by Sandra Cox
“No I haven’t. What do you think, kids?” His gaze goes to Piper, shifts to me then Tyler, the message clear. Is it safe?
“Oh, let’s go,” Amy puts in unexpectedly.
She’s right. What are the odds of anyone finding us there? Though Craven and Stranger have an uncanny habit of showing up in unlikely places. “Works for me.”
Amy claps her hands together. Molita tells her of shops on the island she needs to see. It strikes me for the first time, that discounting Piper, this is probably the only young woman Amy has been in contact with that is close to her own age. I swallow a grin. The vodou priestess and the mutant. If I were a writer, I’d be using it for a title.
“If you’d like to see the cottage, I’ll take you all now, and then we can boat over to Grand Turk.”
I push my chair back. “Go ahead, I’m going to get cleaned up then I’ll catch up. It’s just down the road, right?”
She nods and they troop out the door.
I brush my teeth and throw on a clean white T. When I come out, Tyler is waiting for me. I look around for Piper, but no one else is there.
He’s leaning against the counter, hands in his pockets. When he sees me, he straightens. “I want to know what’s going on with you and Piper.”
His tone has my hackles rising. “Maybe you should ask Piper.”
“I’m asking you. What I’m going to ask Piper is to marry me.”
I suck in air. My stomach cramps like I’ve taken a punch. After years of practice in the lab, I’ve learned to hide my feelings. “You don’t have anything to worry about from me, bro. Piper and I are friends. She’s the mother of my child. That’s all.”
“Oh yeah? I’ve seen the way you look at her when you think no one is looking.”
Testosterone jolts through me and I clench my hands. The need to claim aloud the woman I love is overpowering. For one crazy moment, I nearly succumb before I beat the need back into submission. I put on my poker face and say nothing, though I can feel the heat burning behind my eyes.
Tyler’s gaze sharpens. “Why aren’t you fighting for her? In the beginning, you made it clear you were going after her. Then after Angel’s rescue, you backed way off. Why?”
Tell him the truth? No way. If he removed himself from the picture, I’d be even further in his debt. “Yeah, I want Piper. What red-blooded male wouldn’t? She’s desirable, brave, and has a huge heart, but I’m not a one-woman man. She would neither understand nor forgive the occasional fling.” I purposely don’t mention love.
A slight intake of breath alerts me. Piper stands in the doorway, color draining from her face, leaving her features chalk-like. “Excuse me.”
Tyler’s eyes narrow and his glance bullets back and forth between the two of us.
She looks directly into my eyes, lifts her chin, and disappears as silently as she came. Dammit. How long was she standing there? Too long, obviously.
My heart tightens. Can she really believe that? Can he? If they believe for one moment that I want anyone beside Piper, maybe they deserve each other.
“And the rescue had nothing to do with it?”
“You did it for her, not me.” I shove past him, shoulder bumping shoulder. I’ve got to get to the ocean before the lies choke me.
She’s running down the beach. Maybe her needs are the same as mine. Instinctively, I start after her then force myself to stop. What can I possibly say to her? That it was a lie? That I love her more than she can ever understand or imagine? What good would that do? So instead of following my heart, I head in the opposite direction, shuck my clothes and dive in.
Misery assails me, leaving a deep throbbing ache in the pit of my belly and a painful tightness around my heart. How can I deal with this? How can I be with them every day after they are married and pretend I don’t care? I can’t. I’ll have to leave. But I can’t leave my daughter and I can’t take her from her mother. I feel like a hamster on one of those endless spinning wheels, racing, racing, racing with no end in sight. So I swim, hard, mile after mile, fighting the flirty waves till exhaustion numbs me. Finally, my jangling emotions compartmentalized, I head back to shore.
I find my clothes and pull on my shorts. Two young women who look a few years older than I am walk by giggling. “Ladies.” I bow and they giggle louder.
Her presence draws my attention. Several hundred yards down the strip, with Tyler at her side, she watches the interplay. She can think what she likes; I’m too damn tired to care. I shove my shirt in the waist of my pants and head to the cottage.
