Dreams Adrift (A River Dream Novel) (10 page)

When we bought Raven the summer before, a set
of tack had come with her. The saddle wasn't exactly what Maeve
wanted, but she insisted it would do until she decided what she did
want. Rita helped me figure out what to get her.

Without letting her know why, Rita got Maeve
talking about saddles until she had a pretty good idea of what
Maeve wanted. Then Rita helped me find someone who could custom
make exactly the saddle that would be best for Maeve and Raven.
Judging from Maeve's reaction, we’d done well.

“
Rita helped a little. Well, maybe
more than a little. Okay, Rita helped a lot,” I admitted. “I'm glad
you like it.”

Maeve smiled the sweetest smile at me. “Let's
get Raven fed. Then we can get fed and I can come try it
out.”

Watching Maeve eat her breakfast, I could tell
it was all she could do not to wolf down her omelet.

“
We can do the dishes later,” she
said, popping the last corner of her toast in her mouth.

I shook my head and laughed.

“
Yes, ma’am,” I said as I put our
dirty dishes in the sink before hurrying out the back door after
Maeve.

Maeve turned Raven out into the paddock before
going into the tack room for a closer inspection of her new gear.
She went over each piece with great care, ensuring that she knew
just how it all fit together.

“
All right,” Maeve said, turning
to me with a smile that crinkled the corners of her sparkling blue
eyes. “It’s time to saddle up and see how Raven likes her new
tack.”

Maeve alternately walked and trotted Raven
around the paddock, stopping now and then to tighten a strap or
adjust the reins.

“
You look great up there,” I
called out to her. “That saddle looks great against Raven’s
coat.”

Maeve’s only answer was a widening of the
smile that hadn’t left her face all morning.

She made a couple more circuits around the
paddock and then stopped by the gate.

“
Open the gate, Michael. I want to
give Raven a chance to run.”

Once clear of the gate, Maeve put her head
down near Raven’s neck and gave the powerful little horse just the
slightest nudge with her heels. Raven didn’t need much
encouragement. I stood there in awe as horse and rider galloped
down the length of the field, slowing only to turn at the far end,
before galloping back.

Maeve’s strawberry blond hair flew out behind
her like a comet’s tail of auburn gold, a striking contrast to
Raven’s ebony main. Horse and rider melded into one in an
exuberance of Christmas morning delight, running through the cold
winter air as if they didn’t have a care in the world.

Later, after she and Raven had cooled off from
their run and Maeve was brushing Raven down, Maeve said, “It's
almost as if that saddle were made just for me.”

Her eyebrows rose and her lips formed a
perfect O. Slowly, she stopped brushing Raven and turned to me.
“Michael, that’s not an off-the-rack saddle, is it?”

“
Uh, well, no, it’s
not.”

“
I should have known,” Maeve said
with a shake of her head. “You really are something.”

After a cold, clear Christmas morning, the
rest of that winter break turned out to be warm and somewhat wet.
Maeve did get to do a good bit of riding, and we even got in a
couple of decent days of sailing. When it was too rainy for either,
we enjoyed each other's company in front of the television watching
videos on the Curtis-Mathis video player Maeve had given me for
Christmas. Fortunately, Bellangia’s carried a decent selection of
movies on tape for vacationers to rent when they were stuck for
something to do on rainy days.

New Year's Eve morning we moved Raven back to
her stall at R&R, made sure the boats were secure, and headed
back to Wilmington. We would spend New Year's Eve at Primavera's
and the first day of 1985 at home. Maeve's first workday would be
the day after New Year’s Day. Classes didn't start up again for me
until two weeks later.

Mr. DeLuca made good on his promise to make
New Year’s Eve one that the teachers he’d invited would never
forget. He arranged the private event room as a buffet and open bar
for them for the night. Everything on his menu was available to be
sampled on the buffet table. His finest wines and beverages were
poured all through the night. The band he’d hired to play was more
of a small orchestra. When midnight arrived, Maeve and I were
dancing in the main dining room, which had been transformed into a
ballroom, complete with wooden dance floor.

When Mr. DeLuca’s countdown reached midnight,
I pulled Maeve close, whispered, “Happy New Year, Babe,” and
pressed my lips against hers in a kiss that I hoped expressed to
her how much I loved her and how much I was looking forward to
spending that New Year and every New Year after it with
her.

After a wonderful night at Primavera's, Maeve
and I rose late and were just sitting down to breakfast when the
phone started ringing.

“
I wonder who that could be,”
Maeve snapped.

Thinking to myself that she might be feeling
the aftereffects of a bit too much champagne, I rose to answer the
jangling instrument.

“
Why don't you let the machine get
it?” she said, referring to our answering machine.

I shrugged and sat back down. When the caller
started leaving a message, I got back up quickly.

“
Guten Morgen, Hans,” I said in
German as I picked up the handset.

“
Good morning to you,” Hans
replied with a little laugh. “Your accent is terrible.”

“
It's a south German accent,” I
joked.

“
No part of Germany is that far
south,” Hans pointed out. “How are you this fine New Year's
Day?”

I mouthed to Maeve that it was Hans on the
phone. She gave me a look that clearly indicated she'd figured that
out.

“
We’re good, Hans. Happy New
Year's to you. Did you have a nice Christmas?”

“
I did,” Hans replied
enthusiastically. “And an even better New Year's Eve.”

Intrigued, I asked, “Why would that be, I
wonder?”

“
I asked April to marry me last
night, and she said yes.”

“
You're kidding,” I exclaimed.
“That's wonderful news. I didn't know you two were that
serious.”

I looked at Maeve, and she raised her eyebrows
in question. I signaled her to wait with an upraised
palm.

