“Chase!” I scream, waving my arms wildly. “Chase! Chase!”
The sweet little boat creeps closer and closer. I see the golden hair of my Adonis standing there at the helm. He takes off his shirt and waves it madly toward the shore. I pray he will take us out of here to safety, as the sky is already beginning to spatter more rain, turning back into a dark and angry gray.
Chase pulls the boat as close to shore as he can, then jumps out and wades waist-deep to the beach, muscles rippling as he trudges through the waves. I am so happy to see him that I could burst. He runs across the beach to the house—to me.
“Destiny, are you okay?” His voice cracks as he shouts up to me. He is out of breath. He looks even more worried than before.
“I was scared to death, but I’m okay now that you’re here. Oh, Chase, thank God you’re here.”
“Okay, Dee. Get me a rope or something, so I can climb up to the house. We need to secure those boards while we have this break in the storm. We don’t have much time.”
“Shouldn’t we leave?” I ask.
“I don’t think we have time, Dee. We’d probably get caught in the storm, trying to get the boat around the island. As bad as it is—and I know it’s scary—it’s better to be on land than out to sea. The storm is already picking up.”
I doubt I can find a rope anywhere, so I grab a bed sheet and tie it to one of the boards left behind when the ocean took the staircase. Chase hoists himself up to the porch, his big arms bulging. I finally feel safe.
As Chase climbs upon the porch, I drop to my knees and wrap my hands around his face. I desperately want to look into his eyes, to know he is really here and that God surely heard my prayers. I notice one of his eyes is swollen and bruised.
“What happened to you?” I ask.
“Oh, it’s a long story,” he replies as he stands looking out over the stormy sea. He then offers me his hand, and I stand alongside him. We grab each other and kiss deeply and eagerly. I’m not sure if the salty taste is from our tears or the sea, but I drink him up, every drop.
I gently run my fingers over Chase’s bruised eye. I stand on my tiptoes and kiss it. I kiss his strong jawline. I kiss down the side of his neck, hoping to soothe my hurting hero. Chase suddenly breaks away.
“Let’s get those boards checked,” he orders. “Storm’s blowing in.”
Chase and I go around, checking the boards, rehammering the nails that have come loose in the monster storm’s unrelenting grip, as the wind and rain begin to pick up again.
“What are we going to do, Chase?” I ask. “Can’t we leave by land?”
Chase shakes his head. “The bridge has been destroyed. Too many live electrical wires down, plus a lot of dangerous debris flying through the air like torpedoes. There are poisonous snakes and other vermin roaming around on ground out there. No, it’s way too dangerous to go by land right now. They’ll have to bulldoze us outta here by the end of this storm.”
“Well, we could go On Assignment,” I reason.
“And get shipwrecked at sea? No. We’ll just have to ride it out, sweetie. At least, this time, you won’t be alone. I’ll be right here with you till it’s all over. We’re going to be just fine.”
Chase reaches out, pulls me closer to him, and then wraps his strong arms around me as I nestle down deep into the hollow of his chest, embraced inside his deep hug. He smells like the sea.
“Let’s get back inside now,” Chase says as he kisses the top of my head. “We’ve still got a few more hours left of this madness, good God willing.
“You think it’ll be worse than the first half?” I’m sure Chase detects the fear in my voice.
“That’s up to Mother Nature,” Chase replies.
We go inside, double-checking the windows and securing the doors. It’s as if we’re in the middle of a horror story, where there’s a wild, invisible monster out there chasing us, and we are frantically trying to batten down the hatches before her second round of attacks. My biggest fear is that when that mighty monster moves ashore, she might take my Tranquility, my Chase, and my life in her deathly path—everything I finally have, everything I have always treasured. What if those stilts don’t hold up this time around? What if we collapse into the churning sea?
I try to snap out of it. “I’m going to run the hot water and maybe make some tea. It might help soothe our nerves. I can’t believe we have to go through the same storm again.”
“Yep, same storm, except the wind will shift to blow in the opposite direction.”