Angel must have been watching for me from the window, because as I approach the back door flies open and she comes running out, Clara clucking behind her.
She throws her arms around me. She’s so tiny, she only reaches my hips. I pluck her up. She puts her small fingers on each side of my face, absorbing my emotions before I can find a way to hide them. She stares at me solemnly. “I love you, Daddy.”
I draw her close. The sweet scent of little girl, the tiny arms and warm body are as comforting as the sea. “I know, baby.”
“As soon as Momma and Uncle Tyler get back, we’re going to Grand Turk. You’ll like that.”
“So everyone else has returned from a walk-through of our new residence?”
She nods her head.
“Did you like it?” I try to distract her.
“Yes.”
She’s still way too solemn. “Honey, you’ve got to stop taking on everyone’s emotions. There’s not that much room in your tiny body for such a big heart.” I gently touch her chest with my finger to emphasis my point.
Clara pecks at my toes. I dance nimbly out of her way, causing my daughter to laugh. My mood lightens. It’s impossible to feel sorry for yourself with a pet chicken around.
Chapter 10
Piper
I fling my shirt on the sand, toe off my sandals, and run into the ocean. The water stings my skin as I slap my arms hard against the waves, kicking out further and further. So I’m beautiful and he wants me but not enough to limit himself to one woman. My heart clutches like a fist. Damn him.
I dive underwater and watch a school of lionfish swim by. But not even their brown and white striped beauty can hold my attention. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I know I’m being female and irrational, but so what? I am female, and I’m entitled to occasionally be irrational. He doesn’t love me. My throat swells. Tears erupt. I shoot to the surface before I choke on hot, noisy sobs. It seems like all I do in the water is cry these days. What’s wrong with me? I’ve never been a crier.
I keen in the wind. A young dolphin swims up to me and noses me, trying to give me comfort. “The boy I love doesn’t love me.” I whisper. It takes a minute before I realize what I’ve said. My muscles tighten and my movements, usually so fluid in the water, are awkward. I’ve known forever that I love Joel. It’s just been hard to admit, especially if what he said was true and it’s not returned. I slap the water, hard, causing a miniature geyser to erupt on the surface. The dolphin throws his head in the air and chatters agitatedly.
“What difference would it make if Joel did love me? It’s better this way. I won’t forsake Tyler. He’s given up everything for Angel and me. I can’t and won’t repay him that way.”
The dolphin nudges me and chatters sympathetically. I throw my arms around him and cry till there’re no tears left.
“Besides, Joel’s not a boy, he’s a dolph, like me,” I tell the dolphin, who nudges me gently. I find there are still tears left after all.
“If I had any hopes of the three of us being a family, it’s time to put that dream on the shelf. Part of me wishes he’d just go away, give me a chance to adjust to living without him. I could be happy with Tyler. I was before. Before I looked into turquoise eyes the exact shade of my own and found my kindred spirit.” My heart cracks further. “He’ll never leave his daughter and how can I ask him to? She loves him so much. I guess we’ll be the modern Ame
rican family, together but apart.” I pat the dolphin’s silky back. “It’s just as well you can’t understand me. I’d depress you, too.”
He lifts out of the water and clicks in response.
Exhausted, mentally and physically, I swim back to shore. A lone figure stands waiting for me. As always. “I do love him,” I explain to the dolphin. “And if I’d never met Joel, Tyler and I would be happy.”
The dolphin gives me another sympathetic nudge. As we near the shallows, it chatters then swims away. I stand and drag myself through the shoals. The waves, shin deep, are like pushing through mud.
When I reach him, Tyler says nothing just holds out his arms. I walk into them. The pain recedes but doesn’t go away. I lay my head on his shoulder and let the warmth of his body seep into the chill in my heart. Why isn’t this enough?
“Ready to go to Grand Turk?”
“You bet.” I push my frozen lips into an upward position.
