Читать книгу When Love Is True - Joan Kilby - Страница 7

The weight of the water pulled Daniel down. Sixty, then eighty feet; deeper than he’d ever gone before. The pressure glued his wet suit to his skin and sucked his mask against his face. It was cold and dark and eerily silent.

Evan left the rocks that marked the shoreline and moved out over the flat muddy sand of the ocean floor. Daniel forced himself to follow across the featureless landscape as visibility faded into murky darkness. The bottom sloped gently down. Every now and then one of Evan’s fins kicked up a cloud of silt, obscuring Daniel’s view of him.

Where were the other divers? Daniel twisted awkwardly in his bulky suit and constraining scuba gear, but he couldn’t see anyone else. He and Evan might be the only two people left on the planet. Wouldn’t that be fine? Trapped in a twilight zone of gloom with the one man in his life he could truly say he hated.

Damn Evan. He was swimming too fast, getting too far ahead. He was just a dim shape, a blur of blue neoprene against the dark sepia tones of the deep. How convenient if he “lost” Daniel down here. He’d be sure to comfort the poor widow. Would she grieve or would she secretly be glad?

Daniel checked his depth gauge—100 feet. This place gave him the creeps. For two cents, he’d surface right now. Except that Chloe would look at him with that sympathetic glance of hers, the one she used when she was trying to be comforting. She wouldn’t blame him for aborting the dive, but that was no consolation. Didn’t she know that a man didn’t want pity from his woman? He wanted respect, admiration, adoration. All the things he had always seen in her eyes when she looked at Evan.

Well, he wouldn’t beg for her love. That was one thing he’d decided on early in their marriage. She either loved him or she didn’t, but he would never demean himself by pleading for her affection.

Evan was completely out of sight now. Daniel fumbled for his flashlight, his fingers clumsy in the thick three-fingered mitts. Finally he felt the recessed button respond and a yellow beam illuminated an unexpected scene.

Rising from the sea floor not ten feet away were a dozen or so sea pens, their feathery bright orange fronds waving gently in the current like so many dyed ostrich plumes. He knew what they were from the book of underwater sea life Brianna had given him last Christmas, but he’d never thought he’d see such an amazing sight with his own eyes.

He swam over to them. After a few minutes of intense observation, he reached out to the delicate curling tentacles. At his touch, water squirted from the central stalk and the colony of animals that made up the pen deflated and sank into the sand. Surprised, Daniel kicked backward.

And bumped into Evan, coming to find him. Evan saw the sea pens and his mouth curved in an appreciative smile around his regulator. For a moment they were united by a common interest. For a moment Daniel forgot his antipathy. Then he remembered. That mouth that smiled in camaraderie had kissed Chloe, the hand that motioned him to “come on” had touched his wife intimately, the eyes that met his had looked upon her naked body.

He and Evan might be dive buddies, but they were about as far from being friends as two men could get.

“Close your eyes.” Daniel held Chloe by the hand and led her up the steps. Piles of offcuts and concrete rubble lay here and there, and the yard was bare dirt, but their new home was ready to move into.

“I’ve walked every inch of this house at every stage of construction,” Chloe said, with a little laugh over his excitement. “I’ve picked out tiles and carpets and paint colors. Why close my eyes now?”

“Just do it,” Daniel urged, turning a key in the lock. This was his moment and he wanted it to be perfect.

Chloe closed her eyes, then immediately opened them. “What about Brianna? We can’t leave her in the car.”

“She’s fast asleep,” Daniel reminded her. “The car’s parked in front of the garage, with the U-Haul truck right behind. She’ll be all right for a minute. Now close your eyes.”

Chloe obeyed. A moment later she let out a whoop as Daniel scooped her into his arms. “Keep them shut,” he warned, nudging the door open with his hip and carrying her across the threshold.

