Rise (Roam Series, Book Three) (21 page)

The
rest of the night felt like only minutes before three light knocks jolted me awake. “You have mail!” Eva’s voice stirred me only hours later, and I opened my dry eyes, blinking away the confusion of the bright, morning light.
Where am I?
“See… it’s under the door. See?”

“I see it,” I called softly, swinging my legs over the side of the bed and moving to the door. She’d folded a pink piece of construction paper in half. On the front, two people were holding hands, with arms and legs growing directly out of their oversized, circle heads.

I smiled, rubbing my eyes as I opened the card.

Happy
Birthday Roam
was written very neatly, and under her painstakingly even printing, she had drawn a heart.

Twisting the lock, I pulled the door open, gazing down at her. She wore a blue Cinderella dress, Mardi-Gras beads, and a purple tiara. On her wrists, she’d taken the same magic markers that she’d used on my card and drawn bracelets on her wrists and rings on her fingers.

“Eva, this is the best birthday card I’ve ever gotten.”

“I got you a ring for your birthday,” she said, tugging the cap off
of her red magic marker. “What finger?”

I grinned, kneeling to her level and flattening my left hand. “My ring finger, please,” I pointed next to my
pinky, and she bit her lip, concentrating on drawing a circle around my finger. “Thank you. That is the most beautiful ring I’ve ever seen.”

“Will you put earrings on me?” Her eyes sparkled like rain on a mossy, forest floor.

Accepting the magic marker, I brushed her hair away from her small, perfectly curved ears. The felt tip left two tiny dots on each earlobe, and I hoped with an inward smile that West wouldn’t mind that I drew on his daughter.

“Thank
you
,” she enunciated formally, curtsying before me. I smiled, nodding once. “Daddy is making you a birthday breakfast. Pancakes with chocolate chips. Report to the kitchen at seven o’clock. Wear your pajamas. Don’t be late, or they’ll be cold,” she warned.

“I’ll use the bathroom and be right down,” I promised seriously. “Thank you again, princess.”

“My pleasure,” she responded, forcing my lips into a broad smile.

I hurriedly brushed my teeth and washed my face, contemplating make-up for less than a second before shrugging and leaving the cosmetic bag in my suitcase. Dousing my eyes with saline solution, I cursed my laziness for sleeping in my contacts- again.

My hair in a messy bun, I slipped my hooded, Princeton sweatshirt over my short, cream-colored negligee again. The lacy trim was far too provocative for my taste, but I’d intended to be celebrating with Logan, not attending a birthday-pancake breakfast with West.

He stood at the stove facing away from the stairs, with Eva on a stool at his side. “Okay, babe, flip.”

“Flipped,” she answered, carefully turning the spatula with her palms. She wore oven mitts on both arms, and I smiled at West’s protective precautions with his daughter.

Should I tell him what Violet said? Maybe he’s aware that she’s got psychiatric issues?
I assumed she was still sleeping. 

“Good morning,” I called softly. He lifted his eyes from the stovetop, and I watched them sweep over my body in one singular motion.

“Morning,” he managed. I tugged the sweatshirt tighter around my shoulders.

“I didn’t pack appropriately for a pancake breakfast. Sorry,” I apologized.

He gestured to his gray, pajama pants and plain, white tee-shirt. “You’re meeting the dress code. Just more…
attractively
… than we are,” he added, winking. “Happy birthday.”

“Thank you,” I grinned, flashing my ring finger. “I was given a beautiful card and this diamond ring for my birthday. Best presents a girl could ask for.”

“And Roam gave me earrings,” Eva added, smacking at her head with the oven mitts to try to show off her earlobes. West chuckled, brushing her hair behind her ear to observe.

“Very nice.
And- they won’t fall out in the ocean. Perfect.”

“Roam!” Eva dove from the step-stool, and I caught her just in time, laughing.

“Eva, please go see if your sister would like some pancakes.”

“Kay, daddy.”

“Violet got up again late last night… before I went back to bed. We talked for a while,” I added as Eva ran for Violet’s hallway.

He turned and focused on a pancake, loosening the edges with a spatula.
“Oh, yeah? What did you girls talk about?”

“Honestly… some crazy stuff,” I took a step closer to him, and he froze, reaching for the knob to turn off the burner.
Is he going to acknowledge our conversation last night? Or that he almost kissed me?

As he turned his face to mine, I searched his eyes for any indication that he knew what I was talking about. “Like what?” he prodded.

I started to take another step, but Eva bound back into the kitchen, singing at the top of her lungs. “Vi-o-let wants to slee-eeeeeee-eeeeep!”

“Well, more for us,” West replied, sweeping her into his arms. “Roam, would you grab the plates out of that cabinet over there?”

“Of course. Thank you for doing this.”

“Any reason for chocolate chips is a good reason, right, Eva?”

She responded by grinning, nodding with the widest eyes possible. I laughed, thoroughly enjoying everything about her.

“You’re so silly,” I told her, handing her a handful of napkins. “Would you bring these to the table, please?”

She obliged, and as we settled into eating, West cleared his throat. “The garage called first thing this morning. The transmission is shot,” he poured syrup onto Eva’s pancakes before cutting them into bite-sized pieces.

“Does that mean we get to keep her?” Eva clapped her hands excitedly.

I gave her a smile, dropping my fork to my plate. Meeting his eyes, I sat back dejectedly. “How much?”

“Nine hundred, not including labor.”

“No,” I squeezed my eyes tightly. “That’s too much.”

“However,” he piled three pancakes on my plate, pushing the syrup my way. “I would like you to consider staying until the second week of August with us. We can drive you back when we leave, and you’ll be home in plenty of time for Morgan’s wedding.”

“Please!” Eva shouted excitedly, bouncing in her chair.

