by Eboni Snoe
When it came to men, Sasha knew she had been stingy with her affection. Because of her mother’s illness there had been no room in her life for a relationship. It wasn’t something she was proud of. It was just the way it was.
She looked over at Cay and down at the baby. Her feeling for him frightened her. It was erratic, reactionary, and intense. Sasha’s involvement with men was the one area of her life that was easy to control. But when it came to Cay, nothing was further from the truth.
The baby’s hands were gooey from the treat, but she was happy and content. “We’re going to find your daddy, Erma,” Sasha reassured her. “Yes, we are.” The baby smiled and dribbled, then continued to chew.
“The toolshed is right over there,” Cay announced, rolling down the window. “You can see it from here. What direction were you coming from when you and your husband took refuge there?”
The woman examined the landscape. “I think we were over there. No-o, maybe there.” She started to point. “I’m not sure.” She was on the verge of tears again.
“Just calm down,” Cay advised. “It’s going to be all right.” Then he took another approach. “When your husband parked the RV, was it near anything special that you can tell me about?”
Nancy put her hand up to her forehead, then looked up excited. “How could I forget. He parked it in the middle of some huge boulders that formed a circle.”
Cay’s expression darkened. “I know exactly where you parked.” He paused. “It’s over there.” Cay took off again, this time veering off the road. “It’s rather difficult to get back up in there with a car, and you say you were driving an RV?”
“That’s right.” The woman looked rather embarrassed. “Is this your land?”
“Yes.”
“Well, we knew that we were trespassing…” She paused. “And we didn’t want anybody to see us from the road,” she confessed. “So Bill maneuvered the RV up in here.”
“He had to really be maneuvering to do that. The stones are hidden between two sections of forest,” Cay remarked as he rolled over a pile of branches.
“I guess that’s why I got confused when I came out and I couldn’t find him,” Nancy replied. “I had been waiting for him to come and get us from the shed, but he never came. So I walked into the woods a little ways, then I got scared.” She swallowed. “I didn’t want anything to happen to the baby. So I decided to come back to the road and see if I could get some help. I hope you won’t file charges against us.”
“You’ve been through enough,” Cay replied. “I’m not going to file any charges. But the sign is up there to let people know this is private property. And it’s also there to keep people out of trouble. This Key has some places that can really be dangerous if you don’t know about them.” He stopped the car. “I’m not going to drive any farther. I’ll have to get out and look for him by foot. I think the storm did all of this.” He looked at the tangled mass of tree limbs and branches. “Either way it’s impossible for me to get the SUV up in there without encountering some big problems.”
“I’m going with you,” Nancy proclaimed.
“I don’t know if that’s a good idea with the baby,” Cay said.
The woman looked at Erma. “Okay, but if we don’t find him after a few minutes of walking I’ll turn back. I just can’t sit here and do nothing.”
Cay nodded.
The trees were thick and the ground was covered with soaked pine needles. But the damp air smelled fresh and clean, reminding Sasha that the storm was nature’s way of cleansing itself. Although it had stopped raining, drops of water still fell from the branches, exploding in bursts of scented pine.
“I can see part of the clearing ahead,” Cay called back to the women, “and the RV is still parked there.”
Moments later they stepped into the circle. Sasha realized what the woman had meant when she’d said “How could I forget?” The boulders that surrounded the RV were enormous stones. She couldn’t imagine how they had gotten there or who was responsible for the grueling work of moving them.
Nancy rushed over to the small, old RV. “Bill! Bill!” With the baby on her side, she opened the door. “Bi-ill!” She turned to Sasha and Cay, “He’s not in there.”
“Well, at least you know the RV wasn’t swept away by floodwater.” Cay tried to comfort her.
“But where could he be?” Her eyes searched the clearing.
“I don’t know.” There was an uncomfortable expression on Cay’s face as he examined the landscape. “Maybe we need to get an official search party to look for him. These woods can be pretty treacherous in a storm.”
