Children of the House of Four Seasons: Claire Biebe
The direct continuation of Rose Aubrey
By Atonia Walpole
(Picture creations also by Atonia)
Part 1: Drunk on Monday
John Biebe waited downstairs in the House of Four Seasons for Claire to finish packing up her gear. They were the last to leave. With no planes to catch there was no hurry. He felt bad for Claire. Her holiday plans for her cousins…well, they were brothers and a sister now, now that the secret was out, but her plans had been tossed aside. Everybody was gone. She hadn’t wanted him to wait on her but he did anyway just to make sure she got off okay. She said she was going home to her apartment in Portland. He was going to make one last effort to get her to come home with him for awhile. Maybe if she talked to her mother? Something had changed between him and her. He wasn’t her hero anymore.
He heard a door close and she came down the stairs with her bags, “Need some help?”
“No, Daddy, I’ve got it.”
He opened the door for her and closed it behind him. Turning slightly, he closed his eyes for a moment. He’d loved this place…once.
Claire closed the back of her SUV and turned to see him coming down to the garage to his own vehicle. “I guess that’s it.”
“I’m asking you to come home again, just for a while. You don’t have to stay but I think you ought to talk to your mother about all this. It wasn’t all about me and your Aunt Toni.”
Claire fiddled with her keys. “Okay. I’ll come for a little while.”
John breathed a sigh of relief. “You want to follow me?”
“Yes, sir, I’ll follow.” Claire got in her vehicle and started the motor. She waited while he turned around and looked back at the House of Four Seasons…for the last time. She wished she could be like Jacky…leave it all here, leave the knowledge here about their origins and their relationships. What a complicated mess her family was. She pulled in behind him and left through the gates.
Then there was Maxi, taken off on his own to God knows where, though Jacky had told her he’d gone to California. It had shocked her about Rose and Maxi, not so much that they’d had sexual relations but that it had gone on for years. It hadn’t been that way with Jacky. A few times, that was all. Well, both visits. She felt so naïve, so out of it. She was twenty-three and what did she know, where had she been…Canada…Alaska? Other than the time she’d spent in France she’d never gone anywhere on her on. She kind of envied Maxi his quest.
She chuckled to herself. Get drunk on Monday? No, Jacky, I never have. I’m working on Mondays or going to class. What a dull little bird I am, so dull I’m going home for my holiday. So dull…would Jacky think she was strange if he knew the only time she’d ever been to bed with a man was with him? She was glad she hadn’t said anything. They were all so, so worldly, so much more experienced, and she loved them all. What was he doing up there? Oh,, gas.
“Pull up, Claire. I’ll fill yours, too. Take this card in and pay.” John was at her window.
Claire went in, paid for the gas and bought a couple bottles of water. It was going to be a long drive to Belfast.
It was late when they arrived at the family home. Claire took her bags upstairs and washed up, then went down to find her mother.
“Hi, Mom.”
“Hi, Claire. Are you hungry? There’s .…”
“No, we stopped in Camden and ate. How are you?” Claire sat in one of the comfortable chairs in the den.
Donna cut the TV off. “I’m fine. How are you? I’m sorry about your vacation.”
“Yes, me, too. It might have been fun anyway but everybody’s daddy showed up.”
“Your daddy said you were pretty upset about it all, upset with him. Honey, you have to understand he had no control over that…when he was called to the house. It never affected us at all. When we came out of the movie it was hard at first because I didn’t know what was going on but then after we went to the house and I met everybody and was told the truth…it was better, it was good between me and your daddy. We were able to have you. I’m glad it all happened, even the Toni thing, because if she hadn’t asked for John and fallen in love with him nothing that followed for us would have happened.”
“It was just a shock, you know, to find out he was a movie character. I really liked him, though, in his movie.”
“So did I,” Donna smiled. “I still do.”
“I know, Mom. So do I,” she smiled. “I probably need to tell him that. I told him I wasn’t his princess anymore.” She looked down at her hands.
“That must have hurt, Claire. You’re something special to him, you know.”
“Yes, well, I still think I’ve passed the princess stage, Mom. I’m 23 now. It’s time I grew up, don’t you think?”
“Just don’t grow away from us.”
“No…no, I won’t do that but…something has to change for me.”
“What do you mean?”
“I’m not living in the real world. I feel like I’m living in one of those glass cases we got for my doll collection. I’ve got to break out, do something different.”
