by Jan Hudson
“This is perfect for Kathy,” she declared. “With her coloring, it will be fantastic. I’d love to have this outfit myself, but this shade makes me look like I’m recovering from a long bout with dengue fever.” She thrust the garments at the proprietor. “Wrap them up. Pat. Birthday present.”
She grabbed Dan’s hand and steered him to a display of unusual costume jewelry. Scanning the table’s contents, she picked up a pair of earrings that looked like fried eggs and held them to her ears. “What do you think?”
Dan looked pained.
She chortled. “Just checking. Pretty bad, huh?” She selected a necklace of hammered copper with an unusual starburst medallion and matching earrings. “For Kathy from your grandmother.” Picking up a pair of paper-mache watermelon slices, she threaded the hooks through her ears, turned to Dan and grinned. “For me from me. Like them?”
He smiled. “I like them. Strangely enough, on you they look perfect.” He whispered in her ear, “Good enough to eat.”
When they left the shop two hours later, their arms were piled high with packages. Besides the gifts for Kathy, Dan had insisted that she try on several outfits that caught her eye. He’d laughed at some, whistled appreciatively at others, and they’d bought most of them. Not once did he complain about spending time there.
After they had dumped their purchases in Buttercup, Tess grinned and kissed Dan on the cheek. “Nothing lifts my spirits like shopping for new clothes. You’re a good sport, Friday. And because you are, I’m going to treat you to a tour that you’ll love. Come on.” She tugged at his hand and they took off at a swinging stride down the street.
“Where are we going?”
She pulled him into a souvenir shop. “You’ll see. But first we need to be properly attired.”
After much grumbling and giggling and laughing, they left the shop with gaudily plumed buccaneer hats on their heads and plastic sabers strapped to their sides. Strangely enough, nobody gave them a second glance.
Tess gave him a triumphant poke in the ribs with her elbow. “Told you,” she said out of the side of her mouth. “This is Galveston. Everybody is a little crazy. It’s allowed.”
Hand in hand they walked to Water Street and down a few blocks to a row of warehouses backed up to the wharf.
“We’re going to tour a warehouse?”
She laughed. “Just wait.” She pulled him through a door in the musty, cavernous building and waved to an old man sitting at a table reading a newspaper. “Hi, Gus. We’re going to take a look at Proud Beauty. How’s she coming along?”
The old man touched the bill of his seaman’s cap. “Fine. Just fine. Mr. Marshall’s ordered the sails from a place in Maine. Won’t be many more weeks before we’ll be rigging her to take out.”
From the rear of the warehouse, they walked out on a pier and Tess gave an exaggerated sweep of her hand, pointing to the large sailing vessel berthed there. Perfectly restored, her tall masts awaiting their square-rigged sails, she sat anchored in the water. “Meet Proud Beauty.”
Hands on his hips, Dan looked the ship over from the bow’s figurehead to the stern rail, from the tip of the mainmast to the freshly painted wooden hull. “She is a beauty. Who owns her?”
“A friend of Dr. Ed’s from Houston. He’s been working on restorations for three years. Even though he could well afford to have it all done for him, he enjoys helping the work crews himself. Come on,” she said, kicking off her shoes, and motioning for him to do the same, “let’s go aboard.”
“Are you sure the owner won’t mind?”
“Positive. We let him use the warehouse and pier for free.” She bent to roll up the legs of her orange overalls.
“We?” He rolled up his pant legs in imitation of Tess.
“Aunt Olivia and me.” She grinned. “This was the other piece of property Laffite willed Violet.” Running toward the gangplank, she yelled over her shoulder. “Last one on deck is a lily-livered coward.”
Grinning, he took off after her. She led him below and they toured the hold, the galley, and the quarters for officers and crew. Dan kissed her outside the captain’s cabin, but Tess laughed and twisted away. “Cease, you blackguard or be keelhauled! No man kisses the pirate queen!”
