Ruby Island

by Anita Rodriguez

  "He's a good man, Amy. I've spent hours listening to the boys tell stories about growing up, and both you and Matt were wonderful parents. Give him some time to come around."

  Amy watched a tear roll down Mabel's face and Mabel reached out and brushed Amy's curly bang behind her ear. "You know, your father would love these boys. He would treasure them as much as he treasured you," Mabel said wholeheartedly.

  Amy smiled but her mom's show of emotion made her squirm. "Mom, stop that."

  "That I love you makes you uncomfortable?"

  "It's not that. It's just that you don't cry, for anything really." Mabel sniffled and wiped her face, giving Amy a squeeze on her arm.

  "Well, I guess becoming a grandmother has caught me off guard."

  "Oh, Mom," Amy said, smiling warmly. "Does that mean you are going to let the boys call you grandma?"

  "Not on your life!"

  They shared a smile and then Amy's phone pinged. She read the text from Nicole. The article looks great and copy is going to have Matt make a couple of tweaks and we will be ready to print for next month. Thanks for the scoop. I'm meeting Gary for lunch and if all goes well you won't hear from me for a few days. Wink! Wink!

  Amy started to text back, but there was nothing she could say to explain the fact that she wrote the article. She just hoped that Matt wasn't stupid enough to admit that he hadn't written it.

  Chapter 19

  The copy editor had called Matt to say he was sending over a couple of edit ideas, and he needed the revised article back in a day.

  "How did you get my article?" Matt asked incredulously as he stared at the blinking cursor. He'd written garbage, so he had never sent the article in. This article that had been emailed back sounded like him, but it wasn't his work.

  "Nicole sent it over. It's the softer side of Bill Ruby, and it's great work, Matt. If you can fix the markups and get it back to me by tomorrow, we will be good to print."

  Matt was silent as he ground his teeth. He started to re-read the article as his face turned red. This was good writing, and personal. Only someone close to Bill Ruby would be able to write this type of piece. Reynolds was close to Bill Ruby, and she was friends with Nicole. He knew that Reynolds had written it, and he wanted to punch something. Matt was both grateful and enraged.

  "Uh, thanks," Matt stuttered. "Glad you like it. I’ll get back to you by tomorrow then." Matt hung up and read the article three more times. He was wondering if he should make the edits and take credit for the article or strangle Reynolds, when the doorbell rang.

  "You!" Matt yelled at Reynolds, and he turned back to the dining room, leaving the door open behind him.

  Amy went inside and closed the door, ready for the barrage of anger that was sure to come. She watched Matt pace for a minute.

  "You are unbelievable!" Matt yelled.

  "You're welcome!" Amy yelled back. She'd told herself the whole way over that she would stay calm and be rational, but seeing Matt made her so frustrated that she couldn't hold back.

  "Welcome for what?"

  "For giving you this job and for saving your ass," Amy blurted. "You've been floundering for a long time, Matt. You don't meet deadlines and your work isn't up to par."

  "For giving me this job?"

  Amy crossed her arms. "Did you meet the deadline for this article?"

  "Well, no, but it's been a crazy month."

  "I was able to spend time with three boys and write the article, Matt!" Amy yelled at the top of her lungs. He was so infuriating and she wanted to slap him.

  "What do you mean that you gave me this job?" Matt yelled back just as loudly.

  "I gave the story to the magazine as long as they put you on it, Matt. So I say once again, you're welcome."

  "It must have been easy for you to write a puff piece on Bill Ruby since you are so in love with him."

  Amy had her mouth open to yell a comment back, but he’d sounded jealous when he said that, and it stopped her in her tracks. She hadn’t come here to argue. She wanted to see Matt once more and to complement him on finishing his novel, and to confess about writing the article. She should have let it all go, but something drew her here to say goodbye.

  "What's been so hard about your month?" she asked.

  Matt sat on the couch and put his face in his hands. His voice was muffled. "Sarah broke up with me."

