ROMANCE: His Reluctant Heart (Historical Western Victorian Romance) (Historical Mail Order Bride Romance Fantasy Short Stories)

by Jane Prescott

  Not that she’d ever considered herself family, but being reminded she was an “employee” nearly took the fun out of the prospect of the trip. Still, she’d never gone snorkeling diving before, and was looking forward to it.

  The day of the trip, they’d gone through the quick lesson on what to do and how to snorkel. She was told she was a natural and the little boat took the resort-goers out into open water.

  Once under the water, she really did find it easy to acclimate to her surroundings. She felt at ease and in total peace as she watched tropical fish swimming beneath her feet and around coral reefs.

  Long after everyone else had tired, she hung back, enraptured by the fish and the movement of life beneath the waves. Finally, when the last person had loaded back onto the boat, she reluctantly swam back and climbed up the ladder.

  “Now that was amazing!” Sue shouted above the roar of the motor once they were underway. “Laura, I hope you properly appreciated that. I know I had a wonderful time.”

  “Of course. Thank you both.” She said, having been ungraciously prodded to give them a public thanks. She felt her fists tightening as she felt that Sue was determined to ruin her fun.

  “It was nothing!” Sue retorted, despite the fact it had entirely been Wes’ idea. Laura felt a little better when Wes waited until Sue had her back turned and rolled his eyes. She covered a laugh.

  As the boat was returning, Josh approached. He looked a touch more serious than usual.

  “Hey folks.” He called out. “Welcome back to San Marcos! I just want to let you know that we’re expecting a tropical storm this evening. Dinner will be discounted and we’d like to encourage you not to go into town after dark. It’s looking like it’ll be a big one.”

  “Oh no! Is this a hurricane?” One older woman called out.

  “No, they’re not expecting that. But it will be a very strong storm, and with no cars other than emergency vehicles, it’s not going to be safe to go out. We ask that you stay in the resort itself and don’t go out.”

  There was some murmur of complaint from the resort-goers, as though he had any say over the damn weather, Laura found herself thinking with annoyance. They had just experienced a unique, beautiful part of nature that so many others would never have a chance to see, and the first thing they were doing upon getting back to shore was to whine about some rain.

  She found herself hating them all. Even Wes and Sue were joining in on the complaining, a task Wes took up with relish.

  “That’s what comes from not allowing cars.” Wes said as they loaded into a cart to be taken back to the resort. Laura was usually happy to walk, but they insisted. “The island that time forgot, or something I guess. All that charm and now we’re stuck in our rooms.”

  “Doesn’t the resort have a spa?” Laura tried to offer, helpfully. But Wes shrugged.

  “It’s all right, as far as spas go.” Sue explained, in her worldly, all-knowing tone. “I’m sure you have no way of finding comparison, but the services here aren’t up to par with what I’m used to back home.” Laura doubted that, but it was just like Sue to try to put on airs in any situation.

  The cart delivered them safely as the first few rain drops fell. The guests ran for the entrance as though they were already caught in a terrible downpour. Josh and Laura watched them run up to the doors and shared a glance of amusement.

  “Oh boy. Think they’ll survive?” Josh asked as they strolled casually towards the entrance. He held out a hand to catch a few swollen drops of rain, flipped his hand over, and let them fall to the pavement.

  “I don’t know. Fingers crossed.”

  As they got to the doorway, he looked down. “I wish I had tonight off. It’s going to be busier than ever. I need to find things for these people to do.”

  “I know. Don’t worry! We’ve got time.”

  “Right.” He said. She felt he wanted to reach across and embrace her, and she wanted that too. But instead, he gave her a nod and headed inside.

  After taking a shower, she was sent to collect the boys. When she got downstairs, she was not thrilled to see that Jim was in the middle of a meltdown just as she was walking in.

  “IT’S NOT FAIR!” He shouted, stomping towards a corner. Without being told to, he put himself in the corner and crossed his arms defiantly. He saw Laura gave a shriek, and turned back around.

  “Wow.” She said as she approached the girl who’d been acting as the day care coordinator. Tim was in another corner. “I take it they got into it with each other again?”

  The young woman shook her head, clearly having had a trying time with the twins. “They got into it with each other, with the other children, with the caregivers. It was… an extremely challenging day.”

  “I’ll take it from here.”

  She took the boys by the hand and led them to the elevators, interrogating them firmly but with care about their day. As she walked, she saw the rain was no longer a joking matter. It was pounding the windows already, a strong sheet of water demanding entrance into their sanctuary.

  “It wasn’t my fault! I never get to do what I want. I never ever do.” Jim protested. The elevator was going up and up to their floor, the 14th, and all she wanted to do was climb into bed and watch TV.

  “It may be how you asked. Did you ask nicely?”

