Dreams Adrift (A River Dream Novel) (26 page)

“
All right, bro,” Malori said, “I
think that’s a good plan. I’ll see you two tomorrow.”

“
Thanks, Malori,” Rhiannon said,
letting go of me long enough to hug Malori good-bye.

Then it was just Rhiannon and me. We walked to
the living room.

“
Does the fireplace still work?” I
asked her.

“
It should,” she said.

I got a fire started, and we sat on the floor
in front of the couch facing the crackling flames. I held her close
to me, and we just sat quietly for a time watching the flames. When
she was ready, she began to talk.

“
Michael,” she said.

“
Yes, honey,” I
replied.

Rhiannon smiled. “I still love it when you
call me honey.”

Smiling back at her, I said, “I’m
glad.”

“
You do know you are the only man
I have ever loved?” Rhiannon asked slowly, with
emphasis.

I couldn’t imagine that. “I do now,” I
said.

“
You’re the only man I’ve ever
been with, Michael,” Rhiannon revealed to me.

I didn’t know how to respond to that, so I
just pulled her closer to me.

“
I thought you should know that,”
she said snuggling even closer. Again we were quiet for a
while.

I thought about all the history between us, my
history in that house.

“
Honey,” I said.

She breathed a pleased sigh, “Yes.”

“
We can’t stay here,” I told
her.

“
I know,” she said. She’d been
thinking the same thing it seemed.

“
I’ve been looking at a place in
the islands,” I said, “on Saint Thomas.”

She was thoughtful for a minute before she
said, “I think that would be nice. How soon can we
leave?”

“
Tomorrow,” I said. I couldn’t
think of any reason we couldn’t leave right way.

She turned to look at me. “Just like that?”
she asked.

“
Just like that,” I told her. “If
that’s what you want.”

Rhiannon shook her head, smiling sadly. “What
about the house, and my job?”

“
My dad will take care of the
house,” I assured her. “I’m sure your bosses would
understand.”

She sat up, and her brow furrowed as she
thought about that. “I should give them two weeks’ notice, don’t
you think?”

“
Do you really want to wait two
weeks?” I asked her.

Rhiannon smiled and shook her head. “No, not
really,” she admitted. “Can we really leave tomorrow?”

“
Just let me make a couple of
calls and in a couple of days we’ll be on
Cuarto
sailing the
Islands,” I promised her.

She thought about that a minute, maybe
less.

“
Make the calls, Michael,”
Rhiannon said with a smile. “Make the calls.”

The first call was to my dad to explain the
situation. Then I called the airport to make sure the Seneca would
be ready. I checked with Rhiannon to make sure her passport was up
to date.

With the planning, packing, and arrangements,
it was actually two days later before Rhiannon and I went wheels-up
at Wilmington International on our way to Saint Thomas and the
marina where I had left
Cuarto
.

We had to make stops in Nassau and the Turks
and Caicos on the way but finally arrived and boarded. I’d
contacted the folks at the marina to let them know I was returning,
and they had her all ready for us.

After we’d stowed our gear, Rhiannon changed
into a bikini and laid out a towel on the foredeck. I joined her
after double checking that all the hookups were secure and
working.

“
Are we really here, Michael, or
am I going to wake up and find this is all a dream?” Rhiannon asked
me.

“
We are really here, honey,” I
assured her.

“
I love it when you call me
honey,” Rhiannon said.

Rhiannon and I spent the next several months
sailing around the islands. The calendar showed that summer had
passed and fall was upon us, but there among the islands we hardly
noticed the change of seasons. As October became November we
started thinking about going home for the holidays.

“
Could we go for Thanksgiving and
stay right through New Year’s?” Rhiannon asked me when we began
discussing it.

“
We could if that’s what you
wanted to do,” I told her.

“
I think I’d like to do that,” she
said.

“
We’d need a place to stay,” I
informed her. “My father found a buyer for the Nadeau
house.”

“
He did?” Rhiannon said, sounding
a bit disappointed. “So where would we stay?”

“
How would you feel about living
in a suite at the Wright Isle Resort for a couple of months?” I
asked her.

“
Are you serious?” Rhiannon said,
before she remembered. “Oh, yeah, you own a big chunk of that
place, don’t you?”

“
As a matter of fact, I do,” I
acknowledged. “I’ve already contacted Hernando. Did you know he’s
planning to retire next spring?”

“
Hernando retire?” Rhiannon said.
“How will they manage without him?”

“
I don’t know,” I said. “I hope
he’s been bringing someone along to take over for him.”

“
Do you think we could stay in the
suite we had Prom night?” Rhiannon asked with a grin.

“
I think it’s been remodeled a
couple of times since then, but yes, I think we could,” I told her.
“Actually, honey, that’s the room I asked Hernando to reserve for
us.”

“
I still love it when you call me
honey,” Rhiannon said. “I should have known you’d think of
that.”

I smiled and then checked to see that the
small package I’d put in my pocket before I came up on deck was
still there.

“
Rhiannon, how would you feel
about going to a big wedding?” I asked innocently.

“
Whose wedding, Michael?” Rhiannon
asked as she turned toward me. A look of surprise came to her face
when she noticed the ring I was holding sparkling in the
sunlight.

“
Ours,” I said.

“
Oh, Michael,” Rhiannon said as
tears started to fill her eyes.

“
I was thinking we could make the
trip home a long honeymoon,” I said.

Rhiannon took the ring and put in on her
finger. She looked at it for a long moment as if expecting it to
disappear, and then she looked at me.

“
Well,” she said
expectantly.

Realizing what she was waiting for, I took her
hand and slowly got down on one knee.

“
Rhiannon, it wasn’t that long ago
that I thought I could never love again. If not for you, I may
never have been able to. You are such a part of me that I don’t
think I could live without you. Rhiannon, my friend and my lover,
will you become my wife?”

Rhiannon’s tears streamed, and she was
literally shaking as she replied.

“
Michael, I thought I had lost you
forever. Then, when you lost Maeve, I begged God to take me instead
and give her back to you. I loved you so much, and I couldn’t bear
to see you suffer so.”

Rhiannon stopped a minute to collect herself.
I felt a lump rising in my throat and tears filling my
eyes.

“
I have never loved any man but
you, Michael, and I threw that away once. But I promised you that I
would always be there for you if you needed me. Now I have another
chance and, mister, you can bet your life I’m not throwing this one
away. Yes, Michael, I will marry you.”

I stood slowly, and with tears rolling down my
cheeks, took Rhiannon into my arms and held her. Brushing her hair
back from her face, I kissed her warmly and gently and told her I
loved her. She wiped at my tears and told me she loved me, too. We
kissed again and, without another word between us, went below to
our cabin.

A
bout
the Author

DW Davis graduated from Western New England
College with an accounting degree, after a four year hitch in the
Army, and is currently working as a middle school math teacher. DW
grew up in coastal North Carolina and still resides in the state’s
Coastal Plains region with his lovely wife and two sons.
DREAMS
ADRIFT
is the third book in the River Dream series.

Connect with DW Davis
Online:

On his web site:

http://www.riversailorliterary.com

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http://www.facebook.com/RiverSailorLiterary

On Twitter:

http://twitter.com/DWDavisRSL