"You"re tough to shop for." She spoke quietly, more to give Dar a chance to collect herself than anything else. "And you"re one of the most conservative non-traditionalists I know. So, I thought you"d like something like this."
Dar carefully lifted the gift out of the box and cradled it in her hand. She released a long held breath and looked up at Kerry. "It"s gorgeous."
Kerry smiled.
Dar looked back down at her gift. Resting in her palm was a pocket watch, its cover etched in fine gold and silver filigree over a darker base. From the top, a twisted link, silver chain trickled through her fingers. She gently opened the facing to reveal a face with large, crisp numbers and a briskly sweeping second hand.
There was engraving on the inside of the cover. Dar tilted her head to read it. Because you make every moment of my life worth living. She stared at the words until they blurred and she had to close her eyes to blink the tears from them. Without a sound she put the watch back into its box and reached for Kerry, who readily squirmed into her arms for a hug.
Kerry felt the shudder as Dar inhaled, and the soft gasp as she buried her face against Kerry"s shoulder. She held the moment carefully in her heart, understanding deep down that she could have written the words on a napkin and it wouldn"t have made a difference. "I love you," she whispered in Dar"s ear, hugging her tightly.
Dar drew in a breath, held it a moment, and then exhaled, sniffling a little before she spoke. "Sorry. Didn"t mean to get you all wet."
"Honey, you always get me all wet," Kerry teased gently, rubbing Dar"s shoulders with both hands. She felt her lover"s body shake again, but this time it was with laughter. She rocked Dar back and forth, just loving her.*191 So what if she had a bug? So what if their vacation had turned into a bad television movie? She had Dar, and they had each other, and there was nothing else anywhere that could top that. Nothing.
The soft sound of the waves trickled through the windows on a breeze that ruffled the oil lamp and threw a single dancing shadow against the wall.
Chapter.
Seventeen.
DAR WHISTLED SOFTLY as she worked on the stern deck, tidying up the boat from their ordeal the day before. It was about an hour past dawn. The sunlight poured over her swimsuit-clad body, warming her shoulder blades and allowing her to appreciate the brisk breeze.
Kerry was tucked in bed with a cup of hot tea for her still-sore throat. Despite that, the blonde woman had seemed much more chipper when they"d woken up, and Dar suspected Kerry would not stay in bed that long. But that was okay.
With a grin, Dar finished her task and re-entered the cabin. The scent of fresh coffee greeted her and sure enough, behind the galley counter she found one of Santa"s own little elves making it. "Ah hah."
Kerry looked up, producing a sunny smile for her partner.
"Merry Christmas and happy birthday, honey."
Dar prowled into the galley behind her. "Thought you were resting."
"I was," Kerry replied. "Now I"m cooking. It"s a serial processing kind of thing." She tapped Dar"s chest with a mixing spoon. "I feel a lot better. Now go over there and let me finish my pancakes."
"Pancakes?" Dar"s voice rose in surprise. "Mmm." She inclined her head and kissed Kerry on the lips.
"It"s a tradition." Kerry put a hand up and touched Dar"s cheek. "Now scoot."
Instead of obeying, Dar slipped her arms around Kerry"s body and caught her up in a powerful hug, lifting her up off her feet.
"Urgh." Kerry reveled in it, enjoying the unexpected side effect of feeling her spine relax and realign itself. "Ooh... Thank you." She felt Dar"s hands rub her back briskly as she was set down again.
When she leaned back and looked up, she was glad to see Dar"s face completely open and happy-lacking the worried tension of the previous day. She patted Dar"s belly through the thin swimsuit fabric and gave her another hug, then gently nudged her out of the galley so she could finish making breakfast.*193 Dar reluctantly retreated to the couch and dropped onto it, stretching out on her side and crossing her ankles. "So, are we in agreement about ditching DeSalliers and company?"
Kerry pushed a bit of hair out of her eyes. "You mean, just take off and let them all sort out their own problems?"
"Mmhm."
"Yeah." The blonde woman nodded. "I mean, there"s really nothing we can do, is there?"
Dar examined a faint scar on her upper thigh. "Not really," she said. "Sometimes it pays to know when to just close the books and walk." She gave Kerry a rakish grin. "Besides, that family feud sounds ugly."
Kerry had occasion to know more about that than most people.
She merely grunted in agreement as she poured pancake batter onto the small griddle, getting the temperature just right for the creamy substance to immediately start bubbling at its edges. She reached over to a dish and removed a handful of chocolate chips, sprinkling them evenly into the batter.
She could only imagine her mother"s reaction to her choice of breakfasts. For more years than she could count, breakfast at home had been dry toast, perhaps an egg white, and a bowl of healthy cereal with skim milk. Of course, that had only spurred her to find a way to grab a candy bar before first period at school and resulted in her developing an intense dislike of Grape Nuts.
