Mike turned to face her, dropping his hand in the process, “That’s a possibility, but you must not lose hope.”
“Why are you so good to me? We hardly know each other,” she mumbled.
“Because I like you…a lot. I also know you are going through a rough time and I want to help you through it.”
Absently, she reached over and kissed his cheek. It was a surprise for both she and Mike, but she was thankful that he was there and wished she could offer him more.
“I’m tired. I need to go lie down,” her voice registered her weariness so Mike took her back to her room.
“See you tomorrow,” he said, brushing the back of his hand against her cheek. Their eyes locked for a moment and she blushed and smiled nervously up at him.
“My brother will be here tomorrow, so don’t worry about me,” she said a little shakily.
“Okay, take care.”
After he left, she changed and hopped into bed. Exhausted, Caroline fell into a deep slumber. When she awoke the following morning, she was feeling ready to face whatever was in store for her. She showered and dressed, then headed towards her fiancé’s shack. For the past year, she’d been wearing her engagement ring. It was the only thing she had of their love with her. There were many photos, gifts, and mementos back home. But she was on an island in the middle of the pacific and she did know how to get through to him.
She met him on the beach holding a stick with a fish hanging from it. He was wearing those cutoff jeans he had on the other day and an old faded t-shirt. He was also sporting a stubble, giving him a rugged sexy look, the way she always liked to see him. Her heart leapt at the sight of him.
“Hi,” she smiled brightly.
A shadow crossed his face and he hooded his eyes so she could not see into them. “Morning.”
Caroline looked at her one carat platinum engagement ring and swallowed. She hadn’t taken it off since he proposed to her. Not one day had she gone without it, and she never planned to take it off, ever.
Slowly, she pulled it from her ring finger and held it out to him. Demetri looked at her with a puzzled expression.
“What’s that?”
“It’s the ring you gave me. I never took it off, even when they told me you were dead,” she swallowed hard and tried not to break into tears again. “I never planned to take it off. But I think you should keep it. When you remember me, I want you to give it back.” He continued to look at her. “Take it,” she insisted.
When Demetri made no move to take the ring from her, she reached for his free hand, turned the palm up, and placed the ring in it, then she closed his fingers over it. “Please keep it safe. It’s the most precious thing I have.” On impulse, she reached up and kissed him softly on the lips, “I love you,” she said, her voice cracking a little.
He stood transfixed and stared at her with an expression she couldn’t read. Was it bewilderment or confusion? She wasn’t sure. She left him and returned to the resort to wait for Jacob’s arrival.
* * * *
Demetri held the ring close to the fire and watched the light bounce off the brilliantly cut diamond. It must have cost a fortune. Caroline seemed like a woman with substance. He had to wonder who he was and what he’d left behind. He had nothing to show from his past. He was about to drop the ring into the fire but something held him back and he stuffed it in his jeans pocket instead.
There was a moon out and the stars flickered in the night sky. His hand came up and touched his lips where she’d kissed him. For the entire day, he felt the tingle of her soft lips on his. Her scent as she came close to him still lingered in his nostrils.
Selai walked from the hut towards the fire and squatted down beside him. He smiled at her and she rested her head on his shoulder. Her warm body close to him. He turned his head and kissed her softly on the lips. She opened her mouth to receive his tongue but he stopped as Caroline’s face flashed before him.
“What’s the matter?” she asked in perfect English.
“Nothing,” he lied, placing his arm around her shoulders. “Nothing’s wrong.”
“Who was that woman from the other day?”
She’d never questioned him before, so he felt a little uncomfortable. He dropped his hand and pushed his hand into his pocket, fingering the ring.
“I think she’s someone I knew from before, but I don’t remember her,” he told the woman.
“You think she’s your wife?”
“Fiancé,” he revealed. “She says she’s my fiancé.”
“So, are you going back home with her?”
He looked deeply into the fire. Caroline’s face danced before him. The memory of her kiss scorched his mind and he felt a stirring in his belly.
“I have no plans to,” he stood and stretched. “I’m tired.”
“See you tomorrow,” Selai stood. “Itau (friend), you should talk to her.”
She walked towards a path that led to her home further into the trees. Demetri picked up a few handfuls of sand and threw it into the fire before bunking on his grass bed for the night. He found that sleep was hard to come by. Caroline’s face danced before his eyes a few times. He wondered if she was asleep or if she was with her friend?
Chapter Seven
“Are you certain this is Demetri? How can he not remember you?” Jacob paced the terrace in Caroline’s suite.
He’d arrived late the previous afternoon, suffering from jet lag. They never got a chance to talk until the morning. Caroline watched her brother walk back and forth, stopping every now and then to finger his chin. They’d just had breakfast at a small table on the terrace and she was waiting for Mike to come and get her to go to his factory.
“Stop doing that, you’re making me dizzy,” she complained.
“I’m calling Dr. Mathias, see if he can fly in,” he declared. Dr. Mathias was a family friend and psychiatrist.
