Chance on Lovin' You

by Eboni Snoe

  Sasha couldn’t believe it. “Never?”

  “Never. But I remember the time when Wally’s mother was at Guana Manor. I was so happy.” His lips turned a slight smile. “I believed somehow God had given me a mother despite my not deserving one.” Cay shook his head. “And then, shortly after Wally was born, she left.”

  “I can’t imagine growing up without my mother,” Sasha sympathized. “So even though you had Mr. Ellis you must have felt very alone.”

  “I did feel alone.” He tried to smile. “I had Baltron and Olive, but it’s not quite the same.” His eyes turned distant. “Yes. One by one I’ve seen the people that I care about die or leave, and there was nothing I could do about it. My money didn’t help me. There was no amount of money in the world that could have kept them here. And there is no amount that can bring them back. If there was, and I had it, I would give every cent. Can you imagine living in a world where, since you were a child, the special people in your life were taken away?” He searched her eyes for understanding.

  Sasha reached out and touched Cay’s hand. “No, I can’t.”

  “So we have more in common than you thought. Our lives haven’t been pretty, and we’re not always right, but that’s a part of being human. I guess some of our burdens are greater to bear than others.” His features turned troubled. “But we were never promised that life would be perfect, were we?”

  Their gazes held before they kissed. There was no pretense, no overwhelming passion. Cay’s and Sasha’s lives met in a place of mutual understanding. Afterward Sasha wrapped her arms around Cay and pulled him close.

  “Does this mean you are welcoming me?” His voice lowered to a whisper.

  “I welcome you with open arms,” Sasha replied, her eyes moist with sincerity. “Not only my arms, but my heart and my mind are open to you as well.”

  A rush of love and desire flooded through Cay, and his mouth came down on Sasha’s again. He wanted her to know how he felt. “I have never felt like this about any woman,” he whispered huskily as he rubbed his face against her hair.

  “You can never say that enough,” Sasha whispered. It satisfied her need to be special that no one, not even Precious, had touched his life the way she had.

  He looked into her eyes. The vulnerable light of love there frightened him. But like a light at the end of a tunnel it beckoned to him as well. Cay knew Sasha had given her heart to him, and it was such a fragile, rare gift. “Then I will never stop saying it. Never.”

  Cay saw her eyes fill with moisture as she withdrew from his embrace. She stood up and walked over by the bed. Silently, Sasha removed her clothes and lay back on the cotton sheets. “Come to me, Cay,” she beckoned softly.

  Cay removed his clothes and climbed into bed beside her. They were no youngsters at the game of love, and because of it they knew when something truly special had entered their lives.

  “Wouldn’t it be wonderful if the world could stop spinning right now?” Sasha said as she held him against her. “And all the horrible things that can happen to two people who dare to give themselves to one another would simply fade away, and the pleasure and joy of this moment would be locked perpetually in time for all lovers to experience. Wouldn’t that be wonderful, Cay?”

  “You know, you can talk.” He stroked her face. “Saving others through love…I can’t think of anything more powerful.”

  The next kiss swept them deep into the heart of love. It was hard for Sasha and Cay to believe that one kiss could bind two people so magically, and when he entered her, it was an extension of that love. The depth of that moment sealed what they had come to understand: neither Cay nor Sasha had ever truly been in love before.

  With the gentleness of a baby being rocked in a cradle they began, until the repetitive motion awakened a tormenting ache within. The sweetest of sensations yearned to be soothed, and soothe them they did, until they cried out each other’s names in their most glorious of moments.

  Lying across Cay’s chest, Sasha could barely keep her eyes open. She was happy and satisfied in a way she had never known before. She listened to his steady breathing above her head that coincided with the rising and falling of his chest. “I guess he’s asleep,” Sasha spoke softly. “You sleep, Cay Ellis the third. I think it would be wonderful to share the rest of my nights like this with you.”

