Five Years Earlier...
"So, what's the story about the church?" Eli asked as he ran his fingers up and down Rhea's bare arm.
She was curled against him with the blanket wrapped around them. Her head rested on his bare chest and she could hear his voice as it rumbled through him. "Is what we did a sacrilege, do you think? I mean we are awful close to the church," he wondered aloud.
"And the cemetery, I hope we didn't disturb or shock any of the little old ladies or their souls?" Rhea teased.
"Are you kidding, the little old ladies are the ones you have to look out for, they're the dangerous ones."
Rhea giggled as she snuggled into him. She was completely content and happy. The happiest she had ever been in her life. She was finally being held in his arms and it was better than she had ever imagined.
"How have you been Eli?" she raised herself up and rested her chin on his chest as she looked at him. "Since the divorce, I mean, have things gotten easier, are you happier?"
"Sure, but not as happy as I am right this minute." He gave her a heart stopping grin as he pushed her hair out of her face. "It has been adjustment, being single again, but I'm writing more."
Rhea looked at him with a frown. "What kind of adjustment? Have women been throwing themselves at you?" She forced a smile at the last part, even though she was filled with jealousy at the thought.
"Yes," he said in a matter of fact voice. "It has always happened but now it's worse. Before, with the protection of marriage, they were mostly interested in a fling, now every interested woman looks at me with marriage in mind." He put his arm behind his head as he looked up at the moon and stars. He was finally able to share with someone he trusted and it felt good to talk.
"They all want something, they either want my money or to use my fame to make themselves famous. Most times I can see through them as soon as I meet them, but other times they are more cunning and better at hiding their motives. I'm going to have to be careful or I will eventually start to distrust everyone."
"Even me?" Sunny asked, she had tensed as he had talked, worried that if he knew more about her he would believe she was one of the more cunning ones.
He looked at her again. "When I saw you tonight, I was angry, my knee jerk reaction was to think that you had returned only because I was single again. That you wanted your minute of fame like all the rest. Then you looked...you were...I saw my Sunny and the clouds cleared and I remembered that you are one of the few people I can trust."
"You can trust me Eli," Rhea insisted, knowing that she could never have him. Her parents were close to bankrupt, her family's home and restaurant were in jeopardy, if he found about that then he would think it was something that she had been keeping from him in hopes of snagging him and having him pay off all of her family's debts. If she chose him over her family and then he found out there was the chance that he would believe that she was the type of person to abandon her family for fame and fortunewhen they needed her most.
She suddenly realized that they could only have this one night and then she would have to disappear again. If she didn't, he would eventually think the worst one way or the other and she couldn't bare for that to happen.
"I know I can trust you, you're one of the few that I can." He kissed her gently. "Now it's your turn, what's been going on with you, is your mother better?"
"There's nothing exciting in my life, I live at home with my parents and help take care of my sister and brother." She shrugged, brushing off the self-pity that would sometimes swell inside of her.
"The church!" She sat up, changing the subject. "You wanted to hear about it?"
"Sure," he agreed, following her lead and reaching for his pants. She moved to reach for her dress and he stopped her, wrapping the blanket around her. "I wouldn't worry about getting dressed just yet." He pulled her close for another kiss that made her melt around him.
"Look!" Rhea exclaimed, trying to distract him. She wanted to make love to him again but she also wanted to talk with him, and if he didn't stop kissing her soon there would be no more talking.
He looked in the direction of her arm and noted that the sun was starting to rise over the water, and the red and gold that stained the sky as a new day broke was as beautiful as she said it was. They watched the sunrise for a few minutes before they saw a shrimp boat start it's turn into the river.
"I think we should move a little further in," Eli said with a serious expression as he reached for their things.
Rhea didn't object as she followed up the incline and between the bushes that had shielded them from the church.
The warm red brick work was glowing in the morning light and there was a thin mist that covered the ground so that only the tallest of the tombstones could be seen above it. There was a thin light that filtered down through the thick moss draped tree canopy; it was an enchanting sight.
"Now, tell me this story," he insisted as he followed her into the heart of the church, setting their stuff to one side.
She spun around, looking up at the sky with a smile. "I loved this place as a child. This and all of the land around it used to be a rice plantation. It belongs to my friend, Lola's family. We used to come here as teenagers-"
"With boys?" His voice sounded light but there was an edge to it.
"No," she shook her head, "never with boys." She walked over to him and wrapped her arms around him, enfolding him in the blanket with her. The feel of his bare skin against hers made her shiver.
