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Kane studied her thoughtfully, his hair blowing in the breeze coming off the water, “I am … at least for today.”

“Today is what matters right now,” Susanna said softly before feeling a tug on her line, “I think I’ve got one!” she shrieked. 

Kane laughed, “Reel it in!”

“And then what?  I don’t fish!” she stood up and let out a tiny scream as she felt the line pulling, “It feels huge!” 

Kane, still laughing
, stood and set his pole on the rocks and went to stand behind her.  Reaching forward, he wrapped both arms around her and held the rod securely, “I’ll help you, but you’re bringing this one in yourself.”

Susanna reeled the line in and watched as the fish fought her in the water.  She couldn’t believe the excitement she felt as she watched the fish lift from the water on her line, “Look at that
! It’s the biggest fish ever!”

Kane chuckled, “
I think it could possibly feed the entire town.”

“Whatever,” she
laughed as she held the line up and gazed upon her catch, “Not bad for a first timer.”

“Not bad at all,” Kane looked on with a grin, “Are you going to clean him?”

“Um … no, that’s all you.”

Chapter 16

They fished for a few more hours catching some and throwing some back.  Once they had
a few nice size fish, they journeyed back to the house.  Susanna studied him quietly out the kitchen window as Kane expertly cleaned and prepared the fish for dinner.  She was sipping a glass of wine that had been on her list she sent to Emma, and in the background John Legend was belting out a song.  It seemed like the perfect afternoon.  As a matter of fact, she couldn’t imagine anything more perfect than what she was doing at that very second.  She smiled as Kane looked up and saw her through the window, grinning in return.  She thought about how so obviously happy he was and how he seemed grateful for every second he was here, in the present, with her.  He was appreciative of the smallest thing as he would be, being deprived of everything humanly normal for so long.  She was there, glass in hand, leaning against the counter when he came in from outside. 

“Cleaned and ready,” he said, his hair falling on his brow.

“I don’t know how to make fish, but I’m sure I can find a recipe on the computer,” she went to the table and set up her laptop and turned it on.  It was the first time in two days that she had done so and it struck her that it was the longest stretch she had gone without it.  After pulling up the Food Network site, it didn’t take her long to find a very easy recipe that called for simple ingredients that she had on hand.  While Kane excused himself to clean up she peeled some potatoes and cut up some zucchini to go with the fish.  As she was putting them in a pan on the stove she heard Kane’s voice behind her.

“How’s this?”

Susanna turned around and nearly dropped the knife she held in her hand.  Kane had found the clothes that Emma had left him in the closet and now stood in the threshold of the kitchen, practically a new man.  Gone was his thick woolen sweater and dark brown trousers and in its place he wore a three button oatmeal colored long sleeved Henley and a pair of dark washed jeans. 

“Wow,” she said, leaving the knife on the counter and walking towards him, “Very handsome,” without thinking she lifted her hands and ran them over his chest where the
henley fit snugly across his broad upper body and shoulders.  It was almost too tight, the fabric stretched taunt over his sculpted physique.  She could feel his heart hammering in his chest beneath her fingers and she almost lifted her hands away, a little stunned at her own forwardness.  But she didn’t. She left them there, her eyes looking up and holding his.

“You approve?” his voice thick and
velvety smooth.

“Highly,” she
answered, her pulse quickening.

Kane ever so slightly bent his head towards her, and she lifted to meet him, her hands inching upwards towards his shoulders.

Suddenly the music in the background cut off and the phone ringing pierced the air around them.  Susanna closed her eyes and smiled, shaking her head, “Typical,” she mumbled under her breath, turning towards the phone.

“Hello,” Susanna was a tad breathless
and didn’t even attempt to look at the caller.

“Finally!
  Why haven’t you called me to check in, I’ve e-mailed you a few times,” Michelle’s distracted voice sounded on the other end.

“I’ve had some computer problems the last few days and I’ve actually been pretty busy,” Susanna said, shrugging at Kane who looked on impassively.

“Oh yeah?” Susanna could hear Michelle typing away in the background, “Are you getting the full Keeper experience?”

Susanna eyes followed Kane as he walked to the stove and stirred the vegetables, “Yep… the full deal.”

“So, the story is coming along?”

Susanna’s mind scrambled for an answer, “Um … yea.  But I’m interviewing a lot of interesting people
who have lived up here and have really been involved in the whole history of the lighthouse.  I think you’ll be surprised with the local insight this article is going to have.”

Kane
smirked mischievously at her over his shoulder.

“There
are some very interesting stories about the history of this place, and I feel like I’ve only just scratched the surface.”

“What are you saying?” Michelle could immediately see through her story.