“No!” Caroline replied strongly. “Let’s give him time to absorb this. He hasn’t quite accepted me yet, so let’s not burden him too much. Moreover, he might refuse to see a doctor.”
“I want to see him,” Jacob said.
“I don’t think I should come with you, but he isn’t hard to find.”
“Why won’t you come with me?” her brother asked, puzzled.
“I think he’s in shock or whatever. He seemed to be getting along well with a native girl,” she said sourly.
Jacob stop his pacing and joined her at the table. “Are you telling me that he’s in a relationship?”
“They seemed pretty close and whenever he sees me, he seems annoyed,” she said. “He probably loves her and thinks I’m making trouble.”
Jacob pushed back his chair angrily. “That’s ridiculous!” he bellowed.
Caroline grabbed his arm, “Keep it down.”
“I’ll see you later,” he replied and patted her on the head.
Caroline watched Jacob step down from the verandah and walk towards the beach. She closed her eyes and expelled a frustrated breath. She turned her mind over, thinking of what she could do to help Demetri. A knock at the door interrupted her thoughts. When she opened the door, she came face to face with Demetri.
“Demetri,” she breathed.
He was wearing a pair of jeans and t-shirt. “Don’t call me that. I’d rather you call me Itau (friend),” he said.
“Okay, Itau, please come in.”
He stepped in and his eyes darted around the room. Caroline led him to the terrace and offered him a chair. He took it, seemingly uncomfortable.
“Tell me everything,” he said quietly. “I want to know everything, but promise me one thing.”
“What?” she felt her heart skip a beat and a feeling of dread suddenly took over.
“That you return home and leave me alone. If I can’t remember you, it makes no sense,” he stated, looking into her eyes.
Caroline held his gaze, her heart sinking. His hazel eyes bore into hers and she felt herself grow dizzy. With a vigorous shak
e of her head, she compelled herself to stay alert.
“You have to promise me something as well,” she said in a shaky voice.
“Tell me.”
“That you’ll keep the ring I gave you and return it when you remember,” she told him.
“What if I never remember or I’m with someone else?”
Caroline looked away. “Are you with that girl?”
“Yes, I’m thinking of making it permanent.”
“How can you make a life with someone when you can’t even remember who you are?”
Demetri turned his head away. “I have to accept my present, don’t you think? Moreover, she saved my life.”
“Let me help you Demetri. Give me a chance to help you, and if I can’t, I promise I’ll leave.”
“How are you going to help me?” he asked, turning to look at her.
She stood and took his hand. They took the path down to the beach and headed in the opposite direction away from the path to his hut. He didn’t pull away his hand and that gave her hope.
“You are a United States Navy SEAL,” she told him. “You were lost at sea and presumed dead.”
She told him how they met and fell in love, the first time they went on a date, and how he surprised her with his proposal. Jacob was his accomplice in all that. Her brother planned an outing at a vineyard, asking her to accompany him. They were ushered into a private room with a personal chef and a bottle of the vineyard’s most exclusive wines. As soon as they entered the room, Jacob made some excuse about making a phone call.
Then, someone entered lighting several dozen candles and handing her a single red rose. When asked what was going on, the attendant said they were given instructions to do it, and they had no idea why. After the candles were lit, a waiter entered and seated her. Still, Jacob hadn’t returned; however, in entered Demetri, wearing a dark blue suit.
“My God,” she jumped from her chair and rushed into his arms. Right there, he got down on one knee and presented her with the most beautiful diamond engagement ring; three quarters of a carat in the center with a quarter of a carat in channel set side stones, set in platinum.
Demetri stopped and turned to face her and asked. “Were we happy?”
Caroline reached up and touched his cheek feeling the stubble on his face graze the skin on her palm. “Very happy,” she replied.
A few minutes of silence passed between them as they began to walk back to the resort. Caroline thought that the information was enough for today. She told him shed’ tell him more the following day and he agreed that they would meet.
“The guy, is he your…are you two dating?” Demetri asked in a gravelly tone.
“Mike is just a friend,” she said to him.
Jacob was waiting for them when they approached the hotel. He was standing on the beach just outside her hotel room, looking up and down the long stretch of white sand. His face went white as he saw them, and for a moment, it seemed he was going to faint, then he regained some semblance of control and rushed forward to meet them.
Jacob reached them and grabbed unto Demetri’s arm, “Well, I’ll be damned, man, you’re alive!”
“Do you know me?” Demetri asked, a puzzled expression crossing his face.
“I’m your future brother-in-law, Jacob,” Jacob’s disappointment was evident and he loosened his grip on the man’s arm. “Look man, I know you’ve been through a lot, but you’ve got to try and remember. My sister here spent the last month locked in her room. I had to trick her to get out and come here.”
“What do you mean?”
Caroline tried to make signs to Jacob, but he ignored her. She didn’t want him telling Demetri any of that.
“After she heard you were dead, she lost it man. She wouldn’t come out of her room. I think she wanted to hurt herself. I had to come from my trip to Africa and thought of a way to get her out of the house and away from the memories. Do you know she hasn’t cancelled the wedding plans?”