  Amy whispered, "Sarah broke off the engagement?"

  "When I told her I had kids, she didn't take it well."

  "So you believe that they’re your boys?"

  Matt pointed at the side table where the results to the DNA test were. Amy walked over and picked them up, moving through the pages. She hadn’t read the copy that Gary gave her because she thought if she saw the actual evidence, she would end up hating Matt.

  "I think the white light in the airplane was my life flashing before my eyes." Matt said as he walked to the kitchen.

  Amy could hear glasses clanking as she stared at the papers. It was official, and they both had the scientific proof to show that they were truly the boys' parents. Amy didn't know how or why, but she felt that it was right.

  Matt returned from the kitchen with two glasses of whiskey and handed one to Amy. They slugged it down and Amy put the papers and her glass on the table. Matt and Amy stood staring at each other. Amy thought of their kiss in the street, and she wished they could figure this out, but her crush on him was fading with his reaction to the boys. She'd liked Matt for so long, even secretly felt she was in love with him, but she was leaving.

  She tried to say something and then shook her head. Almost every waking moment, Amy had thought about how the boys had come into her life, and no matter how she directed her thoughts, there was only one conclusion she could draw.

  "I love the boys, Matt, and I think the flash of light must have been God giving us a gift," Amy said in all sincerity.

  "I think it was aliens," Matt quipped, and Amy felt flush with regret. He infuriated her, and she wanted to start yelling again. Instead, she turned and stormed out, leaving the front door hanging open behind her.

  When Reynolds left his apartment, Matt said good riddance, and then he paced the floor through the night. Reynolds was infuriating on every level. She claimed that she had gotten him the interview job with Bill Ruby, she wrote the article, and then made him feel like a schlep just because he didn't welcome three strange boys into his home. She was crazy!

  By midnight, Matt was unhinged. He thought about Sarah and the future they were supposed to have together, and he couldn't believe it was lost. He should have begged Sarah to stay with him. He regretted showing her the DNA test results. He reasoned that he could have denied anything she might have heard.

  Everything he had been working toward had been undone by the Bermuda Triangle. He'd actually finished the first draft of his novel, and he couldn't focus on his accomplishment. Out of college, being an author was the dream, and then the access and glamour of Sarah had been the dream, and now Reynolds had become the nightmare.

  Reynolds hadn’t even commented on his novel and between arguments with her, he’d forgotten to ask if she’d read any of it. He wasn’t certain why he’d sent it to her but for the fact that she was the only one who even knew he was working on it.

  Somewhere near the middle of his bottle of whiskey and four in the morning, Matt had fallen asleep face down on the couch.

  Matt had a recurring dream at least eight separate times in the last two years. He was at a beautiful house that was built right on the ocean. The massive doors to the patio were slid wide open and guests gathered around him in the great room. Everything in the room was white from the walls to the decor. It was his house, and he was rich and famous.

  Matt sauntered around the room sipping on expensive bourbon and feeling significant. There was a comfortable white armchair and Matt sat down, letting his leg hang over the side. He was important and he knew it.

  When he sat in the chair, all of the guests became red helium
balloons that floated to the ceiling, and it was only Matt left in the room among the streamers that hung down from each balloon. His fulfilled smile turned to a gray feeling of loneliness, and he sat in the white chair and finished his drink utterly alone.

  Matt sucked in air when he woke, a pool of drool on the leather cushion wetting his cheek. It was sunny and he didn't want to open his eyes. His sticky cottonmouth reminded him that he'd drank too much, and all of the complaints of last night flooded back in, and then he remembered his dream.

  He sat up on the couch and felt guilt rising in his throat. He couldn't imagine why at first, and then a feeling of clarity overcame him. Matt finally deciphered his recurring dream. He saw that his vision of success was a trap, and all of the guests in the room were full of hot air, not really interested in Matt as much as they were interested in his success. He realized that even Sarah would have been someone floating off to the ceiling as an empty promise. In his dream, he had the fancy house and all of the spoils, but his life was empty. Matt was astonished to realize that his dream was his subconscious showing him his empty future.