“Claire, this is real life. It’s not always as exciting as going to the movies. You’ve got plenty of time, dear. Get your education behind you.” She smiled at her daughter.
“I’m 23. I’ve been doing that since I was 5 years old. If I wasn’t in school I was going to lessons somewhere else, dance, music and skating. You know what, Mom, I can’t remember the last time I danced for fun or skated just because it was a good day for it. I’ve never been drunk on Monday.”
Donna laughed a little. “I’m not sure drunk on Monday is something to aspire to.”
“But it is, Mom…it is.”
Claire went up to her room with its glass-fronted display cases for her dolls, a wall covered with her medals and photos of her accomplishments, her bronze Olympic medal. Her room was neat and orderly as always, like her life, all neat and orderly, everything in its place, everything planned and lined up in a row. She took her bag and dumped her clothes out, scattering them from one end of her room to the other.
Later she picked them all up and put them in their proper place.
“Did you talk to her?” John asked.
“Yes, I think she’s okay with you, John. She sounds bored to me. It’s a shame her vacation turned out like it did. I think she really needed one. You know what she said, that she’d never been drunk on Monday.”
John looked at Donna. He understood exactly what Claire meant, what she wanted…drunk on Monday. That’s what he felt like when he’d gone to the House for a season, freedom, a chance to be what you want to be and not what was expected of you. A chance to break out of the mold.
“Monday’s come around every week….” He looked out of the window toward the bay.
Claire came down for breakfast the next morning. John was still at the table reading the paper. “Morning. Pri…Claire”
“Good morning.” She glanced at him, poured herself a cup of coffee and took it over to the table. “I’m sorry for what I said to you at the House of Four Seasons. I’m too old to be a princess anymore, Daddy, but I’m still your daughter, and I still love you.”
John smiled. “That’s what I wanted to hear. I don’t want to lose you, Claire. You mean too much to me.”
“No chance of that. I think I’m going home today. I can use this time off to clean out my cabinets and closets. You wouldn’t believe the mess they're in.”
“Sorry about your vacation. It looks like you might be driving home in the rain. Did you get your wipers changed out like I told you to?”
“Yes, sir, and the oil changed and the tires checked.” She smiled across the table.
“Well, you know I’m not around down there in Portland to take care of your vehicle or you, so be careful on the road. Call me when you get home.”
“Yes, Daddy,” she grinned.
John watched as she drove out of the driveway up to the highway. A final wave and he put his hands in his pockets and walked back toward the house.
Part 2: Drunk on Wednesday
Just south of Belfast the rain set in. It was mostly a light drizzle, just enough for the windshield wipers to make an occasional swipe. The roads were wet, though. Claire had a CD playing, something sexy and bluesy, Joss Stone. The red car caught her eye off on the side of the road. She slowed to pass and the man standing against it stuck out his thumb and smiled as she went by. Drunk on Monday…she stopped and backed up. A nice little red sports car, clean cut looking guy. What could happen? Never in her life had she picked up a hitchhiker, but he wasn’t really. He had the hood up…car trouble in the rain. She was being a good citizen, helping out someone in need.
She rolled the window down. “Hi, car trouble?”
“Yes, just quit running. Think you could give me a lift?”
“Okay,” Claire smiled as he went to put the hood down on the car. He grabbed his bag from the back seat and stashed it in her back seat before getting in and buckling up.
“How far are you going?” he asked.
“Portland. Where are you headed?”
“Portland sounds good.”
“About the car...have you called someone to pick it up? Do we need to find a garage?”
He turned and looked at her. “It’ll be picked up.” He settled into the seat. “Do you live in Portland?”
“Yes, live, work, and go to school there. How about you?”
“I don’t live in Portland.”
“I can drop you somewhere else on the way.”
He smiled and she caught a glimpse of green eyes before turning her attention back to the road.
“Portland is fine. I’m surprised you stopped. Hasn’t anybody ever told you that was dangerous?”
“Yes, actually my father has warned me about that ever since I’ve been driving. He’s a deputy sheriff in Belfast.”
“Is he really…a cop? I don’t think I’ve ever met a cop’s daughter before. I’m Sam Donnelly, by the way.”
“Claire Biebe. Nice to meet you. I’ve never picked up anyone before but it was raining and…you looked like you needed a lift.” He was also handsome. She liked his deep soft voice. “Were you staying around here?”
“In other words, what was I doing on the side of the road? I, um, came into Bar Harbor and was on my way south.”