  Cay closed his eyes as if he were in pain. No woman had ever fulfilled him like Sasha had. He knew, this night, they had given all they had to one another. He had never dreamed it could be this way.

  Cay’s marriage to Precious had yielded nothing of the kind. Precious had reintroduced chastity and purity into his life. He had hoped it would shield him against what he was beginning to fear was true. It had been a bittersweet exchange for the passion he craved. But accepting the Bethel Curse as real was the hardest thing he’d ever had to do.

  Cay let go a tremulous breath. If the pain could be so great at losing a woman he loved only chastely, how great would be the pain of losing a woman he loved with every part of his being? And lose her he would…. Cay’s body stiffened at the thought of it. But how do you tell the woman you love you believe that?

  He closed his eyes as he made up his mind. She did not have to know. It was not her burden to carry. Cay looked up at the ceiling. Sharing the rest of your nights with me, Sasha…could mean the end for you, and I cannot let that happen.

  Sasha felt Cay’s body tremble as his chest deflated. She smiled and nestled her face inside the soft cavity before closing her eyes and drifting off to sleep.

  Chapter 28

  “Will we fly over any other islands on our way back to Magic Key?” Sasha called from the shower.

  “Yes, a few,” Cay replied.

  Sasha stepped out of the shower and began to dry herself. She felt silly and buoyant, like a young girl in love for the first time. She looked in the mirror. A smile was plastered on her face. Sasha stopped with the towel held against her and listened to the sounds Cay made as he moved around inside the suite. They were some of the sweetest sounds she had ever heard.

  When Sasha had awakened that morning Cay was already in the shower. It surprised her. But being the assertive businessman that he was, she assumed he wasn’t accustomed to sleeping late. Still, Sasha had to admit there was something about the way he was acting that nagged at her. He was too quiet. But of course, Sasha chided herself, she didn’t know if that was his normal morning behavior. She had never spent the night with Cay before. Perhaps he was one of those people who were moody first thing in the morning and remained that way until they had their first cup of coffee. Or perhaps—she tried not to think this—he was already having misgivings about their budding relationship.

  Sasha folded the towel and placed it on the counter. I’m not going to do this to myself, she declared. Why should he be having misgivings? We had a wonderful evening and night together. There was nothing to have misgivings about.

  Sasha hummed as she dressed. The tune turned into a song, a song her mother had sung to her when she was a little girl.

  Cay listened attentively through the bathroom door. Sasha’s voice was full of contentment. It was so vibrant and alive, and the message within her song told him her dreams. A lump appeared in his throat. He did not want to hurt her, but what would be worse, hurting her by backing away or being the one to bring about her early death? It would be so easy to totally open his life to her. She filled a space that he’d never realized was empty. A place that had never been filled before. Cay believed he could be happy with Sasha for the rest of his life, but he also believed that was impossible.

  He looked out the window at the peaceful water below. If he told her what he was thinking, it would be out of selfishness. He would be a man who had plucked the most beautiful rose to enjoy it for only a moment, knowing that if he had let it be it would have enjoyed a natural lifetime of beauty.

  Cay closed his eyes and held them closed. He wasn’t getting any younger, and he realized how much he longed for
a balanced life with a wife and children. Yes, children. Something he was finally admitting to himself.

  “Ah-h, that shower felt good.” Sasha emerged from the bathroom wearing jeans and a T-shirt that said “I’ve been to the Bahamas…Nan-nan-nan-nan.” “I’m starved. What about you?”

  “I could eat a bite or two,” Cay replied as he gathered up his wallet and bracelet.

  They looked at each other from across the room. A big grin spread across Sasha’s face. “Before you ask me about this stupid grin, I already know how it looks. I just feel so good this morning,” she confessed.

  Cay thought Sasha looked much younger than her thirty years. He had to smile, but it was all too short. “Let’s have breakfast downstairs. That’ll be the quickest way to get something to eat.” He looked at his watch. “I’ve got a meeting at noon that I don’t want to miss.”