  Matt popped some aspirin and showered, resolving to start his life over from today. He would get what work he could to pay for his apartment, and he would pursue writing. He wasn't sure how to approach Reynolds, but he would go see the boys to find out what kind of father he might become. A rising feeling of certainty brought a warm glow to the center of his chest. It was a feeling he'd never had before, and Matt knew he was making the right decisions.

  An hour later he found himself on the steps of Reynolds' brownstone talking to himself. He was nervous to see the boys. He felt like a father in the waiting room at a hospital, pacing back and forth and waiting for the news. The difference here was that he'd already met the boys on Ruby Island. He wished he'd paid closer attention to them at the time, and he resolved to never make that mistake again.

  He was also dreading what Reynolds would say. He'd not forgotten that he'd kissed her in the street, or the look of disappointment on her face when she'd left his house yesterday.

  "Well, hello," he heard as the door swung open. Matt froze and looked up. "I'm Mabel. We met last year when you dropped by to pick up the photos from the Arctic trip." She held her hand out, and Matt walked up the stairs and shook it distractedly. He gulped at his moment of truth.

  "Is Reynolds here?"

  "I thought you'd never ask. You've been out here for twenty minutes."

  "Are you going out?" Matt asked. Mabel was dressed in a circa 1970's ladies light pink skirt suit complete with round cap. It reminded Matt of old stewardess uniforms he'd seen in movies.

  "Not right now," she answered absently. "Are you coming in?"

  Matt tried to smile as he followed Mabel in and closed the door. He stepped into the large front room expecting to see the boys, but it was empty.

  "Are the boys here?" he asked.

  Mabel smiled and patted him on the shoulder. "I knew you'd come around.”

  Matt shrugged sheepishly.

  "And you don't remember anything about the island either? Those boys are such a strange miracle," Mabel said, waving her hand and leading Matt to the hallway. "You remember the dark room from last time you were here?"

  Matt nodded and moved down the hall to the room on the right. He stepped in, noticing the twin bed in the corner. He wondered if Reynolds was so into her work that she was sleeping in here, or if they needed the room now that the three boys had moved in.

  "Reynolds?" he asked as he moved around the counter and ducked below some of the hanging photos. He was alone in the room, and he shrugged. He turned to leave but stopped when he noticed that he was in some of the photos that were hanging over the countertops. He had barely recognized himself.

  Matt was standing next to a palm tree with two boys, his beard fully grown. He was wearing a pair of dilapidated shorts and no shirt, and he looked thin but very fit. He and the boys were smiling, holding up five large fish on a stick.

  Matt exhaled fast, like he had been punched in the gut. He remembered that day and the fire and eating the fish. Benji had just been born, and Amy was nursing him. Steven who typically ruined the fishing with the busy noise of a small boy had said he wasn't the baby anymore, and he fished quietly that day. They'd made a large haul and celebrated.

  Matt thought about Steven and the way he tried so hard to live up to William's expectations as a big brother. They were grown up now and so self-sufficient, although Benji was the baby and he'd taken longer to catch on to everything because Amy doted on him.

  Benji, his baby boy, who had learned to read and write faster than the other boys. Amy taught the boys to read with the magazines and manuals they'd found on the airplane, and she taught them to draw letters and words in the sand.

  Matt moved from picture to picture rubbing the tears from his eyes as a full lifetime of memories came back to him. Thirteen years that had been lost in time came flooding in at once, and Matt felt such joy and pride. He was a good father, and he loved his sons. There he was holding William as a baby, and there he was weaving palms the way Amy had shown him for a fishing basket. There he was showing William how to use the sharp rocks to make a spear, and there he was cooking a bird over a fire.