“I took the ferry once over to Nova Scotia. Beautiful area.”
He looked out the window. “I’m sure it is.”
“Oh, if you don’t like the music there’s a case with CD’s under the seat.”
“I like it. Kind of fits a rainy day…and a beautiful woman.”
Claire turned to see if he meant her. He was looking right at her. S,he smiled a little.
“Were you working or on vacation?”
“Working.”
“I’ve just had an unvacation.”
“Hmm, don’t think I’ve ever had one of those. How does it work?”
“You plan it, get everybody there, and then the place is unsuitable and everybody leaves and here I am back where I started from. At least I’ve got a little time before I start back to work.”
“What kind of work do you do?”
“I work for an attorney in Portland. I’m a law student at the university, second year criminal law.”
“A law abiding citizen. Must run in your family?”
She chuckled, “I guess it does. What kind of work do you do?”
He pursed his lips for a moment. “I’m a trader, I guess you’d say.”
“Like stocks and bonds? Do you work for a bank? I have an uncle who does that.”
“No, no bank in particular."
“He manages all our accounts. He’s very good at it.”
“Does he work in Portland?”
“Oh, no, he’s affiliated with a bank in London but he lives in France.”
“You must have sizable accounts to have a London banker to manage them.”
“I don’t even know how much money we have. It’s not a subject we’ve ever discussed.”
“Sorry, didn’t mean to pry.”
“Oh, no, it’s just that I’ve never had to think about it.”
“Must be nice, not having to think about money.”
“That was a rather expensive sports car you left on the side of the road.”
“It wasn’t mine. I borrowed it.”
“Oh.”
“Why did you stop and pick me up?” He was curious.
“I don’t know. I guess because I’ve never been drunk on Monday.”
He looked at her for awhile. “But it’s not Monday. You missed it.”
“I know. I always seem to let it go by.”
“Have you ever been drunk on Wednesday?”
She smiled, “No, I don’t think so.”
“Would you like to be?”
Claire glanced at him, his green eyes wide and serious. “Are you suggesting?”
“I’m asking unless you’ve got somewhere to be at a certain time…won’t Wednesday do?”
“I’m a long way from home…”
“So am I.”
“You never said where home was.”
“No, I didn’t.”
“How do I know I can trust you?”
“You don’t.”
“I wouldn’t even know where to start.”
“Do you drink at all?”
“Yes.”
“But not much, I’m thinking. What’s the next town coming up?”
“Camden,” she swallowed.
“Then we’ll begin in Camden.”
There was a light nervous fluttering in her chest when she pulled off the road and found a place to park. The rain here was a fine mist. He had a raincoat over his shoulders and she had her red hoodie. She locked the car but he’d taken the smaller of his bags with him, a leather satchel with a shoulder strap.
“I can put that in the trunk.”
“No, I’ll carry it. If we’re going to be drinking don’t you think you should hand me your car keys?”
“Well, I’ll keep them.”
“A sheriff’s daughter and a DWI?”
“Aren’t you going to drink?”
“Yes, but I’m a professional.”
She started a slow smile and handed him her keys. “I’m putting myself in your hands. I’m trusting you.”
He smiled and pocketed the keys.
They stopped first at a restaurant on the docks for lobster rolls and beer. Later they walked up to the main street and he looked in the pubs as they passed, finally settling on one and escorted her in. It was an old bar full of character and not done up for tourists. He found a booth in the back and they sat down.
“How do you want to do this?” he asked, leaning across the table.
“What do you mean?”
“Beer takes longer, wine is quicker, liquor gives you a good ride.”
She grinned, “I’d like liquor…a whiskey and ginger ale.”
She was well into her third drink. He was nursing his second. “And I won a bronze medal. It’s hanging on my bedroom wall at my parents' home. I never did much after that with skating. I started college and I’ve been there ever since. So you see how my life has been…like I’m following a damn map or something, knowing exactly what comes next.” He was easy to talk to he listened and was sympathetic and so good looking. “You aren’t married or anything are you? I’m not keeping you from wife and kids?”
“No, never been married and no kids that I know of,” he smiled. His eyes crinkled in the corners when he smiled. “Tell me…what does come next for you?”
“Just the same thing…finish law school and go into practice.”
“When do you play?”
“Play? You know, Sam, I can’t remember the last time I just played. Even vacations are planned…even unvacations.” She finished up her drink.
“Do you want another or move on to the next town?”