Chloe clung to his neck, shrieking a bit with every unexpected lurch. She felt like a wisp of nothing in his arms even though he’d seen the muscles in her thighs as she balanced on her toes. It was easy to forget how much strength was needed for her dancing.

The first time he’d seen her glide across a stage she’d reminded him of a sleek sea bird skimming over the waves. He’d wanted to shelter her, so he’d built a nest for her and their chick, combining those elements that held meaning for him—sky and sea, a cozy haven, a dwelling place for love.

Chloe would cringe with embarrassment if Daniel were to reveal his clumsy poetic thoughts. So he simply walked into the great room and stood with his back to the wide, tall windows high above the Strait of Juan de Fuca. He wanted her first sight to be the family room and kitchen, the heart of the house. “You can open your eyes now.”

Chloe slid out of his arms and gazed silently at the gleaming appliances and terra-cotta tiles, the warm Mediterranean colors. She turned slowly in a circle, past the breathtaking view, the built-in teak shelving and the stone fireplace, and back to Daniel. Solemn and silent, she seemed about to cry. “You did this.”

“Not all by myself.” There was an enormous lump in his throat. “Do you like it?”

“Oh, Daniel, it’s beautiful.” She put her arms around him, her words muffled by his shirt. “I knew what it was going to look like, but until now it was almost unreal—as if someone else was going to live here. I can’t believe it’s ours. You are amazing.”

Daniel held her, then reluctantly eased himself away. “I’ll go check on Brianna. You look around some more.”

“Wait.” Chloe slid a hand up his chest and curled her fingers around his neck. Balancing on her toes, she rose up to kiss him.

Her mouth opened and her tongue shyly pressed against his, flooding him with heat. Daniel gathered her close, hiding his rush of surprise by deepening the kiss. Chloe so rarely initiated anything. With one hand cupping her buttocks, Daniel gently molded one small, firm breast. To his surprise, she didn’t pull away as she so often had before, but instead reached for his belt buckle.

He glanced over his shoulder. The front door was open so they could hear Brianna if she cried out but…The front door was open.

Anyone could walk in, and the thought excited him.

“Don’t worry.” She was breathing heavily as she slid his zipper down over his bulging erection. “This won’t take long.”

“I don’t have a condom on me.”

Chloe grinned up at him. “We’re married, aren’t we?”

A jolt of pure joy shot through Daniel. He slid his hands beneath her denim skirt and eased down her panties. She was slick and hot beneath his probing fingers. Down onto the brand-new carpet they fell in a tangled heap, Daniel’s jeans halfway down his legs and Chloe’s skirt up around her waist. A button popped open on her blouse, exposing a swelling curve of flesh. Daniel sucked on the rosy nipple and felt Chloe’s legs spread beneath him. The submissive gesture, the giving way, the welcoming, flipped a switch in his brain and all the months of control slipped away as he entered her.

“Sorry,” he panted, withdrawing instantly. “Too hard?”

“Harder,” she said, teeth gritted, back arching.

Their coupling was short and fierce and sweet beyond measure. Afterward Daniel raised himself onto his elbows, taking his weight off her glistening body. Her eyes were closed, her smile dreamy with contentment. “So,” he said. “A new house is a big turn-on for you.”

Chloe tilted her head back and laughed, her slender throat vibrating. “It’s you, you big, sweaty lug. You’re the turn-on.”

Grinning, Daniel stuck his nose into an armpit. “That good? Maybe I should bottle it.”

Then her eyes opened, and Daniel was surprised to see them mist over as her laughter faded and was replaced with a tremulous smile. “Thank you, Daniel,” she whispered. “You’ve made us a family.”

“Brianna made us a family,” he replied gruffly.

Chloe ran her hands over his shoulders and down his arms, tracing the hard outlines of his biceps. “You are the bricks and mortar, the solid foundation of our lives. I really love you.”

The way she said it, she could have meant she loved him as a friend. Foolish or not, however, Daniel chose to interpret her words in the most positive way. He dipped his head to kiss her lightly on the lips. “Now that’s something to build upon.”