“Dear Jesus,” I say and head to the kitchen. Chase follows. The water comes out of the faucet in spurts, spewing and sputtering. Finally, it flows. I wait as the water gets only slightly warm. I take two mugs and fill them up, dropping in tea bags that barely steep. I probably won’t even taste it anyway.
Chase is grateful for his lukewarm tea. We stand in the kitchen, looking in silence out the back window that overlooks the sound, waiting for the onslaught of the next stage of Hurricane Belinda.
Chase has an intense look on his face. He seems far away. I wonder if it’s that black eye.
“You gonna tell me how you got that shiner?” I finally ask. “Were you out there rescuing somebody and got hurt?”
“Pshaw! Funny you should say that,” Chase says with a peculiar look on his face. He walks out of the kitchen. Curious, I follow him into the living room where we both take a seat on the couch and quietly sip our lukewarm tea.
“You want to talk about it?” I finally ask.
“Well …” Chase hesitates, as if he’s figuring out how to say whatever it is he has to say. “A funny thing happened when I left you yesterday afternoon.” He lets out a long sigh and slaps his knee. “The department got an anonymous call about an abandoned car hidden way back out in the marshes.” Chase exaggerates the distance with both arms. “My partner and I were working late on emergency hurricane duty, so we checked it out. We located the vehicle and saw that the windows were all fogged up. The car was rocking back and forth and we heard moanin’ and groanin’ goin’ on inside. We figured it was a couple of frisky teenagers exploring their sexual energy during the storm.” Chase hesitates.
“Okay, go on,” I encourage him, wondering where he’s headed with this story.
“Well, we got up closer to the car, and we saw the girl’s legs come flying up in the air, and the guy just pounding away on her. And you know what’s funny? Get this—he’s still in full regalia, a complete military uniform. So we figure the guy’s just trying to get laid before he has to hightail it back to the Fort Bragg military base. Still, we gotta get ’em outta there, because there’s a hurricane coming. So, I knock on the car window with my badge. The cadet jumps up, all startled and surprised, you know?” Chase chuckles and looks down at the floor. He shakes his head as he takes a long sip of his now-cold tea. Finally, he looks at me with a squinted black eye. “But then, when the guy turns around, there’s Missy lying right there under him, spread-eagled for all the world to see—lying there as my spreadsheet of evidence.” Chase spreads his arms wide in description. “I knew she was up to something.”
“Whoa!” I am shocked, not surprised, yet still sad that Chase had to find out the horrid truth in such a graphic way.
“Well, dumb me—I’m standing there thinking the soldier’s gotta be raping her. So I go after him, and he starts punching me. I swear, it never occurred to me that … that he was willing to fight a cop for her. This dude is claiming all the while that he loves her. I tussle with him a bit before my partner pulls me off the guy. Even he said it wasn’t worth it. So, that’s the story. That’s how I got the black eye.”
“Jeez! What about Missy?”
“What about her?” Chase snaps. “She couldn’t even look me in my swollen black eye!” Chase shakes his head and wipes his lip as if he had dirt on it. I can only imagine what that scene was like. Chase
now sits here in the middle of another disaster, hurt, deceived, and angry. I know how he feels.
“Oh man, Chase, I’m so sorry that you had to find out that way.”
“I swear, I always knew in my heart that Missy might not be the one. I always felt something was missing. She always seemed distracted and distant. No wonder I could never get close to her.”
“I know, Chase,” I say soothingly. “I know.”
“I think that girl just likes men in uniform or something,” Chase jokes.
We share an uncomfortable but welcome chuckle.
I reach over and touch Chase’s hand. “Well, the good news is you weren’t in any deeper than you needed to be. You found out the truth before you went too far. You get a second chance—a get-out-of-jail-free card, my friend.”
Chase takes my hands and pulls me closer to him. “Everything’s going to be all right, Destiny. You know that, don’t you?” Chase looks deeply in my eyes. “Do you believe that, Destiny?”
“Yes … yes, I do now, Chase,” I admit.
