Windswept Shores Page 10

  “Yes.” He grabbed her when her legs gave out. “Let’s get you a sit down.” Seth half-carried her to a chair at the campsite. He watched her with concern while she fruitlessly searched the horizon for rescue that would never come.

  The sound of the surf and a seagull’s cries filled the silence between them.

  “I was so fixed on the idea that I was going to go home,” Megan finally said. “It was the only thing that kept me going day and night.” She dropped her gaze to stare at her feet. “Oh, my poor sons. They think their parents are dead.” Covering her face, she sniffled.

  “They’re both grown men. They’ll be orright,” he reassured her, his heart heavy as he watched her grieve.

  “They’re great boys. I’m so lucky to have them.” She wiped her face. “Jonathan worked long hours, so I mostly raised them. They’re closer to me then to their dad. Joshua is very serious. He had good grades in school. He’s now in college. Eli is more artistic. He’s my dreamer.”

  Seth slipped an arm around her. “Things will be orright. Anyway, we have each other.”

  “I’m glad I’m not alone.” She hugged him back. “I’m going to take a bath. Maybe it’ll make me feel better.”

  “Orright, luv.”

  She got up, Seth’s hand slowly trailing along her arm. He watched her gather her bath things.

  Hmm, a tub? She’ll be in the nuddy. He smiled.

  ~* * *~

  Dead! They’ll all think I’m dead. Her eyes felt hot. Megan let the waterfall pound on her bent head and back. She enjoyed the cool water, usually more of a trickle, but flowing harder now because of the recent storm. She stepped back to grab her shampoo, using only a dime sized amount to conserve, then washed her hair, scrubbing in a systematic way. I’ll never see my home again, came the unbidden thought. My poor boys will be without me. My mother isn’t well. I hope she can take the news okay.

  Her head jerked when she thought she saw someone. Seth? Hum, I guess not. She rinsed, got another small amount of conditioner and applied it to her hair. What are we going to do once the soap runs out? Scrub with sand? I guess it’ll make a nice facial, but would it clean hair? Too bad I didn’t take a soap making class. When she looked up again, she saw a shadow against the curtain of water and jumped.

  Something is out there .

  The face which pushed through the curtain of water looked distorted. Eyes opened, focusing on her. Megan jumped hard, but before she could do anything, lips pushed against hers. Heart thundering in her chest, she panicked, shoving him. The man rocked back on his heels, grabbing her arm. They both went down in the pool with a loud splash.

  Kicking off from the bottom, a full stroke before her assailant did, Megan reach the surface for a quick gasp for breath, then swam for shore. Still in the water, she grabbed a rock, turning with her hand cocked back.

  “Megz? Are you orright?”

  The stone rolled off her hand. “Seth? Oh, my God, you scared me half to death.”

  “Sorry, luv.” His gaze raked down her nude body.

  Megan turned her back to him. “I already had something stick its face at me. Now you surprised me, too.” She carefully edged over, grabbed her soap from a basket she had set down earlier, and vigorously scrubbed at her arms.

  “Sorry, luv, I was just playing with ya.” Seth walked up behind her, placing his hands on her shoulders. Megan hunched over, flinching away from him.

  “What else is wrong?”

  “Nothing.”

  “Megz, are you going to turn around?”

  “Nope,” she said. “If you haven’t noticed, we are both naked.”

  “Megz, are you shy?” he asked with a chuckle. “I’ve seen most of you already.”

  “No, you haven’t,” she snapped. Her arms moved up, covering her breasts.

  “Orright, maybe I haven’t,” he admitted as he sat down on a rock next to her. He leaned over, trying to look at her face, but she turned away. “Do you want to see me in the nick?”

  “Please, can we go slowly?” She glanced over her shoulder at him.

  “Sure, luv.” He smiled. “Will you scrub me back?”

  “Uh, okay, but-but turn around first,” she told him.

  When he turned his back, she grabbed a loofah out of her basket. Megan waded to him in the waist-deep water, looking up in time to see him glance over his shoulder. “Stop peeking,” she scolded and wrapped her arms over her breasts again.