“What time is it?”
“Does it matter?”
“No, no, it doesn’t. I’d like another.”
Sam brought her another drink and had his topped up with water. “Here you go.”
“I don’t think I want to go home. I’m afraid…afraid I’m going to wake up one day and be forty and never seen the sunrise over the ocean or set over an ocean or lived what’s between. Do you know what I’m saying? I just want something different.”
“You’re safe, Claire. You’ve got a safe life with no worries. Why would you want to stir that up? Maybe what’s between those oceans is not for you. You’ll finish school, get your degree, marry some nice attorney and have a house full of kids someday. You’ll be living the American dream. Look at you now. You’ve got what half the population wants.”
“But I’m dull!” Her hair hung over her face. “My life is dull. Do you know…I don’t even have a boyfriend because it’s not convenient right now. Because I think I wouldn’t have time for him. Do you know the only guy I ever went to bed with was my cousin Jacky and that was…two years ago. Dull...Sam…dull.”
“You don’t have to go home tonight. There’s no one waiting for you, not even a cat?”
“No, not even a cat. Where would we go?”
"We…do you care?”
“No…but you…you have to get to Portland.”
“I don’t have to get anywhere. No one is waiting for me that I want to see.”
“You could surprise me?” She was beginning to slur her words a little.
“I could. Do you like surprises?”
“Yes, and I don’t get many…you know. I like you, Sam.”
“I like you, too. Finish your drink and we’ll get back on the road. Who knows where we’ll end up.”
“Hey…I like that! Yeah, who knows.” She took a big drink from her glass and laughed.
Sam put his arm around her to steady her as they walked up the street to where the car was parked. He teased her about her condition. She laughed, he laughed with her.
Just outside of Portland near the airport he stopped at a Holiday Inn, paid cash for the room and carried her in. She’d passed out in Rockport.
Part 3
Sam laid her carefully on the bed, removing her shoes and arranging her hair. She was beautiful. He could, of course, take advantage of the situation. It crossed his mind, lingered for a bit and moved on. She was a sweet girl. He’d brought her purse in and, as he was what he was, he went through it but he didn’t take anything.
He sat down and called the airport, looking for a flight out to Miami. Nothing until morning 6:30 was the first flight he could get. That wasn’t going to work for him. He looked at his watch, 7:30. He could get to Charlotte tonight or Atlanta. He booked a 9:00 to Atlanta. He thought he could get a room near the airport and be there for the first flight out in the morning. He made his travel arrangements and hung up the phone.
Pulling her keys out, he tossed them on the desk in the hotel room. He took a shower and changed his clothes, rolling the damp raincoat into a ball and sticking it down in his bag. He opened the mini bar, made himself a drink then sat down in the chair and watched her sleeping on the bed, all the things she’d told him running though his mind. Drunk on a Monday. He knew what she meant but he wasn’t sure he’d given her that Monday today. Still it was something out of the ordinary for her. Her phone started ringing in her purse and he got up, found it and turned it off.
Claire moaned a little on the bed and turned over. Sam took a long swallow of his drink, set the glass down and moved over to the bed, intending to wrap the coverlet over her.
“Sham.”
“Um hm.”
She reached for him, finding his arm, and pulled him down on the side of the bed. Her eyes only half open, she mumbled, “Sam…love me.”
He smiled a little. How could he turn down that invitation? He had time before his flight.
Claire wasn’t quite herself, not quite in control of her emotions. He kissed her and it was good. Her arm went around his neck and pulled him down on top of her. As he found her, she pulled him in, letting herself go, taking him deeper and deeper within her. She had no thought except him and what he was doing with her. He was loving her and she returned it. She’d used her element quite without realizing it.
The little quick fuck Sam had intended turned into something else, something he had no control over. She pulled him into herself, warm and loving. He felt it all over his body and something within him gave over to her letting her warm him and love him. He let himself go with her and she took him to a place from which there was no return.
He lay on top of her, their bodies still connected. He didn’t want to move, to lose that connection. He kissed her again deeply.
“Umm,” she said, holding him tightly inside her, but he slipped away. “Don’t move.”
“I’m crushing you.”
“No…oh, Sam.”
