by Nic Saint
She crouched down and frisked Sam’s neck. “She’s lovely.” As she looked in the dog’s melancholy eyes, she thought she detected a hint of curiosity. As if the dog was assessing her, figuring out who she was. “You’re a sweet old dog, aren’t you?” she cooed, sliding her hand along her flank. Patches of fur had been ripped out, probably in a fight, and she thought she’d never seen a sadder looking specimen. Her heart bled at the thought of this poor creature out there on her own, fighting for her life and survival.
She looked up at Ram. “We need to adopt her, Ram. Otherwise who knows what’ll happen to her out there.”
He laughed, and she started indignantly.
“What? I adopted her and then she ran off again.”
“She must have misunderstood,” she murmured as she dug her fingers behind Sam’s ears. The dog plunked down on her haunches and closed her eyes, clearly enjoying the treatment. She gave a soft bark of appreciation.
“Misunderstood? What’s there to misunderstand? I gave her food and left my door open so she could come in.”
“You didn’t talk to her, Ram. You should have asked her.”
“Asked her what?”
“Her name,” she explained simply.
“I did name her. Her name is Sam.”
Erin cocked her head, studying the dog. “I don’t think so. She doesn’t look like a Sam to me. I bet you didn’t ask properly.”
“Well, you ask her, then. Perhaps she’ll tell you.” He’d crouched down beside her to pet the creature.
She closed her eyes, thinking hard. “Mh… What about… Sylviana?”
The dog’s eyes flashed open and she gave a short bark.
“See?” she said triumphantly. “She agrees.”
Ram still looked dubious. “Which means?”
“Which means she’s ours now. She’s our dog.” She threw her arms around the newly christened Sylviana’s neck. “Oh, isn’t it wonderful, Ram? We have our own dog now, to protect and serve.”
“You make him sound like a cop. She’s just an old mutt, honey. All she wants is food and shelter.”
“Then that’s what we’ll give her. And in return she’ll shower us with love and undying devotion.”
Ram laughed at so much girlish enthusiasm, but he still petted the creature on the noggin. He’d heard of dog lovers, but hadn’t known it extended to this. Sure, he loved dogs as much as the next guy, but Erin being Erin, she had to take it to the next level. Watching her cuddle the mangy mutt, he felt a warmth spread through his being, thawing his lonely heart. It wasn’t just the dog who would love her with a devotion bordering on passion, he thought. He would too.
The dog didn’t leave their side for the rest of the evening, and he decided it would be best if they stayed off the big thoroughfare with all the restaurants and clubs and confine themselves to a more quiet place. He didn’t want to cause any trouble by bringing this big brute of a dog inside. Even if she was the sweetest thing in the world, she still looked quite scary.
He finally settled for a nice little seafood restaurant standing back a ways from the road. He’d been there before, and the food was always delicious. Fairly unknown to tourists, it was frequented mostly by locals.
Drawing out a chair, he admired Erin’s lithe frame in the simple floral dress she’d chosen for their first real date. She looked youthful and fresh-faced, and once again he extended a quiet thanks to whoever was up there who had crossed his path with hers.
Erin looked around the place. It was simple and far from elegant. Just a bare room with a half dozen rickety tables with faded plastic covers and a mishmash of chairs, not a single matching pair amongst them. Mosquito repellent candles had been placed on the tables, as had hand-written menu cards that had been thumbed by many patrons and were smudged with food and drink.
Nevertheless, she loved it, for Ram was here, and this was their first real date.
“How’s the food here?” She was starving.
He grinned. “You’re in for a treat. This place is one of the best-kept secrets. Known mostly to locals, tourists only stumble upon it by accident, just like I did the first time I came here. It may not look like much, but they’ve got a great chef.
A thought occurred to her. “Did your parents ever come here?”
“I wouldn’t know. Probably not. These places come and go and this one probably didn’t even exist back in the day when they used to come out here.”
“Perhaps they did,” she said with shining eyes. “Perhaps they sat across from each other like we are now and whispered words of love across this flame.”
Ram smiled, and placed his hand on hers. “Perhaps they did.”
“And perhaps after such a night like this one, they returned to their cabin and made love, just like we will when we return.”
He gazed into her eyes for the longest moment, then, and thought he’d never seen a more beautiful sight, the light of the candle sparking dots of liquid gold. “Perhaps they did,” he whispered, their fingers lacing together on the tabletop.
“And that’s when you were conceived, Ram. And that’s when our child will be conceived. Tonight, when we make love, we’ll start our future together, just like your parents did one night many moons ago.”
He found himself nodding, as he drowned in her eyes, and agreeing with every word she’d just spoken. Yes, he wanted to father a child with her. Yes, he wanted for them to be together, not just this night but every night from now on until the end of their lives.
He knew then that he’d already decided. Perhaps she had for him, but he wholeheartedly agreed. His old life was officially over, his hopes and dreams a thing of the past. He’d tell Burke his help was no longer required, his plans irrevocably changed.
“Tonight,” he murmured as he pressed a kiss on her fingers. “Tonight our future begins.”
