Stranded! (13 page)

“Let’s…get out of here.”
Marshall and Oceans were so overwhelmed that they didn't know where their plane touched down, only that after a short time, they were transported to another plane and against all recommendation to be flown immediately to a local hospital, the couple requested to go straight to the United States. A doctor was brought on board to monitor the family and it felt so strange to her to be pampered. Everything seemed to be greatly amplified. The bottled water was too cold, the seats too soft, the people too loud, and the breath mints were too sweet.
They had finally stopped asking questions and Marshall, who had dreamed of this moment, felt more nervous than excited. He was happy, there was no doubt of that; but he was scared. Someone handed him a telephone and he looked at them curiously.
"It's your mother and father." His breath gushed from him and he stared at the oversized phone before accepting it with trembling hands.
"H-hello?"
"Marshall?!"
"Mom?" And then he began sobbing.

~Epilogue~
Marshall poked his head into the casino, spotting his wife sitting perched on a stool feeding coins into the slot machine.
"How did I know you'd still be here?" Oceans jumped and looked at her wrist watch in guilt.
"Oh my god, I didn't realize how late it was!"
He peered at her cupful of coins in amusement. "Are you betting the nickel slots?"
She collected her bounty. "Yes I am! And I won two hundred and twenty-five dollars, too!"
Marshall chuckled. He was still wearing his ski pants and a black turtleneck. His ski goggles rested on the top of his head. "You are probably the only New York Times best selling author that will sit in front of slot machine feeding in nickels."
"Whatever." She responded. But she pinched his butt as they walked out because it just looked too sexy to resist. Of course all eyes were on the couple. It wasn't because they were the 'survivors', but because they stood out. Marshall was tall, chiseled with cropped short hair that had somehow stayed blond. Even his tan had never completely faded.
Oceans’ curls were coiffed and tamed, yet still seemed wild. Her skin was dark brown, and her body was more athletic than rounded. She wore ski boots though she preferred to leave the skiing to her husband while she played the slot machines. Her black jeans hugged her body in a sexy way and she too wore a black turtle neck. Once they reached the elevator, Marshall leaned in and kissed his wife, palming her full bottom before they reached the penthouse. They pulled away from each other before the doors opened into the spacious living room.
Several sets of eyes turned to them.
"I thought you two would miss it!" Marshall's mother said. She was holding a toddler who strained to be put down upon seeing her parents.
Marshall's father turned on the television. "Well we have a solid five minutes."

The couple was oddly unaffected by things that would make others leap for joy. They took their fame in stride. Everyone was still talking about ‘the survivors’, they wanted to go to the island, they wanted to watch them on a reality TV, public figures wanted their endorsements and movie stars wanted to party with them. They understood the interest but they also understood what made life wonderful—and it wasn’t any of that.

Marshall dropped to his knees and waited for his daughter to reach him. At just over a year old, little Skye Cohen scampered around with the new freedom of learning to walk. She spoke in rapid animation to her Daddy with him recognizing only one or two words. He carried her into the large living room.

"Thanks for watching the baby, Mom and Dad." Oceans said. It was a gift to know and to be totally accepted by Marshall's parents. She treasured them as if they were her very own parents.
Marshall's mother came over and placed her hands gently on Ocean's face. "My granddaughter is no chore at all. I wish you two would move back to New York. It's so cold here in Colorado!"
Marshall and Oceans exchanged looks. "It can't be cold enough." He murmured. His mother blushed. Once Marshall had expressed his love for skiing on a popular talk show, they were given lifetime use of the penthouse at an exclusive resort. Besides the month they spent here, home was a mountainside cabin overlooking the Rocky Mountains.
"Hurry! Grab a seat, its starting!" Marshall's father yelled. Everyone scurried for a seat on the plush sectional even though they’d already seen this episode of the popular talk show, as well as many other talk shows that they had appeared on.
The familiar theme song began and Oceans snuggled into her husband's arms while their daughter squirmed, moving from one parent to the other until she was released to the carpeted floor where she made a quick escape to several toys. Marshall's father picked up the remote and turned up the surround sound until it was like they all were in the studio again.
"...there is probably not a person in the world who doesn't know the story of my next two guests. A small passenger plane went down in the Caribbean ocean, leaving these two stranded on an Island for nearly fifteen months. Since their incredible rescue, the two have written a book entitled STRANDED, soon to be a major motion picture.
Our cameras traveled to the Island, which is now a very popular tourist attraction owned by the Cohen's. They have never returned to the Island and will see footage of it for the first time here on our show. Today, the island is a memorial to the slave ship that was found wrecked on its shore. The ship is reported to be of great archeological significance as the remains of the slaves have been remarkably preserved." The popular talk show host could be seen standing and clapping her hands. "Please join me in welcoming Marshall and Oceans Cohen..."
The End

Acknowledgement

Thanks to Honeybree for her help in editing this story for Literotica.

~About the Author~

Pepper Pace is a popular author on Literotica.com. She is the winner of the 11th Annual Literotica Awards in 2009 for Best Reluctance and best Novels/Novella, as well the August 2009 People's Choice Award. In the 12
^th
Annual Literotica Awards, Pepper Pace won number one writer in the category of Novels/Novella as well as best Interracial story for 2010.

Pepper Pace writes romance stories with a touch of eroticism and humor. She enjoys writing about unlikely romances and exploring interracial relationships. She lives in Cincinnati Ohio with her teenage son and daughter.