Читать книгу The Billion Dollar Pact - Sheri WhiteFeather - Страница 14

Seven

Later that day, Carol and Jake gathered on the beach with Lena and Mark and a slew of other couples. Lena had suggested that everyone pitch in to build a sandcastle, which had morphed into a whimsical fortress, surrounded by sculptures of dragons and dolphins and mermaids. So far, the results were spectacular, but this was a creative crowd. Some of the attendees were set designers and special effects artists, and they were spearheading the project, offering help where it was needed.

Jake and Carol were on one of the mermaid teams, sitting off by themselves, shaping the sand. Their mermaid wasn’t half-bad. In fact, she was rather pretty, with her curvy figure and flowing hair.

Jake glanced up at Carol, but she averted her gaze. He was molding the mermaid’s breasts, and she was working on the tail, giving it texture. She was also thinking about what he’d said about her being broken. No matter how hard she tried, she just couldn’t seem to forget his unsettling opinion of her.

“What’s wrong?” he asked.

“Nothing,” she replied.

“You seem preoccupied.”

“I’m just trying to focus on this.”

“Are you sure that’s all it is?”

She decided to come clean. Otherwise, it would keep affecting her mood. “Do you really think I’m messed up?”

He stopped molding the mermaid and sat back on his haunches. “I didn’t mean it in an offensive way, Carol.”

“Then how did you mean it?”

“I was just saying how losing your family was as traumatic for you as it was for me.” He squinted at her, the sun shining in his eyes. “It’s unfortunate, too, that neither of us had any extended family who could take us in. Or I assume that you didn’t or you wouldn’t have been placed in the system.”

“You’re right. There was no one. Both of my parents were raised by single moms, and they were gone by then. Well, actually, my dad’s mom was still around, but she had cancer and was too sick to step in and help. She died about a year later.” Carol sighed, pushing away the tightness in her chest. “I also had an uncle on my dad’s side, but he was a young man in the military, so he couldn’t raise me. He used to write me letters after my parents died, keeping a connection going, but then he was killed in Iraq.” Another death that had destroyed her all over again. “But I managed to get through it, just as I got through losing everyone else.”

“How? By being overly good and proper? How is that any better than me running wild?”

Irked by the comparison, she defended herself. “I’m not being overly good and proper now. I’m here with you, on this island, sharing your damned bed.”

“My damned bed, huh?” he mimicked her, a slow and sexy smile spreading across his face. “Is this our first fight?”

She rolled her eyes. She even smiled a little. It was silly to make a fuss over it. But that didn’t stop her from being caught up in the past. It didn’t stop Jake, either, apparently.

He said, “I had Garrett and Max to help me through it. I had Garrett’s mom, too. But who did you have, Carol, especially after your uncle was gone?”

She kept her response light, determined to stay strong, rather than dredge up all of that old pain. “Some of my foster parents were really nice people. Of course, some were indifferent, too. So mostly I just learned to do it on my own, to not rely too heavily on anyone else.”

He wiped his hands on his swim trunks. “Yes, but how?”

“By doing everything that I thought was right. By studying in school and getting good grades. By being respectful to my elders. By being as responsible as I could.” She stared straight at him. “I wanted to do the kinds of things that would make my parents proud. I wanted them to be looking down on me from heaven, saying, ‘Look how far she’s come.’”

“That’s nice. Really, truly it is. But it sounds lonely, too. Didn’t you ever want to rebel? To scream and rage?”

“No. Staying calm kept me sane.”

“That would have made me crazy.”

There were plenty of times that she’d cried herself to sleep. But she’d refused to take her grief out on the world, the way he had. “What’s the deal with your extended family? Why wasn’t there anyone who could raise you?”

He returned to the mermaid, absently running his fingers over the areas he’d already shaped. “My dad was an only child, and his parents died before I was born, so that ruled them out.” He spoke slowly, as if he were plucking the memories from his mind. “My maternal grandfather was still around, though, and so was my mom’s sister. Grandpa lived in Ohio, where my mom was originally from, and my aunt was in Arizona, where she’d relocated years before. But at the time of the accident, she was going through a divorce, and the last thing she needed was another kid. She already had two little boys of her own and was struggling to raise them. One of them was a baby, three, maybe four months old, and the other one was a toddler, just barely out of diapers.”

