by Sandra Kitt
The car swung off the smooth paved road and onto a more rocky one, stopping a hundred feet later at the base of cement steps. The steps appeared to lead up to the side of a house set back into the hillside. The sun was beginning its descent, and the sky was a glorious shade of orange in the west. Now that she’d finally arrived, Eva allowed the exhaustion she felt to begin to steal over her. She hoped the bed was firm and comfortable.
Milly Decker showed her around the three-and-a-half-room structure. It contained a long spacious gallery opened on one side to face Hawksnest Bay and the west. At one end of the gallery was a small screened-in kitchen. Through another screened door and window in the wall of the gallery was a large sitting room and bedroom, and somewhere at the end of the bedroom was a bath. It was a clever and efficiently built structure allowing for air to circulate freely throughout and lots of late afternoon sunshine, as well as offering protection from the nighttime rain and storms.
Milly Decker, seeing her young client’s fatigue, cut short her visit, promising to come by for Eva the next morning and take her to pick up her rented Jeep. Then she departed.
In the late afternoon silence surrounding her, Eva stood on the strange deck with its missing one side and looked out over this impossible land of make-believe. She wondered if Kevin would have liked this. She wondered if Gail would have liked Diane. They would have been just about the same age. But then she reasoned that if things were different, she wouldn’t be here at all.
Leaving her bags where they were, Eva elected to shower, put on a short cotton nightgown, and crawl into bed with a glass of orange juice from the well-stocked kitchen. But the juice went untouched as she lay on the cool sheets of the queen-size bed, exhaustion and sleep fast overtaking her. She could hear the evening breeze rustling playfully through the tree leaves and the gentle lap of water swishing over the edge of a sandy beach.
Eva wondered if she could walk to the beach from the cottage. Did she remember to bring a beach hat and moisturizing lotion? She wondered if Adam Maxwell ever smiled and what he would look like if he did.
And then she was asleep.
Chapter Two
From under the protective shield of a seagrape tree, Eva had a good view of the rest of the world. She could watch the sun crystalize and crack the surface of the water so that it shimmered and sparkled like gems. She could see the two- and single-masted schooners, the cutters, and the catboats sailing in and out of the bay, and the small motor launches skimming with great speed between two points. Sometimes, if she was very still and alert, a fish would jump, arch its body for a split second, then disappear beneath the water’s surface. There was even a resident pelican who would periodically take off with a great flapping of its wings to circle once around the bay and then nose-dive with incredible force into the water after his meal of small fish.
Eva was just amazed. This place was so far removed from New Jersey and what she’d been used to all her life that even after three days, she couldn’t believe it was real. It was hard to think that people lived year round in this almost-perfect spot. How did they manage to get anything done? There wasn’t anything she had definitely planned to accomplish while here. There were ten paperback novels to read and some crocheting she could do. Maybe she’d use her camera. But there didn’t seem to be any rush. Six weeks was a long time.
She wiggled back comfortably into her portable seat, a mere construction of chrome bars and canvas that gave firm support to her bottom and back. She stretched out her shapely brown legs and dug her toes luxuriously into the warm silky sand. She loosened the ribbon tie on her short white terry cover-up, showing a little of the tangerine one-piece tank suit beneath. It was the most comfortable and convenient thing to wear, but she’d yet to venture into the water with it on. It was just so much easier to sit like this, with her short-brimmed straw hat, cute but not lending much protection to her face, perched on her head and her tortoiseshell sunglasses protecting her eyes.
The first time she’d found her way to the beach, the day after her arrival, there’d been a small sailing craft at one of the moorings in the bay. A small launch from shore had gone out to it and back to shore again, and after a while Eva could distinguish the figures of Diane Maxwell and her father. She’d been tempted to go over and say hello, but two things stopped her. One was the feeling that Adam Maxwell wasn’t particularly friendly, and the other was that Diane should have the time alone with her father. So Eva had sat in curiosity, watching them from afar. While Diane splashed and swam with obvious ability, her father seemed to be making repairs to the craft, loading small tanks and trunks, swim fins, and other equipment Eva couldn’t identify. Then he’d call to Diane, who’d climb into the launch, and they’d motor to the larger sailing ship. The ship would then pull out of the bay, and they were gone the rest of the afternoon.
