“Thats okay, hope you are feeling better. I didn’t catch your name?”
“Oh, I’m Guy. Guy Murtagh.”
“Nice to meet ya Guy, like I said, I’m Darla. So hows about we see this seal pup you’ve got?”
Guy walked her over to the porch. He looked back at her as they were walking and she was taking in the surroundings of the island. She had a beautiful profile he thought to himself.
“Here s/he is.”
“Okay, well on first look it doesn’t look malnourished, so poor old mom was able to feed it well enough until the accident. Did you hear any boats around at the time Guy?”
“No, I didn’t. How far do you think she could have swam with the pup like that? There are a couple of islands close enough that are leased out in the summer, so I wouldn’t know any of those people.”
“It depends really, but she could have come from ten or more kilometres away before she found this place. Did you drag mama’s body out?”
“Yeh, I dragged it out pretty far yesterday evening. I saw it sink to the bottom.”
“Okay. Well, this little guy will have to come with me. He is a newborn from the looks of it, probably two months old, at the most. We will take him back and hand rear him, then when he is old enough, release him back into the wild.”
“Okay. Would you like to have some coffee and a snack before you go? It’s a long trip back again so soon.”
“Sure, coffee would be great.”
Guy whipped up some coffee and took some bread and some peanut butter along with some oreos. They sat out on the porch next to the seal.
“Oh, thank you, I love peanut butter.”
“Sorry it’s nothing fancy.”
“Oh,” she laughed, she had a wonderful laugh he thought. “Thats fine, it’s nice to get a look out here at these islands. I have sailed past of course a dozen times, of various ones, but I’ve never stopped on one before. I looked up the houses that are for rent and the prices are astronomical!”
“Yeh, you sell this and you could make a killing on it. We have no intentions of selling though.”
“Oh, you and your wife?”
“NO, no, my siblings and I. We were left it by our parents. It was in the family since my grandfather. My siblings haven’t been out in many years, but I will definitely use it even if they don’t”
“So, you just on a small vacation?”
“No, I’m a writer. I decided I would get more work done out here in the peace and quiet.”
“How’s that working out for you?”
“I haven’t even taken out my notebook yet. There is so much to do when you first get here, clear up after the winter, tidy the garden, tidy the cabin, dust everything. Even with dust cloths, there is still dust on the floors and other things.”
“Sounds like a lot for just you. Would you not hire a cleaner or gardener or something, just to get it done faster?”
“Nah, I should be able to get writing day after tomorrow. Hey, would you like to come in and have a look around.”
“Of course,” she answered with a smile.
Guy showed Darla the cabin, telling her, that it originally had just been the first floor and when his parents had taken it over, they had built the upper floor with the two bedrooms for the kids. The cabin was done in typical rustic cabin style, inside was all wood, walls, floors, ceilings. Some very retro ‘70’s furniture, with a mix of antique objects from his ancestors. Some nice paintings, in particular a large painting of the cabin when it was first built that hung over the fireplace. There is no name inscribed that can be seen, so over the years many different relatives have all claimed to be the painter. Darla is clearly impressed by the place and when she sees how cute and snug the bedrooms are, with the cute windows, with perfect little window seats in she says, “My daughter would love this place.”
“Oh, how old is she?”
“She just turned nine. We live with my sister and her two girls, so my daughter shares a room. She would love a house like this, with the perfect little window seats. She is a total book worm and loves nothing more than finding a quiet place to read a book. She is currently reading my old Roal Dahl books and thinks they are the best.”
“Her father not in your life then? Sorry if that’s too forward a question.”
“No, thats fine. We were not together after she was born, but he has since passed, he was in Iraq. He died in a IED explosion. My daughter, her name is Adeen, she was heart broken. They had kept in touch via video chat and messages when they could. It was a huge loss for us. He had been a great dad, we weren’t meant to be, but he was around for Adeen.”
“I’m so sorry to hear that.” Guy felt like an idiot for asking now. Doh, way to ruin the casual moment Guy.
“What was that?” Darla asked as she walked to the window. “Damn, the sky has gone super dark and the wind has picked up, what time is it?”
“It’s 17:30,” Guy walked over to her, ” woah, you’re right, that is one stormy looking sky out there. Lets check the radio maybe there’s a sudden storm warning or something?”
They went downstairs and turned on the radio.
“Storm alert at sea and around Washington’s Islands tonight, heading into tomorrow. All boats should stay in the harbour, no travelling around coastal roads, storm surge warning,” the radio warned them.
They looked at each other. “Okay, well looks like I will be stranded here tonight, let me just radio in and let them get in contact with my daughter.”
“This is Seal One for Rescue One, Over.”
Darla repeated this a couple of times and gave up.
“Looks like the storm is already starting, radios out.”
Guy was picking up all the candles, matches, lighters and torches. “Well, we have a back up generator, let me check if there’s much oil out there. If not, we have plenty of candles!”
Guy came back in and told Darla that there was enough oil for a couple of hours at most. He had completely forgotten to bring more and nobody had been out to the island in a couple of years for longer than to check on it.
“We do have a gas stove so that should be fine, I brought refills,” he smiled at her. “Are you worried about your daughter not hearing from you?”
“A little, I mean my sis will call Brenda at work and Brenda will just let her know I got here fine, they will guess I heard the warnings and decided to stay here for the night, hopefully. Either way, my sis has a great poker face, so no matter how worried she is, Adeen won’t know.”
“That’s good. Well, I’ll go make up a bed for you, get out some towels and that. You don’t mind sleeping in the room next to mine?”
