Treasured Secrets (7 page)

She opened the back door and admired the moon conquering the night sky with its pearl-like glow. As she inched up the pebble path, trying to remain quiet, she envisaged Archer waiting for her, his olive skin glistening with a fine layer of sweat. She wrapped her long hair into a thick knot over her shoulder and moistened her lips with her tongue.

As she rounded the corner of the pool house, her breath caught in her throat at the sight of Archer silhouetted in the bay window. Only an artist could paint a more solemn picture. He sat with his back against the window frame, his head tilted to accentuate his strong jawline. His shoulders sagged, as if heavy with the weight of burden.

Rosalina inhaled a calming breath before she continued up the path. She was nearly upon the cottage before he moved. His instant reaction was to drape something across his lap and Rosalina realised he was naked. She shouldn't have been surprised, though, as he always slept without clothes on.

‘Rosa?'

She froze, but then realising how silly it was not to respond, she spoke. ‘I…um, heard you scream and wanted to check you're okay?' She realised how ridiculous she sounded, but couldn't deny it being the truth.

‘I didn't know I was that loud. Sorry if I woke you.'

She probably wouldn't have heard it if she hadn't been wide awake, waiting. ‘Sound carries down the hill. That's why we never put newlyweds up here.' Another lame statement.

‘Do you want to come in?'

‘No. As long as you're okay, I'll —'

‘Rosalina, please. I've missed you.'

Hearing him say those words tore at her heart. She'd missed him too, more than she wanted to admit. Before she'd considered the consequences she found herself stepping towards his doorway. Archer had wrapped a towel around his waist to greet her at the door, but the way it hung, low on his hips, only served as a magnet to the line of dark hair trailing down from his navel. His very sexy navel. She dragged her eyes away, and before she knew what was happening, she fell into his arms.

Rosalina crumpled and despite her resolve, tears spilled down her cheeks. Archer ran his fingers through her hair, cupped the back of her neck, drawing her face to his. Their eyes locked, and in the dim light she saw the concern within them.

‘Oh, Rosa.' He caught a tear with his finger and wiped it from her cheek. ‘I'm sorry for what I did.'

She couldn't speak. Her chin quivered and the knot in her throat hurt as much as the ache in her heart.
Go…now. Leave before it's too late.
Her love for him hadn't diminished, however, for her own sanity, she had to resist until he told her everything. It took all her might to withdraw and place her hand on his chest.

‘No, Archer. I can't do this. I won't fall for you again.'

His shoulders deflated, but a sense of knowing crossed his face.

‘Put some shorts on. I want to show you something.' She tightened the belt on her silk gown and stepped out the door to wait for him.

A minute later, he stepped into the moonlight and she reached for his hand, interlocking their fingers as they'd done many times before. It was easy to follow the moonlit path, trimmed with miniature hedges. She led him to a small stream, fed by a man-made waterfall decorated with lush vines. The sound of water cascading over the carefully positioned rocks was a soothing lullaby.

‘Shhh.' Rosalina held a finger to her lips and led Archer around to the side where they could go beneath the waterfall without getting wet. She ducked under the rocks and led Archer to the darkest corner of a cave beneath the overhang. Out of the moonlight the surroundings became a black space but, as her eyes adjusted, hundreds of tiny lights appeared.

‘They're fireflies,' she whispered. His breathing was calm and steady in her ear. ‘I spent many nights up here as a kid watching them dance about. With seven siblings, it was nearly impossible to get peace anywhere else.'

She reached for the wooden seat she knew was there and guided Archer to sit. He draped his arm across her shoulder and she snuggled in to him. The moment was special, as calming and natural as if their relationship had returned to the way it once was.

His breath tickled her ear. ‘Why do they light up?'

‘They communicate with each other that way. The males show off their special light dance and if the female's impressed, she'll answer with her best flash.'

‘It's cool.'

‘In a way, I guess you and I are much the same. I recognised your scream and found you.'

‘Ha. Very funny.'

‘The males also use the flashing to lure in their prey. The poor guy thinks he's going to mate, but instead he gets eaten.'