Scurrying up the companionway, she ran to the wheel and grabbed it with both hands. Feet spread apart, she closed her eyes and listened to the cry of seagulls overhead and the water licking against the hull. A breeze had kicked up. It caressed her cheeks with damp sea air, carried green ocean smells and the scents of wax and wet new wood. She held her face to the play of the wind and imagined canvas flapping overhead as the ship bobbed gently beneath her bare feet. How grand it must have been to have sailed the seas in Laffite’s day. She could almost hear the roar of cannons and the clash of cutlasses.
Dan’s arms clamped around her waist. “Gotcha, my pretty,” he growled in her ear.
Squealing with laughter, she slipped from his grasp. Two steps away, she wheeled, drew her plastic saber, and shouted, “Back, back, you scurvy sea-dog! Back or you die.”
For a moment, the breeze ruffling the red plume on his hat was his only movement. Then his eyes narrowed, his lip drew into a lascivious sneer, and he reached for his sword.
“Give over, my bloodthirsty vixen,” he growled in his deepest voice. “You’re mine.”
She thrust her nose in the air and exclaimed in a falsetto, “No, never.”
Uttering a theatrical, villainous laugh, he grabbed her and threw her over his shoulder like a sack of coffee beans. “We’ll see about that.” Her hat went tumbling across the deck as he strode to the companionway.
“My hat!” she squealed as its yellow plume disappeared over the side.
“I’ll buy you a thousand hats after I have my way with you.”
She wiggled and giggled and beat on his back with her fists. “Unhand me, you bloody cutthroat.”
He smacked her on the bottom. “Quiet, wench, you’re no lightweight.”
He carried her down the narrow steps to the captain’s quarters and dropped her on the bunk. Her eyes widened as she looked up at him. “Surely you wouldn’t ravish an innocent maiden.”
Eyebrow quirked at a wicked angle and one corner of his mouth raised in a satyric smirk, his gaze burned a path from toe to nose. “No.”
She heaved a sigh. “Oh, shoot.” She started to rise.
Laughing, he captured her in his arms and fell onto the bunk with her. “But I plan to ravish you.” Soft blue-gray eyes, the same shade as the shirt he wore, scanned her face. His hand pushed her tousled hair. “Mind?”
“Do your duty, mate.” She took off his hat and tossed it aside.
He lowered his lips to hers and tasted and teased and tormented with the tip of his tongue until her arms slipped around his neck and pulled him into a kiss that curled her toes.
“Oh, God,” Dan whispered, fumbling with the clasps of her overall bib. “Woman, you set me on fire.”
Slowly, he pulled the garment down over her hips and along her legs to her ankles, his eyes feasting on her as he went. She kicked her feet free, and with a roguish chuckle that made her breath catch, he pitched the orange wad over his shoulder.
His hands slid up the outside of her legs, along the curve of her hips, and under her fuchsia shirt to cup her breasts as he sought her mouth.
Amid urgent kisses, they stripped one another, tossing clothes aside until they lay bare on the captain’s bunk.
Dan’s tongue circled her navel, then dipped into the shallow recess. She moaned and threaded her fingers through his thick mane of hair as he kissed a wet, winding trail over her belly and up to the underside of her breast. He licked and laved and kissed his way around one soft mound until his lips closed over its hardened peak. She drew in a quiet scream as he nibbled and sucked at the sensitive tip while his hand slipped between her thighs.
Her movements grew fevered and frantic as his mouth and fingers worked fiery magic on her flesh. She reached for him but he t
wisted away.
“Not yet, me pretty, I’m not done with my tormenting. “
And he wasn’t.
“Dannn!” she squeaked as his mouth went lower.
By the time he knelt between her legs, she was a mindless bundle of sensation—raw, exposed, arching, aching for release. He hooked his arms under her knees and grinned down at her, his nostrils flared, his need as evident and great as hers.
“You want me, my comely wench?”
She whimpered and nodded.
“You got me.”
He raised her up and plunged deeply. He drew back and thrust again. A hurricane of desire swirled over her and swept her up in its tempest. Flinging herself forward, she rocked him to his back and sat astride him. His arms snaked out to catch her waist.
