They sauntered slowly back to the oar, and she settled herself comfortably as Brett backed it out of the parking lot. But they had not been driving for about ten minutes before she suddenly realized she did not know where they were.
"Shouldn't we be near the Loftuses' house by now?" she asked.
"We would be if we were going there," he replied imperturbably, "but we're not. I thought we'd drive down to the shore to have a look at the ocean. I want to talk to you, Loris."
Loris's heart raced, but she did not demur as the car flashed along the wide boulevards until they had left the bright lights of Hollywood behind. They passed large, deserted film studios, dark and silent under the light of the moon, and finally, turning a bend, descended a hill which led them on to the sea road, continuing until they reached a deserted part of the coast and Brett pulled up with the nose of the car nearly touching the sand. He shut off the engine, and they could hear the soft lapping of the waves as they broke with a faint hiss on the beach which looked white and cool in the moonlight.
Brett took out a cigarette and lit it.
"Before I say anything else, I want to apologize for ever having suspected there was anything between you and Dickson," he began abruptly. "My only excuse is that I was so jealous I couldn't think straight."
Loris regarded him with startled eyes. "But—but how did you find out that there wasn't? I mean, you seemed so convinced."
"Dickson told me last night."
"I see." Then: "Why did you ask him?"
"Because the thought that you might still be in love with him was driving me mad."
She digested this in silence, then: "Oh, Brett, how could you ever have thought I was?"
"Before I answer that, my dear, there's something else I want to clear up between us." His voice softened. "Loris, do you ever think of those wonderful days on the boat? Do you ever wish we could turn back the clock and be there again?"
"Why do you ask?" she faltered.
"Because between the time I left you on the quayside in New York, and when I saw you again in California, you'd changed so much in your attitude to me that I've told myself over and over again you only looked on it as a shipboard romance." He faced her suddenly. "Loris, why didn't you answer my telephone call from New York?"
"I would have answered it if I'd had one, Brett."
"But I called you up, and you were busy," he said sharply. "I asked Elaine to give you the message and she said she'd ask you to ring me back."
"Elaine never gave me any message," Loris said, thinking quickly.
Brett caught her by the shoulders and looked down into her face. "Do you really mean that?"
"Of course," she said simply. "I never received any message that you'd rung me up. I was very—very surprised that you didn't get in touch with me."
"But I did, honey, I did—that's the whole point. Is that why you were like ice to me when I saw you again?"
She nodded. "Partly. And partly because I was hurt that you'd told Elaine when you were arriving, and hadn't bothered to let me know."
"But I didn't tell Elaine. She found out from Dorcas when my plane was due in, and it was a complete surprise to me to see her at the airport. Did you think—?"
"What else was I to think when you walked in with her, especially after she'd gone out of her way to tell me only too clearly how much you meant to her?"
"How much I—Now look, Loris, let's get this straight. What exactly did Elaine tell you?"
"She said—she said you were the only man she'd—cared about since her husband's death and—and that you felt the same way about her."
"She did, did she?" he said grimly. "Anything else?"
"Only—only that you had a reputation as a lady-killer and that you had just been amusing yourself with me on the boat—that I was too young and unsophisticated ever to interest you for long."
In that instant Brett was filled with a cold, implacable anger against a woman capable of inventing such malicious lies. Throwing his half-smoked cigarette out of the window, he took Loris's hand in his.
"Now you're going to listen to me—you're going to hear my side of the story, which is something you should have heard a long time ago. Oh, Loris, why didn't you tell me all this before? Why were you so ready to believe everything Elaine told you?"
"Seeing you walk across the lawn with her arm in yours that day made me believe all she'd said, and when you were so cool to me, it seemed to confirm everything. You weren't particularly friendly, you know."
"I know, but you weren't the only one Elaine made mischief with. When she met me at the airport and we drove back home, I was already feeling sore with you for not having answered my telephone call, and then she insinuated—"
"That I was trying to steal Dickson, I suppose?"
"Yes."
"And you believed her!" There was gentle reproach in her voice. "So why blame me for believing what she said about you?"
Brett's grasp tightened. "I shall never forgive myself for it," he said. "But I don't think either of us is to blame for what's happened. You were an unsophisticated girl from a country vicarage," there was tender mockery in his voice, "and I was a cynic, over-cautious and only half-believing that your innocence wasn't merely a pose. If we had been together longer at the beginning, our faith in each other might not have been so easily shaken. But we were still too unsure of each other to withstand her ugly insinuations. If I'd had any idea that Elaine could stoop to such…" there was furious vehemence in his tone, "why; I—"
"Then why did you get engaged to her?" The words were forced from Loris for she felt that unless she knew the answer to this, nothing could make her quite believe in him.