  “Sorry, luv,” he apologized, but couldn’t hide his smile.

  “No, you’re not,” she chided. “Keep your face pointed forward, mister.” She eased up to him as she soaped up her loofah, scrubbing at his back with a circular motion.

  “Easy there, luv, me hide isn’t that tough.”

  “Sorry.” She made an effort to be gentle.

  “Can you do up on my shoulders?” He touched high up by his neck.

  “Sure.” But when she reached up, he spun grabbing her around the waist.

  “Gotcha,” he laughed.

  “Seth, let go,” she said, trying to wiggle loose.

  “Nothin’ to be ashamed of here.” He gazed down at her breasts which were pushed up against him. “Nice knockers.”

  Megan stopped moving. God, I can feel him right up against me. Lord, he must be huge. “Please let go.”

  “Orright,” he said, releasing her.

  Megan turned her back, but only walked a few feet away.

  After a quick dunk to rinse his back, he walked up behind her and placed his hands on her shoulders once again. “Megz, luv, I won’t hurt ya.”

  “I know,” she whispered. “If you were going to, you would have already. You’ve had plenty of chances.”

  Seth took the soap and loofah from her. “I keep thinking about that time I touched you and you moaned.”

  “Yeah,” she said with a sigh. “I keep thinking about that, too.”

  “Then ya got a mean mad on.” He chuckled as he moved her hair out of the way, running soap around her back, making gentle circles.

  “O-oh, that feels good.”

  He massaged her shoulders, back, working his way down her arms. “Ya like it when I touch you.”

  “Yeah, I do,” she admitted as she relaxed against him.

  He slid his soapy hands up and cupped her breasts. “Are ya afraid if we shag, you’ll get knocked up?”

  “Uh, no.” She placed her hands over his, but didn’t pull them off.

  “No?” he asked, surprised. “Most birds are.”

  “I can’t get pregnant.”

  “Are you like me mum and had your girly works yanked?”

  “No, I had two big sons close together. They were a handful. I decided that’s enough motherhood for me, then had things taken care of.”

  “Megz, luv, do ya have anything against a good shag?” He massaged her breasts.

  “Not really,” she said softly. “My husband was a good lover, but he said he detested making love to me.”

  “He had no appreciation for a fine woman like ya.”

  She glanced back at him, her expression a little sad. “You’re so sweet, Seth. Thank you for saying that, but it gets worse. My husband had an affair on me.”

  “The bloody bastard! After what he put you through with the tummy tucks and all, eh?”

  She grimaced. “Yes, but I got those later.”

  “You’re afraid of a good root, because of his affair?” Seth dropped the soap and loofah in the basket.

  Megan dipped down to rinse off. “I was so hurt he cheated on me, I promised him I would never do to him what he had done to me.”

  “Megz, a promise like you gave is only for the living, and you saw him drown.” He sat down on a rock, pulled her against him and wrapped his arms around her waist.

  “Jonathon might still be alive. I’m not even sure what I saw. It all happened so fast.”

  “He’s cactus, so you’re free of your promise.” He kissed her shoulder.

  “Free? I’m free of him?”
/>
  He kissed her temple, then whispered in her ear, “Yes, Megz, you’re free.”

  “Free?” Megan thought, stunned. It’s really that easy? Just be declared dead and it’s over? Far as the world’s concerned, I’m the dearly departed. If Jonathan is deceased, then he isn’t a problem to me anymore. With him gone, I’m free to love someone else.

  I can have Seth.

  A weight she didn’t know she carried suddenly slipped from her shoulders. She almost heard it plunk down into the water. She started to chuckle, then laughed so hard tears ran down her face.

  “I don’t reckon how that’s funny,” said Seth.

  “My marriage is dead. It was long gone, before my husband died. I was just too stubborn to admit it. I focused so much on saving my marriage that I dragged Jonathan to one marriage counselor after another. I thought if we tried hard enough, we could love each other again.”

  “It didn’t work.”

  “No. I still hated him.” She paused a moment, then looked back at him, wide-eyed. “I’ve never said that before.”

  “I reckon ya had reason enough.”

