Chapter 45

After Agent Corbin finished his questions, he left. Perry followed him outside. Wade appeared, as I sat on the couch, digesting all that was said. I hadn’t seen him since the day David died. He had tears in his eyes.

“Kerrie, my baby doll. Oh my poor baby girl. I’m been so upset over what happened here the other day.” He hugged me until I thought he would squeeze the pudding out of me.

“Thank you, Wade. It means a lot to me to hear you say that.”

“I would have been by sooner, but Perry told me you were playing watch dog over Gene at the hospital. I called to check on him often. And we had a special prayer session over at the church for him the night after it happened. I’m thinking that helped more than anything, Missy.”

“Yes, I think that it probably did too. He’s so much better. When I left him earlier today, he was flirting with the nurse.”


“Nurse Petunia? Why she’ll chew him up and spit him out if he isn’t careful. When Ebb was in the hospital a few years ago with a broken leg, he pinched her on the behind she gave him cold bedpans whenever she could.”

Nova and I both laughed over the mental image Wade was painting, as he talked about Ebb. From there, the stories of Ebb flourished until Wade grew tired of talking about him. He stood up and made his excuses to leave.

“Kerrie, you look as pale. You’ve worn yourself ragged. I best leave so you can get some rest.”

“Oh no, don’t go Wade. I haven’t seen you in ages, it seems like.” I protested. His banter kept my mind off of what had happened.

“Oh no, Missy. Perry’s been cutting his eyes at me. I swear I’ve got little nicks from his looks, that’s how sharp they’ve been.” He joked, winking at me.

Perry interjected, “Wade, if my eyes were that sharp, half of the island would have scars by now.”

We all laughed. It felt good to laugh. I didn’t want it to end, but Wade had to leave. He hugged me goodbye, saying, “I would give you a peck on the cheek, but I don’t see a spot that wouldn’t hurt.” Perry walked him outside. We could hear them talking. And it made me feel secure for the first time all week. I had been living in fear, not believing David was really dead. I half expected him to show up and finish the job of killing Gene or me. The shadows were alive with his image. I slept with the lights on at night.

Nova stood by the sliding glass door, looking outside, smiling. “Kerrie, those two men really adore you.”

I smiled, as I leaned back on the couch. I was getting exhausted. “I adore them. They’ve been my lighthouses all summer.”

Nova started gathering the coffee cups from the coffee table. She had brewed a pot of coffee while Agent Corbin was here.

“Melinda’s funeral was so sad. Everyone wanted to ask Perry questions. Most of the people there accused him silently of killing her. We barely made it through. Then after the funeral, her sister had everyone over for refreshments. Everywhere we looked there were pictures of Melinda. I told Perry I had a headache and needed to go lie down. So we made our excuses and left. As we were driving to the motel, Perry suddenly said, ‘Nova, we’re going back home tonight. I’ve got a bad feeling that my Kerrie needs me.’”

“My Kerrie?” I couldn’t help but ask. Was I still his Kerrie? We hadn’t had a private moment since the night of the storm.

“Yes, his Kerrie.” She smiled indulgently. “I pointed out that the storm was probably hitting the island hard and that we may not be able to get through. But he wouldn’t hear of it. He told me to buckle up and he drove as fast as the weather would allow.

When we arrived and saw the shattered glass on the deck. We called your name, but the wind carried it off. I searched the house with the flashlight and saw to my horror you struggling to keep a hold on the flagpole, while that lunatic tried to make you fall. I shouted for Perry. He ran up to me and told me to keep the light on you. Then he said, ‘I’m not going to lose her. He’ll have to kill me, too.’” She paused for a second, struggling with what to say next.

I finished for her. “He charged over with the ladder and saved me. I shudder to think of what could have happened, if you two hadn’t of arrived. I think I would be dead now. And Gene too.” My voice cracked with emotion.

Nova walked over to where I sat and swept me into her arms. Her tears were for me, as I cried for David, for Melinda, for Perry, for Gene, for my baby and finally for myself. She became the mother I never had, the one who cried because I was in pain.

All my life, I only wanted to find happiness and love like the one that my parents shared. But I seemed destined not to find it. The idealistic romantic writer was gone. She became lost the second that her baby died. When David was killed, her dreams and all that she knew died too. But mainly I cried because the relationship I once held so dear was really a fantasy—a castle in the sky. It never was mine. I wept until I fell asleep.

Sometime during the night, I woke up in the master bedroom. Perry sat in a chair not far from the bed, reading. I cleared my thought, to get his attention.

