Beside Still Waters (31 page)

             
“So, he was trying to kill me with that life preserver, I wasn’t just being paranoid?” Cindy asked.

             
“Not even a little bit paranoid,” Jeremiah confirmed.  “He was worried you had uncovered the fact that they were burying bodies from other parts of the island there to halt the building of the resort.  They were desecrating graves in the process and because of you everyone associated with that is now in jail.”

             
“You’re an all around hero,” Kapono said.

             
She forced a smile.  It was good that she had been able to help these people, but being a hero wasn’t always all it was cracked up to be.  “I just wanted to go on vacation,” she said.

             
The others smiled, clearly not sure exactly what to say to her.  That’s okay, she wasn’t sure what they could say that would make everything that had happened better.

             
Finally Charles and Jean left and Kapono and Jeremiah alone remained. 

             
“There’s one thing I don’t understand,” she said.

             
“What?” Jeremiah asked.

             
“Why go to all the trouble of trying to sink us on that ship instead of just killing us and dumping our bodies somewhere?”

             
“I can answer that one,” Kapono said.  “They knew the navy was planning on reefing one of their old ships to create an artificial reef for fish and divers.  By leaving you alive to drown in the ship when your bodies were discovered it would look like you were just a couple of tourists who decided to go exploring somewhere they shouldn’t of and got killed.  It could be passed off as some kind of crazy accident.  That’s why they didn’t just kill you.  Plus, who knows, maybe they were hoping you’d make some sort of last minute bargain to try and save your lives.  It’s kind of ironic.  All your troubles on the island started when you visited Pearl Harbor and the boat they were reefing was constructed around the same time as the Arizona.”

             
Cindy thought of how Jeremiah had pushed her out of a portal, saving her life, and knew that irony didn’t even begin to describe it.

~

             
In the morning she was feeling a bit better and the doctor agreed to release her.  When she was shown the clothes she’d been admitted in, though, she was sickened.

             
Cindy looked down at the tattered remains of Geanie’s little black dress.  And for some reason that just made everything worse.  Somehow it seemed symbolic of everything that had gone so terribly wrong.

             
“Clearly you can’t wear that on the plane,” Jeremiah said.

             
She jumped.  She didn’t realize he had entered the room.  “No, I guess not.”

             
“I packed up your things from the hotel and I brought you these to wear,” he said, handing her her blue shirt and a pair of shorts.  He also had her tennis shoes and socks.  She realized that she had no idea what had even become of her sandals.

             
“Thank you.”

             
The next couple of hours seemed to drag by as she got dressed and waited for the final orders from the hospital authorizing her release.  It was more waiting and she was sick of it beyond belief.

             
Kapono showed up to drive them to the airport where there was still more waiting.  Finally it was time to board.

             
Cindy didn’t know how, but they ended up in first class on the flight home.  She had to admit that the seats were so much comfier, but after what she’d been through she was sure even the regular seats would feel wonderful.  She fell asleep before they even took off.

             
Jeremiah woke her when it was time to eat for which she was grateful.  The food was much better in first class, though again she wasn’t sure how much of that was her current perceptions.

             
Once she had finished eating she fell asleep again and didn’t wake until they had actually made it to their gate at LAX.  Jeremiah carried her small bag for her as they exited the plane.  She was still a bit shaky when she walked, but she’d been assured that that would go away in a day or two.  She began to think that she’d been foolish to refuse the wheelchair she’d been offered, though.

             
Still, how was life going to get back to normal if she didn’t force the issue?  So, she walked, wobbling occasionally, but resolutely putting one foot in front of the other as they headed to baggage claim.  When they had almost reached it she realized that she didn’t even actually know what day it was.  Regardless, there was no way she was going back to work in the morning.  Normalcy was a great thing, but she wasn’t ready to deal with that quite yet.

             
When they got to baggage claim she felt herself tear up as she saw Mark, Traci, and Geanie standing there waiting for them.  She ran over to Geanie and they hugged tight.  “I’m sorry I ruined your dress!” she burst out, not knowing what else to say.

             
Geanie hugged her tighter.  “I don’t care about a stupid dress.  I just thank God that you’re home.”

             
“Causing trouble in other people’s jurisdictions, I’m not sure how I feel about that,” Mark said, with a forced smile.  She could see the worry in his eyes, though, and feel the sympathy coming off of him.  She gave him a quick hug.  Jeremiah had told her what the detective had done for her.

             
Next she hugged Traci and she could feel the sympathy coming off of her in waves.  “I know what it’s like.  Thanks to you, what I went through wasn’t nearly as terrible, but if you need to talk, I can at least understand,” the other woman whispered.

             
“Thank you,” Cindy whispered back.

19

             
Cindy woke up and it took a minute to orient herself.  She finally realized she was back at home in her room.  She sat up slowly, sore and so very tired.  She showered and got dressed and headed out to the kitchen.

             
Geanie was busy bustling around.  She looked up at her with bright eyes.  “Morning.  I thought you’d like some pancakes.”