He looked into her eyes and rolled over, bringing her with him. “Claire, my God, Claire!” His arms tightened around her and he held her while the clock moved on. Later in the night he took her again and it was the same. He’d had sex with many women but he’d never experienced anything like her. He lay on his back, staring at the ceiling, knowing he’d missed his flight to Atlanta and knowing within four hours he’d have to get up and leave. He had to get to Miami and from there to his key, his safe haven. It was complicated now because of Claire. She was like a drug he couldn’t live without.
She reached for him again and this time he woke her completely.
“Claire, are you awake? Can we talk?”
Claire blinked her eyes, her body craving his. “Sam, I don’t know.…”
“I don’t either. I don’t understand it. Look, um, I can’t stay here.”
Claire was awake now and she looked over the bed and sat up a little. “Where are we?”
“In Portland, a hotel near the airport.”
“I don’t remember coming here.”
“No, you were asleep…drunk on Wednesday.”
“Oh God! I was supposed to call my Daddy last night.”
“Listen to me a minute…I have to leave this morning. There’s a 6:30 flight to Miami. I have to be on it. I don’t want to leave you but I can’t stay here.”
“Why, why can’t you stay, Sam?”
“I…I just can’t. I know this is crazy. Will you come with me?”
“Come where…to Miami?”
“Not exactly but near there.”
“No!” Her arms went around him. ”No, you can’t go! I didn’t know I needed you. I don’t even know you but I can’t let you go.”
“Then come with me.”
She looked at him for a moment. “Today…now? Oh…Sam…”
“I know. I wasn’t on your road map of life. You weren’t on mine, either. You said you wanted something different. Well, by God, you’ve got it…as far from life as you know it can get.”
“I’ll need to let my Daddy know.”
He placed a finger on her lips, “No…you can’t tell him where you’re going. He doesn’t need to know. Later we can work something out but not now. Right now I need to get out of this state. Come with me.”
“I don’t know where I’m going.”
“But you’ll go?”
“I have to be with you.”
“Then you’ll have to come, now, this morning.”
“Sam, I can’t just fly off with you. I…I have a job and…and school to finish.”
Sam pulled away from her. “And that attorney to marry, the house in the suburbs.” His eyes had a pleading look. “Think about it, Claire. Is that what you really want…to be a number in a phone book?”
“Who are you…what are you?”
“I’m not sure you’re ready to hear that but does it matter?”
She placed a hand on his chest and realized he was hers. When had…she’d used her element, the one Jacky had shown her, with this man whom she didn’t know. “I don’t think it matters. You’re already mine. I’ve made you mine.”
“Ha, yes, you have otherwise I wouldn’t be practically begging you to come with me…Claire?”
She took several quick breaths. “Yes…this turns everything, my whole life, upside down…all my plans, everything I’ve worked toward and sacrificed my personal life for. I’m about to throw it all away for someone I picked up on the side of the road, someone I don’t even know except that somehow I’m helplessly in love with you. How does this happen? Sam what have you…?”
“It wasn’t me. It was you. You took me somewhere, Claire, somewhere I’ve never been and I want to go back there again and again and again. I know we’re worlds apart but something …bridged the gap.”
“What time is it now?”
Sam looked over his shoulder at the bedside clock. “4:20. We have to be at the airport an hour before the flight. I’ve got to book it yet.”
She ran a hand over her hair. “Okay, I need to, um, shower. I’ve got clothes in the car in my bag, and some aspirin.” She looked up at him.
“Got a headache?”
She smiled, “Yes, I probably should get it examined…in Miami.”
Part 4- A Place with No Name
They changed planes in Atlanta and had time for a bite to eat. Claire was so caught up in what she was doing she had little appetite but Sam encouraged her to eat something. He was still a mystery to her, answering little about himself. He was from the Midwest…he had no family…he was thirty –three…his work involved a lot of travel. She’d practically told him her whole life story except for the magic part.
He handed her a boarding pass as they were getting ready to board the flight to Miami. She’d only had time to glance at it before he swapped tickets with her but she’d seen the name on it: Dalton. She kept it to herself until they were in the air.
“What’s your real name?” she asked quietly.
He looked over at her. “Peter Samuel Dalton.”
“Why did you tell me your last name was Donnelly?”
“It was at the time.”
“You lied to me.”
“It wasn’t a lie. Like I said, it was Donnelly at the time. I don’t always use my real name.”
“Why? How do I know you’re not lying to me now?”
“Because I’m not. I have no reason to. I didn’t know you then.”
“You don’t know me now.”
“But I will and you will know me, too Once we get to where we’re going, I’ll explain everything to you, but not until then.”