Living with Dar was definitely different. If she felt like having a milkshake for breakfast, the only comment she"d get from her partner was likely to be "Where"s mine?" Dar had a very secure and relaxed att.i.tude toward her own body and that extended to Kerry"s as well, easing Kerry"s initial shyness considerably.
To be fair, most of the time she and Dar ate relatively healthily, and somewhat to her surprise, the last time Dr. Steve had checked her cholesterol, it had actually gone down forty points. She suspected all the extra time in the gym was responsible for that, but she wasn"t about to argue with the results. Not when she was finally getting to indulge herself and not have to worry about comments around the dining room table.
Ah well. She turned her attention back to her task. Pancakes took practice. Kerry maneuvered the paper-thin flipper under the cakes and expertly turned them, exposing nicely golden bottom sides. The scent of the cooking batter as well as the melting chocolate filled the air, and she felt her mouth start to water.
Well, at least my appet.i.te"s back. That"s a good sign. Kerry reached over and turned a few slices of bacon that were sizzling nearby.
Her throat was still bothering her a little and she still felt "off"- her body ached and her head felt slightly stuffed. But she had no fever and she was hungry enough to eat a raw fish, so she figured 194*
she was probably getting better.
Besides, it was Dar"s birthday. Kerry found herself smiling as she remembered her gift-giving the night before. She glanced over at the couch, charmed to see Dar studying her new watch, a grin tugging at the corners of her mouth as she turned it over in her fingers. She turned back to the griddle and got a plate ready, deftly transferring four of the hotcakes and several slices of bacon to it.
She set it to one side and put the rest of the food on a second plate, then turned off the heat and set two covers on the plates.
"Dixiecup, can you come over here and give me a hand?"
Dar chuckled as she set aside her watch and strolled over. "You know, if anyone had told me before I met you that I"d ever put up with someone calling me that, much less liking it, I"d have clocked them."
Kerry gave her a charming smile and handed her the plates.
"Let me get the biscuits and the coffee."
"And the syrup," Dar reminded, setting the plates on the table and returning to duck past Kerry and retrieve a jug of juice from the refrigerator. They sat down together and Dar lifted the cover off her plate, inhaling the scent of the chocolate chip pancakes. "Mm."
Kerry drizzled a little syrup neatly over her stack and separated a forkful. "You know, if anyone had told me before I met you that I"d be scarfing down pancakes and bacon without any guilt, much less enjoying them, I"d have just laughed," she said.
"So, I think we"re neck and neck for making positive changes in each other"s lives." She winked at Dar.
Dar slid closer, and they traded forkfuls of breakfast. Kerry licked a bit of syrup that had somehow ended up on the tip of Dar"s nose, and they toasted each other with coffee.
"Okay, so if we"re not crusading, and me sticking my head underwater isn"t a really good idea, what did you have in mind for today?" Kerry asked after a few minutes of peaceful munching.
"Shopping?"
A nice quiet stroll through some of the eclectic shops of St. Thomas?
Dar suddenly found that appealing, if for no other reason than that it provided an activity they could do that wouldn"t compromise Kerry"s health. "All right," she agreed. "When we"re done with breakfast, I"ll run up and tell Bud and Charlie so long, and we"ll head out."
"Ooh...you"re letting me take you shopping on your birthday.
You"re in so much trouble, Paladar," Kerry chortled, crunching a piece of bacon between her teeth. "I"m going to spoil you to within an inch of your life."
"Uh oh." Dar covered her eyes. "What have I gotten myself into?"
"Heh."*195 DAR STROLLED UP the beach toward Bud and Charlie"s place, feeling mellow and a little lazy after her favorite treat, despite the threat of shopping hanging over her head. The island was very quiet-only a few seagulls noted her presence as she climbed up the slope to the restaurant. She stepped up onto the porch and peered inside the screened door.
Inside, the restaurant was silent and still-chairs were upended on tables, and the floor mats piled near the door. It was still very early, though, so Dar didn"t consider that unusual. She pulled the iron handle experimentally, a little surprised when the door readily opened towards her. "h.e.l.lo?"
Her voice echoed in the empty room, but there was no answer to her call. With a slight shrug, Dar entered and crossed the wooden floor, pushing the kitchen hatch open and peeking inside.
The place was also empty-pots hanging spotless and empty on ceiling hooks, and stoves standing cold and barren. Dar crossed through the somewhat cramped s.p.a.ce and through the doors in the back, finding herself in a small corridor with closed rooms to either side. She knew Bud and Charlie lived in the back of the restaurant, and now, suddenly, it occurred to her that maybe they"d closed the restaurant for the holiday and were sleeping in.
