Orchids & Hurricane Kisses

by Stacy Eaton

  She looked miserable, and it crushed me. “Come here.” I tugged on her arm gently. “Come back to me so I can hold you as long as you’ll let me.”

  The two of us watched in silence as the sun slipped below the horizon. I would always remember this moment—the moment when my heart was buried under the water at the edge of the world.

  When we docked, Amy asked if we could walk into town, and I was happy to keep our evening going as long as I could. We walked the two blocks into town, and she stared into a shop. “Do you mind if I go in here? I want to get something for my daughter.”

  “Of course,” I told her, and she stepped away. I let her go into the brightly lit store alone, and my eyes landed on a small glass bottle with sand inside it near the doorway. I glanced at the bottle and then back at Amy. She was busy browsing among trinkets on the other side. I chose a bottle from the display and went to pay for it. At the counter, I asked the clerk if I could have a small piece of paper and borrow a pen.

  Amy came out a short time later, a small bag in her hand, and caught sight of the small package in mine. “What did you get?”

  “Something for you.”

  She gave me a puzzled look. “You bought me a gift?”

  I handed her the small bag, and we walked over to a bench where she put her hand into the bag, pulled out the bottle, and smiled. “You bought me a bottle of sand.”

  “No.” I took the bottle from her and held it up. “Inside there is a slip of paper.”

  “Okay, what’s on the paper?”

  “It’s my phone number, Amy. I accept the fact that you don’t think we will have anything once we leave here, but if you get home and change your mind, or if you need anything, and I mean anything, you break this bottle and you call me.”

  Tears came to her eyes again, and she held the bottle to her chest. “Thank you, Rye.”

  “You’re welcome.” I met her in the middle for a sweet kiss before we browsed through a few more stores. Many people were talking about the storm that was coming. They all had opinions of how bad the storm was going to be and how it was close to becoming a category three storm. I tried to shield Amy from the conversations as, with each mention of it, she seemed to become even more tense.

  When we returned to the resort, Amy hesitated on the walkway to our bungalows. “If you’d rather I stay in my place tonight, I’d understand.”

  I wrapped my arms around her. “Amy, I want you with me for as long as I have you.”

  She gave me a shy nod, and we headed back to my place. Once inside, I coaxed her into the shower with kisses and lifted her in my arms. She wrapped her legs around my waist, and it was then that the blood moved from one head to the other, and I stopped. I began to lower her, and she shook her head. “No, don’t stop. I’ve only been with one man in the last two years, and I’ve been tested; I’m clean, and I’m on birth control.”

  “Are you sure, Amy? I’ve only been with Autumn for the last few years. Although, she’s been with someone else, so I can’t say that I’m safe.”

  “I’m willing to take the chance,” she said. “I need to feel you.”

  I groaned as I took her mouth in a passionate kiss and proceeded to touch her in the most intimate way unprotected.

  After our shower, we made love slowly in bed, and then as Amy drifted off to sleep, I stared at the ceiling fan spinning continuously above me. Time was running out; I felt it in the air. The storm was pressing down on the tiny island, and I needed to get off it. I’d had multiple messages from my brother wanting to know when the hell I was coming home.

  At the same time, I didn’t want to leave until I knew Amy was going to be safe. How could I go back to safety and leave her behind to weather the storm? What kind of a man would leave a woman he cared for under those conditions? I fought with my decision long and hard and finally concluded that I wasn’t leaving until she did, so if she had to stay for the storm, so would I.

  I’d stayed up so late contemplating the decision that I didn’t fall asleep until after one in the morning. When I woke the next morning, someone was banging on my door again, and my bed was empty. I glanced at the table in the middle of the room, her clothes were gone, as was the bottle I’d given her last night.

  Chapter 12

  Amy

  As I sat between his legs on the bow of the boat, the words he’d spoken echoed inside my head. Amy, fall. Fall in love with me, like I have fallen for you.

  Oh, how badly I wanted to do that. I wanted to stand up and dive right in headfirst, but I couldn’t. My heart was not mine to give, it was for my daughter, and she was the only one who had a place in it right now.

  His kind gesture of giving me his number without giving it to me filled the little void that had opened in my chest after our conversation on the boat. I would never reach out to him, but I knew that I would always have a way should I someday become delirious.

  I would take the bottle home, set it on my shelf, and remember our time together often. Once Cammie had her operation, I would think back on this time with fond memories. If for some reason my daughter—I was not going to think that.

  I knew it was the last time I would make love to him, and a tiny part of me wished that I wasn’t on birth control so I could possibly take something of him back with me, not that I really had the time or energy to deal with a baby.

  I wondered as I drifted off to sleep on his shoulder if I would ever find another man that I could care about the way I did him. I didn’t think anyone would ever compare—I knew no one would ever compare. Rye was one of a kind. He might be a twin, but he and Roan were very different.

  I woke before the sun rose and studied Rye’s profile in the dark. I should go back to my room and shower, then talk to the front desk again. I needed to figure out what was going to happen if I couldn’t get off the island. Yesterday, the hotel clerk mentioned that they were planning on moving people to a different hotel farther inland. I wanted to make sure I knew the details to pass them on to Joanne.