“What about your grandfather?”

“He said that he couldn’t afford to accommodate me. Granted, he was just a working-class guy, but it was more than a money issue. He just didn’t want to get saddled with one of his grandkids. He’d already raised his daughters by himself.”

“When your grandmother died?” she asked, curious about the rest of the story.

A muscle ticked in Jake’s jaw. “She didn’t die. She left him for another man, abandoning him and their daughters when the girls were still pretty young. It tore everyone apart. Grandpa resented being left with the kids, and my mom and my aunt bore the brunt of his anger. They suffered from their mother leaving, too, of course. They were crushed by what she’d done.”

“That’s awful.” Carol couldn’t fathom a woman walking out on her children.

“Needless to say, they weren’t a tight-knit family. Even when my mom was still alive, Grandpa rarely came to see to us. We hardly ever visited him, either. He remained distant with my aunt and her kids, too. He didn’t help them when they needed it.”

“Where is he now?”

“He has Alzheimer’s, so he doesn’t remember any of this, anyway. He’s in a treatment center that looks after him. He’s too far gone to be on his own.”

“Who pays for that?”

“I do.”

She figured as much. Jake didn’t seem like the type of person to turn his back on someone, even if they’d turned their back on him. “So your mom and your aunt weren’t close, either?”

“No. But my mom made up for her upbringing with how loving she was with us. With me and my dad and my sisters,” he clarified.

Carol knew what he meant. “How did your aunt react when your mom died?”

“She was devastated, and guilty, I think, because they hadn’t kept in better touch. She apologized at the time for not being able to take me in. But I understood how bad things were for her. She could barely feed her own children.”

“How is she now?”

“She’s doing fine. I encouraged her to get a real estate license, and now she works for an associate of mine who flips houses in Arizona. I’m putting my cousins through college, too, so they’ll have a chance for a promising future, without being burdened by student loans.”

Carol was still paying on her loans, but she had a good job and a generous boss who provided a discount on her rent. Without Jake, she wouldn’t be making it as easily as she was. “That’s nice of you.”

“Thanks. My aunt appreciates everything I’ve done for her and her kids. But we haven’t bonded, not in a way that feels like blood.” He shrugged it off. “Maybe someday we will. But what matters most to me is my foster brothers. They’re my true family.”

Carol nodded. After hearing the whole story, she understood more about his loyalty to them.

“I still can’t relate to how you handled being orphaned,” he said, bringing the discussion back to her.

She took a moment to think about her response, to delve deeper into her history. “Being responsible is in my nature.” She couldn’t change that about herself, nor did she want to. “But being creative helped, too. I felt better when I learned to quilt. One of my foster mothers and her neighbors used to make quilts, and they showed me how to do it, too. The first one I worked on with them was a scrap quilt, made from fabrics they traded with one another. Some quilters collect scraps like trading cards.” She paused, then added, “But the main reason quilting became so therapeutic for me is when I started making them by myself I would choose fabrics that reminded me of my family. It was like piecing together my memories and keeping them alive.”

Jake watched her work on the mermaid, almost as if he were imagining watching her sew. “Did you make a quilt that represented your hopes and dreams, too? Did you put fabrics together that embodied your future husband and the kids you were going to have?”

Stunned by how spot-on he was, Carol met his gaze. He was keeping a close eye on her. So close it made her feel like a ladybug under a microscope. “What makes you think I did that?”

“It just seems like something you would’ve done, with how you used to fantasize about your wedding.”

“You’re right. I did make a quilt like that.” She wasn’t going to pretend otherwise. “I used a fancy white fabric to symbolize my dress. To showcase my kids, I used baby prints—pink teddy bears for a girl and blue dinosaurs for a boy.”

“What about for your husband? What did you use to represent him?”

“A shiny black tuxedo material.” She’d never really pictured what her groom would look like, other than that he would be dressed in formal wear. “I used a red rose pattern, too, because those are the flowers I envisioned in the ceremony.”

“Do you still have it?”

“Yes. I saved all of my old quilts.” She had them tucked away in her room. They were an important part of her childhood, of her heart, of the person she’d become. “Do you still think I’m broken?”