Nancy’s eyes widened with apprehension.
“Nancy!” a voice called from the woods.
Nancy turned when she heard her husband call her name. “My God, it’s Bill.” She ran to him as he entered the clearing.
“Where were you?” Bill asked.
“I waited and waited at the shed, but you never came. So I began to worry and I went to look for you.” Nancy didn’t get any further. She broke into tears.
“Now, see, you were worried about nothing.” Bill put his arms around her. “I had to wait for the water to subside before I could get out of here. Then by the time I came to get you, you weren’t there.”
“I tried to look for you but I couldn’t find you,” Nancy said between sniffles, “so I decided to go get some help. Erma and I started walking back up the road and we ran into these people.” She looked at Sasha and Cay.
“I guess we had the same idea, but we went opposite ways.” Bill gave her a squeeze, then took the baby. “You must have headed south and I went north. I came up on a piece of property that had a little house sitting on it. I thought about going up to it and asking to use the phone, but there was too much water in the front yard. It was impossible to get up to the door. I mean, it was like a tiny lake.”
“You must have seen my house,” Sasha jumped in.
“Well, if that’s your house, I can tell you now, the only reason there isn’t water inside of it is because it’s built up on those pilings. You were lucky. So what did you use, a rowboat to get across that pond?” he asked, playing with the baby’s hand.
“No,” Sasha replied. “I didn’t stay there during the storm.”
“I guess that’s one way of handling it. But I think it’s going to take a while before the land absorbs all that water.”
“Other than the flooding did the house seem okay?” Sasha needed reassurance.
“It looked fine to me, but of course I was standing out on the road. I couldn’t get any nearer.”
“Bill,” Nancy interrupted, “I want to introduce you to Sasha, and this is Cay. We’re parked on his land.” She looked down.
“Oh, I see.” Bill looked at his wife’s red face. “I’m sorry, Mr. Cay. I guess I was a little too anxious to get settled. I knew a weather system was moving in, but I never thought it would get as bad as it did. You see, the radio in the RV only works when it wants to. I do apologize for parking on your property.”
“I guess no harm was done.” Cay put his hands in his pockets. “But you can see how this kind of situation can get a little sticky. If you had encountered any real trouble there wouldn’t have been anyone to help you, because we wouldn’t have known you were here. So it’s for your safety as well.”
Bill looked at the sky. “It looks like it’s going to be turning dark in a little while. I guess we need to be on our way. Thanks for helping my wife and my baby.” He extended his hand.
Cay and Sasha shook it, along with Nancy’s outstretched hand.
“‘Bye, Erma.” Sasha took a tiny fist in her hand and kissed it. “I hope you have a wonderful, happy life,” she said softly.
Chapter 12
“That was an interesting thing to say,” Cay remarked as they returned to the vehicle.
“What?”
“To tell a baby you hope it has a wonderful, happy life,” Cay replied, pushing a pine branch aside.
/> “But I do,” Sasha said.
“Have you had a happy life?”
“I’ve had some happiness.” Sasha pressed her hand against a tree trunk to steady herself. “But I think in order to have received my fair share more has to be on the way.”
“Has to be?”
“Yes.” She glanced at him. “I refuse to believe anything else.”
“What does happiness mean to you?” Cay inquired.
“You sure are full of questions,” Sasha retorted as she looked at him across the hood of the SUV.
“It’s the only way to get answers,” Cay said glibly.
They climbed inside.
“I guess happiness means the same thing to me that it means to a lot of people,” Sasha continued. “A sense of fulfillment. Believing my life has a purpose. That if I died today I could go satisfied with no regrets.”
“I don’t think most people look at happiness that deeply,” Cay said.
“You don’t think so?”
He shook his head. “It’s how big their house is, what model car they drive, and how much money they have in the bank.”