Haltingly he told her what had happened that fateful night when he had found her with Dickson—of the party to which Elaine had taken him and of its consequences when he had telephoned her the following morning to apologize for his behaviour. Then he told her of Dickson's belief that he had never actually asked Elaine to marry him and that she had fabricated the whole idea' when she realized he did not remember anything about the evening he had spent with her.
"And I guess he's right," Brett finished. "I'm not in the habit of getting drunk, but when I do, I'm not in-dined to do much talking, let alone propose to a girl."
Loris sat in a daze of happiness and relief, finding it hard to realize that all she had hoped and longed for was true—that all the misery was over and there was no more misunderstanding between them.
"Aren't you going to say anything?" Brett asked at last. "Aren't you going to tell me that those days we spent together meant as much to you as they did to me?"
"What did they mean to you?" Loris whispered.
"The end of a long search, the beginning of a dream," his voice was husky. "Oh, my darling, I've loved you ever since."
He drew her to him and held her as if he would never let her go, his lips, tender and warm, resting first against the curve of her cheek and the soft pulse which beat in her throat, then finding her mouth as her nearness en-flamed him with desire.
Loris clung to him, her reserve melting as her arms reached up and encircled his neck, her whole being flooded with an ecstasy of desire as her mouth responded to the passion of his own. Forgotten was the anguish and pain of the past months, forgotten the bitterness and humiliations she had suffered, and she only knew that with Brett's arms around her she had reached the haven she had been seeking all her life.
Fearful lest he lose the last vestige of his self-control, Brett drew away from her and Loris rested her head against his shoulder.
"I love you, my darling," she murmured softly. "I love you with all my heart."
"I guessed you did, honey, from the way you kissed me." There was tender amusement in his voice. "I suppose I'd better ask you to marry me now."
She rubbed her cheek against his. "You needn't if you don't want to. We could just have a nice, platonic friendship."
"Like hell we could!" He drew her close again and their lips met in a
nother deep kiss.
Huskily, his mouth hardly leaving hers, he whispered: "It's been so long, honey, and I've been such a fool."
"Let's forget the past, Brett, only think of the future."
His hand caressed her cheek. "How forgiving you are, Loris—believe me. I'll make it up to you." Reluctantly he moved away. "Now I suppose I'd better take you home. But first—when will you marry me? We've wasted so much time already that I'm jealous of every hour we're not together."
Her fingers traced the lines of his eyebrows and came to rest against the firm lips. "I'll marry you whenever you like," she whispered. Then: "But I'd like to be married in Daddy's church—would you mind very much if we waited until we can go to England? Daddy would be heartbroken if he thought I was going to get married without him being there."
"I understand, dearest. I wouldn't want to do anything to mar the happiness of your wedding day—it is going to be happiness, Loris, as much happiness as it's in my power to give you."
"Oh, Brett, I'm almost afraid that this joy won't last, and that I'll wake up soon and find it's all been a dream."
"It's no dream. And very soon you'll wake up in my arms and needn't be afraid any more." He buried his face in her hair. "We'll fly back to England, Loris—and if we get there soon, Melanie and Dickson will be able to come to our wedding."
"Is that your only reason for wanting to marry me in such a hurry?" she asked, laughing up at him.
"That's enough of that, young woman—you're learning too fast!"
"Don't you like me sophisticated?"
"I like you just as you are, my heart. Don't ever change." He caught her hand and carried it to her lips, placing a kiss in her palm and curling her fingers around it. Then he slipped off his signet ring and put it on the third finger of her left hand.
"It's much too big for you, honey, but it'll do until I can get you a proper one."
"I prefer this—it's part of you."
Seeing the starry look in her eyes he pulled her towards him and his mouth pressed down urgently on hers in a kiss that seemed never-ending. Then, reluctantly realizing that it was late and that she had had a tiring day, he put her from him, and they sat for a moment in blissful silence before he leaned forward and switched on the ignition.
The engine roared into life and swiftly he turned the car and they started back along the coast road. Stars twinkled in the dark sky like diamonds on a bed of velvet, and a grey, smoky cloud scuttled away from the face of the moon, lighting the road before them with silver, bright and clear as their future.
The Widening Stream Page 18