  I slipped out of the bed and dressed quietly. Before I left, I paused by the side of the bed and stared down at him. “I love you, too, Rye,” I whispered and then I turned and walked away, closing the door to his bungalow with only a soft click as I did the same to my heart. I would pack my things and find another hotel in which to stay until I could get off the island. It wasn’t fair to keep him here, not with the hurricane barreling down on us.

  As I stepped out of his room, I heard a knocking coming from the direction of my bungalow. I hurried down the path that led to my bungalow and found a hotel worker at my door.

  “Yes?”

  “Ms. Black?”

  I didn’t recognize the man, and I said that I was, indeed, Amy Black.

  “Your passport has been found, and we have taken the liberty to get you booked on the first flight off the island.”

  “You found it!”

  “Yes, ma’am, we did. It’s at the airport waiting for you, but you have to hurry. The flight takes off in forty-five minutes.”

  “That soon?”

  “Yes, please grab what you absolutely need; we have a car waiting to take you.”

  “But why the hurry?”

  He shuffled his feet as if he were uncomfortable with what he was about to say. “Your daughter’s caretaker has been trying to reach you. No one knew where you were.”

  “Joanne? Joanne called?” I began to panic.

  “Yes, she called, and she said that your daughter isn’t doing well.”

  My heart thudded against my chest, and I stepped around him. “Give me one minute, and I’ll be ready to leave.”

  “We can collect the rest of your things and have them shipped to you after the storm.”

  “That won’t be necessary. You all have been too kind.” I shoved my laptop and the other few items that I had on the table, including the glass bottle, into my laptop bag and pulled the strap onto my shoulder. The clothing that Rye had bought for me meant nothing as I raced for the do
or. At the entrance, I paused and turned back to the closet. I reached in and grabbed the white see-through outfit that he had bought me and shoved it into the laptop bag—a token by which to help me remember the fantasy.

  “Have the other items in my room returned to the boutique and credited back to the account.”

  “Yes, ma’am,” he said as we walked brusquely up the walkway. I was at the fork in the path where one led to the main resort building and the other led to Rye, and I hesitated for only a moment before moving away from my dreams and toward my destiny.

  I didn’t get a chance to breathe until I was on the plane, and it was putting its nose in the air. The plane banked, and for just a moment, I got a peek of the far side of the island where the resort was located. Had Rye woken up yet? Did he know I was gone?

  I closed my eyes against the crushing weight that bore down on me. I’d never run from anything, but that’s what he was going to think. He was going to assume that since he’d said he loved me, that I was running away. Maybe part of me was, that little part that knew that last night had been our last night together, the same part of me that had contemplated finding a different resort.

  I sighed and let my gaze fall on the first rays of the sun as they landed on the clear water and made it sparkle. Another moment and we banked the other way, and then we leveled off and turned to head into the darker clouds of the western sky. The sunrise and Rye were behind me, and my mind felt as dark as the sky in front of us.

  I’d had a chance at the airport to call Joanne who’d left six messages overnight. Cammie was in intensive care, but not because of the earlier infection. The stupid infection was putting stress on her system, and her heart wasn’t doing well. Please, God, please, I beg you, find a heart for her. I can’t lose her.

  My thoughts bounced back and forth between Cammie and Rye. One moment I was reliving a good memory of one of them and then the next, sadness was overwhelming me as the face of the other filled my mind. I was anxious and restless. If I hadn’t been on a plane, I would be pacing up a storm.

  The gentleman who had taken me and another couple to the airport had informed us that the storm was close to turning into a category four, and they were evacuating all visitors on the island. After this evening, all flights would be stopped.

  I had no doubt that Rye would get off the island. Once he learned that I was gone, he would be on the first plane out of there. I just hoped he wouldn’t be angry with me for leaving the way I had. He had no idea about the seriousness of my daughter’s condition. He didn’t even know she was sick. I should have told him that. I could have confided in him about my fears and how often I prayed for my baby to be saved, but I hadn’t, and now it was too late.

  The trip was a blur; we flew to Puerto Rico and changed planes. Luckily, my company was paying for the airfare, and I was able to charge it all on the credit card they had issued for the trip.

  What a waste of money the trip had been. They had spent all that money sending me down there, and I didn’t even get the interview. I pursed my lips; not all of it was a waste though. I stared at the wooden ring on my finger for a long time, and then I pulled it off and put it into a pocket of my laptop bag. I’d had two of the best days of my life, and I would remember them forever. In fact, I didn’t think I would ever be able to look at the ocean off my balcony without thinking of Rye sitting in the sand, staring out at the water that first night.

  The plane from Puerto Rico landed in Miami and from there, I ran to my next flight and made it just as they were closing the door. By the time I got off the plane in Baltimore, I was at my wit’s end. I’d been inside planes for eight hours, and I had no idea what was going on with my daughter. My phone was powered up the instant the airplane came to a halt, and I was dialing Joanne.

  “How is she?” I asked the moment Joanne answered.

  “She’s holding on as well as she can, Amy.”

  Tears burned my eyes. “I’m just getting off the plane, I’ll be there as soon as I can. I need to rent a car.”