Chapter 26
By the time the evening drew to a close, she was straining at the leash to return to ‘their’ cabin and turn the night into a festival of love, celebrating the start of her new life—their new life. Together.
She’d quietly hoped he’d propose to her over dinner, but that had been too much to expect from a first date. She had to remind herself that all this was still new to him, and though she knew—simply knew—that they were meant to be together, he needed more time to adjust and she graciously accepted that and decided to grant him all the time he needed.
She’d purposely held off pondering the practical consequences of their unexpected union, not wanting to let her mind get lost in minutiae and allow doubts to creep in, but she couldn’t help wonder where they’d live once her holiday was over, or what she’d do there. She instinctively felt Ram had some unfinished business here in India, but once that was taken care of, he’d probably want to take her back home with him, and that was fine with her.
She simply couldn’t imagine Ram settling down in dreary old Belgium, and the adventure of joining him in the States frankly exhilarated her. She’d always dreamed of one day living in that vast country across the ocean, and perhaps now that opportunity had finally opened up to her.
To be fair, it didn’t really matter where they’d live once they were married, as long as they would be together. Married… The first time she’d allowed her mind to dwell on that possible scenario for her future, she’d shivered with exhilaration mixed with a wave of nervous anxiety.
Did he even want to get married? Did he even love her to that extent? And what if he wasn’t the marrying kind? What if he’d been married before and the experience had put him off the sacred bond forever?
She knew she was just being silly, wallowing in her innocent dreams, like Sophie always said, but she so wanted to have the dream—to have it all. The man, the wedding, the family…
She just hoped he wanted all that as well, and not merely as a way to placate her until such time as he decided to come clean and tell her marriage simply wasn’t in the cards and nor was a family.
Her heart was thumping in h
er chest as they returned to the cabin, holding hands and enjoying the lingering heat of the night. Lights flickered alongside the road, and when finally they reached the road leading to the cabins, she was suddenly so nervous she could hardly utter a word.
Ram hadn’t spoken for the last five minutes, and she wondered now what he’d been thinking about. Was he having second thoughts about this? Did he regret having made his promise to link his lot with hers after this night? She didn’t dare voice the question, lest the answer would crush all her girlish hopes and dreams in one fell swoop.
Just… have a little faith, she told herself. Everything will come out all right in the end…
As Ram caught sight of the familiar fork in the road and they took a right to the beach, he thought back of all the decisions that had led him to this place.
After Mom and Dad had died, his life had never been the same. He’d been in Iraq when it happened, and had only been informed several days after the fact.
He’d been discharged and taken the first plane back, but there was little comfort to be found once returned to the bosom of the family.
No one blamed him, and nor should they. It was his father’s wish to retire in the place he and Mom had met, and when things had turned ugly, the blame had shifted to bad men doing bad things to good people, as was usually the case.
He was a soldier, and this was one truth he knew. The other truth, the one that had kept him alive throughout the ordeal, was one with which most people weren’t as well acquainted. The one of revenge. And not only was he seeped in its truth, he also possessed the means to administer it. The means, the motive and the burning desire to carry it through to the very end.
And now Erin was by his side, and everything had changed. It was as if his parents had reached out beyond the grave, and planted a delicate flower in his hand to take the place of the gun that had been there before.
As if they wanted a different future for him than one fraught with violence and the raw heartache of despair and vengeance.
Burke had seen it in him, and now so had he. He wasn’t that same man anymore, and he couldn’t deny that his future, once so bleak and almost non-existent, had suddenly opened up again—unexpectedly and gloriously.
He grasped Erin’s hand a little tighter, as if reassuring himself of her presence.
Too stunned to think beyond the simple recognition of her by his side, he knew he should start planning for the future—at least offer her a glimpse of it. But how does a man who gave up all hope of a future suddenly start planning for one?
He didn’t even know where to begin. All he knew was that he wanted to spend another night with her, and see the dawning of a new day through her eyes.
One day at a time, it was the way he’d lived for so long, it would have to carry him through just a little bit longer.
In the vast expanse of sky crowning their world, he thought he detected a little twinkle. No doubt it was the twinkle in his dad’s eye, announcing to his son that life wasn’t so bad after all if you made room for new beginnings…
And they’d just reached the cabin, when the sound of a cuckoo alerted him of approaching danger. It was Burke’s signature call.
Ushering Erin into the cabin, he quickly made his way to the source of the sound. He wasn’t surprised to find his friend lurking in the shrubbery.
“Trouble,” said the mountainous man in his low sonorous voice. “We better get out of here, buddy. They’re on to us.”
“Who? How!”
“Someone talked.”
“The German?”
Burke cast down his gaze. “Not him. Trust me. That little creep will never talk again. No. Someone else.”
Ram felt a wave of panic rise in his chest. His eyes ripped to the cabin, a few yards away. “Erin,” he muttered.
“You have to tell her. Tell her everything.”
“I was planning to,” grunted Ram in clipped tones. Without waiting for Burke, he raced to the small structure that had been his home for the past year, and belted out Erin’s name.
He just hoped it wasn’t too late.