“Yes, but in a really sweet way.” He sent her a teasing smile, even if he was still watching her just as closely as before.

“Okay, Mr. Juvenile Delinquent.” She reached into the sand, dug around and found a shell, intending to throw it at him. But she held on to it instead, thinking how pretty it was. “You and your stolen jewelry.”

“Thank goodness I got caught, huh? Or I might have become a cat burglar instead of the privileged playboy that I am today.”

Privileged indeed. He’d carved out quite a life for himself. “Someday my dreams are going to come true, too.”

His expression changed, his smile fading, his tone much more serious. “For a big white wedding?”

She glanced at the shell. She was still holding it, the chevron shape fitting delicately into her hand. “I want a family. I always have.”

“Just be happy, no matter what you do.”

“I will.” She placed the shell in the mermaid’s hair, using it as decoration.

“That looks nice,” Jake said. “Should we collect more of those?”

Carol nodded, and they both sifted through the sand, together yet somehow still alone.

* * *

At dusk the guests had dinner on the beach, prepared by the chef and his team. Although vegetable skewers and salads were available, the main dish was a seafood boil, lightly seasoned and served with a traditional tartar sauce or a spicy salsa, if you preferred your food with a bit of a kick.

Tons of fires had been built, either for large groups of people who wanted to socialize or for couples who preferred to be by themselves, which was what Jake and Carol had chosen.

While they ate, they sat on a big fluffy blanket at their own cozy little fire. He couldn’t think of a nicer way to spend the evening, especially with how mesmerized Carol seemed.

“Look how enchanted everything is,” she said, gazing out into the distance.

He followed her line of sight. The completed sandcastle had been decorated with hundreds of candles, creating an otherworldly effect. The majestic architecture presented soaring pillars, domed archways and flying buttresses. The detail was magnificent, even from across the beach.

She spoke softly, reverently. “I can see our mermaid from here.”

“I see her, too.” Their sculpture was surrounded by twinkling lights.

“I feel so protective of her. The way she’s beckoning the sea with her beauty.”

Jake turned to look at Carol, impressed with how beautiful she was, too. She wore a shiny mesh cover-up over her bikini, and her hair was pinned loosely on top of her head, a few silky strands falling about her face. “Don’t worry. She can handle her own.”

“Not when the tide comes in. Everything will be gone then.”

“That’s part of the magic. Nothing is supposed to last forever.”

“Like this weekend?” she asked with a faraway sound in her voice.

“Yes, like this trip.” As he admired Carol’s profile, he realized that he’d neglected to share an important part of his past with her. “You’re never going to believe what I forgot to tell you.”

“What?” she asked, finally turning toward him.

“The Choctaw mermaid legend.” Of all things to forget, he thought, after they’d spent half the day making one.

She shifted on the blanket, like an eager child settling in for a ghost story, her food half-eaten. “You can tell me now.”

Jake collected his thoughts, recalling the story as it had been told to him. “They’re called ‘white people of the water’ because they have pale, trout-like skin. They live in the bayou, in the deepest part of the water. But where it’s clear, too. They aren’t murky creatures.”

Firelight shone in her eyes. “Are they beautiful, like our mermaid?”

“I don’t know, exactly. But I’d like to think that they are. Thing is, though, that if you accidentally fall into the water, they’ll capture you and take you to their world.” He paused for effect. “And if you’re there for more than three days, you can never return to land again.”

“Why?” she asked, prodding him to finish the tale.

“Because they’ll turn you into what they are, and you’ll live in the water, becoming one of them.”

She sighed, a bit dreamily. “Wouldn’t it be cool if they were real, if you could really be transformed?”

“I went to Louisiana once with my parents, and when we visited the bayou, where my dad’s ancestors were originally from, I kept wondering if the mermaids were there, watching us from below the water.”

“I’ll bet they were.”

“I would’ve had to fall into the water to know for sure.”

She moved closer to him. “I’m glad that you didn’t or you wouldn’t be here with me now.”

He moved closer, as well. “Then I’m glad, too.”

In the next bout of silence, they gazed at each other as if they were the only two people on the island. At the moment, that was how it felt.