  “Yes, I did, and I did my best in our marriage, but he didn’t. He didn’t care. I hate Jonathan for what he put me through! There, I said it again. I also don’t believe he had given up his mistress either.”

  “So, what do you want to do, eh?”

  She thought for a few minutes as Seth ran his hands over her breasts again.

  Megan closed her eyes, allowing herself to enjoy the attention. “Let’s have a memorial service for him and my marriage,” she murmured. “Then I’ll let you shag me.”

  Windswept Shores

  Chapter Sixteen: Memorial Service

  Megan waited for Seth by her tent. She was already dressed in a white sundress with small blue flowers, and white strappy sandals graced her feet. Seth soon joined her. He, too, had changed into something nice for her memorial service; blue-gray button down short sleeved shirt with white shorts. But he was barefoot.

  He smiled at her dress. “You look pretty swank.” Seth shifted a shovel from his shoulder which he brought from the boat. He held it like a fancy cane, sticking his other hand in his pocket, striking a pose.

  “Thanks, you look pretty spiffy yourself,” said Megan, as she took a man’s toiletry kit from the crook of her arm.

  “What’s that?” Seth pointed at it.

  “Jonathan had one like it.”

  “That’s not his?”

  “Nope, I never did find either my suitcase or his, but this will do.”

  “Do for what?”

  “This represents Jonathan, also what he was to me.”

  “A toiletry kit? He’s either a loo or a douche bag to ya, eh?”

  “Seth,” she scolded, then ruined it by laughing. “You’re talking about the man I shared most of my adult life with.”

  “He’s still a rotten bastard.”

  “Yeah, he was,” she agreed with a sigh. “But this represents how he emotionally abandoned me, and now has left my life forever.”

  “So, what do ya have to show for your marriage?”

  “This.” She unzipped the kit, then pulled out the only thing that it contained; a water damaged marriage certificate.

  “That’s not yers, is it?” he asked squinting at the illegible writing.

  “No, it’s someone else’s.”

  “Won’t the happy couple be needin’ it?”

  “No, they didn’t make it.” She flicked a sad glance up at him. “They washed up onshore, and I buried them together.”

  “You recognized ‘em from the plane?”

  “Yes, they sat just behind Jonathan and I. They told everyone they were just married. I thought that’s so sweet at first, until they irritated the crap out of me by making out loudly.”

  He grinned. “I don’t reckon they could keep their hands off each other.”

  “No, they couldn’t. When I found them . . . on the beach . . . they-they had their arms locked around each other.” She sobbed and covered her mouth. She still saw them in her mind's eye, kissing on each other. We’re just married, the groom said. “Sorry, they were so annoying. But it was just . . . s-sad finding them.”

  Megan and Seth walked down the slope, then crossed the beach. They only stopped once when Seth moved a new log across the stream which had shrunk down to a trickle and had rerouted itself alongside the Dinki-Di.

  Once at Megan’s little cemetery plot, Seth asked, “Do you want me to dig the hole?”

  “No, this is for me. I need to do this.” She took the shovel from him and handed over the kit.

  Putting her sandaled foot on the shovel’s top edge, she pressed, feeling the sharp point bite deeply into the sandy loam. She continued to turn over one shovelful after another until she'd dug a deep hole. She thought about her marriage, and what she wanted to say over the symbolic grave.

  “Okay.” Megan glanced up at Seth, then back down to the hole. She took the kit, studying it a moment, then began, “You were a rotten husband to me, Jonathan. You didn’t come home in time for the dinners I cooked, or the boy’s games, or special events. You weren’t around when the boys’ were born or when my dad died.” She wiped away a tear. That last memory still hurt. “You took my love for granted and threw it back in my face when you took a mistress. In spite of all your efforts to hide it from me, I found out anyway. You can’t hide things like that from your wife, especially when she is doing your laundry. When I confronted you, you first tried to deny it, but then you blamed me. Me? That makes no sense, you jerk. My love for you turned to hate. You and our marriage are dead to me now and forever.” She bent forward to stuff the toiletry kit down the hole, and taking the shovel, she jammed the kit further in. She hit the leather bag over and over again.