The next day the procedure was the same, except that when they returned later in the afternoon, there was a third person with them…a woman, but Eva couldn’t tell how young or old she was. She could not curb, however, the curiosity that questioned the presence of this other person, even while she knew it was none of her concern.
Now as she sat with the unread book on her lap, she realized that she hadn’t seen Diane or her father yet, but the sailing vessel with its distinct pale blue hull was in its usual place.
It was nearly one o’clock in the afternoon when Eva saw the familiar two figures appear with the woman of the previous day. Eva watched as a box and gear were loaded into the launch; then the woman stood to the side as an observer while Adam Maxwell held a discussion with his daughter. Eva could tell from Diane’s defiant gestures that it was an argument more than a discussion, and Diane was very likely losing. Suddenly she turned and started marching angrily down the beach toward the end where Eva sat. Eva watched as Adam Maxwell stood with legs braced apart, fists on his hips, and yelled after the small angry figure.
“Diane! Come back here!”
Diane continued, coming so close to where Eva sat that Eva could see the tears on the little girl’s face. She had on a red-white-and-blue-striped swimsuit and a T-shirt over it. Her hair was parted evenly, and twisted into knots over either ear.
Eva’s eyes moved from Diane back down the beach to her father and back to Diane again. She put her sunglasses and hat down and stood up, brushing sand from her legs.
“Diane…” she called out softly. She had to call a second time before the youngster stopped in puzzlement and looked in her direction. Adam Maxwell was already coming after his daughter, the woman walking lethargically behind him. Diane, also aware that her father was closing the distance between them, ran over to Eva sobbing, wiping the tears away with the back of her hand.
“E-va…can…can I stay with you? Please?” She looked at the angry face of her approaching father. “I don’t want to go with them…with her!”
Eva couldn’t begin to know what was going on, but by the time Diane’s father had reached them, she’d already decided what she would do.
Adam Maxwell grabbed his daughter by the arm and swung her to face him. Diane continued to cry, keeping her face lowered.
“Look!” he stormed. “Don’t ever walk away like that when I’m talking to you! Do you understand?”
Trying to keep her sobs inside, Diane’s mouth trembled at both her father’s anger and the embarrassment of being chastised in front of someone.
“Do you understand?” he asked relentlessly.
“Yes, Daddy…” the child said miserably, still not looking at him. “But I don’t want to go,” she whined. “C-can’t I stay here?”
“Diane,” Adam Maxwell said with an attempt at patience, but his anger was still so evident, “I can’t leave you here all day by yourself. Now come on…” He half turned away.
“Hello, Mr. Maxwell,” Eva finally got in, making it impossible for him to just walk away and continue to ignore her. Indeed he reluctantly turned back to frown at her from his great height.
He wore a pair
of brown swim trunks exposing muscular, well-developed legs. His shirt of beige checks was completely open, the ends lifting in the wind to give Eva a look at his broad chest. It was completely clear to her that despite his size, Adam Maxwell had no fat on him. It was all hard, conditioned muscle. She was impressed with his physical person and a little intimidated by it. He seemed to be, however, not only hard physically, but emotionally as well.
Seeing the three people standing in front of her in varying kinds of emotional states, Eva could hazard a guess as to what was happening now and understood Diane’s position. She was surprised that the child’s father gave no indication that he understood also.
“Miss Duncan…” Adam Maxwell acknowledged her briefly.
“Eva…please.” She tried smiling at him but he only glared. Eva put a gentle arm around Diane’s shoulder and the youngster moved to her side. “I—I haven’t seen Diane since I got here. If it’s okay, she can stay with me while—while you do whatever you have to.” Eva could not prevent her almond-shaped eyes from traveling briefly to the woman standing still behind Adam. It was now obvious to Eva that the woman was young and very pretty. She was about the same height as Eva, but much more generously endowed—with everything. Eva was aware of the woman’s very full and rounded chest straining against a red sleeveless blouse. A navy blue skirt hugged her supple hips and buttocks. She was “really built” as the saying goes, Eva thought ruefully, knowing her own much smaller measures couldn’t begin to compete. But in a year or so, those same generous curves could turn to fat. The young woman also had a head of thick beautiful hair that fell in heavy waves to her shoulders.
