“Shouldn’t you motor out a bit first?”
His brows arched. “And lose the opportunity to impress you with my sailing skills?”
“Oh, so that’s what you’re about. Is it only sailing skills you hope to impress me with this fine evening?”
He laughed. “Sweetheart, if you only knew. Now take the tiller before I have to eat my words, and we drift back to shore.”
She took the stick as if experienced at the task. With her aid, Reece put up the main. “Okay, can you fall off some?”
She turned slightly toward starboard at a perfect angle while he set the main. The large canvas flapped briefly before catching the wind and snapping into place. He stole a glance her way. “You’ve done this before.”
“It’s been years but yes, my father used to take me sailing before he divorced my mom.”
While she maintained control of the steering, he cranked the wench and unfurled the jib. Once hoisted, he tweaked the settings and settled into place beside his date. “Ready for me to take over?”
“Sure.” She relinquished the tiller and closed her eyes. “I love the feel of the wind against my skin. I forgot just how lovely sailing is.”
“It’s an addiction for me.” The antique Blackwatch responded like a champ.
“I know.”
Lilah released the black striped pouf encasing her hair into a bun and the breeze, combined with the speed of the
Jenny May,
reformed her silky brown strands into the free spirit that had been locked inside for too long.
God she’s stunning, I just can’t get enough.
Hold on,” Reece warned his passenger. “We need to tack. Just be careful of the boom as it swings to the other side.” Lilah instinctively switched to the other side once the sail shifted position. He smiled, loving the way she understood the basics of sailing. She portrayed a sailor’s instinct. Her face, the seductive shape of her body; everything contoured to the natural forces of unfettered wind as it caressed the undulating surface of the lake. Lilah pressed against the invisible fingers of mild currents that encouraged the craft along its journey. She arched her back, her legs and conveyed acceptance of Mother Nature’s order in every crevice of her form.
What an angel. She’s so genuine in her movements.
“Mind if I take control for a while. It’s been forever since I sailed, and I want to see if I still remember all my father taught me.” She slipped off her sandals and pushed them out of the way.
“Give me your left hand.” He placed her hand around the control arm of the rudder and all five fingers cupped the shaft like a lover’s spear. “She’s all yours.”
Lilah faced him for a moment, and the shift in angle caused two golden brown strands to caress her lips. “There’s no one on the lake but us.”
“I love sailing during the week for that very reason, but the weekend is a whole different matter. That’s when all the fishermen and the big powerboats come out.” He settled into the bend of the formed seat and admired his guest. That she shared his love of sailing and an appreciation for the wind sweetened the idea that this woman was
the one
.
An ember danced in her left eye, like a flame bathing the surface of a green crystalline sphere. The micro glitter grew to a blaze, as if she were conjugating a riddle or about to play a joke on someone. “I have a confession.”
Here it comes.
“I’m listening.”
“This distant obsession thing was all a ruse.”
“What?”
Lilah’s countenance reflected a stern edge. “It wasn’t you I was admiring from afar; it was the boat.”
She could only hold the firm expression a few seconds before, “I had you going, didn’t I?”
He snickered. “Yes, you did.” They both exchanged a reassuring laugh.
Should I tell her I know?
He never liked secrets with the women he’d had in his life, but to confess knowledge of the darkness that haunted her past could derail all the progress they’d made. How would she react, the fact he’d held back. No, better to let her reveal the source of the shadows still blanketing her spirit, at the moment she choice as right for the two of them.
“I’m glad you’re having such a good time, Lilah. Your smile is so beautiful.”
“So am I.” She squeezed his hand tightly. “Reece, to move forward in a relationship, there must be honesty, no secrets between…us. Do you agree?”
He returned a single resounding word. “Absolutely.”
“Then will you join me in a little game.”
If that’s what it takes, Sweetheart.
“Sure. What are the rules?”
“I get to ask you any question and you must answer it factually.”
“All right, but once I show you mine, you have to show me yours, so to speak; fair?”
She hesitated. “Okay, but I go first.”
“Shoot.”
“Each of us is the sum of all the events and wounds we’ve accumulated over our lifetime, right?”
“Of course.”
“When I’ve asked about your family you’ve been evasive. It leads me to believe something bad happened, perhaps…abuse. I need to know the truth, not to judge but to help.”
Crap. I thought she’d ask about past lovers again.
He inhaled a barrel of fresh air. “No, I wasn’t sexually abused, if that’s what ya mean. My dad was dictatorial in his authority, especially when it came to me. I spent more time in the tool shed hiding from his strap or at some friend’s house until their stupid parents would call him. My mother and brother would just stand by and watch, never say a word, but not me. Wrong is wrong, plain and simple. I remember time and again, my back and ass blistered by his punishment, and I still refused to cry or give up.”