“You can’t even tell me where it is we’re going?”
“It has no name,” he smiled and squeezed her hand. “I know it’s asking a lot of you, but trust me.”
She was trying to, in the clear light of day, trying to tamp down the panic that was very near the surface.
From Miami a flight took them to Key West where he retrieved his car. He went by the post office and picked up a package and his mail. They stopped at a market and he bought some groceries, necessaries he called them. Bags of ice he packed in a large cooler kept in the back of the Ford Explorer. Claire nursed the can of Coke she had as they crossed over bridges to different keys. He named them all for her until they came to the last concrete bridge.
“This is No Name Key. Honestly, that’s what it’s called.” He smiled over at her. “There is no electricity here. You’ll have to get used to that. We use generators for power. Don’t look so worried. It’s a different life; that’s what you wanted, isn’t it?”
“This is where we’re going?”
“It’s the end of the world, Claire.”
It was more a path than a road that he turned down, sandy thick undergrowth on either side. Claire looked out at the palms and unfamiliar shrubs. “Deer, I saw a deer.”
“You’ll see lots of them. It’s their island, really. We’re only just visitors." The path forked and he continued on to the right, finally pulling up behind a house, long and low. It was shuttered and looked abandoned to Claire, constructed of concrete and tabby at the base and wood up to the roofline. It was painted green and blended in with its surroundings except for the white roof.
He was out of the car and went over and unlocked the doors, doubled and arched, heavy looking.
“Come in.” He turned to her and held out his hand.
It was hot and dark inside. Claire could see that it was a large room. He went immediately to the back wall and unlocked the shutters. Stepping through, he pushed up the metal hurricane shutters and as he went along the back wall, the house opened up to the ocean. There were no windows, just an open house. She walked over to the open wall. The breeze from the ocean lifted her hair, cooling her damp neck. He’d opened all the shutters now. She turned and looked inside, a smooth concrete floor, tropical furniture made of teak, a few quirky colorful things hanging about. A large brightly painted macaw caught her eye, sitting on a metal loop and moving in the breeze. He was unloading the car and she went to help.
“How long have you lived here?” she asked, picking up her own bags.
“Three years off and on. It’s my safe haven.” He glanced at her and carried the groceries into the house.
She went in to ask him why he needed a safe haven but he’d gone outside to start up the generators. She found the bedroom and set her bags down. With the shutters open it was almost like being on the beach with a roof. Claire kicked off her shoes and pulled a pair of shorts out of her bag. It was too hot for jeans here.
After everything was in the house, the food was put away and the ice chest moved in to the cooking area. It wasn’t really a kitchen, he explained. Most of his cooking was done on the gas grill out on the long concrete patio. Sam went into the bedroom and shed his clothes, pulling on a faded pair of swim trunks. He saw Claire out on the patio under a thatched umbrella with a bottle of water. He smiled and made her a drink.
“A little hair of the dog? It’s a mai tai.”
“Thank you.” She sipped the drink. “Um, this is good. Sam, how did you ever find this place?”
“An acquaintance left it to me. It’s one of the few things that I’ve ever put my name to. I own it and own this bit of the island.”
“You were going to explain some things to me.…”
“Where do you want me to start?”
“What are you? Are you some kind of covert operative?”
He smiled and sipped his drink. “You’ve been watching TV. No, nothing so complicated. I’m a thief and a damn good one.”
“You’re kidding me!” She almost missed the table with her drink.
“No, I’m being honest with you. Next question.”
“Um, what were you doing in Bar Harbor?”
“I was on a cruise ship and it docked there. It was a good time for me to exit. My work was finished there.”
“You were…stealing from the ship, from passengers?”
“Yes, but only those who could afford it.”
“The car…?”
“Borrowed from a parking lot in Bar Harbor.”
“Oh…my…God!” Her hand went to her mouth.
“I asked you if it mattered who I was and it didn’t. Does this change your mind?”
“It never occurred to me…anything like this. Sam, how could you?”
“It comes natural. I’m a natural…and I love you, Claire Biebe.”
She couldn’t look at him so she looked out at the ocean. She’d run away with a thief, for God’s sake! What would her Daddy…oh….Mama!
“You’re shocked, aren’t you? Prefer an attorney or a cop, perhaps? Something you know and understand. I will tell you this; maybe it will ease your mind a little. I’ve never physically hurt anyone in my life. I don’t hold people up at gunpoint.” He put his arms on the table. “I’ve also never told anyone what I’ve just told you. I trust you, Claire. Now you have my life in your hands.” He pulled a cigarette from the pack on the table and lit one.