Eva looked back to Adam Maxwell, her arm still on Diane’s shoulder.
“Can I, Daddy?” Diane pleaded now.
Adam Maxwell frowned, looking at the woman Eva with his daughter. He shook his head. “I don’t think so. I don’t know how long I’ll be…”
Already Diane’s face was stretching to cry again. Eva gave her a squeeze.
“It doesn’t matter. If you’re not back by four, I’ll take her home and stay with her until you come. It’s not a big deal,” Eva assured him.
“I don’t want Diane to impose on you. I’m sure you’re on vacation…”
“So’s Diane,” Eva interrupted softly and could see by the tightening of Adam Maxwell’s jaw that she’d made her point. Eva softened her statement by smiling again. “I don’t mind…really. Diane can tell me what she’s been doing.”
Diane looked up at her with the most appealing expression, that Eva knew she couldn’t give up. Diane’s father continued to look at Eva long and hard, and for the first time he seemed to really see her. His eyes moved over her briefly clad body, taking in the bare legs and her small but firm breasts under the thin latex swimsuit. Self-consciously, Eva’s free hand pulled the cover-up closed over her chest.
He turned to Diane. “I don’t want to hear that you gave…Eva…a hard time, do you hear me?”
“Yes, Daddy,” Diane answered with the appropriate amount of meekness for a child that’s just won her way.
“Thank you, Mr. Maxwell,” Eva added.
“Just Maxwell is enough,” he responded. Then, suddenly remembering the person behind him, Maxwell stepped to the side. “This is Lavona Morris. Lavona, this is Eva Duncan. She met Diane on the plane coming down.”
Eva, trying to keep herself impartial, smiled at the other woman, who merely stared at her as if she was some kind of curiosity.
“I have to get going,” Maxwell said. “Don’t let her get on your nerves,” he said to Eva and then turned once more to Diane. “And, you behave yourself,” he added sternly. He turned to begin walking away, back toward the launch. The attractive Miss Lavona Morris followed with a fascinating undulation of her hips and buttocks in the tight skirt.
Eva sighed and gave her full attention to Diane. Diane was watching her anxiously. “I promise I won’t be any trouble,” she assured Eva in an uncertain voice.
Eva watched the anxiety in the little girl’s face and knew that she meant it. She would, indeed, try to be so good that there’d be no cause for Eva to complain to her father. But Eva had the strange sense that above all else, Diane didn’t want to disappoint her father and incur his wrath anymore. Yet, her father had put his daughter into a circumstance for which she could have no part and for which she had no understanding. In that moment Eva found herself very angry with Adam Maxwell for being so insensitive.
“You could never be any trouble,” Eva responded to her. “Come on and sit with me and tell me how you’ve been.”
They walked back to the shade of Eva’s tree, and Diane plunked down on the sand next to her. Immediately her father and the sensuous Lavona Morris were forgotten, although Eva’s own mind was very active wondering about Lavona’s relationship to Diane’s father. She chuckled silently to herself. Was there really any question?
Diane cheerfully filled Eva in as to her activities until they got to Lavona’s appearance onto the scene the previous afternoon.
“Who is she?” Eva asked.
Diane shrugged with an understandable reluctance to talk about it. “A friend of my father. She lives on St. Thomas.”
Eva was desperately curious to know what Lavona was doing overnight on St. John, but she couldn’t very well ask a ten-year-old the question because of the implications. So she asked nothing. But Diane continued on her own.
“She works at Coral World. It’s a marine park on St. Thomas. Sometimes my father will take fish and stuff there to the aquarium if he can’t use it for study.”
“Does—does Lavona help your father in his work?”