  “YES! Yes. But they said I couldn’t go looking for it. I want to go and I want to go now!”

  “What are you talking about, hon?”

  He gave a mighty sigh. “You don’t know?”

  “No, not really. What’s the problem?”

  “Geeze. There’s a pirate treasure right here on San Marcos! It’s probably buried right out there on the beach. But I don’t get to go to the beach. I have to go to the pool and that’s IT. I want to go looking for it.”

  “I tell you what.” Laura offered. “I want you to write a card saying you’re sorry- you too Tim- to everyone you were mean to today. You’re going to give it to them tomorrow when we get up. If you do that and if you’re good for me tonight, I’ll take you to the beach myself and we’ll dig.”

  “Okay.” Jim muttered. He didn’t sound excited by that prospect. She wondered how many cards he’d have to write. She could picture it being a decent number; if that was the case, she could see why that wouldn’t be a fun prospect.

  In their room, the darkness started to settle in as the boys set about writing out their cards. Tim was soon done and Jim was outraged that he still had to write.

  “It’s not fair!”

  “It’s very fair.” She reminded him. “Tim was unkind to three people, including you. You were unkind to ten.” That seemed a high number to her, and she was amazed the little boy had copped to it. “Get it done and then we’ll all watch cartoons, okay?”

  “Ugh.” He moaned. “This is taking forever!”

  “Maybe next time you’ll think about this and remember it rather than yelling at everyone.”

  She yawned and stretched. As Tim read a book and Jim worked unhappily on his task, she went into the bathroom to pee. She could hear the storm strengthening outside, lashing the resort. It was loud enough, she couldn’t hear much other than the storm itself. After she washed her hands, she wondered if that was what the boys were yelling about; she heard someone yelling, anyway. She opened the door, frustrated.

  “Seriously? Come on boys. Now what?”

  But there was only one boy yelling. Tim was pointing to the door. “He wouldn’t listen! He just went out!”

  She felt her fists clenching and unclenching. “Jim!” She yelled as she approached the door. “Come in out of the-”

  But he wasn’t in the hallway. She looked both ways. Nothing. She felt her stomach lurch.

  “Tim, when did he go?” She felt light-headed. This couldn’t be happening. She’d never lost one of the boys, not for a moment.

  Tim shrugged. He looked upset.

  “No. He said I was not to tell you or else he’d hit me.”

  She got do
wn on both knees, eye-level with the little boy. “Tim, you have to tell me. It’s important. Where did he go?”

  Tim looked to the carpet, not wanting to break his promise. Then he pointed towards the window.

  “He wants the treasure.” He said dully.

  She quickly swept him up in her arms and ran down the hall to the DeVilliers. There was no time to be lost.

  Wes answered the door and before he could say anything, she pushed the little boy into his arms. “No time! I went to the bathroom, Jim left!”

  “What?” He replied, confused. She didn’t wait to explain.

  As she ran to the elevator, she sensed Wes was behind her. He wedged into the elevator a moment before the door closed. “Tim is with Sue. Tell me everything.”

  On the ride down to the first floor, she tried to summarize, but her voice was shaking as she started to cry and panic. They rushed into the lobby, nearly running into Josh as he was leading a group of guests towards a ball room. One look at Laura’s teary face and he walked away from the group and was instantly ready to help.

  They quickly found that no one in the lobby had seen him pass through. “How is that even possible?” Wes raged, pulling at his hair with fury. She’d never seen his face so red with a mixture of fear and anger. “Where could he have gone?”

  “The stairwell.” Josh suggested. “Oh God. It would have led to that door.”

  They looked and saw that a glass door, impossible to see through, led to the darkness and the beach.

  “He wouldn’t.” Josh said, echoing what they all hoped.

  But Wes and I knew better. “He would.” He said for them both.

  The three stepped outside and were immediately slammed by wind and rain. Wes motioned for them all to go back inside and they did.

  “Listen, we don’t know where he went.” He said. “I’m going to go to the right. You to go to the left. Don’t stay out long. If he’s there… and he probably is… he can’t have gone far.”

  They stepped back out and found themselves drenched moments after they’d gone out. The tables and chairs normally set out in the area had already been secured by staff, or else they would have been tipped over and blocking their path. As it was, it was a challenge to work their way down to the beach and the water’s edge.

  Echoing their bar visit, Josh cupped his hands to Laura’s ear. “We need to split up a little bit further to cover the ground. Go that way!” He motioned away from the water.

  It was incredibly hard to see ahead, but they both stumbled and fell several times as they walked up the drenched sand. The water was high, narrowing the beach significantly. Wild waves could be spied further out in the water. Josh pointed towards the water; they both knew they didn’t want to be out there any longer than was absolutely necessary.