‘Nasty.'

They remained in silence for a long time, but the weight of exhaustion soon became too much and Rosalina moved forward on her seat to stand up.

Archer reached for her, placing his hand over her arm, and she stopped. ‘I've missed you so much, Rosa.'

She wanted to see his eyes, to see the desperation she heard in his voice. Although she felt herself crumbling under his words, she had to remain strong to save herself. ‘It's not enough, Archer. Not now; not anymore.'

‘I know.' He said it like a man defeated. It wasn't the Archer she knew.

Rosalina waited. The anticipation of the moment hung heavily in the air. She could almost hear him searching for the right words.

‘I was eleven years old when it all happened.'

While she dreaded what he was about to say, she didn't want him to stop. Rosalina slipped back on the chair and leaned into him. When he draped his arm around her shoulder again, the rigidness she'd originally felt in his torso softened. He seemed at ease. Maybe he was actually relieved to be telling her about this. She let out a slow breath, willing it to calm her racing heart.

Finally he sighed. ‘Dad dragged Mum and I all over the world's oceans, treasure hunting. And he was good at it, too. It was very lucrative, he earned a good living, and we lived like royalty aboard his boat.' Rosalina placed her hand on his knee, just above his scar.

‘We weren't always at sea. Often there were long periods between dives that Dad spent trolling libraries and museums, searching for clues. So I grew up hopping from country to country. It was the best childhood…but I guess I didn't know any different. As a consequence, I didn't make friends my own age. Mum and Dad were my best friends. I loved them more than anything in the world.' He paused for a very long moment. ‘But then I killed him.'

Rosalina gasped and sat up straight. ‘Archer!'

‘Let me finish, Rosa.' He slipped his arm off her shoulder and clutched her hand. ‘Dad'd been researching a missing treasure for nearly four years. And one day when we were preparing to dive, he had this glint in his eye, you know? Like he was destined to find it, or it was destined to be found by him. I'd grown to trust that look and I knew it was there.'

Rosalina eased back against his chest again, and his thundering heartbeat echoed her foreboding.

‘The water was crystal clear, visibility about fifty metres. We dropped in and followed a coral shelf down to sixteen metres. Not that deep really and, being as clear as it was, you'd think the shipwreck would stand out like the Titanic. But hundreds of years of coral growth had completely camouflaged it. We didn't know we were right on top of it until I broke off a chuck of coral. It was stuck to a piece of wood.'

‘Oh, wow.' Rosalina wondered where this was going.

‘You should've seen Dad; he was so excited. We'd been down there for sixty minutes and he was signalling me to surface, but I…I deliberately —'

Archer swallowed loudly. The lump in his throat must've been as big as a pot roast. Rosalina squeezed his hand. ‘It's okay.'

He sniffed before he continued. ‘I swam away…forcing him to follow. I couldn't help it. I just wanted to pull up a piece of treasure. The ship was right below us, but you couldn't see it. I kept thinking every lump and bump could be gold.' He changed his grip to intertwine his fingers with hers. ‘Anyway, a small hole about the width of a coffee cup appeared right below me and when I swam over it I saw something shiny. Without any thought about what could be in the hole, I stuck my arm into it, right up to my shoulder. Dad still hadn't caught up and was banging on his tank to get my attention. But I didn't care; I was onto something. Then a chunk of the coral gave way and a big cloud of crap puffed up around me so I couldn't see. But I grabbed onto something and when the water cleared we were looking at this pendant.'

His hand went to his neck and she knew he was playing with the necklace.

That's it?
‘It's a great story. I don't know why you didn't tell me before.'

‘Because now it gets…horrible.'

‘Oh.' Rosalina waited for him to continue, almost urging him on with every breath he took.

‘Dad was so excited. We danced around in the water for ages, checking out the pendant and examining the new hole in the wreck. We lost all track of time.' He fiddled with the necklace as he shifted in the seat.

‘It was Dad who first realised we'd gone way over the dive time. He squeezed my arm until it hurt. It was serious. We had to surface where we were because we'd run out of time to go to the anchor line.' He sucked in a shaky breath and let it out in a forceful gush.