“You’ve lived a very privileged and cloistered life, Claire. It’s not like that for everyone.”
There were tears in her eyes when she looked back at him. “You stole my heart. I’ve left everything I knew for you.”
“I stole your heart and your life but I’m offering another in its place, my heart…my life. I’m gambling with my own now with you. You can turn me in. I’ll go to prison for the rest of my life and you’ll never see me again. Or…you can stay with me. I’ll protect you and love you with everything I have. What I do for a living will never touch you.”
“Yes, it would. I would live forever afraid of a phone call telling me you’d been caught somewhere. Sam, I don’t know if I can do this.”
“Well then, you can go back to your life in Portland, marry that attorney, have his kids…follow that map, knowing where it will end, nice house in the suburbs, a trip to Hawaii once a year. Call your…Daddy once a day to see how the weather is in Belfast.”
“I need to think.”
“I’ll take myself off then. Enjoy yourself; make yourself at home. This is one that I have. There’s another in Italy, a chalet in Switzerland.” He smiled a little. “I told you I was damn good at what I do. Have yourself a think. I’ll be back before sunset. You wanted to see a sunset and you shouldn’t see it alone.”
He got up, moved around the little orange-painted table and kissed her, went inside and pulled on a tank top and a pair of flip flops and left her there.
The ice had melted in her drink but she drank the watery sweetness anyway. It was so quiet, only the sound of the ocean stretching out as far as she could see. It was too much…too much. She burst into tears. She’d given herself to him, taken him into her and made him hers. She wanted him, craved him, but how could she do this? He went against everything she’d ever known. Her Daddy arrested people like him. She was studying to be a prosecuting attorney. She’d be putting people away like him. How could she love him? How could she live with him? She’d never be able to tell her parents about him.
She left the patio and walked in the sand down to the water’s edge. It was beautiful here, a safe haven, but she couldn’t imagine being here without him. What would she do with herself? She sat down in the sand, letting the water wash over her feet. “Damn you, Sam Dalton!” she said aloud. The picture of her life he’d painted had been right on target. All the things she’d said about herself and her desires to break out of the mold had come back at her now. He offered a door and she only had to step through. If she closed that door and turned her back on it, she would never know him, never have him again. Her life would get back on course, two more years of school, a law practice ,and then what? Was that attorney waiting out there somewhere for her? What would they do…talk about their cases, pop down to the corner for a drink, join the country club, join a church all for the sake of conformity, establishing a background, good solid citizens you could trust your fate to in court?
But he’d trusted his life with her. She could be that solid citizen. It’s what she was trained to be, what she knew how to be. There would come a day when she’d look at a sunset and wonder. Would she regret it…what could have been…would she spend the rest of her life wanting him, wondering if he was alive, or in prison, if he was still thinking about her?
“Damn you, Sam Dalton! I should never have picked you up!” But she’d wanted to be drunk on Monday, do something totally not Claire, something spontaneous and risky and she had. Now look where it had brought her. If only she’d never known him…but it was too late.
Part 5 –The Heart Thief
She was sitting in the shade of a palm tree when he came back. He hadn’t been gone long, only over to Big Pine Key to exchange some propane tanks. He really didn’t want to give her much time to think right now; he was afraid of the outcome. She’d been in the ocean. Her white cotton shirt was hanging on the back of a chair and the camisole was wet, along with her shorts and her hair. He stood back in the shadows of the living room for a moment before coming out, picking up a cigarette and lighting it before walking down to where she sat.
“Hi.” He sat down in the sand next to her.
“Sam, how would we live, where, what would I do?”
“Anywhere. I can set you up in Miami. You can finish your schooling there if you want to. You can be that attorney you’ve worked so hard to be.”
“Where would you be…here?”
“Part of the time and when I am, so would you. I’d take you to Switzerland or Italy with me. I have homes there.”
“Would you marry me?”
“Is this a proposal? It’s better for you if you don’t connect yourself with me, not legally anyway. What have you come up with?”
“The first time in my life I did something totally unexpected I met you. There had to be a reason for that. I never believed in things I couldn‘t see but I’ve learned this summer that not everything can be explained away. Sometimes it's magic and magic is magic and cannot be explained in a textbook. I’m going to stay, going to try it and see if it works for us. If it doesn’t then I’ll go back and pick up my life and you can continue on with yours. I couldn’t possibly just walk away now and never know.”