  More and more memories appeared in his consciousness, like a dying man whose life was flashing before his eyes. Matt couldn't help himself, and he picked up a stack of photos from the counter and looked at the next picture and then the next, and the memories flooded in from all parts of his brain. It was overwhelming. He remembered falling in love with Amy, and the boys’ births and how hard it was to make fire and how wonderful it was to lay with Amy under a blanket of unending stars.

  He remembered the conversations they had about the boys growing up without a chance at finding love, and their second attempt to repair the aircraft to try to fly back to civilization. He remembered the dread and the exhilaration when the engines started. They would leave the island and the little piece of the world they had carved out, but the boys would have a better future in civilization, and they both knew it.

  Matt was flooded with sentiment. All of the memories sat as a lump in his throat. It wasn't long after the crash that he'd given up on making it off the island and his attentions had turned toward Amy. She put him off by reminding him that he was engaged, but in time she stopped talking about Sarah and being rescued, and they shared long glances at each other. Staying alive was grueling work, but they adapted together and found adventure in their work.

  He recalled the first time he had reached out and touched Amy's hair, and she had been willing to receive his touch. He could see in her eyes that she had been waiting a long time for that moment. He reached around her waist and pulled her in and kissed her, and his whole life changed. It was more than being trapped on this island. He knew real love for the first time in his life.

  Matt picked up more photos and started to laugh and cry at the same time. This was his life, his real life. It was all Amy. The world, his love, his time, it was all for her. He remembered when Amy told him that she'd had a crush on him since they first met. They'd known each other for two years before the island and had been on several trips together, but she'd never let on. He was flattered and stunned, and he pestered her for not saying anything. She was right as usual, though, and he wouldn't have seen the real her in New York City.

  Matt's heart was filled with love for Amy and for the boys. They were his life, and he had to tell them that he remembered it all.

  "Amy!" Matt called from the dark room. He picked up a photo of them together on the island from just before William was born. They were in love, and it was apparent in the photo. He was disgusted with his behavior over the last month and he wondered what Amy must think of him. He'd abandoned his own family for a life of frivolity.

  "Bill, Steven, Benji!" he called as he moved to the front room.

  "They're not here," he heard behind him, and he turned back to the kitchen.

  "Where are
they?" he asked Amy's mother who was standing still by the counter, her gloves still perched in her hand as though she was going out for an afternoon cocktail.

  She ascertained the change in Matt immediately, and a smile crossed her face. "You remember then?"

  "I remember," he said, wiping his wet face. "I remember everything, Mabel, you wonderful mother-in-law!" Matt grasped Mabel in a hug that turned out awkward because she didn't move her arms to hug him back.

  "Where are they? When do you expect them home?"

  "I don't quite know," Mabel told him. "They left this morning for Ruby Island."

  Chapter 20

  The trip to Ruby Island felt long to Amy. Although, a couple of hours were shaved off the normal trip time because they took Bill's private jet straight from New York to the small North Eleuthera Airport. From there, they were transported via Bill's smaller yacht to the island.

  When they arrived via Jeep at the house, Amy was expecting to see Donnelly waiting for them at the front door, but Bill Ruby stood there with his tanned and magnificent smile, his white tank top showing off the ripped muscles in his shoulders and arms.

  He could give Adonis a run for his money, Amy thought.

  Benji and Steven jumped out of the car to give Bill a hug. William followed slower, but he respectfully shook hands with Bill.

  "What are you doing here? You said you were going to be on set for the next few weeks." Amy gave Bill a quick hug as the butterflies turned to rocks in the pit of her stomach. She knew why he was here, and he really wasn't going to make this easy.

  He said sheepishly, "I just wanted to make sure everything was all set for you and the boys. A category two hurricane is going to pass by in the next couple of days, but it should roll by without much damage. This house is a fortress, and you'll be just fine."

  Amy wasn't worried. She had been here before during a category two hurricane, and it had seemed to her like a very bad storm with the high winds, but the island was buttoned down and it passed by without much concern. The storm now moving over the Atlantic Ocean had yet to make category one.