She smiled down at the ecstasy that drew the cords of his neck and opened his mouth in a soundless groan. She rotated her hips and the sound became audible.
Rotating her hips again and again, they strained against one another—giving pleasure, taking pleasure, until the hurricane increased in intensity and roared over them with a fury that ripped release from their bodies.
Tess slumped forward against his damp chest and he held her tight. “Tess, my Tess. How could I ever live without you?”
They lay still until their ragged breathing had calmed and their heartbeats slowed. “I love you, Dan. I love you so much.”
He rubbed his chin across the top of her head. “And I love you. Tess, will you marry me?”
“Of course,” she said, snuggling and settling closer in the comfort of his arms. “I always intended to.”
The deep rumble of his laughter vibrated against her cheek and the hand splayed across his chest. “Just like that? Love, you never cease to amaze me.”
She smiled. Life with Dan would be so wonderful. Even though they couldn’t have the house she’d wanted for their family, they would find another to restore. It would be so beautiful that soon everyone in Galveston would know what a fine restoration architect Dan was. Clients would be beating the door down with projects for him. He’d have his dream, and she—well, having him, knowing that he was happy and healthy, and sharing his love was worth more than any house in the world.
The gentle sway of the ship lulled them and they closed their eyes.
“Ahoy, there!” At the sound, their eyes flew open. They could hear footsteps on the deck above.
“Oh, my God! It’s Gus!” Tess jumped up and they began scrambling for their clothes. Dan pulled on his briefs and his pants and grabbed his shirt while she fumbled with the hooks on her bra. “Do something,” she hissed at him.
“Ahoy, there!” Dan called out the door as he yanked his shirt over his head.
“Got a man here to deliver some fittings for the galley,” came the voice from above.
“Stall him,” she whispered. Dan grinned and went up the companionway as she grabbed up her shirt and overalls. Hurrying as fast as she could, she dressed and, after finger-combing her hair, stuck the red-plumed buccaneer hat on her head. She quickly straightened the bunk, picked up Dan’s sword, took a deep breath, and went topside.
They said their good-byes to Gus, who grinned the whole time, and went down the gangplank to the warehouse.
“I couldn’t find my panties,” Tess said out of the side of her mouth.
“They’re in my pocket.”
“How did they get there?”
“They were tangled in my shirt.”
She rolled her eyes. “I could die of embarrassment.”
“Why? I don’t think Gus suspected anything.”
“No?” She gave a little snort. “Your shirt is inside out.”
They hitched a ride back to the car in Amos’s carriage and stopped by a service station to make a few repairs to their appearance. They ate a late lunch in an old dining car on the tracks at the railroad museum and spent the rest of the afternoon walking barefoot on the beach.
They held hands and laughed over nothing. They filled their pockets with shells, and watched children building sandcastles. They ate strawberry snow cones while they watched two young men fly elaborate triple- and quadruple-rowed kites through intricate maneuvers. They basked in the sunshine and in their love for one another.
When the air began to chill, they turned and walked to the car.
“Feeling better about the treasure?” Dan asked as he wiped the sand off her feet before they got into Buttercup.
She shrugged. “I suppose. I haven’t thought about it very much.” When she closed the car door, a bittersweet vision of her house flashed into her mind. “Would you do me a favor?”
“Anything.” He smiled and reached across to stroke her cheek with the back of his hand.
“Would you go with me to say good-bye to the house?”
Dan opened his mouth to speak, then stopped. “Sure.”
Each lost in quiet thoughts and plans, they drove to the corner where the strange, small palace with the rusticated stucco walls sat amid creeping vines and overgrown shrubs. Tess got out, leaned against the iron fence, and looked up at the sculpted torch on the tower and at the nine gables along the gray slate roof. It looked so forlorn that she wanted to weep.
Indeed she must have, for Dan gathered her in his arms and said, “Oh, babe, don’t cry. If you want that house so much, we’ll buy it. It may not be practical with us living in Pittsburgh, but what the hell. We can come down for a weekend now and then and a few days during the summer.”