I stared at him from across the table, resting my hands in my lap. “You are so generous, but I couldn’t ruin the rest of your entire summer-…,”

“Do you really feel like you’re ruining our summer?” He tilted his head in Eva’s direction, and raised his eyes. “You already have a fan.”

“I only have two outfits and two of these ridiculous
nighties… I’d have to get some clothes…,”

“That’s nothing. Violet would love someone to go shopping with.”

“I’d insist on paying you, at least for groceries. Please.”

“How about this,” he sat back. “I have
work to do before the school year starts, and Violet needs a break sometimes. Help with Eva, that’s all. Deal?”

“Come on, you know I’d love that.”

“Stay?” Eva begged.

I smiled at them both, leaning forward. “Well, I guess you don’t have to spend your days searching for damsels in distress if I stay. So I’d be doing you a favor.”

He laughed, and held his hand up for Eva to high-five. “Yes, you would.”

“Okay… then I’ll stay.” I met his eyes, smiling. “Thank you,
West.”

I reached for his hand, watching as he pulled away quickly and grabbed his fork.

“You don’t have to thank me.”

I stared at my fingertips before sliding them back into my lap.

After breakfast, West announced that he was taking us to a place called
Shackleford Banks. He held Eva on his lap during the ferry ride to the island, promising we’d see wild horses before our hour-long tour was up.  Violet stayed back, looking forward to the day at the shore, alone. She had managed to tell me ‘happy birthday’ once more before hurrying to the balcony.

When tourists began leaving the line for the ferry, I turned to West, concerned.

“Are they closing the ferry down?”

“No, I bought out the ferry… and the island… for an hour.”

“You what?” I shook my head in disbelief. “Why?”

“I like the privacy.”

“You know… I do
get
that you have a lot of money.”

He held back a smirk. “I know it’s your birthday, Miss Camden, but it really isn’t about you. I want Eva to see the horses, and find a conch shell. Best chances are on a quiet, empty island.”

Adequately reprimanded, I lowered my eyes. “I’m so rude- I really can’t believe that I said that to you. Thank you for all that you’re doing.”

“You have to stop thanking me. I really love spending time with you,” he added, his eyes shadowing slightly. “I wish your car had broken down here a month ago.”

I widened my eyes, my lips falling open.

The ferry docked at that moment, and he carried Eva out immediately, leaving the ferry captain to help me to the sand.

“Can I help you blow out your candles tonight?”

I grinned as West set Eva to her feet. “I’m very good at holding my breath, but I’ll definitely need your help with blowing out the candles,” I told her importantly.

“Don’t run too far ahead,” he called as Eva started forward, combing the sand for shells to place in her plastic, orange pail.

“It is beautiful here,” I walked next to him, stopping for a moment to remove my flip-flops and carry them in my hands. He did the same with his sandals. The short, yellow sundress I’d worn was thin and cool in the oppressive heat. “Didn’t Blackbeard’s ship sink somewhere around here?”

“Right out there,” he gestured east, nodding. “The Queen Anne’s Revenge.”

“Yes,” I answered, taking a deep, calming breath.

Ask him.

“It was named after the War of the Spanish Succession.”

“Also known as the Third Indian War.” I added, nodding.

“That’s right,” he grinned, almost leaning into me before catching himself at the last moment.

“And were you personally acquainted with Edward Teach?” I asked, referring to the pirate’s real name.

He gave me a sideways look. “Is that supposed to be a slight on my age?”

I stopped walking, and he turned to me. “I don’t know. Were you alive three hundred years ago?”

“Roam.” He took a step backward, staring at me. “What did Violet tell you?”

“Is she okay?” I asked quickly, almost begging for an affirmative. “Does she have a psychiatric problem?”

“Eva!” West’s voice stopped the four-year-old in her tracks. “Stay closer.”

“Kay, daddy.”

“Is she on medication?”

His jaw clenched, and his eyes darkened. “What did she say to you?”

“What didn’t she say? She talked about prophecies, and evil immortal enemies, and time traveling through magical fountains…,” I turned and pointed to Eva.
“And thinks that I gave birth to Eva. West, she’s seriously ill. Did you know?”

He met my eyes. “Is that all she said?”

“She said that I was under a spell, and if I touch you, or you touch me, that all of these terrible memories would come rushing back, and not just to me, but to my family, and Logan.”

He shook his head, fury hardening every muscle in his neck.

“She’s sick, but there is medication that can help,” I said gently, reaching for his elbow. He backed away, shaking his head.

“Just let Eva have this hour. We’ll talk more at the house, okay?”

“Do you think Violet’s okay there, alone?”

“She’ll be fine,” he assured me, bending to move a piece of wood. Snagged beneath a pile of seaweed, a large, white conch shell, fully intact, sat untouched in the sand. “Eva, babe, come here!”

We saw two wild horses, speaking mostly to Eva for the rest of the hour.
I shouldn’t have mentioned Violet. It’s obvious he knows that she’s sick.
Anxiety rutted in my stomach, and I sat rigid in the seat of the ferry, lacing my fingers into knots.

Back at the house, West prepared the steaks while I painted with Eva. As Violet began the dishes after we finished eating, West cursed at the freezer. “I forgot ice cream.”

“I want ice cream!” Eva complained.

“I’ll run over to the Food Lion and grab some,” Violet dried her hands, reaching for Eva. “Come on, sis. You can come with me.”

“Actually,” he turned to me, and then Eva. “Why don’t you take her out for ice cream, and that movie? We’ll do the cake a little later. Okay?”

Violet lowered her eyes, nodding quietly. “Okay.”

“Yay Dairy Queen!” Eva shrieked, taking off for the door.

As Violet collected her keys from the counter, I watched West pull her into a hug. “I’m not angry with you.”