“When we get back, how about a late picnic on the beach just the two of us? There’s something that I want to ask you.”
My heart starts beating like a rabbit running from a hound. Oh please no. Don’t let it be what I think it’s going to be.
I hesitate. He lightly jiggles my arms. “Come on. I haven’t seen you in days.”
“Sure. Of course.”
He picks up my tee and tosses it to me. I slip it over my head and we walk toward the cottage. Joel is coming from the other direction. And, of course, he’s flirting with two other women. I could swear his step falters when he sees me, but that’s probably my imagination. His shoulders straighten and he heads for the house.
When we arrive a few minutes later, he’s with Angel and Clara. Even though his eyes are shadowed, the quick easy smile that is so Joel slips over his features. “You guys skipped the tour too?”
I nod and don’t look at him.
“Momma, come see our new house.” Angel grabs my hand and we bolt down the street, Clara trailing behind, lifting each leg high in that stiff gait peculiar to chickens, her head bobbing. My daughter pulls me inside a quaint little house that is much like the current one we are in only larger. Sunshine streams through open windows. She guides me to a room in the back with two double beds. “You, I, and Amy are sharing this room.”
The walls are a soft pastel, somewhere between blue and the turquoise of my daughter’s eyes. The curtains at the window are a sunshiny yellow and the furnishings are made from wicker. It’s relaxing and pleasant. Inside the cozy room, the tightness in my shoulders begins to seep away.
“Very nice.”
“I like it that all the girls are together. I don’t know why all the boys want separate rooms do you?”
“It’s a guy thing,” I respond gravely. The question lightens me a bit more.
“I put your clothes in the closet. As soon as you’re ready to go, we’ll head for Grand Turk.” Her eyes gleam with excitement and she bounces up and down.
Her enthusiasm is contagious. I hurry to get ready. In less than ten minutes, we are out the door. When we get to the cottage, everyone is waiting.
Joel smiles at me easily, as if nothing is wrong. He holds out his arms and Angel barrels into them. Acid spurts in my stomach and I’m ashamed. How can I be jealous of my daughter for even a second? I’m so glad Joel loves her. I’d just like to share in that circle, is all.
My daughter looks at me, distress on her face. Oh God. She clambers down, races to me, and throws her arms around my hips. I reach down, kiss the top of her head, and whisper in her ear. “Love you, baby.”
“We love you too, Momma.”
There’s no mistaking her meaning.
“I know, Angel.” You love me.
“We both do.”
I give her a quick hug and keep my mind blank. “I’m ready whenever everyone else is.”
“We can take my boat,” Joel says.
We all pile out of the cottage. The gate creaks when Tyler opens it. Clara goes sprinting through.
“Can we take her, Momma?”
I glance around for help.
Molita grins. “It won’t be that strange a sight in Grand Turk, though I don’t know how Clara will do on the water.”
Everyone watches as Angel squats down and has a brief conversation with Clara before standing. “She trusts us to keep her safe.”
Without conscious thought, my glance goes to Joel, a smile erupting from my mouth. He answers it, his eyes dancing, before his face shuts down and he abruptly looks away.
My chest clenches in response but I force my mind to stay blank. Angel picks up Clara and we all stroll down to the boat. Mina has her arm through Gramps. That is just too weird for words. I’ve never seen him display any interest in a woman other than my grandmother and it takes some getting used to. I’m happy for him. Of course, I am. What little I know of Mina I like, with the possible exception of the vodou thing, and I guess vodou is no odder than mutants, but I’ve had him to myself for several years now and I’m going to have to learn to share.
Angel smiles at me.
I will share him, I promise her.
The boat rocks as we climb in. Amy goes up front with her brother. Mina and Gramps take a seat. Tyler pulls me down and puts his arm around me and Molita takes a seat beside us.
“So, Tyler, you’re from California?” Molita leans forward, her attention fixed, concentrated on him.
