they look at it all. They shook me up like I was a snow globe. Snow. Globe!” she shouted. I had to turn my head so she couldn’t see my smirk.
“Oh no.” I put her on top of the clothes and rummaged through the rest of the suitcase. “Did they get my book?”
I hadn’t thought about anyone going through my things.
“They tried to take a lot of stuff, but I had to make an appearance.” An evil grin crossed her red lips, exposing her bright white teeth. “I gave them a little spook.”
“Good girl.” I couldn’t help but laugh. “You do love me.”
“I love me. I love my life and I want to go home. That means that I have to keep you safe in order to get back there. A little spook never hurt anyone.” She winked. “Now, go put me over there so I can get a good view of this place while I’m here.”
“Will do.” I gave her a snappy salute and put her next to the bed on the table. “This will make you happy and relaxed.”
I looked into the ball. Madame Torres was sitting cross-legged on a floating oriental carpet already doing mediation.
“Everything alright?” Oscar asked.
“Everything is just fine.” I grabbed my bathing suit out of the suitcase and headed off to the bathroom.
While I was getting my suit on, Oscar left to go to the beach, where I found him with his toes in the surf.
“Let’s take a walk and see what’s down there.” He pointed ahead of us and grabbed my hand.
“I’m not going to lie.” I swung our hands between us as we walked down the beach to anywhere and nowhere at the same time. “This is beautiful. And I thought Whispering Falls was amazing.”
“Our home is amazing, but sometimes we have to feed our own souls and just live like we used to.” Oscar was right. “Don’t you miss living in Locust Grove sometimes? The easy life?”
“You mean climbing in and out of my window, smashing Darla’s flowers and feeding me Ding Dongs?” Those were fond memories. “No, life was hard for me. You were a cop and I was trying to make a living making homeopathic cures. I had no meaning to my life.”
“You are meant to be with me.” He put his arm around my shoulders as we watched the waves roll in and roll out. “As long as I have you, I know life is great.”
“Me too.” My wrist burned and I rubbed the charm bracelet. And as long as I have you, I thought as I rubbed the newest charm.
“Newlyweds, huh?” A man from the wedding party jogged up.
“We are.” Oscar agreed. “Oscar and June Park.”
I was going to correct him because I did technically keep my name, June Heal, but for argument’s sake and the fact I didn’t feel like explaining why I had kept my name, I let Oscar ramble to his new friend.
“I’m getting married tomorrow. It was her idea to bring our closest friends and it seemed like fun.” The guy put his hand out. “Patrick.”
They did the man shake and did some more talking as the three of us walked down the beach. I stopped every few feet and looked at the shells to see if there were any I might be able to take back with me.
“We are going snorkeling tonight if you want to go.” Patrick was a friendly sort of guy. He had short blond hair. Tall. Already tan. Fairly well built.
“At night?” I asked.
“Yeah.” He anxiously nodded his head. “Tulip Island has the best night fishing. There are some fish that glow in the dark. It’s a lot of fun.”
“You’ve done it before?” Oscar asked with a curious tone.
“Oh yeah, man. Me and my family used to come here all the time, so my fiancée wanted to come here.” He pointed to someone off in the distance. “In fact, that’s my brother. I’ll see you tonight.”
He didn’t give us a chance to turn down his offer before he took off in a sprint toward his brother and the rest of the wedding party. They had already gathered down on the beach in their swimsuits. Drinks were flying.
“Hi!” The brunette from earlier flagged us down. “Patrick said you two were joining us for snorkeling tonight. I’m Juliette.”
“Hi,” I greeted her. “I’m June and this is my husband, Oscar. I hear congratulations are in order.”
“We are so excited. This is the first time I’ve been here, but Patrick raved about it until I gave in.”
“You gave in?” I asked, recalling just a few short minutes ago Patrick had told us that it was her idea to come here.
“Oh yes.” She laughed. “What girl wants to give up the dream of a big church wedding to get married in a bathing suit.” She shook her head. “One in love. Anyway, Patrick and his family have been coming here for years. Unfortunately, his parents were killed in a terrible house fire. Gas stove they believe exploded and that’s why Patrick won’t get a gas oven.” Her brows furrowed. “Terrible really. And now it’s just the two of them. Peter and Patrick.”
“It’s just me and Oscar. Both of our parents are deceased and we have no siblings.” The wedding party looked like they were having all sorts of fun without the bride. “Who is that out there?” I wanted to change the subject when I saw a pair of flippers pierce the water in the distance.
“Oh, that’s Peter. My soon-to-be brother-in-law.” She shifted her weight and folded her arms. “He was really affected by the death of his parents. They coddled him a lot and he was in the home when his parents died. In fact, Patrick was the one who found him almost dead in the basement and saved his life.”
“Really?” I couldn’t imagine what that must’ve been like.
“Yes. So now we have custody of him, though he’s going to be eighteen in a few months.” She let out a heavy sigh. “He didn’t want to come because he hates to be in crowds. Patrick reminded him that Tulip Island was secluded. When he saw you and Oscar getting on the plane, he freaked.”
“That’s so sad.” I really wanted Peter to be happy and for a split second I wondered if I could do a little spell to help him.
“He’s special.” She smiled and waved at him when he saw us looking at him. He waved back with something in his hand.
“Special?” I asked.
“He needed help all through school and went to special schools.” Juliette smiled.
“Oh.” I lifted my chin in the air. I wasn’t sure what to say.
“Anyway, I insist that you come to the rehearsal dinner before snorkeling and you must come to the wedding.” She tapped my arm. A pulse of lightning rushed through me, causing me to catch my breath.
“Sure,” Oscar confirmed. “It’s just us on this island so we might as well make
the most fun of it.”
He looked at me. I felt sorry for him because I could relate to how he had to be feeling, thinking about losing his parents at a young age like me.
“Of course we will.” My mouth dried. “We wouldn’t miss the dinner, snorkeling or the wedding.”
“Wonderful.” She bounced on the balls of her feet. “I’ll be sure to tell Mr. Victor to include you in all the details. I’d better get back to the group. Would you like to join us?”
“I think we are going to continue to walk around and take a look at the beautiful island.” Oscar took me by the hand. “We will see you tonight.”
“You two are so cute.” Her button nose curled and she scurried off, back to their group of eight.
“What was that about?” Oscar asked. “You looked frightened.”
“Not frightened.” I made myself smile at him. Playfully I kicked up the water on him. “I thought it was our honeymoon and it was supposed to be just us.” I snuggled him closer by putting my arm in the crook of his. “Not us and another couple. And we were supposed to have dinner at the tiki place Gene talked about.”
“We have the next few days alone. We can be cordial and reschedule dinner.” Oscar’s manners was one thing I had fallen in love with years ago. “Maybe we can be like Patrick and make this a family thing.”
“Hey!” I punched him in the arm. “You know I don’t want children.”
It’d come to be a bad topic over the past couple of months since we got married. After all we’d been through, finding out we were spiritualists, we had decided that children weren’t an option in our future. I was sticking to that. But leave it to Oscar to be all emotional about family and family traditions.
“Never say never.” Oscar smacked me on the tushie and ran out to sea, diving into the depths of the sea green ocean.
“Never!” I yelled as his head bobbed up out of the water and I popped a squat in the sand. “I said it! Never!”
I barely got my toes buried and my book out of my bag when I heard yelling behind me. It was hard to make out what they were saying with sound of the waves crashing up against the beach. But there was some crying.