Chapter 27
The moment Erin set foot inside the cabin, someone sprang up and grabbed her from behind. Before she could utter a cry of anguish, a damp hand clamped over her mouth and jerked her head back against a coarse chest.
“And who’s this little filly?” a silky voice sounded from somewhere nearby. In the darkness, she could only guess at its source, though the accent told her the man was Indian.
Outside, Ram cried out her name, and she struggled to warn him not to come in, but strong arms held her like iron bands and she realized it was to no avail.
Still she struggled and fought, and when she bit the hand clamped over her mouth, a yelp of pain was followed by a slap to her face that had her reeling, the taste of blood flooding her mouth.
She dropped to her knees, and then the door swung open and it was all over. Loud voices crashed all around her, and when the lights went up, she found herself staring at the unconscious figure of Ram, lying on the floor right next to her, and four men standing around looking down at them.
She now saw to her horror they were holding guns, aimed at Ram’s head.
“Get her out of here,” the man with the silky voice said softly. He looked distinguished and well advanced in years. With his shock of white hair and his wrinkled face, he might well have been older than her father, she thought, but his eyes were hard and unyielding when she sought them.
Someone grabbed her again, and this time she struggled even harder, for she knew that if she didn’t, she might never see Ram’s lovely face again.
“No!” she cried, but then a rag was shoved into her face, and all she could do was kick and soon even that became impossible when they slapped her across the face again, and she suddenly was on the verge of passing out.
The cool night air brought her back, and when they took her inside the other cabin, she was surprised to find a friendly face staring back at her.
Securely tied to a chair was Sophie, and she’d obviously suffered a similar fate at the hands of these men, for there was a bruise on her cheek and a look of despair in her eyes.
“Erin,” Sophie muttered, and then she was tied up next to her friend, and the rag finally removed from her lips.
The brute who’d carried her here, slammed the door behind him, then turned the key in the lock, and finally they were alone.
“What happened?” she gasped.
Sophie gave her a look of such misery that she almost lost all hope. “I’m so sorry, Erin. I… fucked up.”
“I don’t understand. Who are these men? What do they want?”
Sophie hung her head despondently. “Isn’t it obvious? Ram, Erin. They wanted to lay their hands on Raminar.” With a desperate sob, she added, “And I led them to him!”
Stupefaction rendered Erin dumb as fear gripped her heart. Her mind shot back to Ram lying helpless on the floor of the other cabin. Finally words came. “T-they’re gonna kill him.” It wasn’t a question, just a cold statement of the facts. Her stomach lurched when Sophie nodded, tears now springing to her eyes.
“Oh, Erin, I’ve been so stupid! I was jealous of you and Ram, and-and-and I wanted to teach you a lesson. I thought what you had was too good to be true and I wanted to prove that to you.”
In a few quick words, Sophie told her about Ram’s self-declared ‘mission’. When Ram’s dad had retired from business, he’d decided to spend part of the year in the place he and his wife had met all those years ago. The beach they found was still as pristine as it had been, only to their horror they discovered a local consortium of shady businessmen and corrupt politicians had plans to turn it into an ‘entertainment zone’, complete with high-rises, fancy hotels, casinos and other dens of iniquity, including drugs and prostitution. Fearing for the future of this divine spot, Ram’s dad decided to buy the place and preserve it for future generations. Lord knows he had the means to do so.
One
night, when he and his wife were sleeping, a couple of thugs working for the consortium invaded their little nook, took them outside and shot them dead, spilling their blood on the very dunes they’d come to cherish.
Upon hearing the news, Ram had vowed both to avenge his parents and carry out their plans. First through offering money, appealing to the group’s greed, and in case this failed by taking out of the ringleaders of his parents’ murder one by one.
Burke had joined his friend to assist with the gruesome plan, and the only thing now standing in Ram’s way was… Erin.
Erin, reduced to tears, was baffled. “Me? What does this have to do with me?”
Sophie looked at her imploringly. “You made him change his mind, honey. Before Ram met you, he was on a suicide mission, knowing full well this would probably end with him dead. Meeting you brought him back from the threshold of death with a new hope for his future.” She let her head sink on her chest. “And now I’ve destroyed all that. They’re going to kill us as surely as they did Ram’s parents.”
Erin felt torn between anger at her friend for betraying her, and despair for Ram’s fate in the next cabin. “But why, Sophie? Why did you tell them about Ram’s plans?”
Sophie didn’t have the courage to look into her eyes. She merely muttered, “It was jealousy. Stupid, ugly jealousy. You had it all, Erin, and I-I simply lost it.”
“But how? Who do you even know these people?”
“That German guy? The one back at the hotel? I met him in one of the clubs, and when he offered me a drink I-I told him. But he knew. He already knew. Said he sold Ram some information. He must have turned tail, figuring he could make a lot more money by double-crossing him.”
Disgusted, Erin looked away. Then a thought struck her and filled her with a glimmer of hope. “Burke,” she ejaculated.
“What about him? He’s not half the man Ram is. All he wants to do is fuck. He doesn’t love me. He doesn’t even care about me.”
Annoyed, Erin shook her head. “Did you mention Burke?”