"So, this was a rice plantation?" he reminded them both about the conversation they were in the middle of as his eyes captured hers and she licked her lips.
"Yes, the family was large as was the estate and Lola's tenth great grandmother, or something like that, only agreed to marry her husband, who was reputed to be a bit of a player, if he built her a church in which they could be married and raise their children. She felt it would keep him honest."
"And did it?"
Rhea shook her head. "No, he had at least two mistresses and had no plan to stop seeing either one of them. His wife eventually found out, years after their marriage, and she spent every day here at the church, begging for God to change him."
"I'm guessing God never did?"
Rhea shook her head once more. "The church eventually opened its doors to the nearby community and it held services for over a hundred years." Rhea couldn't help but think of all of the marriages, baptisms, and funerals that had taken place within the walls that now surrounded them. "Then, during the Civil War, it was burned by the Union soldiers. A group of Sherman's men had broken away from the main army and decided to take the long way around. They discovered the town and plantation and burned it all. Luckily, the family had escaped, but the young daughter of the family, who was supposed to have left with her grandparents, had come here to meet the boy she loved and runaway with him instead."
"Did they find each other?" Eli asked, pulling her closer to him, if that was even possible.
"Yes, they had fallen asleep in the church and by the time they awoke they were trapped."
"They died, here, in the church?"
"That's the story."
"Do you think they haunt it?" Eli whispered.
"No, why would you want to stay on earth and haunt it when you died with the one you loved?" She asked in a quiet voice. "They're buried right here." Rhea looked down next to their feet, where a small rectangular stone was etched with a date and the quote, 'So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see, so long lives this and this gives life to thee.' William Shakespeare.
Eli was quiet as he studied the stone. "That's a very haunting story, Sunny."
She nodded, listening to his strong heartbeat as he held her close. The story always made her sad and he could sense it.
"Shakespeare is great, and I'm not knocking him or anything, but we've had some talented poets in more recent times as well."
Rhea smiled at his change in subject. "Who might that be?" she asked, looking up into his smiling face.
"Have you heard of Bobby Hebb?" he asked, looking at her as if she was lacking in her most basic education.
"I can't say that I have."
"Well he wrote a poem and put it to music-"
"Eli!" she laughed. "You can't compare a modern musician to the great work of Shakespeare!"
"Of course I can, there are plenty of them, perhaps if Shakespeare had put some of those poems of his to music they would be more popular."
"Shakespeare, more popular?"
"So, this guy-"
"Bobby Hebb?" Rhea said as she felt him start to dance her around the church, the stones under her bare feet already warmed by the morning sun.
"Yes, he wrote a song about you."
"Me," she shook her head, the man was utterly ridiculous sometimes.
"Mmmm," he nodded as he started to hum until he found the tune and the key he wanted to sing it in his soulful voice filling the crisp morning air and warming her almost as much as the sun.
"Sunny, yesterday my life was filled with rain
Sunny, you smiled at me and really eased the pain
Now the dark days are gone, and the bright days are here
My Sunny one shines so sincere
Sunny one so true, I love you"
"Eli," she whispered, but he didn't stop as he danced her around the church his warm voice surrounding her. Rhea felt herself start to cry as he sang the song to her, for her, he was telling her that he loved her and it broke her heart that she couldn't say it back. She wanted to, but she couldn't. He tilted her face up so that she was forced to look at him as he sang the next verse and she didn't try to stop the tears that fell down her face.
"Sunny, thank you for the smile upon your face
Sunny, thank you thank you for the gleam that shows its grace
You're my spark of nature's fire
You're my sweet complete desire
Sunny one so true, I love you"
She met his eyes and let him see all of the love that she felt in her heart reflected there. If she couldn't say the words she could show him, and he must have seen it as he smiled down at her and traced her face with his thumb. She turned her face into his palm and closed her eyes as he sang the final verse.
"Sunny, yesterday my life was filled with rain
Sunny, you smiled at me and really really eased the pain
Now, the dark days are gone, and the bright days are here,
My Sunny one shines so sincere
Sunny one so true, I love you"
Rhea refused to think about anything after that, they spent the morning there in the church and then she drove him to his hotel in Jacksonville, telling him she would see him soon as she dropped him off, and that seemed to be enough for him as he slipped out of the truck and into the lobby. She cried the entire way home. She had found true love, she had a man who had claimed to love her, a man that millions of women wanted and he wanted her, he loved her and she had to walk away, it was either that or have him hate her in the end.