             
“Thank you,” Cindy said, moving to the refrigerator to grab herself some orange juice.  Then she sat down at the table which Geanie had already set.

             
“And, don’t worry, I made plenty.”

             
Cindy winced.  “I guess I went a little crazy when I got home last night.”

             
“I’ve never seen you eat that much food in a day let alone at one sitting,” Geanie said.

             
“I guess it takes on a whole different meaning when you suddenly have a fear that you won’t get enough, or that someone’s going to starve you.”

             
“I can’t even imagine,” Geanie said.

             
“I pray you never have to.”  Cindy took a sip of her orange juice and set it down.  “I’m sorry.  I didn’t get a chance to scope out any hotels as good wedding locations.”

             
Geanie stared at her like she’d grown a second head and then burst into crazy, cackling laughter.  She walked over and wrapped her arms around Cindy hugging her tight.

             
“I can’t even believe you’re still thinking about that after everything that’s happened.”

             
“Well, I told you I’d look.”

             
Geanie hugged her tighter.  “Don’t even worry about it.  Besides, now that I think about it, who wants to do a small ceremony that no one can come to when we can do a large ceremony and have everyone come?”

             
Cindy felt a bit justified.  She had never exactly pictured Geanie as the small ceremony type, even before she and Joseph got engaged.

             
“So, that means a wedding around here somewhere.”

             
“Yes.  I think January would be perfect, don’t you?”

             
Cindy wrinkled her nose.  It was so Geanie to go against the flow that way.  “There’s a good chance it will rain.”

             
Geanie pulled away and the smile on her face was priceless.  “It’s good luck when it rains on your wedding day.”

             
Geanie bounded back into the kitchen and returned seconds later with a heaping platter of pancakes which she set down with a flourish.  Cindy grabbed a forkful and deposited them on her plate then reached for the syrup.

             
Geanie said a quick grace, including a thank you for Cindy’s safe return.  As soon as it was over Cindy brought a forkful of pancake to her lips.

             
“I actually have something I wanted to ask you, and, well, I know it’s terrible timing.”

             
Cindy raised an eyebrow and chomped down on her food while she waited for Geanie to ask whatever it was.  The other woman looked suddenly awkward and shy and it seemed so ridiculous.  After everything that had happened in the past week Cindy couldn’t imagine what question was that difficult to ask her.

             
“I was wondering if you would be my maid of honor?  I mean, without you Joseph and I would never have gotten together.”

             
Even though they’d been talking about the wedding, somehow that was the last question Cindy had been expecting.  She hastily swallowed the food in her mouth.  “Yes, of course!” she said, struggling to sound happy.  She was honored to be asked and under different circumstances she would have been thrilled.  It was just hard to imagine at that moment that she was ever going to be happy again.

             
It’s going to take time, that’s all
, she told herself.  She leaned forward and gave Geanie a quick hug.  “Thank you so much for asking me!”

             
Geanie squealed and clapped her hands.  “We’re going to have so much fun!”

             
Cindy felt a wave of sorrow crash around her.  At that moment she’d give anything to be able to have fun.  In that moment she realized just how much she had lost out on over the years, first with the way she shut down after what happened to her sister and now the kidnapping.  Who knew how long before she would laugh and smile again?

             
“That sounds great,” she said, sincerely.

             
As though sensing her mood, Geanie reached out and grabbed her hand.  “I don’t know how to be around you,” she said, suddenly.

             
Tears welled in Cindy’s eyes.  “They say with things like Post Traumatic Stress Disorder the most important thing is to just have people around who care about you, who are patient.”

             
Geanie sighed.  “I care about you, but no one on this earth would call me patient.”

             
“That’s true.”

             
“But I’ll do my best.”

             
“So will I,” Cindy promised.  “Hopefully in a couple of weeks I’ll be just fine.”

             
“I’m praying for a couple of days.  Told you.  Not patient.”

             
Cindy hugged her again and then went back to her pancakes.

             
“Oh, I should warn you,” Geanie said.  “They’re throwing you a welcome home party at church tomorrow.”

             
“Is it wrong that I kind of don’t want to go?”

             
“No.”

             
“But I guess it’s just as much for everyone else as it is for me.”

             
“We were all terrified,” Geanie said.  “We were holding prayer vigils around the clock in the sanctuary once Detective Walters called and told me you’d been kidnapped.”

             
“I appreciate it,” Cindy said, tears stinging her eyes again.

             
“I just wanted you to know ahead of time.  Although, I did warn them not to all jump out and shout surprise or anything like that.”

             
“Thank you,” Cindy said gratefully.

             
Geanie shrugged.  “We’ll see.  I’m not sure if anybody listened.”

~

             
Mark was sitting in the Dryer family living room, being stared down by Denise Dryer, the matriarch, and the mother of the real Paul Dryer.  Sitting next to her was her daughter, Gretchen, and across the room was Paul’s father, Bryce.  The man was letting his wife do all the talking and Mark couldn’t help but feel like he was losing the battle, his one real shot at talking to the Dryer family about their son and his changeling.