Daniel went out to the car and brought Brianna inside. The one-year-old rubbed her eyes and blinked sleepily at the unfamiliar surroundings. “She was just waking. If you want to take her, I’ll start bringing in our boxes.”

“Let’s look through the house together first,” Chloe said. “Decide where we want to put everything.”

“That’ll be an easy decision,” Daniel replied. “Since we don’t have much.”

The design of their house was elegant in its simplicity, and above all, it was functional. All the rooms were large and spacious. Their bedroom, like the living room, faced the ocean and had its own deck. Directly across the hall was Brianna’s room, then the bathroom and linen closet, and then a much larger room. Daniel had called it a rec room during construction, but now its true purpose was revealed.

Chloe stopped short in the doorway to survey the bare floorboards. “Where’s the carpet?” Then she noticed the barre and the wall-to-wall floor-to-ceiling mirror.

He waited, hands clenched, for her reaction. Why the hell hadn’t he discussed it with her first? He’d wanted to surprise her, that’s why.

Those mirrors had cost a fortune, but damn it, he wanted to give her this. He wanted her not to regret giving up her dancing along with her lover when she’d married him.

Brianna was wriggling in his arms, so Daniel set her on the floor. She toddled into the room, saw herself in the mirror and giggled with delight. With graceful steps, Chloe took the little girl’s hands and twirled her in a pirouette. She glanced over her shoulder at Daniel, her face alight. “This is wonderful. Thank you.”

Daniel felt the tension seep from his shoulders and he leaned against the doorjamb, watching his girls spin and twirl. Winning Chloe’s smile made the extra work and expense worthwhile. “I thought you could teach here, until you’re ready to rejoin the ballet company.”

Chloe’s steps slowed, and she surveyed the room as she examined the possibilities in her mind. “There aren’t many children around here, but Sooke isn’t so far away. Teaching might be just the thing.” Then she crossed the floor, to tug on his hands. “Come on, dance with us.”

“I’m no good at that stuff.” He loved the way Chloe celebrated life through her love of movement, but next to her he was big and clumsy.

“Yes, you are. Come on,” she urged, twirling under his arm. Her clear, sweet voice lilted in a wordless melody as she encouraged him to sidestep across the room.

Daniel felt like an idiot clunking around in his heavy boots, but Chloe’s smile was contagious and after a moment he laughed and gave in, hamming it up when Brianna started to clap. A rush of happiness caught him off guard. His wife had made love to him and his baby daughter adored him. Life was good. He picked up Chloe and Brianna in his arms and spun around until they were all dizzy and laughing.

Finally Chloe, gasping for breath, pounded on his shoulders. “Put me down.”

Daniel stopped spinning and set them down, still smiling. “Guess we’d better get to work.”

Within a couple of hours, they’d carried in the few pieces of furniture they owned—a brand-new bed with matching side tables, Brianna’s crib and chest of drawers, Daniel’s tallboy and a bookcase he’d had before they’d married, a couch and matching chair upholstered in maroon corduroy and a pine coffee table they’d bought at an auction. The only good piece of furniture they owned was a round oak dining table that Chloe’s parents had given them as a wedding present.

“Our furniture looks a bit shabby now that it’s in our new house,” Daniel said when they’d arranged the pieces. “And sparse.”

“It’s fine,” Chloe insisted, tucking her hand through his arm. “We’ll have more as we go along.”

Daniel covered her small hand with his larger one. In the year and a half that had passed since they’d gotten married, this was the first time she’d talked about the future with any sense of permanency.

“What’s important is that it’s a new beginning,” Daniel said, almost to himself.

