Hour Of Darkness

CH 28 - "Islands In The Sun"

28...Islands In The Sun...

Snow was falling heavily outside the window. Charlie set aside the waxing cloth and skis and went to watch it. The mountain was coated and all she could see was white. Nausea pinched at her stomach but it wasn't as bad as when she woke up that morning. It had been hitting her every morning for the past few days. She kept telling herself it was just the stomach flu, but no one else was sick. A little voice in her head tried to make her face reality but she had yet to stop and really listen. This wasn't how it was supposed to happen.

She traced her fingertip across the surface of the cool window, drawing in the condensation that had settled on the glass. She stared at the window and the name she had written on it. Her throat tightened and she bit her lower lip. For the first few days after he left her there at the motel, she'd kept expecting him to show up at the ski lodge. She knew it wasn't a realistic expectation, but one she couldn't resist. Not at first. But it had been nearly two weeks now and she knew he wasn't coming back. But then, he'd told her he wasn't.

A breeze swirled through the falling snow outside and flicked it against the glass. Charlie felt the icy air whirl through the hole in her heart as well. Tears stung her eyes but she blinked them back. Crying wouldn't change anything. It wouldn't bring him back. It was way past time for her to face reality; she was on her own, and soon there would be another who looked to her for love and care.

Her hand flattened on her stomach and she closed her eyes. Though she fought them, a tear managed to escape and slide down her cheek. She didn't feel anything bad towards Bob. He had wanted to stay, it was in his eyes when he'd left her. Perhaps that was why she'd clung to the hope that he would come back. But that hope was gone now, buried deep beneath the Colorado snow and put to its final rest at the base of the majestic Rocky Mountains.

I love you, Bob...please don't forget me. The words fluttered from her heart on delicate wings and she prayed they had the strength to seek him out wherever he was in this vast, cold world. That they would somehow bring him a sense of love and belonging. She had sensed he needed a little of that in his life the moment she had looked into his eyes. Such captivating eyes. The way he had left her, the things he had implied...it possessed all the signs of a bad guy. But she would let nothing and no one depict him as a bad guy to their child. For Charlie, he would always be the White Knight of her story...and the Hero of their child's fantasies.

“God speed.” She whispered, her throat tight with tears. “Please be safe.”

Behind her, a coin rattled down into the jukebox, and then...

'Aruba, Jamaica, ooh I wanna take ya to Bermuda, Bahama, come on pretty mama...'

Charlie stiffened as the words to the Beach Boys' song Kokomo drifted across the room like a warm, tropical breeze. Her heart shuddered as she slowly turned around.

Leaning casually on the jukebox, Bob flashed her the smile that had made her fall in love with him at first sight. She couldn't move. Surely she was imagining him there. But then he was moving, walking towards her, casually and with that powerful confidence that assured him he was the one person in all the world she wanted to see most.

Her pulse quavered erratically when his hands touched her, drew her into the embrace she thought she would never feel again. When his lips brushed hers, she couldn't respond, still in shock. But as the heat of his mouth began to warm her from the heart out...a low moaning sob shuddered up her throat and she accepted his presence there as sweet reality.

Charlie clung to him as his arms tightened fiercely and their kiss deepened. When he finally drew back, Charlie gasped softly then pressed her face to his throat and finally let the tears flow. He stroked her hair and kissed the top of her head.

“So...Aruba?”