“Kerrie, you’re awake. Can I get you anything?” He asked, immediately coming over to the bed.

“Turn on another light. It’s too dark in here. You’ll strain your eyes.” I lightly chastised him.

“I can see, but I’ll turn on one more lamp until you’re ready to go back to sleep.” He turned on the lamp by the bed. Placing the book that he was reading on the nightstand, he excused himself, saying he would return in a few minutes.

I examined the book and was surprised to see that it was one of my novels, “Roses in November.” I opened it to his bookmark, to read where he had left off.

“Lillian sat by her vanity, brushing her long blonde hair. Night seemed to bring to life shadows from her past. She wondered where her Lord Paddington was. The winds of March took him out to sea, to search for treasures in a faraway country. She wondered if he remembered her face. The graceful way her slender chin dimpled slightly. He once told her that moonlight hid there during the day. When she smiled at night, moonlight made its escape, only to return to its daytime hideaway when dawn showed its sleepy head.

A pebble clanked against the pane of her window and then another one followed it. Lillian wrapped a silk robe over her stunning body. She rushed to the window and threw it open. Her jade green eyes searched the courtyard. There in moonlight stood a shadow shaped like a man. Her heart recognized the shape, while her mind refused to see it. Then the shadow spoke with a voice she so loved.

‘The stars are jealous for your eyes out dazzle their brilliance. Your lips form the shape of a kiss that men would die for. Every night, I look at the sky, wishing that you would smile, so I could see the moonlight just once, before daybreak. Some nights I saw it and I wondered, if you smiled at the memory of me. Smile for me now, my lovely Lillian, let the moonlight come out and play while we dance under the stars. Let our kisses make roses bloom in November.’

Lillian wept with tears of joy, blowing kisses down to her Lord and smiling so radiantly. The moon shone through the evening clouds, as she rushed down to the courtyard to dance with the shadow of her past, the man of her future—her love forever.”

Tears pooled in my eyes. A fear had developed within me that I wouldn’t be able to write romance novels ever again. Now what I had once written with pride seemed like inane drivel. I closed the book, when Perry returned with a tray of milk and cookies for two. I smiled at him. “You are reading my book. Where did you get it?”

He put the tray on the bed beside me and then pulled his chair closer to the bed. “Oh Nova, lent it to me. Here’s a napkin. Do you dunk, woman?”

I smiled, “Only with coffee. Not milk. Did you make these cookies?”

“Yes, they made it from the box to the plate.” We ate in silence for a few minutes. Then he asked, “Are you feeling better after your cry?”

I blushed, not expecting his question. “Yes, I feel as well as can be expected. In time, I’ll feel much better. Now that Gene’s condition isn’t so serious, the world looks a little brighter.”

“You know, it’s not our fault that David was the way he was. The probably wasn’t a thing that you could have done to change the past, Kerrie. Just remember that, when the past tries to haunt you.”

“I know. My head does, anyway, but my heart. Well, it feels as if I wasted it on a fairy tale.” I sniffed for a second, and then grabbed my book. I looked at it and then at him, trying to be lighthearted. “I can always become one of my heroines and find a Lord Somebody or another to fall madly in love with.”

“How about an Irish Pirate?” He asked in a love voice. His huckleberry blue eyes were dark pools that I knew I could get lost in.

“A Pirate would do. But I would have to beware of the tempestuous and stormy waters of love, wouldn’t I?” I asked breathlessly, feeling much like Lillian must have felt as Lord Paddington waxed poetry in the courtyard shadows.

“Yes, but the waters would be warm and inviting, not cold and deadly. And after every storm, there would be a rainbow. Every day would have sunshine, even during the rains.” He stood as he spoke. I leaned back on the pillows, so I could look up at his height.

Looking down, I asked, “But what of the night?” I felt myself trembling, because my heart was singing when it should be mourning. But it had mourned David’s death, before it happened. For in my heart, the David I knew died the day I miscarried our baby.
Perry sat on the bed. He took my chin in his hand, gently forcing me to look at him. When I did, a tear escaped. He took a finger and rubbed it away. Then he surprised me, by carefully caressing the bandage over my cheek. Another tear fell. Instead of wiping it away with his finger, like he did before, he kissed it away. With moonlight streaming in, he whispered, “The nights will belong to us, woman.” Then he kissed me until I forgot the pain and continued kissing me until my heart knew no fear of tomorrow, only hope.

The END