  Sasha hoped her disappointment did not show. She knew they had to return to Magic Key, but at the moment its troubles seemed so far away. She wasn’t in a hurry to get back, but Cay, who was thinking about business, apparently was.

  They enjoyed a breakfast buffet before taking off in the seaplane. Sasha had become somewhat accustomed to the motion of the small craft, but she was far from liking it.

  “What you see way over there” —Cay pointed and spoke into the mike attached to the headphones— “is Grand Bahama Island. But the island that is almost beneath us now is Mores Island.”

  “It’s rather small,” Sasha commented into her own headset.

  “There are over two hundred islands that make up the Bahamas. To the left of Mores Island is an even smaller one. Gorda Cay.”

  They were flying so low that Sasha could clearly see the buildings and vehicles on the islands. Once they flew over Mores Island there was nothing but water for minutes on end.

  “We’ve been flying over the Northwest Providence Channel for a while now. We’re about to approach Bimini Island,” Cay informed her.

  “Bimini Island…The street the Bethel House is on is called Bimini Lane.”

  “Officially, that house sits on Route Nine,” Cay replied softly.

  “I know that, but Baltron and everybody else say the address is three-forty Bimini Lane,” Sasha countered.

  “The address of the property was changed rather recently.”

  “Who changed it?” Sasha found it very curious.

  “Precious had it changed.”

  “Really.” Sasha looked down through the window. “I wonder, did she name it after this island?” she said, continuing to look down. Her eyes scanned the land below. It was uninhabited, resembling a lush green emerald. A part of Sasha disliked how much Precious dominated her thoughts—and Cay’s. She felt it was unhealthy. Yet there was something about her, even in death, that was comforting, inviting. The image of Hazel and Precious beckoning to her surfaced in her mind.

  “Hey! Look at that!” She pointed. “That looks like a walkway beneath the water. Those stones are so huge they remind me of the ones on Guana Estate,” she commented with awe. “Do you see them? They look like a road or a lane under the ocean.”

  “Yes.” Cay’s hands tightened around the yoke, and his face became drawn.

  Sasha stared at him before looking down again. “I guess this kind of thing doesn’t excite you anymore.”

  Silence filled the plane. Sasha waited for Cay to speak, but when he didn’t she asked, “Is something wrong?”

  “That is the first time I have seen the Bimini Road with my own eyes,” Cay spoke slowly.

  “But you had heard about it?” Sasha questioned.

  “Yes. From Precious. The week before she died. The week she changed the Bethel House’s address to Bimini Lane.” He let go a tremulous breath.

  “So she did name the road after this island,” Sasha concluded.

  “Apparently so.” Cay paused. “I was out of town when she hired a private plane to fly over these waters. Precious came back believing she had seen proof that Atlantis actually did exist. And that it had sunk right here in the Atlantic Ocean.”

  Cay continued. “When I returned home she was erratically excited. She couldn’t sleep. Precious told me she had found the proof she was looking for, and she wanted me to fly here that night to see it. But I had to fly out to a conference the next day. So I promised her I would go when I returned. It was the beginning of the end,” he said quietly.

  “Olive said from that day on Precious wouldn’t eat and she barely slept. She roamed Magic Key and the area around the Circle of Stones until late at night. Like you, she believed the stones resembled Bimini Road.” He glanced at Sasha before he looked straight ahead. “She was looking for proof that the natural spring was also connected with Atlantis.”

  Sasha sat in stunned silence as Cay brought the seaplane down, her mind in overdrive. She had seen Bimini Road and she had walked within the Circle of Stones. The magnitude of what she had seen filled her as she said, “Perhaps Precious was right, Cay. Perhaps that road was a part of the sunken continent of Atlantis.” Her eyes became wide as a smile spread across her face. “Do you realize what that would mean?” Sasha welled up with joy. “It would mean humankind has a history as old as the stars. That our beginnings are far greater than we ever dreamed and there is nothing that we cannot accomplish if we set our hearts and our minds to it. We’re not just some species that’s a few steps away from being apes. The human story is much grander than that, a ten on the evolutionary scale.”