“I just think a week may not be enough.  I might need an extra few days or maybe even another week up here.  I don’t know how the office will feel about it and I wouldn’t mind doing it on my own time, if I need to.  I can pay for it myself and take annual leave if that’s the case.  But I really feel it’s important … for the story.”

Kane stopped and turned to face her at this point, crossing his arms over his chest and leaning against the counter.

“Another week?  Really?  I thought for sure you would be asking to come home by now and that you would hate it up there.”

“
No way!  I love it, I need more time,” Susanna was grasping at straws now that she felt she had Michelle’s backing.

“Okay.  I’ll see what I can do,” Michelle answered, “Do you need anything?  Can I ship you anything?”

Susanna was afraid to speak as she studied Kane’s intense expression from across the small room, “No …” she stammered, tripping over her own words, “I think I have everything I need, right here.”

Kane
began to ease towards her as she spoke.

“Alright.
  I’ll check in with you in a few days, meanwhile check your e-mail!”

Susanna pulled the phone away from her ear
and fumbled for the end button, “I asked for more time …” she hesitated, “Three more days doesn’t seem …”

Kane reached her and silently pulled her towards him, lifting her chin with his fingers.

“I don’t know … I just can’t think about leaving in a few days … I just wanted more,” Susanna trailed off as she looked up at him.

Wordlessly Kane bent towards her
, his actions unbearably slow. His mouth was slightly parted, his breath sweeping across her face.  Susanna closed her eyes, dizzy with anticipation.  His lips ever so lightly brushed hers.  Gently, he pressed closer to her, his hand slipping into her hair to hold her there and yet careful not to contact the cut on her head.  Pulling away from her only slightly, he whispered, “I’m thankful for every hour I get with you, much less a day,” he leaned in to kiss her again which sent spirals of longing surging through her. 

His lips lightly held hers for seconds before he pulled away and
smiled, “What can I help you do in the kitchen?”

“Ah …” she was still reeling, unable to speak, “Um … I think we can …”

Kane smiled with a hint of devious satisfaction, “Susanna, are you well?”

“Don’t laugh at me,” she flushed under his knowing stare, “Give me a minute to catch my breath.”

Kane’s laugh was deep and warm, “You need a minute to catch your breath?”

“Yes!  You really know how to put a girl off her game.”

“I haven’t kissed a woman in one hundred and five years and you need a minute?” it was his turn to flush.

“Oh …
I didn’t think of it like that,” Susanna grinned, “Well, for the record, you did
really
well.”

Kane rubbed his hand across his jaw, “I felt like it was the thing to do, although in my time that would have earned me a right slap across the face. 
To kiss a woman without asking … ruinous.”

“I’m glad you didn’t ask, it made it that much more … sexy,” she blushed again.

Kane grinned, “Times have certainly changed.”

Chapter 17

Susanna and Kane sat across from each other at the small kitchen table with a single candle lit between them.  Their plates were empty; their dinner was amazing … the fish, delicious as they sat drinking the last sips of their wine.  Susanna’s hand was stretched across the table towards him and she sat languidly watching him as he stroked each one of her outstretched fingers slowly with his own. 

“I’m not sure this day could have been any better,” she said, her elbow on the table with her chin resting on her hand. 

“It was perfect,” he said, smiling at her in the soft glow of the candle.

“The fish was amazing,” she added, “Good thing I’m such a great fisherwoman.”

Kane chuckled, “Next you will be able to start a fire and then you won’t need me anymore.”

“Doubtful.  I can’t imagine I’ll ever be able to do that,” she stood and began gathering dishes.  Kane stood as well and between the two of them, they had the small kitchen clean in a matter of minutes.  Once they were done, she poured them another glass of wine and grabbed her laptop, “Come in here by the fire, I wanted to look something up.”

Kane sat on the couch and Susanna sat next to him, snuggling deep into his side when he stretched his arm over the back of the couch, “Your brother, his name was Liam O’Reilly?”

“Yes,” Kane answered as he watched her, “How are you able to do that when others that come here can’t?”

“Oh, the internet?”
Susanna answered, “I have a hot spot on my phone that gives me internet everywhere.”  Susanna opened her search engine and quickly typed in Liam’s name along with the word “Maine”.  Multiple sites popped up but the one that caught her eye was Ancestry.com.  She clicked on it and immediately found some matches.

“What is that?” he asked looking over her shoulder at the screen.

“It’s a website that’s made for people to do ancestry research.  They have tons of records on here.  Stuff like birth certificates, draft cards and census results.”

“And you think my brother
’s on there?”

“I’m fairly certain he is.  And if someone in his family has gone on here before and has made a family tree, we
’ll be able to see a lot of information on him and his family.”

Kane
sat quietly as she searched and within a few clicks Susanna had pulled up Liam’s information, “It says he married Rayna in 1910 and they settled in … Kittery.”

