With the Wind | A Short Novel (13 page)

All of her pain, her suffering, her loss all of it surfaced at the same time.

Her furor was mostly directed at herself.

She should have known.

But then part of her always knew.

Why was she too cowardly to do the right thing, to stand up for the man who loved her more than anything else in the world?

Could Daniel ever forgive her?

She did not announce herself. 

Father always insisted that anyone approaching the library announced themselves.

Screw him, Misty muttered.

My God.

Misty could not believe what she was seeing.

Her father and her fiancé were…kissing.

She just stood there, plainly visible but totally quiet.

It all made sense now.  At least part of it did.

She had to know everything.

She had to know why her father chose to ruin two lives.

“I thought Wilson was supposed to kiss me,” Misty said, in a surprisingly even tone.

Anthony and Wilson jumped away from each other.

As if somehow Misty hadn’t seen them.

“Sweetheart, let me explain,” Anthony began.

“Explain what?  This explains quite a bit, actually.”

“Love, it’s...it's not what you think,” Wilson stammered.

“'Love'.  What a joke.  Save it for your boyfriend.”

“Misty, we have to talk,” Anthony blurted out.

“I just got done talking with Eva.  Guess what she told me.”

“Honey, you need to know what’s going on.  Why I did what I did.”

As Anthony spoke, Wilson walked toward Misty.

Misty reached into the fireplace and grabbed a log poker.

“If you so much as breathe on me I will shove this down your throat.”

Wilson stopped and said, “Fine and dandy.  Well, what does a few hours difference make anyway.”

“Honey, I had to do this,” Anthony said.  “You will be saving the winery.  Generations of our family are counting on you.”

“What the hell are you talking about?”

“Anthony lost a fortune, dear.  You and I are coming to the rescue.”

“Dad?”

“It’s true.  I was taWilson by that bastard Whist.  I lost over forty million dollars, honey.  The winery, the estate, everything is tied up in this mess.”

“What does Wilson and I getting married have to do with that?”

“My father simply cannot tolerate a gay son.  He wants grandchildren. He wants to go to Mass and not be ashamed.  He wants me to have a proper wife and family.”

“In return, he will give us the money, interest free, to pay off the debts.  The winery will be saved,” Anthony explained.

“What I want doesn’t matter?  I have no say in this?”

“Princess, you will inherit a fortune.  Your kids,
our
kids, love, will be billionaires.”

“If you call me princess or love or dear one more time I will take this poker and…”

“Misty, calm down.  Think about this.  Have a drink.”

“Have a drink, Dad?  Are you insane?”

“I love you.  I only want what’s best for you.”

“Liar.  You want to save your own skin.  You want me to marry your boyfriend.  How convenient.  My God, what have I done.”

“Still thinking about that Russian fool, I see.”

“Wilson, when I tell him about this you better pray that I can talk him out of coming back here and hurting you.  Not beating you up, hurting you.  Think maximum pain, Wilson.”

“As for you, Father, goodbye.  Never try and contact me.  I am no longer your daughter.”

She walked to the gun case in the hall.

Misty smashed the glass with the log poker.

She grabbed a thirty eight.

It was not an antique.

She made sure it was loaded and took the safety off.

As her father and Wilson came out of the library she pointed the gun at them.

“If either of you assholes gets in my way I will shoot.”

CHAPTER TWENTY SIX

              Misty arrived in San Francisco at seven am on Christmas morning.

She had driven all night, straight through from Oregon, to get there.

She parked the jeep in long term parking at the airport.

She left the keys in the ignition.

Why not?  She wasn’t coming back.

Before she left home she grabbed her emergency cash stash.

Then she emptied her bank account.

Then she maxed out all of her father’s credit cards.

That gave her great pleasure.

She had fifty thousand three hundred dollars in her backpack.

It was her dowry, that’s how she looked at it.

Enough money to start a new life.

A new life that should have begun a year ago.

She still had not been able to reach Daniel.

Where could he be?

The phone number was right, she heard him speaking on the voicemail.

“I need to get to Thailand, as soon as possible,” Misty said to the gate agent.

“The airport is shut down, miss.  Surely you saw the signs.”

“Severe fog, yes, I get it.”

“Plus it’s Christmas time.  We’ve had limited flight operations for three days now.  All of our international departures are overbooked.”

“How soon can I get out of here?  I don’t care how much it costs.”

“Assuming that we can start flying again tonight, which is what they’re telling us, you could leave tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow?  When will I get to Thailand?”

“Late on Tuesday.  The fastest way is to go to Tokyo, then to Manila, then on to Bangkok.”

“I can’t fly straight there?”

“Not until Wednesday, at the earliest.”

“How much does it cost?”