His response is friendly but he’s hardly dazzled. Though how he can help himself is beyond me. Molita is hot. And I’m insanely jealous of her hair. Where mine is straight, hers curls nearly to her waist. Where I’m tall, she’s five-four, tops. She makes me feel like an oversized crane. It would be weird if Tyler turned out to be the boy in her vision.
Waves jet and eddy around the boat as it picks up speed. The salty air fills my nostrils and my hair slaps me in the face. The rock-like knots in the back of my neck loosen. It’s impossible to be completely unhappy when you’re on the ocean.
Half an hour later, we’re pulling into a busy dock where people are calling greetings back and forth. After Tyler jumps out of the boat and moors it for Joel, we walk down the little brick road, gawking like the tourists we are. Clara’s neck moves up and down. I swallow a grin as people point and laugh at the pretty little girl carrying a chicken. For a moment, I wonder if all this attention makes us too visible, but everyone’s attention is focused on the chicken, plus Stranger will be looking for a baby, not a little girl.
At the market, Joel buys Angel two more necklaces. One a bright orange made from coral and one with pink stones that I don’t recognize.
He squats down and puts them over her head. “I got you two in case you have to use one for a sacrifice.”
“I don’t think it works that way,” she tells him seriously.
He smiles, a smile that lights up his face and deepens the color of his eyes. “You do whatever you want with them. They’re yours.” He hugs her and Clara squawks in protest.
We go a bit further till we’re seduced by heavenly scents coming from a little café on our left. A bright blue sign over a pink cement-block building tells us it’s Mama Cane’s Place.
“Anyone else hungry?” Gramps asks. “I’m buying.”
“Stay, Clara,” Angel directs.
We push through white swinging doors and get seated near a window where we can watch the comings and goings on the street. From the sidewalk, Clara hops up on a bench and looks in at us through the window. The passersby love it.
We all order fresh seafood. Angel, Joel, and Gramps order the homemade banana cake to make sure it’s not all gone by the time they finish eating.
The three are sucking down their cake when Angel’s fork clatters on her plate and she jumps up and runs out the door.
Chapter 11
Joel
We exchange alarmed glances. Chairs scrape and hit the floor as everyone at our table jumps up. Piper and I sprint after our daughter and rea
ch her seconds later. A giant of a man with a huge boa constrictor wrapped around his shoulders is heading for Clara.
I hand Angel to Piper, Clara wrapped protectively in her arms.
“What can I do for you?” I ask the man who’s stopped in front of me. He’s well over six-six, with ebony skin and is pure muscle. But I’d rather deal with him than the massive snake curled around his shoulders. Its body is as thick as my waist and I’m betting it’s longer than the man is tall. I lock my knees together to keep them from shaking even as the hair on my arms rise. I hate snakes even more than sharks. But I stand my ground and put on my game face. This giant and his pet boa are not getting anywhere near my baby.
“Piper, take them inside.” Before she can comply, the rest of the party spills out.
Keeping my eyes on the giant, I ask, “What do you want?”
He grins. I’ve seen enough in the labs that not much frightens me—besides snakes and man-eating sharks. But this dude is different. My stomach cramps like a sharp-edged rock is lodged in my digestive tract. As unobtrusively as possible, I wipe the palms of my hands against my shorts. Stranger’s eyes are soulless and empty, like a shark’s. Craven’s heated with hate. But this man’s are filled with pure evil.
“I want the chicken. My snake is hungry.”
By now our little group has circled and formed a solid wall around my daughter. People on the streets stop to watch the drama, there’s even a couple clicking pictures on their phones. But there are no cops in sight.
“You can’t have it.”
He stares at me and his eyes grow black. He starts intoning words I don’t understand, though the language sounds suspiciously like what Molita chanted during her vodou ritual last night. Crap. More vodou and I don’t think this is the good kind. While he chants, his gaze holds mine. Pressure builds in my head, the sidewalk swirls under my feet, and the day grows dark. My vision dims. I haven’t taken a step but I could swear I’m wading through quicksand. My breath comes in sharp shallow pants. I can’t get enough air.