Susanna clicked around until she found more information, “In 1912 they had a son named … Kane,” she smiled as she said his name, “And he in turn married and had a chi
ld of his own in 1944 named Connor.”

“That was our grandfather’s name,” Kane
remarked softly.

“Connor married and had a child in … 1978 named, Kane,” she smiled again, “
Popular name with your brother’s family.”

“And you found all that by typing in my brother’s name into
that?” Kane asked in awe.

“Yep.
  Now, this Kane, who would be your brother’s great great grandson, he’s 36 now and according to this, still lives in Kittery.”

“How do you know?”

“Someone’s filled in his information on this family tree,” she pointed to the screen, “See, if you trace it all the way back up, it shows your brother and if I go up like this,” she scrolled up, “It shows his family.”  Susanna’s breath caught in her throat when she saw a tiny picture on the screen to the right of Liam’s name with the name of Kane O’Reilly under it, “It looks like someone’s put you in here,” she clicked on the picture to enlarge it and the black and white image of Kane from the book popped up on the screen along with the years 1878-1909.  She could feel him exhale beside her.  She instantly wished she hadn’t clicked on it.  The birth and death dates seemed to leap off the page and wrap around her air supply.  She hated looking at them and quickly went to minimize the picture, “Let’s go back down and see your great great nephew,” she clicked a few times until she was back at the Kane O’Reilly born in 1978.  Opening up his page, she was surprised to find a picture in the upper left corner.

“Can you make that one bigger?” he asked, pointing at it.

“Sure,” she said, clicking on the photo. 

The photo that popped up on the screen showed a handsome man, mid thirties with dark hair and blue eyes.

Kane reached out and ran his fingers across the screen over the man’s face, “He looks like my brother,” he whispered. 

“Does he?” Susanna smiled as she studied the picture.

Kane was silent, his fingers still outstretched towards the screen, “When did my brother die?”

Susanna took a deep breath, almost hesitant to pull up the information.  She hadn’t thought about the bad information that was going to be discovered on this page, only the good.  She clicked back to the main family tree and found Liam’s name, “This says he died in 1966 and is buried in Kittery, as is
Rayna who died in 1977.”  Susanna was studying the names on the page when Kane rose from the couch abruptly and walked across the room to the kitchen. 

“Kane,” she called out to him and
was immediately angry that she had pulled up the page.  She hadn’t considered how he would feel when he saw everything, “I’m sorry.  I shouldn’t have pulled that stuff up.”

Kane stood silent at the kitchen counter, his back to her, his shoulders slouched in sadness, “It’s not your fault,” he said.

Susanna walked towards him and rested her cheek against his back and wrapped her arms around his chest, “I’m sorry.  I didn’t think about how seeing that would affect you.  I was just trying to find out where your brother went and what happened with him and his family all those years ago.  I just wasn’t thinking.”

She felt Kane take a deep breath, “I never asked Emma
to dig too deep into what happened to him.  Maybe I was scared to find out.  I’m glad he had a good life and that he and Rayna went on to have children and live to be old and gray.  It’s all I ever wanted for them. It’s all I was thinking about the night I jumped in the water to find help.”

“I know, and so did he.  Two members of his family have named children after you
, Kane. It’s obvious that you are cherished by his family for saving his life,” Susanna was getting teary eyed.

“I know all this is good, and I’m honestly glad to know, but it pains me to have been here and yet unable to be a part of it.  I could have watched his children grow and their children after them.  I was here, the entire time!” h
is tone revealed his frustration and hurt.

“It would have crushed you to watch them grow old and die, Kane,”
Susanna attempted to put him at ease.

He turned to face her, his eyes moist with tears, “What’s worse?  I live the loneliest existence in the world.  Every
second of my life is spent in this lighthouse alone.  Dying each and every day.”

Susanna’s tears flowed freely down her face, she had caused this and for that she was utterly regretful, “I’m sorry.  I should have never
looked this up.  It’s my fault.”

“No, no,” Kane
gathered her in his arms, “I’m glad you showed me.  It’s just a reminder of how much I missed.”

“Your brother lived to be 89
, Kane.  He lived for 57 years after you saved his life.  That is the most selfless thing you can do for another human being and I’d be willing to bet he thought about you every day. I bet he thanked God for you every day.”

“I’m sorry.  I shouldn’t have reacted the way I did
. I’m glad you showed me.  It’s good to know what happened to him and Rayna,” Kane kissed the top of her head. 

“Come on.  I’ll
turn off the computer and we can sit and talk,” Susanna lifted her tear stained face to his.

“No, I want to see more.  Show me all the things that I’ll never see on that
machine of yours,” he smiled, his eyes still moist with tears, “Do you have pictures of your family on there?”

“I do
. Would you like to see?”

“Absolutely.”