“First class or coach?”

“First cl…”  Misty caught herself.  She wasn’t rich anymore.  “Coach”.

“Six thousand dollars, one way.”

“Book it.”

Reaching into her wallet she saw Wilson’s
American Express
card.  He had given it to her for personal shopping sprees in Forest Hills and Portland.  It had no limit.

“Excuse me?”

“Yes, miss?”

“Change that ticket to first class please.”

“Okay.  The cost for that is nine thousand five hundred.”

“Great.  Use this card.”

********

She lay down on her bed in the airport Holiday Inn.

The time difference.  She had forgotten to factor that in.

Why doesn’t he…

Her phone chirped.  It was Thailand calling.

It was him.

“Daniel?”

“Misty.  My God, it is so good to hear your voice.”

“Daniel, how are you?”

“I am well.  I’ve been in jungle taking pictures.  As soon as I see you call me I…”

“You have been in
the
jungle taking pictures.”

Misty could see in her mind’s eye Daniel smiling when she corrected his English.

“I miss you very much.  I love you always.  I hope it is okay to tell you this.”

Misty started crying.  She was afraid this would happen.

But there was no holding back the tears.

“Misty, my love.  It has happened, hasn’t it?”

“What?  How could you know?”

“I knew that someday you would discover truth.”

“Eva confessed.  My father tricked her into lying about you.”

“I suspect as much.  Do not blame poor child.”

“Of course not.  Daniel, will you consider trying to forgive me?”

“Will I consider?  What?  Say again?”

“Will you consider trying to forgive me?”

“Consider doing what?  I do not understand.”

Now he was playing with her.

It was as if they were never apart.

Not for one day, not for one moment.

He still loved her.  Nothing had changed.

“Forgive me,” Misty said.

“I forgave you the moment I left your father’s house.”

“How could you, I mean what I did was unforgivable.”

“You could not know I was telling truth.  Eva must have been very scared to lie like that.”

“My father threatened to deport Jose and her unless she lied.”

“Someday you must explain this to me.”

“I’ll explain on Tuesday when I see you.”

“You are coming here?”

“You did ask me to marry you, darling.”

“Misty, this is wonderful.  I must find us place to stay, arrange things.”

“I love you Daniel.  With all my heart and soul.  I will never leave you again.”

“We shall be married.  I know just the place to do so.  On the beach.”

“I can’t believe it. I am so happy, my love.  Tell me all about Thailand.”

They talked on the phone for hours.

They made plans.

They expressed their eternal devotion to each other.

They even named their first three children.

Only an ocean stood between them.

Happiness was just a plane ride away

CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN

“What day is it here?” Misty asked the stewardess.

“Tuesday, December twenty sixth.”

“Oh, I can’t keep it all straight.  You add a day when going west?”

“Yes.”

“How soon do we land in Manila?”

“In forty minutes.  You’ll have to hurry to make your connecting flight to Bangkok.  It leaves thirty minutes after we arrive.”

“May I have another cup of tea?”

“Sure.  Drink it quickly, though.  We are starting our descent.”

Misty looked at her watch.  She did the math in her head.

It was ten am in Thailand.

She wondered where Daniel was, what he was doing.

All she could think about was what it felt like to touch him, what he smelled like, the taste of his bare skin on her lips.

She could not wait to look into his eyes again and get lost.

Get lost forever.

She nearly knocked over an elderly couple scrambling down the jet way.

Courtesy was taking a back seat to urgency.

She knew the gate number she needed to go to. 

She spotted the sign and headed off toward the gate.

Misty noticed that large groups of people were gathered around the tvs.

Probably some terrorist bombing, she thought.

She reached Gate 122.

The sign said, “Flight Delayed”.

“Great, just great,” she muttered.

Everyone at the gate was gathered around the tv.

She walked over to see what everyone was watching.

An Australian couple was talking.

“The whole town is gone?”

“Looks like.  Wiped from the map.”

“How big was the wave?”

“They’re saying over twenty feet.”

“Crikey.  How many carked it?”

“Thousands.  They’re all shark biscuits.”

“Where was that,” Misty asked.  “Where did the wave hit?”

“Thailand, miss.  The town of Phuket is no more.”

It took a second to register.

Phuket.

That’s where she was headed.

That’s where Daniel was right now.

Please God, no.

Misty strained to hear every word the news reporter was saying.

There had been a massive earthquake out to sea.

A tsunami had just struck Thailand.

Reports were sketchy, but it appeared that the devastation in Phuket was total.

The talking heads were speculating that few in the town could have survived.  It just wasn’t possible.

She ran to an empty bench and tossed her luggage down.

He’s okay.  He has to be, she told herself as she dialed.