"Whoops." She ducked back inside the kitchen, looking around until she found an ordering pad with a pencil tied to it. She picked it up and bent her head over it, writing for a few minutes before she studied the results, then tore the top page off the pad. Leaving the pad where she"d found it, Dar went to the inside door and stuck the note on it, facing in toward the inner rooms. Anyone coming into the kitchen would see it, and she felt reasonably sure either Bud or Charlie would do just that sometime that morning.
She regarded the note with a touch of bemus.e.m.e.nt, remembering certain rainy days when she and Kerry had played hooky from work. Okay, maybe sometime this afternoon. With a smile, she turned and walked back through the restaurant and out the back door.
Chapter.
Eighteen.
KERRY REGARDED THE charming streets of Charlotte Amalie with a grin, enjoying the colors and the displays of local handicrafts. She wore a pair of dark, mid-length shorts with more pockets than was really safe, and a crisp white shirt tucked into them, and she felt properly touristy and ready to shop.
Dar ambled along next to her, sporting snug-fitting, black bicycle shorts and a bright red muscle T-shirt. With her sungla.s.ses, and her dark hair tied back in a tail, she looked like a walking advertis.e.m.e.nt for a bad att.i.tude.
Kerry loved it. She kept catching people looking at Dar, who strode through the crowd with an air of cool disregard. She had on a light backpack, which contained the laptop and their cell phones, since the marina wasn"t what Dar considered very secure, and the straps pulled the fabric of the shirt taut against her muscular body.
Very butch. Kerry"s grin wrinkled her nose, and she suppressed a chuckle.
"What"s so funny?" Dar inquired, peering at her from over the tops of her wraparound sungla.s.ses.
"Nothing," Kerry a.s.sured her. "This place is so cute." She indicated the market. "Want to see if we can pick up some of those straw baskets? I think your mom would like them for her painting stuff."
Dar regarded the stacked wares. "Lead on,"she replied. "Hey, maybe I can pick up a pair of pearl earrings while we"re here."
Okay. Kerry linked arms with her. Not so butch. "How about some of those nice miniature seash.e.l.l ones? They"d look pretty on you."
"Think so?"
"Absolutely."
AFTER A TOUGH afternoon"s shopping, they ended up in a little outdoor cafe on the street overlooking the harbor. Dar"s backpack had gotten heavier by several packets, and Kerry had a*197 woven hemp bag resting at her feet. "This is nice," Dar commented, sipping from a cup of fragrant cappuccino. The breeze was coming insh.o.r.e, and she stretched out her long legs and enjoyed it.
Kerry had both hands clasped around a cup of hot tea. "It sure is," she agreed. "Hey, you want to spend the night up there at that Blackbeard"s Castle? It looked really cute."
Dar tipped her head back and looked up at the hill above them.
"Yeah." She smiled. "That did look like a fun place. Sure." She turned back to look at Kerry, spotting the imperfectly masked sigh.
"Running out of steam?"
Darn. Kerry cleared her throat. "My bug is still bugging me, I guess," she admitted.
"To the inn with you, then." Dar put some money down on the table and extended her hand. "Let"s grab a cab and get us a room up on that there hill." She caught a motion out of the corner of her eye, but as she turned to look, several men brushed by and distracted her, and by the time she refocused on the spot, there was nothing there.
Probably just the waiter, Dar considered, shouldering her pack and pushing in her chair. She pulled out her cell and checked it.
Seeing no activity, her brow creased. "Don"t tell me they"re still in bed."
"Huh?" Kerry c.o.c.ked her head.
"I asked Bud to give me a shout when he got up. I need to ask him something," Dar explained. "He hasn"t called."
"I thought they didn"t have a phone," Kerry commented as they walked along the street toward the crossroad. "That"s what they told Bob."
"That"s what he told Bob," Dar repeated wryly. "They"ve got a cell. They just don"t like using it. They pay by the minute." She shook her head, then looked up a number in her cell"s memory and dialed it. It rang several times, and then politely informed her that the cellular customer she was trying to reach was unavailable. Dar closed the phone. "Probably has it turned off."
"What did you want to ask him?" Kerry inquired, as they stopped and she lifted a hand to hail a cab. Incredibly, the car slowed and pulled over, its driver sticking his head out and regarding them with a very cheerful expression. "Hi," Kerry greeted him. "We"d like to go up to the castle."
"Anywhere you lovely ladies want to go, I take you," the man replied immediately. "Come, come."
"Thanks." Kerry eased the back door open. "I think," she added, under her breath.
Dar merely pushed her sungla.s.ses up a little and followed. As she closed the door behind her, she caught something in the corner 198*
of her eye again, and this time turned quickly to see what it was.
Nothing. The street corner behind her was empty. Dar frowned and faced forward, crossing her arms over the pack she"d taken off her back and wondering if the rum smoothie she"d drunk at the last shopping stop was making her see things. Or imagine them.