A sharp stab of pain gouged deep into her heart. Her mouth went dry and a vacuum of shock sucked all the air from her lungs. Panic gripped her stomach. Eyes wide and wild, she drew back and stared at him. Surely she’d misunderstood.
“What are you talking about?”
“I’ll buy you the house for a wedding present.” He smiled. “I can afford it.”
“Forget the house!” Her fingers dug into his upper arms as she searched his face. “What did you say about living in Pittsburgh?”
His smile faded. “Sweetheart, I know you’re not fond of cities,” he said, his tone gentle and appeasing, “but that’s where my work is.”
“Your work?”
“Friday Elevators, remember?”
“Friday Elevators?” Her voice was a shrill squeak. “You can’t go back there! You hate it! It almost killed you!”
“Honey, I’m okay now, and the company is my responsibility. I can’t let Kathy continue to shoulder a burden that’s rightfully mine.”
“You’re going to stay here in Galveston and be an architect. Just as you always dreamed.” She ground the words out and shook him as if to convince him with the force of her will.
He pulled her against his chest. “Oh, love, I wish I could, but that was just a fleeting fantasy. The reality is that I’m head of the family, and I belong as president of the company. A lot of people depend on me.”
“No!” She jerked away. “I won’t let you go back to the way you were. I won’t let you kill yourself. You’ve been happy here.”
“Tess, please try to understand. I have to return to Pittsburgh soon. It’s been a wonderful vacation, but I’ve stayed away from my business longer than I ever intended. I can’t expect Kathy to continue doing my job. She’ll buckle under the strain. Let’s get married right away, and you can come back with me.” He lifted her chin and smiled at her. “You can keep me from eating french fries and make sure I take my medicine.”
“You stubborn idiot!” She beat on his chest with her fists as tears streamed down her face. “I won’t go with you. I won’t move to Pittsburgh!”
He grabbed her wrists. “Tess, be reasonable. I have to go back.”
Regret, as deep and aching as any pain she’d ever felt, hovered over her heart like a dark, gathering storm, and its clouds painted her soul an empty, ominous black. “I won’t help you commit suicide. If you go, Daniel Friday, you’ll go alone.”
Chapter 10
The room was dark. It matched his mood. Dan sat in an
easy chair in his posh high-rise apartment in Pittsburgh’s Mount Washington district. He stared out the window at the lights of the city below and the shadowy trees in the park where the famous three winding rivers met. He’d lived here all his life and the sights should have comforted him, made him feel at home. But strangely enough, he felt like an alien in the familiar surroundings. And he’d never been as lonely in his life.
For three days, he’d stayed in Galveston and begged and wheedled and promised Tess the moon if she’d come back with him. With her at his side, even running the company would have been bearable. But she’d refused to budge.
Exasperated, he’d left. He’d give her a few days, then he’d call. Perhaps when she’d had time to think things over, she’d come around. They loved each other, and people who loved enough could work things out if they were determined. And he was.
Tomorrow morning, he’d report to his office in the plant on the Monongahela River and take over from Kathy. Already his stomach burned at the thought.
He took a sip of the smoothie Ivan had sent along in a thermos. He ought to fix something for dinner— Ivan had sent a detailed menu as well, and Gram had called ahead to be sure Kathy had stocked his refrigerator and pantry—but he wasn’t hungry. Only Tess’s face filled his mind.
Lord, he missed her.
* * *
“No, Dan, I haven’t changed my mind. I’m sorry.” Tess gripped the phone tightly and squeezed her eyes shut to hold back the tears. “I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I can’t. I won’t.” Before her voice broke, she gently replaced the receiver on the hook and fell back across her bed.
It was the second time in the week since Dan had been gone that he’d called. Seven days. Seven days of misery. Several times she’d been tempted to defy her good judgment and fly to Pittsburgh. Once she’d even gone as far as dragging her suitcase out of the closet, but she’d forced herself to put it back.