Demetri looked at Caroline and stared at her a few minutes. He looked troubled.
“Jacob stop, can’t you see you’re upsetting him?”
Jacob’s mouth fell open as if he wanted to say something more but Caroline glared hotly at him, and he snapped it shut.
“I’ve got to go,” Demetri stomped away and headed down the beach.
“Don’t pressure him, Jacob. Give him space to breathe, please, or we could lose him forever,” she pleaded with her brother. “Please, let me handle this,” she sighed and then she winced. “Oh God, Mike, I forgot about Mike!”
She ran into her suite and picked up the phone, dialing the front desk. Thankfully, Mike was still waiting. She called Jacob and they both went out together. Mike was in the lounge waiting for them and they left together in a small silver Nissan motorcar he’d driven there. They drove for several miles inland and came to what appeared to be a bungalow, but in fact was his manufacturing facility. There were several men inside assembling parts and testing the finished products.
“How did you end up here?” Caroline asked out of curiosity. “I mean making this stuff in Fiji? I always thought of the island as a tourist destination.”
“I was vacationing here and loved it so much that I decided to stay. I would have imported skilled workers from home, but I found people here with the skills. These men have been trained but because they could not get jobs in their field, they settled for other kinds of labor.”
“That’s good.”
She liked what she saw, and in her mind, there was no reason why Jacob couldn’t merge his business with Mike’s. Jacob would invest the money and Mike would provide the goods. It was a good deal.
“By the way, that story of the bum who broke in. What happened to him?” she asked, amused.
“Oh, that guy. I don’t know how to tell you this, but the bum is your fiancé,” he looked apologetically at her.
“What?”
“I’m sorry. I recognized him from the other night. I didn’t want to upset you.”
“You said he told you the parts were to make a radio? How long ago was that?”
“It’s about a month ago, not long after he washed ashore,” Mike informed her.
Caroline thought for a moment. If Demetri broke in to find parts to build a radio, does that mean he didn’t lose his memory until afterwards? Did something happen on the island that made him lose his memory?
‘Jacob, get Dr. Mathias here ASAP!”
“What made you change your mind?” he asked.
She ignored his question and turned to Mike, “Please take us back to our hotel.”
Jacob grabbed her arm impatiently, “What is it?”
“We’ll talk later,” she told him. She turned back to Mike, “Can you tell me what happened?”
While driving back, Mike filled in the details of what happened a month ago. It was the weekend and his employees were off. However, one of the men forgot something and came to retrieve it. That’s when they saw that a window was broken into and saw a man inside. There was a scuffle and the guy got away but not before his man called for help.
When the others got there, they say they found him hunched behind the building holding his head as if in pain and mumbling incoherently. Mike didn’t press any charges because he thought the guy was a crazy person. He let him go and hadn’t seen him until the other day when he went with her.
“I’ve been doing some reading on the internet since I found him. I don’t know much, but it seems he lost his memory after the incident with your men. Maybe I’m reaching here, but I have to at least know what has happened to him in order to help him. What if he consciously blocked out everything?”
“Is that possible? Shouldn’t we call dad and Adam now?” Jacob asked.
“Yes, he may need a physical as well.”
Mike left them at the resort and Caroline could see that he was reluctant to leave. But she also knew he didn’t want to intrude on what had now become a family emergency. She and Jacob got busy making
the necessary calls to the family and Dr. Mathias.
Dr. Sutherland Sr. said he would leave immediately and fly over to be with her and make sure that Demetri was okay. Adam wanted to come as well, but there were patients that could not wait. He decided to come afterwards when his father returned.
Madelyn was beside herself and assured her daughter that she would be there as soon as possible. “Mom, you don’t have to come all the way here.”
“What do you mean? Demetri is like a son to me. He needs a mother’s love now. His own mother is no longer of this world and I am the only mother he’s known for the past few years, so just you try and stop me!”
Caroline knew there was no use trying to persuade her so she let the subject go. “Okay mom, I’ll book a suite for you and dad.”
“Is there anything you need?” Madelyn asked.
“My photo album. The one with me and Demetri, and there’s a dog tag in the top drawer of my bureau.”
“Okay honey, see you in a couple of days. Mommy loves you.”
“I love you too Mom.”
Chapter Eight
Three days later….
“Are sure about this?’ Demetri asked.
Caroline had gone to see him about letting both her father and Dr. Mathias check him out. She was sure he would refuse but when he saw her, for the first time since she found him, he smiled at her. She told him that she thought he may have blocked out his memory because of what he’d been through and he agreed to see them.
“At the very least, I want to know you are okay. I also wanted you to have this. Come when you are ready, okay, there’s no rush.”
They were at his hut where she’d gone to see him early in the morning. She handed him their photo album with pictures of their relationship journey. When she left the hut, he was clutching it in his hands. Caroline didn’t want to pressure him, but she was anxious about whether or not he would show up. She could have taken her father and Dr. Mathias to him, but she didn’t want him to feel pressured. The psychiatrist agreed with her.
Reminding The SEAL (Navy SEAL Military Romance) Page 5