‘We were at the five-metre safety stop and I was replaying in my mind the way I found the pendant so I could tell Mum every detail. But then I sensed something was wrong. I felt it before I saw it.'

Her stomach twisted and she sat back, reaching for his hand again.

‘A shark, at least three metres long, started circling us.' He sucked the air in through his teeth. ‘I'd never been so scared in my life. Its eyes were pure evil, black as coal. Lifeless. And it was fast. One minute it was in front of us, then it was behind. No matter how fast we spun around, we struggled to keep track of it. On one of its passes it went for me. Dad pulled me back, but it got me.'

He reached down his left leg and she knew he was touching the jagged pink scar. Rosalina had seen it dozens of times but had never bothered to ask him about it. He was always guarded about so many aspects of his life that it had seemed pointless to ask anyway.

‘Tore a chunk of skin off just above my knee,' he said. ‘Blood was everywhere.'

‘Oh Jesus, what'd you do?'

‘The shark disappeared over a coral outcrop. But not seeing it was worse. I remember the fear in Dad's eyes.' Archer strangled her hand within his, but she didn't let go, didn't want to move.

‘Dad shoved me upwards and I swam like crazy. But when I got to the surface I couldn't see the boat anywhere. I thought Dad'd followed me, but —' His voice quivered.

‘Oh, honey.' Rosalina's chest squeezed so tight she could barely breathe.

‘He didn't make it…the shark…I saw it…there was so much blood.' Archer sucked in sharply.

‘Oh no, Arch.'

‘I spent ages in the water. Screaming. Crying. Waiting. Waiting for Mum. Waiting for the shark to attack me, too.'

‘Where was the boat?'

‘Mum was looking everywhere. She eventually heard my screams. I don't know how long she took, but I was almost unconscious by the time she got there. I got the bends.'

‘Oh, Jesus.' Rosalina's heart was in her throat. As a diver, she knew how bad decompression sickness was. It was one of her greatest fears.

‘While I was in a pressure chamber recovering, Mum was trying to find what was left of Dad. They found part of his buoyancy vest. This pendant was in it.' Rosalina felt him reach for the necklace again. ‘I couldn't face her. How could I tell her it was my fault we blew our dive limits? But she knew it was me — I saw it in her eyes.'

‘It wasn't your fault. How can you blame yourself?'

‘If we'd stuck to the dive times we would've returned to the anchor line and been back on the boat well before the shark showed up.' Archer stood up and paced. His heavy footfalls crunched on the gravel.

‘You're wrong. You didn't know what would happen.'

‘Mum began dying that day. She couldn't live without him. She stopped eating, stopped living, and two months later she stopped breathing. I killed them both.'

‘No, you didn't. It was a freak accident.' She strode to him, wrapped her arms around his heaving chest and listened as his heart pounded like a battle drum.

As Archer tugged Rosalina to his chest, he felt as if a dark cloud were lifting from his heart. He was thankful she couldn't see him in the blackness. She squeezed and he hugged her closer, never wanting to let go. But this was exactly what he had to do. He could never love anyone the way his parents had loved each other, where one couldn't live without the other. Rosalina deserved that kind of love.

After a while, he released his grip and reached for her hand. ‘Come on, I'll walk you home.'

They stepped out of the cave and strolled along the path.

‘I've decided to go after the treasure.'

‘Really?' Rosalina turned to him. ‘That's a great idea.'

‘Will you come with me?' His heart pounded as he willed her to say yes.

‘I can't, Arch. I need my job.'

‘You could come back to
Evangeline
. I've asked Jimmy to bring her.'

‘Jimmy? When did you organise that?'

‘When Alessandro showed me that picture of the stained-glass window. I knew straight away it was a clue to finding the treasure.'

‘Really? You're serious?'

‘I need to do this. I owe it to Dad.'

She was silent for a long time and the waiting had his insides churning.

‘I don't know.' She shook her head. ‘I just don't know.'

They arrived at a fork in the path. ‘I'll take you down to the villa,' he said.