  “Okay, drive safely.”

  We hung up, and I power-walked to the car rental desks. I’d been dropped off at the airport by a car rental service, but I hadn’t even had a chance to notify work that I was coming back. Gah—they were probably going to give me grief about leaving. I’d probably lose my job, which meant I’d lose my insurance.

  I felt caught in the middle of a hurricane here, and things were blowing out of control. The world around me was slowly circling me and getting worse the faster it all got.

  Luckily, I was able to get a car quickly and was on the road thirty minutes after landing. I hadn’t even checked to see if any of my luggage had made the trip. I could contact the airport later, it was the least of my worries.

  I made the two-and-a-half-hour trip with relative ease, and only a few times found myself wondering what Rye was doing or where he was. Each time, I shoved it out of my mind. I would find the time to mourn that loss later. Now was not the time.

  I rushed into Atlantic General Hospital and up to the Pediatric ICU. I had called Joanne upon my arrival and when I stepped off the elevator, she was there. I fell into her arms and almost lost it.

  “She’s okay, a little better. She knows you are on your way. She’s napping now.”

  I nodded and then pulled away and wiped at my eyes. I was exhausted, and I probably looked like hell.

  “You’re here and she’s resting, so take a moment to pull yourself together, get a cup of coffee, use the restroom, get some food, and then come into her room once you’ve had a chance to center yourself. You know how much she worries about you. If she saw you in this state, she would be upset.”

  “Okay, but I want to peek in on her real quick.”

  “Just don’t wake her,” Joanne said as we headed down the hallway.

  I paused at the door and looked through the sliding glass. She was turned toward the door, her angelic face relaxed in sleep, but her color was off, and she had dark circles under her eyes.

  Damn it! Why had I taken that assignment? Why had I left her? This was my fault. If I hadn’t gone, Cammie would have been home safely, and I could have watched over her better, made sure she didn’t get sick.

  “Come on,” Joanne said. “Let’s get you cleaned and fed. I bet you didn’t bother to eat anything today, did you?”

  “What?” I glanced at her and replayed what she’d said. “No, I didn’t eat. I couldn’t.”

  “Well, you’re going to now because you need your strength, and Cammie needs your strength.”

  I stopped abruptly and grabbed her arm. “Joanne, she can’t die.”

  Joanne grabbed my shoulders. “Amy, the doctors are doing all they can for her.”

  I nodded. That wasn’t what I wanted to hear. I wanted someone to tell me my daughter was going to be alright, that she was going to live a long and healthy life and not die at the age of ten.

  Chapter 13

  Rye

  Once again, I pulled on my pants and went to the door. I was surprised that the person hadn’t let himself inside since he was banging so hard.

  “Yes?” I said as I wiped the sleep out of my eyes.

  “Mr. Waterman, we need you to pack. The storm is coming, and it’s going to be very bad. We have you booked on a flight out this afternoon. It’s one of the last flights off the island.”

  “I’m not going.”

  His eyes practically exploded out of their sockets. “Mr. Waterman, you have to. The storm is going to hit us head-on as a category four. Everyone is leaving the island.”

  “What about Ms. Black?” I pointed to Amy’s bungalow. “She’s not leaving, she can’t.”

  He looked down at a clipboard and ran his finger over the list which was much shorter than it should have been. “Mr. Waterman, there is no Ms. Black on the list. That bungalow is empty.”

  I cocked my head. “No, Ms. Black was here to interview your chef, but he was gone. She was put in that bungalow over there as compensatio
n for you losing her luggage.”

  “Oh, yes, I know whom you speak of, but she’s not there anymore. I believe she checked out this morning.”

  “Checked out? Like she left the island, or the resort?”

  “I do not know that, sir. I only know that she is no longer on the property. I do recall her asking yesterday if there was another hotel farther inland at which she might be able to stay at if her passport was not found.”

  “Where was that?”

  “I don’t know, Mr. Waterman. I only heard part of the conversation.”

  I found my feet moving toward her bungalow without thought. I cut through the grass and then the sand as I came around to the back of her bungalow. The sliding door was closed but unlocked, and I pushed it open and burst inside.

  By the smell of it, it had already been cleaned, and the bed was pristine as if just freshly made. Her laptop was gone from the table, and I rushed to the closet and yanked open the doors. It was empty. I went into the bathroom and found it clean and nothing out of order, not even a toothbrush.

  “Sir, I told you that no one was here.”

  I glanced toward the hotel employee and rubbed my beard. Had she really left without saying a word? Did she leave a note back at my place? I headed toward the door, the front one this time, and when I yanked it open, I stopped at the threshold. On the front porch were two bags from the boutique, and I reached down and found the clothing I had bought for her inside. I began to seethe, had she really gone without saying anything and left these behind?

  “Sir, what are you doing with that stuff? I was told to bring it to the front desk so it could be returned to the store for credit.”

  I turned to him. “I bought this stuff for Amy. I’ll take care of it.”

  I left him with his mouth partially open. I was almost to my bungalow when he yelled out to me, “Mr. Waterman, are you going to pack and get ready to leave?”