They finished their food, taking their final bites and putting their plates aside. For dessert, the guests would be making their own s’mores, and Jake was looking forward to watching Carol lick the chocolate and marshmallow off her lips.

“I think we should give her a name,” she said.

“What?” He didn’t have a clue what she was talking about. He was still thinking about her lips.

“The mermaid,” she told him. “The one we made. She needs an identity before she gets washed away. Just to make her seem more real.”

“Then you can choose one.”

“It should probably be a French name since this area has so many French influences.” She turned her attention to the sea. “Do you know how to say ocean in French?”

“It’s océan.” He pronounced it o-say-AHN. To the best of his knowledge, that was right. He wasn’t an expert on the language, but he’d dated a French actress for a few whirlwind months. “I think that’s actually a woman’s name, too.”

“Then it’s perfect. She’ll be Océan.”

He smiled. “It definitely works.”

“Yes, it does. When she’s washed into the sea, she’ll be dissolving into her name.”

“What’s the origin of your name?” This woman who was fueling his fantasies, he thought. His temporary lover.

“It’s a song or a hymn.”

“Oh, of course. That makes sense.” He analyzed his own name. “Jacob means supplanter because, in the Bible, Jacob was born holding his twin brother’s heel.”

“I’ve never heard of that word.”

“A supplanter takes the place of someone or something else.”

“Really? Hmm. Who are you taking over for?”

“How about the kinds of guys you normally date?” He touched her cheek, skimming his finger across her skin.

Her breathing grew quiet. “That’s a clever analogy. With how different you are from them.”

He thought about how she sewed pieces of material together to document her life. “Are you going to make a quilt to mark this weekend?”

Her lashes fluttered. “Do you think I should?”

He nodded. “You can use fabrics with beachy things on them. An island, a mermaid, a sandcastle.”

“What should I use to represent us?” she asked.

He trailed his hand down, following the line of her collarbone. “You could steal the sheets off my bed and cut them into little squares.”

“Jake.” She admonished him, but she shivered from his touch, too. “I’ll figure something else out.”

“Does that mean you’re going to make the quilt?”

“I don’t know.” She seemed to be considering the idea, contemplating the design. “Maybe.”

“You could give it to me as a gift.”

“Really? You’d want it?”

“Sure.” He toyed with the mesh on her cover-up, poking at the holes. “It can be a part of our secret after we get home. Something for us to remember being together.”

She leaned toward him. “Wouldn’t it be better for us to try to forget?”

In lieu of a response, he kissed her. For now, he didn’t want to forget. She reacted favorably, her lips warm and pliable against his. After they separated, they sat back to watch the fire.

Jake glanced over and saw that the ingredients for the s’mores were being passed around. “Are you ready for dessert?”

She nodded, and soon they were engaged in making the sticky treats. He took the liberty of watching her eat hers, just as he’d wanted to do.

“Everyone is supposed to go crabbing later,” he said. “If they want to,” he added. No one had to do anything that didn’t appeal to them.

“Tonight?” She didn’t just lick the goo from her lips. She licked it from her fingers, too. “I thought we’d be doing that tomorrow morning on a boat.”

“No. This is a nighttime activity. They’re giant land crabs, so we’ll be searching for them, going into the brush, along the inland trails, armed with flashlights. But we have to be quick and quiet, so we’ll be splitting into separate groups once everyone gets the gist of it. So, do you want to join in?”

She nodded. “I’ll give it a try. But it sounds sort of scary, being out there in the dark.”

“I promise I’ll protect you.” He watched while she made herself another s’more. “We’ll have to put on some warmer clothes. They’ll be giving us gloves and buckets and whatever else we’ll need. The caretakers of the house are going to be our guides.”

“That’s good.” She focused on her task, placing her marshmallows just so. “But I’m going to stay close to you, for sure.”

“That’s not a problem.” He wanted to keep her as close as possible. “I don’t know how many we’ll catch, but the island is supposed to be filled with them this time of year. The chef is going to incorporate our catch into the breakfast menu.”

“I wish tomorrow wasn’t our last day.”

“Me, too.” They would be flying out, just before sunset, and going back to their regular lives. But for now, they were still here, immersed in the romance that had become their affair.