  Cay looked down at the controls of the seaplane. “So it would prove the impossible is possible,” he said slowly.

  “Yes. That’s exactly what it would prove,” Sasha agreed.

  “And along with our ability to create wondrous things we would be able to create those things that are the results of our darkest dreams.” Cay stopped her dead in her mental tracks. “They are both true, Sasha,” he announced with a final acceptance. “And that’s why I cannot be with you again.”

  “What?” She couldn’t believe what she was hearing.

  “If I truly love you, and I do” —he looked deep into her eyes—” I have to break this off now. I’ll make you a generous offer for the Bethel House. You should take it and go away as far as you can.”

  “What are you telling me, Cay?” Sasha held her breath.

  “I’m telling you that getting involved with me could be the most life-threatening thing you’ve ever done. The Ellis family lives under a curse, Sasha. I am cursed.”

  Sasha sat back in her seat. “So you’re saying what we have is over?” She tried to grasp the situation.

  “Yes,” Cay replied. “It is the best thing to do.”

  “You’re dumping me,” she said slowly. “And why?” The question hung between them inside the small plane. “Because your family is cursed.” Her gaze beamed with incredulity. “I have never heard such bullshit in my life. I don’t believe a word of it.”

  “Yet you do believe in the possibility of Atlantis. One isn’t much different from the other.”

  “Is that all you have to say after you just took me to a hotel for one night, and now you tell me you can’t see me anymore! That’s all you have to say?” She tried to laugh but it turned into a choking sound. “You know what I think, Cay? I think this was one big game for you. A diversion from your normal routine. You took me to the Bahamas to play out whatever scenario you had in your mind. You know the rich, like God, play games with other people’s lives.” She shook her head. “I don’t believe the Ellis family is cursed. I just believe you’re some low-down rich bastards who don’t care about anyone but yourselves.”

  The harsh statement settled between them.

  “Well…” Cay turned his head and looked out of the window before he fixed Sasha with a look she would never forget. “As long as you are not involved with me or this family you’ll never have to find out the truth.”

  Sasha sat there looking at him before she said, “I already know the truth.” She fumbled with the door handle and leaped from
the craft.

  Chapter 29

  “Good morning, Mr. Williams,” Jason’s secretary chimed as he walked through the door to his office. “You’ve got a couple of messages.” She handed him the short stack of papers before she stopped and studied his face. “Is everything okay? You look rather tired.”

  “I had a long night.” Jason didn’t look at the young woman.

  “Well, it’s been pretty quiet for a Friday morning. If it remains like this until noon, we may have a noneventful Friday.”

  “That’s just what I need.” He glanced at the top phone message as he headed toward his office. “I could use a breather.”

  Jason closed the door and slowly walked over to his desk. He sank down in his large leather chair. That he’d had a long night was only part of the reason he felt drained. It was hard to believe how quickly his life could be turned inside out. He pulled open a bottom drawer and took a couple of swallows of Mylanta.

  Wiping the chalky stain from his mouth Jason opened his daytimer. There were only two appointments, both of them in the afternoon. He sighed with relief. It seemed like someone was looking after him. Maybe there was a God after all, although he doubted it.

  “Goddamn that Sherry.” He cussed under his breath. From the moment she entered his apartment the night before, she did what she did best, and that was work her way with him. After Sherry called and said she was on her way, he tried to prepare for her, but it pissed Jason off that after all those years her affect on him was the same. And no one knew that better than Sherry. It was written all over her face when he opened the door.

  “Are you just going to leave me standing out here?” She tugged at the belt of her trench coat.

  “Of course not,” Jason stepped to the side, “by all means, come in.”

  Sherry advanced slowly, making sure she brushed up against him. “My goodness, things have definitely changed for the better, haven’t they?”