“That can be easy to do,” Sasha replied. “We live in a very materialistic society. But when you equate your identity and self-worth with those kinds of things, what happens if you lose them?” For a moment the SUV was silent. “Nancy and Bill didn’t seem to have much, but they seemed like they really loved one another. I think family was the most important thing in their lives. I believe they are happy.”
“Sounds like the kind of thing you’d want.”
“Maybe.” Sasha refused to reveal any more of herself. “Why did you ask me if I felt my life had been happy?”
“Because I wanted to know.”
“But why?” she pressed. Cay had not said a family life was what he wanted. He didn’t comment about his feelings on family life at all. “Do you have plans to change things for me if my life hasn’t been happy?”
“You never know. It’s hard for a man like me to make plans,” Cay replied in a hushed tone.
Sasha’s lips turned a cynical smile. “And see, that’s a problem. We may never know. And I for one, at this point in my life, couldn’t possibly live like that.” She looked off into the woods.
“Sasha.” Cay’s voice caressed her name. She could feel him gathering his thoughts. “We just met yesterday, and not under the best of circumstances. We don’t really know each other. But you know I am attracted to you. It’s obvious.” He leaned toward her. “I don’t know what it is about you” —he studied her face— “but I want you in the worst way.”
Sasha controlled the words that were on the tip of her tongue. He wanted her. That was no prize. How many men had said that? “Sometimes wanting someone isn’t enough, Cay.” Sasha’s voice lowered to a whisper before she fortified it. “I’ve long passed the stage in my life where I allow my feelings to take over and lead me wherever they may. Perhaps if you had caught me in my early twenties I would have been won over by the things you’re saying, but not now.” She drew a deep breath. “That kind of impetuosity leads to regret. And I don’t have time for that.”
“Some feelings are hard to ignore.” Cay’s eyes became hooded as he looked at her lips.
“That’s true,” Sasha agreed. “But when I think about the consequences, I know I can’t afford not to ignore them.” Sasha’s eyes were downcast.
“What happened to the woman I met yesterday who was challenging me every step of the way?” His mouth lifted in a half smile.
“I told her” —she slowly cast her gaze on his face— “to sit down and shut up before she gets me into a world of trouble.”
Cay and Sasha studied one another before Cay sat up in the driver’s seat.
“Okay.” He drew a deep breath and took the conversation in a different direction. “Thanks to Nancy I’ve found out Guana Estate suffered very little damage. And, according to her husband, you’re not going to be able to get up to the Bethel House tonight. So I guess you’ll be under my roof again.” He touched her cheek with the back of his hand. “What was it the spider said to the fly?” His hand trailed slowly down her face.
Step into my parlor, Sasha thought, but replied, “I have no idea.” She knew she could stay in a hotel off island. It would probably be the smartest and the safest thing to do. But her heart wasn’t in it. “Do we still have enough daylight to look for my car?”
Cay focused on the setting sun. “Probably. We can go look for it under one condition.”
“And what’s that?”
“If it’s driveable, that you promise not to drive away when the fear of getting involved with me hits you.” His eyes gleamed as he spoke the words he knew so well.
“You’re not talking about getting involved,” Sasha replied. “What you’re talking about is outright sex, and I’m not promising you a thing.”
“Well who’s going to eat dinner here at the house tonight?” Sasha heard Olive say after she closed Mr. Ellis’s door. Then the house went quiet, and Sasha entered the dining room alone. This time there were only two place settings. One at the head of the table, another adjacent to it.
“You can sit wherever you want,” Olive said, pushing the swinging door open with her hip. “You’ll be dining alone tonight.”
“Oh.” Disappointment surged. “Where is everyone?” She tried to make the question light.
“Who knows? Some fancy car came and picked up Cay and Sherry, and Mr. Ellis isn’t feeling well, so he’s in his room. You would think with all the bad weather, getting back over to Big Pine Key would be a little tough. But I guess not.”