“Call it divine intervention or divine planning or whatever. I know it might not look like it now, but God is working everything out for us, Dee. It’s our chance now, and I know He’s not going to let anything get in our way this time. Nothing is going to happen to us in this storm. We are not going to die. We’ve got too much living, too much rebuilding, and too much loving to do.”
Chase plants a deep sweet kiss on lips that have been craving his touch for years. We kiss so hard, for a minute I forget we are trapped in the eye of a life-threatening storm.
The wind begins to roar as the storm rages once again. Chase pulls me closer. He stares into my eyes. I can feel his breath on my face as he draws his mouth closer to mine. He kisses me—gently, lovingly, softly. “It’s going to be okay, Destiny,” he coos. My lips part to find his. We bring our mouths together closer and closer until the frenzied dance between our searching tongues begins—dancing in the freedom of finally expressing our true love, plunging in with passion. There is no way we could stop the floodgates from lifting now. We have waited too long. We have fought too hard for this love.
“I love you,” Chase whispers as he kisses me all over my face and my eyelids, nibbling on my ears and neck, and running his fingers through my hair. “I have loved you all of my life.”
“And I love you,” I whisper between his kisses, surrendering to his passionate touches, with his strong fingers entwined in mine. “Forever.”
“Forever.”
“Forever.”
Chase takes my face in his hands and pulls it close to his. I see his beautiful green eyes as the lightning strikes. He continues to kiss me deeply and sensuously, looking at me longingly all the while, as the thunder roars outside. I pray that this kiss and that look lasts forever. I totally surrender my heart, body, and soul to this one man.
Crack! Crash! Boom!
I shudder in sudden alarm and fear, grabbing Chase’s strong arm. The sky explodes with a spectacular show of thunder and lightning. Chase holds me tightly, rocking and soothing me while the wind whistles through every crack and crevice of the beach house. Sheets of rain continue to pour. The ocean swells and surges, sending powerful waves pounding the shore like monstrous fists of fury. The second stage of Big Belinda’s wrath has begun.
“Don’t be afraid, Destiny.” Chase soothes me with a soft kiss on my cheek. “I’m right here, baby. I’m right here.”
I bury my head in Chase’s chest. I inhale deeply, trying to capture every single molecule of his being until we become one. If I die today, please, dear God, let me have this moment now. It’s as if we have no choice. We are driven by our love and nature. We are grabbing and pawing at each other as if we’ll never see each other again or as if we may not survive this brutal night. The lightning bolts above the beach house continue to crack, while the thunder consistently booms outside. The wind has a horrid howl, but neither of us is focused on the life-threatening storm right now. We are far too focused on each other, as if we are discovering one another for the first time. The electricity surging through the air only heightens the electricity surging in our souls. While Hurricane Belinda wreaks havoc, we make love as if our lives depend on it.
I take my lover’s hand and lead him to my bedroom, where we continue our mad, passionate lovemaking, promising in deep, breathless whispers to never leave each other—not ever again. Chase’s tongue travels all over my body, kissing every inch of me with intention and purpose, as he peels off my clothes and takes me in his arms. I love him more with every passionate kiss and whispered promise of loving me and caring for me forever.
I cling to Chase as our bodies mold into one, grinding and sliding, feeling skin to skin, chest to chest, tangled into a love knot. I feel his sigh on my neck, his hand on my thigh. I am tangled into one with Chase.
“Oh, Destiny,” he says, panting.
“Yes, my love?” I whisper deep into his ear, as he rolls over on top of me. “Talk to me.”
“No talking.” Chase pants as he takes his muscular thighs and separates mine.
I open myself to him, both of us wanting and waiting for this moment forever. Chase slides his big strong hand under me and pushes his long, thick, hard love into my deep, wet softness. I lift myself to him as he digs into my soul, deeper and deeper, until I can’t hold it anymore and burst into tears of happiness and ecstasy. Chase kisses me through my emotions, while he loves me deeper, harder, working into a frenzy of desire and need.