His eyes softened. “I was afraid you’d want to go back tomorrow.”
“I will need to call my father and tell him something. He’ll have the highway patrol out looking for me and if they find my car at the airport…. I just need to let him know I’m okay”
“Who pays your phone bill?”
“He does.”
“I’ll get you a phone tomorrow in your name and you can call him then. Just don’t tell him all of it. Don’t say where you are. Miami is close enough. We have to protect this place.”
“Yes.”
“Does he pay your rent on your apartment? Okay, I’ll set you up an account in your name. Take care of your own bills, pay off the lease and put your things in storage. Anything you need to replace you can do it in Miami. It’s a front, Claire, but a necessary one.”
“A front…I’m going to be living on the other side now, the other side of the law.”
“It’s a place he can send you a birthday card, a place he can come and visit and make sure his daughter is doing all right. He doesn’t have to know about me at all.”
“He’ll have to know something. There has to be a reason I left Maine.”
“You wanted to get drunk on Monday.”
She looked at him a moment and laughed and fell back in his arms. “And, boy, did I!Wednesday counts, too. I…I just couldn’t imagine my life without you in it, Sam.” He kissed her and lay her back in the sand, tasting the salt on her neck.
“There’s an outside shower. Let’s go wash off the sand. We’ll go to bed for awhile.” He kissed her again. “Then I want to show you a sunset.”
He lay her down on the soft white cotton sheets and kissed her, trailing his lips down her neck to her breasts, teasing her nipples and on down until he found her core. The earth began to move and she pulled him up, wanting him inside of her. Her arms went around his back and she traced his spine all the way down, holding him tightly into her. They belonged to each other now, for better or worse, whatever way fate would lead them. She would love him and protect him, nurture him, and mother him. She would be strong, knowing he was behind her where he must be, quietly in the shadows.
Later they walked the beach to the curve in the key. The sun was already putting on a show of colors. Most of the sparse population of No Name Key were already gathered, some in lawn chairs, most in the sand. A cooler was opened and a beer passed to them. They were acquainted with Sam and accepted Claire without a second glance. Sam explained to her they were like family, looking out for each other, but not to expect to come on the island without it being known from one end to the other.
“Do they know what you are?” she asked.
“No, there may be worse among us here. Who knows and who would care? We’re all here for the same reason, a safe haven.”
A young man sat in the sand with his bongo drums, softly beating out a rhythm. Someone else had a harmonica and an old man turned his blind eyes toward the setting sun and strummed a guitar. Sam sat in the sun with Claire between his legs, leaning against his chest. They touched their bottles and drank to the sun as it sank beneath the distant waves. He kissed her softly.
The ceremony was over and they put their bottles and any trash they might have created in a paper bag to be taken back by the young man with the bongos. A quick good night and the residents of No Name Key disappeared back onto the paths and trails to their homes.
Claire and Sam walked hand in hand down the beach. “That was beautiful. A simple ceremony to put the sun to bed.” She smiled up at him.
“They do it every night, not always the same group, but some.” He slipped his arm around her waist. “I’m glad you decided to stay, Claire. I’m not sure what I would have done if you hadn’t.”
“I’m not sure I had much choice. Oh, I could have gone home and pined away in my bower, but I’ve tasted you and life outside the box. I’m not sure I could go back, at least not as the same person. Sam, I’ve never really loved anyone before, not this kind of love."
“I’ve never loved anyone. You may have to show me how it’s done.”
“You’re sure doing all right so far. I was so full of questions and after a while I thought…why do I have to know all the answers right now? Just let it be revealed as we go along. I’m like that, you know, try to get all the pieces in place before I act on something. This time I had one piece and that was you and that was all I needed to start.”
“To start what?”
“The puzzle that’s going to be my life from here on out. Whatever it might be it has to fit around you. I would like to finish school. I hate to leave something like that unfinished. I’ll need to transfer…and I don’t know what to do about my apartment. There are some things there I’d like to have.”
Sam stopped and pulled her to him. “Slow down. There’s no hurry. A week with me and you might be ready to go back.”
“No, I don’t think so. I’ve been mentally burning bridges behind me all afternoon. I’ve thrown my lot in with a thief, a heart thief. It’s all my cousin Jacky’s fault. He’s the one who asked me if I’d ever been drunk on Monday.”
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