Diane looked down at her short chubby feet patting mounds of sand down flat. “I don’t know. I think she just likes him,” she mumbled, as if trying to understand even that much. “My mother has another husband, so I guess Daddy could get another wife…”
“That’s true,” Eva conceded, sighing. “But it might be fun having two sets of parents. Then you can get twice as many presents for your birthday,” Eva reasoned and was rewarded with an impish grin from Diane. But quickly her round face clouded over and she frowned again.
“I like my stepfather. He’s nice. He can make me laugh. And I don’t mind it so much when he gets mad at me. But”—her voice dropped with the confusion she was feeling and quivered—“I don’t want my father to get married again. I don’t want Lavona for my stepmother. She’s so…swishy!” Diane declared in distaste, and Eva discreetly croaked over her laughter.
Eva fully recognized Diane’s fears even if Diane didn’t understand them. She saw so little of her father as it was. If she had to share him with someone else, she was afraid that he’d forget all about her, not need to see her anymore. It was obvious that Diane loved her father very much and didn’t want to risk losing him.
“I’m sure in time you’ll come to like Miss Morris,” Eva assured her. “After all, your father may decide to marry again. And if he loves her, that means she must be very special. So she should be special to you, too.” But Eva could tell from the look of disgust on Diane’s face that her reasoning had hit a real snag. She let that train of thought go.
“She cooked dinner last night and she made fried bananas. Ugh!” was Diane’s verdict as she scrunched up her face and grabbed her stomach. This time Eva did not try to hide her amusement. The unfortunate Miss Morris was obviously in for a hard time of it as far as Diane was concerned. But she obviously had Adam Maxwell where she wanted him, and perhaps that’s all that mattered.
Eva sighed, thinking how calm and easy had been her relationship with Kevin Duncan. But they had only ever wanted each other. So sure and so attuned had they been that Eva was one hundred and ten percent sure that divorce would never have been an issue in their lives. But she had not foreseen the other things that would separate them. She looked at Diane and her heart went out to the little girl. She could also have gleefully throttled Adam Maxwell.
“Well, what would you like to do
this afternoon?” Eva asked her, sensing that the recent crisis was over and a restlessness was setting in.
“I want to swim!” Diane shouted, coming to her feet and stripping off the T-shirt. Eva’s stomach waved apprehensively.
“Well, I don’t swim very well…”
“That’s okay. I do!” She turned to run into the surf. She flopped joyfully into the water and came to the surface shaking the water from her face and hair, little beads of moisture glistening all over her. Eva followed to the edge of the water and watched Diane’s childish antics. The water felt good on her feet. After a while she sat at the water’s edge and let the waves lap gently, nonthreateningly, over her thighs and legs. An hour or more later, assured that Diane was okay, she got up out of the afternoon heat and went back to her chair. Her eyes followed the little girl, and she occasionally shouted to her that she was moving too far out. Diane would obediently swim in closer to shore but gave no sign that she was becoming exhausted or wanted to do anything else.
Eva’s mind drifted back to Diane’s father. She’d never met anyone like him. She was still surprised at how large he was, and she wondered irrelevantly if he’d ever played collegiate football. It was also surprising to her that he was a marine biologist. It seemed so studious and delicate a subject for such a forbidding person. Another thing she could not deny was that he frightened her. She wasn’t sure exactly how or why yet, but she knew that every time he came within two feet of her, her knees began to shake and she felt her body tighten protectively. There seemed to be so much of him to be aware of. She wasn’t used to other men, wasn’t sure really how to handle herself around them. Kevin had been safe and sure. She’d understood him perfectly. But Adam Maxwell was a different story. He seemed so unapproachable. so ungentle and threatening. How does a man like that love?
The question then split in two in Eva’s mind. There was, of course, the emotional love, like hers and Kevin’s, the caring and respect and friendship and need. And there was the other—the physical love. Eva felt sweat break out on her forehead and upper lip. Warm blood of embarrassment infused her cheeks as she had a sudden forbidden image of Adam Maxwell as he would make love to a woman. The woman in Eva’s fantasy was faceless, bodiless. She could only see the incredible virile, enticing potent form of the man. He would be all consuming, not holding back anything, demanding much. His large hands stroking and caressing, manipulating. His wide firm mouth kissing, nuzzling, exploring….