  As they moved up the beach, she noticed that the ground was rising beside the beach, forming something of a cliff. She hadn’t really noticed it before, so enraptured with her time spent with Josh that she hadn’t really noted the features of the beach. But as they walked further and further, she realized that there were places near the cliff where someone could potentially take some degree of shelter.

  She soon found that a rocky area did, in fact, have an overhang. There she found Jim, huddled and terrified, staring back at her. He threw both arms out as she approached, and she quickly grabbed him up and tried to shield him from the elements.

  As they started to walk away, part of the cliff face fell.

  “Laura!” She heard Josh shout, saw him running towards her, but didn’t know why. Clumps of brown dirt and pebbles showered over her and she crouched involuntarily, covering Jim with her body. A moment later she was covered in the stuff and felt something heavy and hard connect with her ankle.

  There was a snap. It was horrible, so horrible, that pain. But the worst part was, as she looked and wondered, that she saw a small boulder had landed on her foot and ankle, pinning her down.

  Josh was next to her and shouted into her ear. “Are you okay?”

  “Take Jim! Go!” She shouted back.

  Josh looked torn, unsure of what to do. He delayed in his uncertainty, but she grabbed his shirt. “He’ll die out here- he’s freezing!”

  “Damn it. Damn!” He cursed, frustrated. “I’ll be back as fast as I can. Hang on, do you hear me?” Once he’d made up his mind, he wrapped the child in his arms as quickly as he could and started to run in the direction of the resort.

  Laura tried to move the boulder, but it wouldn’t budge for her. He felt strangely tired. Had she been hit in the head? She felt like she might have been. She reached up and touched her head, and found that there was blood washing off her hand as she looked. Her vision blurred as she looked.

  “Tired.” She said quietly, laying down and no longer feeling the rain, the cold, and the break.

  ---

  “There she is!” She slowly opened her eyes. Two faces greeted her; the first she was very glad to see. It was Josh. He was sitting next to her bed, holding her hand.

  The second was Wes. He was standing nearby, a smile on his face.

  She looked around, not recognizing her surroundings. “Where am I?” There were a lot of flowers.

  “Sorry. You’re in the hospital, hon.” Josh said, clearly happy to see her awake. “You took a really bad hit. How do you feel?”

  “Mmm. I’m not sure. My leg aches.”

  “That’s a break, I’m afraid.” Josh explained.

  “You’re parents are on their way.” Wes piped up. He looked embarrassed to add, “Don’t worry, they didn’t pay. I took care of it. Everything will be taken care of.”

  “Okay.” Laura felt somewhat grateful, but didn’t think too much of it. She was too busy feeling strangely high and tired at the same time. “I must be on meds or something?”

  “No, that would have been dangerous. You’re still coming back from being out. You were out all night.” Josh said. He pets her face gently. “I’m glad you’re okay.”

  “Jim?”

  “He’s completely fine. Shaken up, scared, and worried about you. Both the boys are. But Jim will be okay. You’re going to be fine too.” He assured her.

  Wes went around to the other side of the bed. “Listen- I want to tell you on behalf of Sue and I we know it’s not your fault Jim left. We’ve been hard on you, but you… well, we owe you everything. I want to repay you. We’ll talk about it when you’re feeling better. For now, get better and don’t worry about taking care of the kids.”

  “All right.” She yawned mightily. “I need to sleep some more. Will you be around?” She asked Josh.

  He shook his head. “Absolutely. I’m not going anywhere. I promise.”

  “He’s hardly left your side.” Wes said, but his voice trailed off as she felt warm and safe, drifting into calm dreams.

  ---

  Laura and Josh looked over the freshly painted wooden sign. He was holding a brush in one hand, his other hand on his hip as they looked down at it.

  “It looks nice.” She decided. The words on the sign were in a lovely, flowing script- “The Willow House, Bed and Breakfast.”

  “You think it’ll work?”

  “Absolutely! Let it dry and hang it this afternoon, okay?”

  “Yes, Mrs. Philips.”

  “This afternoon, Mr. Philips. Don’t forget!”

  He held up his hands in protest. “When have I ever let you down, dear?”

  She laughed and put an arm around his waist. “Okay, fair enough. You have been doing good work around here.”

  They looked over their little plot of land. It was shady, tree-lined neighborhood in small town, coastal Maine. The ocean was still another three miles away, but the historic little town had a great antiques district, and tourists were big fans of the stop on their way to Bar Harbor and parts north. The Willow House was already booked through the summer, and their first day in business was still a week away.

  “You know the DeVilliers will be our first guests,
right?” He said, with a note of warning to his voice.

  She rolled her eyes. “Yes. You can hardly blame them. They’re our main investors, after all.”

  “A little more than that, I think. Pretty much our only investors, other than the money we kicked in which- let’s be honest- wasn’t that much.”

  “Uh huh. Don’t remind me!”