  “Easy, luv. Easy,” Seth said, taking the shovel. “’Ere, I’ll fill it in. I don’t want you hurting yourself.”

  Megan nodded, moving a little ways away covered and her face, crying. Seth’s arms went around her. She leaned into him weeping harder.

  He rubbed her back. “It’s done. Let’s have a walky.”

  “Okay.” She sniffed.

  He slipped an arm across her shoulders as they walked down the beach together. “Yer not ready to shag.”

  “Why?” She glanced up at him.

  “Yer angry and upset. You might hurt yourself.”

  “You sure I won’t hurt you instead?”

  He chuckled. “You might at that.”

  She stopped to look up at him. “Do you still love me?”

  “Sure, I luv ya.”

  “Are you sure you want to?” She glanced back to the graveyard. “Especially, after that back there?”

  “I reckon you love fierce, if you hate this hard.” He grinned. “I’m dead set on seeing that love part.”

  “Do you think you can handle it?” A teasing grin lifted the corners of her mouth.

  “You’re making me curious to how you shag?”

  She went up on tiptoe to whisper in his ear, “I’m loud.”

  “O-oh, luv.” He pulled her to him and kissed her until she growled. Then his stomach joined in.

  Megan stepped back with a look at his midsection and laughed. “Maybe we should eat first?”

  “A man needs protein,” he agreed. “Especially if he’s gonna root with a spunky lady.”

  “Spunky?” She frowned. “You’re still calling me that?”

  “I reckon ya don’t understand how attractive ya are?”

  Her eyebrow went up. “Spunky means attractive?”

  “What did ya reckon it meant?”

  “Full of energy.”

  He started to laugh, pulling her into a hug. “Ya are full of energy and spunky, too.”

  “It comes from raising two sons. They kept me on my toes.”

  “I reckon they did.”

  “So, what are we going to eat? Is there any fish left?”

  “Naw, I ate it all.”

  “Course yo
u did.” She smirked, but then stepped back. “Alright, that’s okay, because we have an open buffet right here. Shall it be surf,” she gestured in a game show host fashion to the ocean. “Or turf,” she pointed inland. “The only problem is we’ll have to gather it ourselves.”

  “How about my place?” He nodded to the ship.

  It started to rain. Megan looked up at the sky, then at Seth. “Alright, but no vegemite.” She made a face, pulling down the corners of her mouth with a shake of her head.

  “No worries, mate. I ate it, too.”

  “Oh, yes? So, what did you leave?”

  “A bit of this and a bit of that.” Seth slipped his arm around her again, guided her up the slope past the campsite, then jumped down into the boat. He turned, placing his hands on her slim waist, and swung her down. “Megz, this is yer home now. I want ya to live with me onboard the Dinki-Di.”

  “Okay,” she agreed with a shy smile. “I’ll have to move my things over, but I guess I can use my old tent for storage.”

  “What do you reckon on storing?”

  “The suitcases, so they’re not outside in the weather,” she said. “I’ll need to take out what we can use, but I’ll store what we can’t.”

  “Why don’t you burn what we can’t use?”

  “Oh, no, because they might prove useful later on. Also you’d be surprised what people take with them on vacation.”

  “Like what?”

  “Oh, let’s see.” They walked into the cabin. “The usual blow dryers, curling iron, straighteners, which is pretty useless in a place like this. Also toiletries such as tooth paste, tooth brushes, mouth wash and dental floss. All the clothes are mostly new, because people want to look their best while on vacation. I found scads of jewelry.” She flicked the hanging earring she wore. “I also found some money tucked in here and there, but where am I going to spend it?” She turned as she took a seat at the dining table. “The odd stuff, but also the handiest for me, were the little bottles of laundry soap, mending kits, clothes lines, clips, safety pens, snacks, tea and coffee. I don’t drink coffee, but enjoyed the tea.”

  “I reckon most are practical if they had ever reached their destination.” Seth looked through the cabinets.

  She gazed down at her folded hands. “I’m happy to have found most of it, but to tell you the truth, it bothers me that I’m stealing from people.”