He issued a cynical chuckle. “I was such a fool. My old man would scream, ‘learned your lesson yet’ and I’d yell back, ‘never!” Reece paused until the rush of blood into his face had diminished. “It caused such anger toward my entire family. I’m not even sure anymore if they stood by because of fear, or cause they liked seeing him draw blood, but back then, I swore they were smiling each time I looked up at the house and saw them peering through the window, watching.”
Reece waited for the throbbing in his neck to subside before continuing. “You’d think when I became a young adult it wouldn’t matter anymore, but injustice bores into your brain and never let’s go. At seventeen, I ran away, hitchhiked to a nearby town, and lied about my age so I could work.”
A carousel of images clicked by; cold evenings beneath discarded newspaper, the occasional rat for companionship, the periodic vile smelling wino searching for a cubbyhole of his own to hide from the frigid rain. “At night I’d squirrel up in an abandon store, until I got enough money for an apartment, and I’ve never returned home since. I know it sounds horrible, but they don’t exist to me anymore, my family. Nearly twenty-five years and I’ve never gone home. Like my
Jenny May
, I’m unencumbered anymore by the chains they tried to shackle around my throat. I’ve been on my own since the beginning, and still am, until I can find the right one to join me.”
Reece squeezed her fingers firmly then turned to witness a stream of droplets trailing down her cheeks. “Ah, Sweetheart, it’s okay. The strangle hold of that part of my roots has been washed away long ago, doesn’t even cause nightmares anymore.”
“No.” Lilah caressed his face, first with her soft hand then lightly with tiny butterfly kisses. “You’ve grown into an amazingly compassionate man given your history, or perhaps because of it, but those specters will always stand on the rim of your thoughts; you can’t help it. All of us have things that influence our days and nights, whether we like it or not.”
“Does that include you?”
She instantly withdrew her hand, as if stung by a bee.
Now it’s my turn, Lilah.
“Along the same line, since that first day we collided at the bakery, I’ve seen a cloud that shades your gaze each time we touch with our eyes. I want to…”
She jumped up. “It’s Pelican Point. We’re here.”
“Point her into the wind until the sails luff so I can furl the jib and flake the main.” He worked quickly with her help and once done, he cranked the Evinrude and motored toward the lakeside establishment. Spying an empty slip, he took over the tiller and guided the boat into the narrow slot.
I’ll get the bow line.” Lilah offered, and he thought once again how lucky he’d been to find this woman. He only hoped she’d trust him enough with the secrets that shrouded her life.
Nineteen
Lilah knew what he wanted, and she’d already determined that she’d tell him everything, but she didn’t want to ruin this moment. Perhaps, once they were inside and he’d had a few drinks, she’d unload her worries, tell him the truth. It wasn’t fair that he’d shared his past and she hadn’t reciprocated. Besides, she’d started the game with the intent to come clean.
She pulled in tight against Reece’s side as they stepped beneath the giant balloon beaked bird above the double red oak doors. Lilah rubbed the mating pair of fowl captured in the inlays of cut glass; one mallard and one wood duck in a precession with four ducklings. “Remarkable detail. Looks almost alive.”
“First time here?”
“Yes.”
“You’re in for a treat. Wait till you see the designs over the bar.”
They politely worked their way through the corridor stopping every two feet for another man to slap Reece on the back, or some strange woman to offer a hug or kiss on his cheek.
“You must come here often.”
He nodded to the lady waving franticly at the bar while gently pulling Lilah in line of sight where all could see their hands cupped together.
Sorry girls, he’s with me now.
“I’m surprised at all the people here tonight, and most of them are female.”
Reece pointed to the tripod sign next to the statue of a pelican nesting on a triple piling,
Ladies night, Drinks half price.
“I thought girl’s night was intended to balance the numbers at a bar. Looks like they need a guy’s night around here.”
He pulled out her chair and waited for Lilah to sit before moving to the adjacent chair. “A lot of widows and divorced women from around the lake frequent this place. Not sure why. Read in the local paper the ratio was roughly two to one.”
Lilah returned the stares of the healthy and suggestively dressed cougars around the room. “I guess if a man were here by himself, he’d have his hands full.” She ended her scan of the surroundings with a bead directly at Reece. “Especially someone handsome.”
“Now, now, Lilah. It’s not right to hold a man guilty for a sin he did not commit.” He ignored the redhead toasting her drink toward Reece from the next table. “Besides, I’m with you now, no one else, and I want it to stay that way for a long, long time. Fair?”
“Fair.” The focused eyeballs in her direction were more than casual interest. They obviously didn’t appreciate competition. “They’re all staring at me.”
Reece scooted his chair around the table and traced waves along her bare upper arm. “Can’t blame them. You’re drop dead beautiful. Kind of takes my breath away each time I look at you.”
She lifted their joined hands and pressed her lips against his skin. “What a wonderful thing to say, Reece. Even if you’re just trying to flatter me.”