Eyes shining, Chloe turned to face him and took both his hands in hers. “Yes. A new beginning.” Then her face dimmed a little and she bit her lip. “Daniel, I should tell you, I’ve been doing something I shouldn’t. You see…”

“Don’t.” He squeezed her hands, not wanting to hear the words spoken aloud. “You don’t need to say anything.” He hadn’t found any new letters in several months and he’d assumed that she’d finally gotten over the Australian doctor. He might have known for sure if he’d actually read the correspondence, but he’d refused to invade her privacy.

Her forehead creased in a worried frown. “But…”

He searched her face. “You meant it when you agreed this is a new beginning, didn’t you?”

“Yes.” She gazed back steadily and an understanding passed silently between them. With a tentative smile she wrapped her arms around his waist and pressed her cheek to his chest. “I swear I’ll be a good wife to you.”

Daniel stroked her hair, savoring the closeness. “Don’t be silly. You already are. Do you want to take a walk on the beach?”

Chloe’s glance shifted to the window and the bright blue sky. She hesitated and then she said, “Not right now. I’d like to unpack some of those boxes, and Brianna’s going to need something to eat soon. You go.”

Daniel followed the path he’d cleared on previous walks through the salal bushes down to the small beach. The coastline curved outward in either direction to a rocky point where waves surged and foamed. Here in the center of the cove, the water was calm. A breeze ruffled his hair and brought the tang of salt and seaweed close. Brianna would learn to swim here, the way he’d learned to swim on the west coast of the island near Tofino where he’d grown up. The water was cold, but that just made a person strong.

He walked along the shoreline, his boots crunching in the loose shells and gravel, stooping now and then to pick up an abalone shell and admire its opalescent inner surface. A crow flew overhead, cawing, and settled with a noisy flap of black wings high in a fir tree at the edge of the beach.

As Daniel rubbed a smooth stone between his fingers, thoughts of Chloe flitted through his mind. The sweetness of her smile, her eagerness as she surged beneath him, her passionate feelings for their new house. Just when he thought he was beginning to understand her, she surprised him. It would probably always be that way with them. The fact that she was his wife at all was still astonishing.

Daniel stopped and looked up at the house and felt his heart fill with pride and hope for the future. This was their home. His and Chloe’s and Brianna’s. Someday there would be more children.

He frowned and blinked. Was that a wisp of smoke coming from the fireplace chimney? Daniel stared hard for another minute, then shook his head. The sky was perfectly clear. He must have been imagining things.

Pocketing the abalone shell to show Chloe and Brianna, he headed back to the house.

Humming the celebrated pas de deux from Swan Lake, Chloe twirled across the kitchen floor between the fridge and Brianna’s high chair, setting a small tub of yogurt on the tray with a flourish. Brianna rewarded her performance with a giggle and a clap of her sticky fingers.

“You like that?” Chloe said to her. “You should have seen me dance the solo.” She mimed the dying swan princess, folding her crumpled wings and slithering to the floor where she rested motionless, collapsed. Brianna leaned over the side of her high chair, watching intently to see if her mother would rise again.

Chloe lifted her head and Brianna smiled.

“Ah, Brianna, if only…” Chloe slowly rose to her feet. If only what? Her audience wasn’t a fourteen-month-old child? Her life hadn’t telescoped from opening nights and nationwide appearances to diapers and vacuuming? She loved Brianna and adored the house and Daniel was an angel, but there was no point in denying that her life lacked excitement.

It had been two long months since they’d moved in. Daniel reveled in the wildness and solitude of the ocean and the forest, but Chloe missed people—especially during the work week when her friends were all busy in the city. She still missed walking out of her apartment and strolling down the street to the corner café or going out to a concert in the evening.

She was foraging through the sparse pickings in the fridge for her own lunch when the doorbell rang.

“Who could that be?” She tugged on her tank top to smooth it down and pushed back the wisps that straggled from the twist of hair at the back of her head. Her mother and father always called before they visited, and besides they only came on Sundays.

Chloe hurried down the hall to open the front door. “Oh, my God,” she gasped. “What are you doing here?”