“So they went to Big Pine Key?” Sasha grappled with the fact that Cay had gone and had not told her, although she knew he wasn’t obligated.
“I’m assuming that’s where they went. I guess it was a spur-of-the-moment thing. At least I hope it was.” Olive’s jowls turned heavy. “They knew I was cooking this goose. If they knew they were going out beforehand, one of them should have said something.” Olive placed the dishes on the table. “So you’ll have your pick of everything.”
It was a solemn meal. Although Sasha was accustomed to eating alone, this time she felt lonely. The chandelier seemed too bright and the finery too pristine. She felt like a guest who had outstayed her welcome. She longed for the homeyness of the Bethel House. There was a feeling of peace there. That’s why it upset her all the more to know someone had set out to destroy that peace. She realized she had thought “someone,” an unknown, because deep inside Sasha no longer believed Cay was responsible.
After her meal Sasha wandered into the library. The Ellis collection was quite extensive. She leisurely browsed the leather-bound spines, hardbacks, and paperback books. It was an easy system to follow. Each variety had its own section. At least that’s what she thought until she came to the bottom corner of one of the shelves. There the books were haphazardly mixed. The titles ranged from Conversations with God to The Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight, by Thom Hartmann. Heady subjects, to say the least.
Sasha browsed through a couple of the books before Stones of Atlantis drew her attention. Immediately, she thought of the story Attorney Williams had told her, and of the huge boulders in the clearing. “This could be an interesting read.” She thumbed through the pages, then placed the book under her arm. Afterward she walked outside.
Sasha sat on the wrought iron furniture that had caught her eye the first time she saw Guana Manor. The moon was high and full, and shone boldly from a sky inundated with stars. It was a breathtaking night, and she closed her eyes to enjoy the night sounds, but instead she heard Baltron and Olive talking from an open window overhead.
“Cay said that couple parked their RV in the middle of the Circle of Stones.”
“Yeah, I heard.”
“It’s a wonder they didn’t see her out there.” Olive’s voice turned excited.
“Obviously, they didn’t. Cay didn’t say anything about it,” Baltron replied.
“Y
ou know Cay. He hates to talk about it. He says he doesn’t believe it’s true, but I think he does. One day that boy is going to get enough of not believing. I hope, once again, it won’t be when it’s too late.”
“It is rather difficult to believe, Olive.”
“I don’t care how difficult it is. I tell you I saw her, and it was in broad daylight. I know it sounds strange, but we’ve seen strange things before,” she said pointedly. “You were there when she died. You saw that light that billowed out of Precious’s body when she crossed over. It was like a camera flash. I’d never seen anything like it.”
“Me either.”
There was silence.
“And I tell you she was right there in the middle of the stones, looking almost as solid as you are now but with a glow about her body. It nearly scared me to death. But when she smiled, Baltron…” Olive paused. “I knew my Precious would never do anything to harm me.”
“That would be against her nature,” Baltron agreed.
“That’s right. And that’s why it riles me when Mr. Ellis makes the kind of wisecracks he made last night, talking about the lights flickering. This isn’t like a fake séance,” she said with heat. “I never should have told him I saw her. But I was so excited when I got back to the house. And Mr. Ellis was the first person I bumped into.”
“Never mind. Cay Junior. You know he’s got his ways.”
“Yes, I know.” Olive cleared her throat. “He needs to change some of them.”
Sasha remained quiet, and the room upstairs went silent. Had she heard Olive and Baltron correctly? It was hard to fathom what they had been discussing. Olive believed she had seen Precious among the large stones. Seen her after she had died. The thought sent a chill down Sasha’s spine. Was it possible? Olive obviously thought it was.
Headlights beaming toward the house sidetracked Sasha’s thoughts. She was glad she was in the shadows when the Lincoln pulled up. She watched Cay get out first. Then he assisted Sherry. Without hesitation the silver-gray vehicle pulled off quietly into the night.