We cum at the same time, screaming, moaning, and panting in ecstasy over the pleasure and release that blocked out the raging storm at sea. It is the best love I have ever had or made. I want Chase McKenzie for the rest of my life. I want this love to last forever.
While the hurricane rages outside, here inside Tranquility, there’s only the warmth of spirit and the golden glow of love. Chase and I fall asleep in each other’s arms, knowing that God, the angels, and Aunt Joy are watching over us. For the first time in a long time, and despite the storms of life and sea, I feel, safe, loved, and alive once again.
Chapter Thirty-Five
I awake to the manly smell of Chase McKenzie and the feel of his strong arms still wrapped around me. The birds are tweeting happily outside my window, as if nothing at all unusual happened last night. Despite the horrendous storm, I finally feel a sense of happiness and peace, a cleansing and safety that I can barely describe. I feel like a survivor, and I can do anything.
“Good morning, sunshine.” Chase smiles down at me and kisses my forehead.
“Good morning, my darling.” I smile back up at him.
“Well, we’re still here,” he teases.
I chuckle. “Yes, and thank God we are.”
“Let’s see what awaits us.”
The storm has passed. The wind and rain have stopped. Outside the sun is shining brightly again. There’s not a cloud in the sky. The ocean is blue, calm, and gentle, with barely a wave licking the shore. She is as glassy as a lake and as innocent as a lamb. If not for all the debris scattered around—the mass destruction left behind, some residents’ homes and longtime businesses now missing—we wouldn’t guess a vicious hurricane just struck. We still don’t know how many injuries or if any lives were lost. Looking at the calm seas and skies right now, one would never believe a horrendous hurricane had brutally battered this area. How in the world did we survive?
A military evacuation chopper, surveying the area, spots us and makes an emergency rescue landing on the beach.
“Everybody okay?” shouts a soldier over the loud thump-thump-thumping of the helicopter’s propeller. “Y’all are lucky to be alive! You okay? Any injuries?”
“No, we’re just happy to be here, man,” Chase says.
We board the emergency aircraft. Chase holds me closely, warding off my fears. We fly away to safety, together preparing to rebuild our lives
and the little island where our love began so many years ago in a very different time.
Chapter Thirty-Six
Chase was right when he predicted it would take weeks for workers to bulldoze the huge piles of debris out of the way before the rebuilding crews could get back on our devastated little island. Emergency crews eventually evacuated everyone safely. There were some minor injuries on the mainland and a few babies born a lot earlier than expected—a natural phenomenon during these times—but fortunately, no deaths to report in the area. Many homes were badly or completely damaged, leaving residents stranded and struggling to find emergency housing, food, and insurance representatives.
Chase and I are working hard around the clock, volunteering for the emergency relief efforts. Topsail Island is hurting badly, and we are staying here to help rebuild our treasured home.
Chase’s potato house fared well in the storm, perhaps protected by the thick marsh trees. He insisted I move in with him after the hurricane, at least until my beach house is restored. It may seem strange, my living with another man so soon, but it doesn’t feel strange at all living with Chase. We blend and harmonize well together, as if we have known each other all our lives—and quite truly, we have.
Grossman gave me a chance to report about the hurricane disaster, live from the island, even using my battered beach house as the backdrop for my reports. Whether I meant to or not, I witnessed this news, upfront and personal, and again my big lead story made the national network broadcasts. Mother and Daddy were again relieved that I survived another big news story and once again were extremely proud.
While out in the field, gathering interviews on the hurricane relief efforts, a cameraman from our local affiliate in nearby Wilmington, North Carolina, told me about a job opening in the station’s Investigations Unit. He encouraged me to call the news director myself, saying he’d probably be happy to have an experienced New York City reporter, who’s also a native North Carolinian, on his investigative team. So in a tremendous leap of faith, I called the news director to inquire about the job and just as the cameraman predicted, his boss was thrilled about my inquiry and hired me on the spot. After Grossman realized he couldn’t talk me out of transferring to North Carolina, he called our sister station himself to put in a good word for me. He also told me I always had a place back in New York City, if I ever changed my mind.
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