I could almost hear Hans' smile in his voice.
“Oh yes, we’ve been getting more serious, and last night I popped
the question.”

Hans was living in Raleigh. April lived in
Garner. They’d dated on and off since junior high. Hans brought her
to our wedding, and they’d been more on than off since. I wasn't
really surprised to hear the news.

“
I know it's kind of soon, but
have you set a date or anything?”

Hans laughed a tired laugh. “Not yet, no, we
haven’t talked about that yet. You’re only the second person I’ve
told, after my parents. I was going to call you first, but April
insisted our parents should be the first to know.”

“
I'm honored to be in the top
two,” I told him sincerely. “We'll have to get together and
celebrate soon.”

I was thinking Maeve and I could throw a party
for them here in town. As much as Hans loved the beach and seafood,
King Neptune's would be perfect.

“
We’d like to come down and
visit,” Hans said, “maybe next weekend. Will you be
around?”

“
Just a minute,” I said as I
covered the mouthpiece. Turning to Maeve I told her, “Hans and
April got engaged last night and want to come visit next weekend.
Will we be around?”

“
Yes,” Maeve said emphatically,
“for Hans, of course we'll be around.”

I smiled and told Hans, “We'll be around, old
buddy. Just let us know what time you'll be getting
here.”

“
I’ll call later in the week and
let you know,” Hans said. “I have some more calls to make, Michael.
I’ll talk to you later.”

Smiling and nodding, though I knew he couldn't
see it, I replied, “Okay, Hans. Congratulations again, and
congratulations to April, too.”

Once I hung up, Maeve was all questions. I
filled her in as best I could based on what Hans had told
me.

“
I would like to take them out to
celebrate. Maybe invite their folks and mine, see if we can look up
some of our friends who might still be around town.”

“
That is a great idea, Michael,”
Maeve said, sounding puzzled that I’d thought of it.

I turned my lips down in an exaggerated pout.
“I do have them once in a while, you know.”

Maeve shook her head and rolled her eyes.
“Once in a while, yes, you do.”

That weekend we succeeded in surprising Hans
and April with a party at the King Neptune. Hans thought it would
be a quiet dinner with just the two couples. Instead it was a well
attended event including all our parents and several of our closest
friends.

“
Michael, I should be mad at you,”
Hans said as he recovered from the shouts of SURPRISE. “But how can
I be? Thank you, my friend.”

I patted him on the back. “It's the least I
could do for my oldest friend.”

Hans' face took on a momentarily pained
expression. He looked around the room. I knew what he was thinking.
Rhiannon wasn't there. Neither of us said anything. We'd known each
other long enough and well enough that we didn't have
to.

April reacted with delight. “Oh, you guys,
this is great. We weren't expecting this.”

She and Hans moved into the room to greet
everyone and be congratulated over and over again. The wait staff
brought out drinks, and we toasted to love and success for the
newly engaged couple.

We didn't see much of Hans and April for
several weeks. They did come and spend one weekend at River Dream,
and we did go up and spend a weekend in Raleigh. Along about the
third week of February, they called and asked, or should I say
insisted, that we be in town over the weekend.

Hans told me, “April was planning a special
lunch for some of her girl friends. She wants to talk to them about
the wedding.”

While April and the girls were having their
lunch Hans and I were out on Lumina Pier pretending to fish. It was
an uncharacteristically warm day for late February - nearly sixty
degrees - and not much wind. There wasn’t much biting either,
leaving us plenty of time to talk.

“
We’ve picked a date,” Hans said.
“We’ve decided on the third Saturday in May. April was hoping for a
June wedding, but the church was already booked.”

I set my pole against the rail and picked up
my coffee cup. “A May wedding will be nice. Maybe it won’t be as
hot as it probably would be in June. Is the church here in
Wilmington?”

Hans shook his head. “No. We’ve been going to
a church up in Garner. April really likes the pastor there. She’s
asked him to perform the ceremony.”

“
Then I’m guessing the reception
will be somewhere up there, too.”

“
There’s a hotel a little ways up
Highway 70 from the church that has a nice reception hall. Their
menu is a bit limited, but it does include the basics-beef,
chicken, or seafood.”

My coffee cup was empty so I walked over to
the trash can and threw it away. Turning back towards the rail, I
took a moment to admire the view of Wrightsville Beach stretching
out to the north. The calm waves of the ebbing tide rolled
carelessly ashore, gently tossing bits of sea shell against the
sand in a timeless rhythm that would one day see those shells
ground into sand themselves. The air was a clear Carolina blue with
hardly a cloud in the sky. I felt a sudden longing to be on a
sailboat.

Sitting back down on the bench, I said to
Hans, “That menu should cover just about everybody.”

Hans shrugged. “I suppose so. The manager we
talked to said they could also do vegetarian meals if we needed
them. I think April has a cousin who’s a vegetarian.”

We watched our lines for a while. Hans got a
bite. When he reeled it in his big catch turned out to be a pin
fish that would fit in the palm of his hand.

“
Should I keep him for cut
bait?”

“
Nah,” I said. “Throw him back and
let him grow some. We’ve got plenty of shrimp.”

Holding the little fish carefully to avoid the
sharp spines on its dorsal fin, Hans removed the hook and dropped
the squirming little thing over the side of the pier.

“
Well, that was fun,” Hans said.
He looked sideways at me. “At least I haven’t been
skunked.”

“
Day’s not over yet,” I reminded
him. “But right now I think it’s time for lunch. How do a couple of
hot dogs sound?”

“
Sounds good to me,” Hans said,
hooking his line onto one of the rods eyes and tightening his reel.
“Reel in your line and let’s go.”

The snack bar at the pier wasn’t too busy. We
got our hot dogs, fries, and sweat tea before taking seats by a
window with a view looking south toward the jetty.