“That’s fine. I’ll go check on our buddy outside. We should probably try to coax him in. Actually we don’t know if it’s a him do we? Well, we need to take it indoors if there’s gonna be that bad of a storm.”
Guy was making up the bed, the linens were all stored in moth proof bags his mom had used for decades. He made up the bed all the while thinking this storm was a bit of good luck. He had instantly liked Darla and the more they spoke the more he liked her. It’s not as if they had told each other their life stories, but she just had this air of calm about her, that appealed to him. She was not shook up about the fact she was going to be stuck on an island in a potentially devastating storm with a stranger, or that her daughter would worry about her. He didn’t take that as cold, just that she was level headed and logical and that was something he could admire in a person, let alone a woman he was finding increasingly attractive. Of course he hoped they wouldn’t be stuck for very long as the oil was bound to run out after probably two evenings worth of uses, but if they got tonight and tomorrow they could get to know each other a little better and maybe she could be his summer visitor. He told himself he was getting way ahead and to calm down.
He walked downstairs and Darla suggested they grab the ice box and start to coax the pup inside. As they opened the door the wind pushed the door into them, hitting Guy on th
e head. Darla grabbed for the door and slammed it shut.
“Oh, wow, are you okay?” she asked.
“…”
Guy felt so dizzy and was sure he was seeing actual stars floating around.
“I’m okay, just a little stunned. Wow that hurt!”
“I’d say so, took us both unawares.”
“Okay I’ll hold on tight to the door and you take the ice box out.” Guy said.
Guy grabbed the door handle and as he opened it, grabbed onto the edge of the door. The gusts weren’t as strong this time, but he was still battling the wind a bit. Darla leant towards the pup and gave it a fish, it gobbled it down and then she held another fish to its mouth but pulled it away towards Guy standing in the door frame. She crawled in on her knees with the fish in her hand dangling it behind her. The pup slowly made its way in, squeaking all the way. Guy then shut the door and watched as Darla led the pup over to the rug in front of the fire. He ate up the fish and then settled down.
“You know I think we need to find a name for this little guy, maybe something gender neutral?”
“How about Jamie, or Pat?” Guy was laughing as he imagined calling the seal Pat.
“I think Pat is a great seal name. We have never have one at the centre before. How do you feel about it Pat?” Darla asked the seal.
The seal looked at her and raised its head and squeaked.
“I’ll take that as a yes.” They both laughed and then gave Pat another fish.
CHAPTER FOUR
The wind was worsening. Darla asked Guy should they close the storm shutters.
“Storm shutters! Damn it.” He ran outside and Darla could hear him closing all the storm shutters. She ran upstairs and realised the upstairs windows opened into the room so she closed the shutters from the inside.
“Phew,” Guy said, “I think I got them just in time, it’s really taking off out there.”
“I got the upstairs shutters.”
“Thanks. We would have glass everywhere if it wasn’t for you, maybe we should try and think of other.. THE BOATS!”
“Oh man, the boats, should we have taken them in? Or tied them tighter?” Darla asked.
“My dad would haul up our small boat in the old days, but both of ours are much bigger and with heavier engines. It was easy enough for me to haul it out of the boat shed, but it would take too long to set up the pulley system to bring them in. We’ll just have to hope for the best.”
“Do you mind if I take off my shoes? I feel out of place sitting here in my big work boots.”
“Of course, hey, there might be some clothes from my sister up in your room, if you want to change into something more comfortable to…Oh man I can’t believe I said that.” Guy blushed.
Darla blushed too and laughed. “Well, that would also be great. I’ll go check out the closet?”
“Yeah, there’s a big double closet and maybe some boxes under the bed too.”
Darla went upstairs, she admired the family photos on the walls, showing kids, guessing which one was Guy and then his siblings, having fun, fishing, sailing, doing the dishes. It all looked so happy and carefree. The kind of life she had had, without the summer island, but the kind of life she wished she could provide for her daughter. She felt a lot of guilt working so much, especially as the summer was their busy season, but she always hoped that her daughter would join her on the job as she got older and more proficient at swimming and would learn to sail. It could be a great bonding experience.
She looked through the closet and under the bed. In the closet there were some old board games and bed linens and under the bed was a plastic storage box filled with clothes. She took them out and went through the items. Mostly summer island clothes, some strappy dresses, bathing suits, shorts, but luckily for Darla, a pair of tracksuit pants and a couple of Tshirts that she guessed were used as nightwear. She gave them a shaking out and then changed into them. She was lucky that she had lost a couple of pounds in the last few months as she started walking more instead of relying on her car. She did it for her health, mostly she wanted to be around for her kid and she knew that diabetes was in her family and had seen what it had done both diagnosed and undiagnosed to various relatives. Of course while the health aspect was good, it also made her feel good to be down a dress size. She still had a shapely bottom half, but she was happy with how she looked now and unless the doctor told her it was deathly, she was happy to stay that way. Also, since Guy himself was looking a little pudgy around the middle, she didn’t feel too self conscious about walking downstairs to a complete stranger in some sloppy clothes. Her mother had always said, “It’s about the confidence and the aura you give off Darla. In the end the right person will choose you for the whole package, not just the wrapping.”
Guy looked up out of the side of his eyes as he heard Darla coming down the stairs.
“I found some board games up in the closet. They look pretty old, I bet you guys had a tonne of fun here back in the day.”
“Oh man, those board games. They were the thing my parents always pulled out when things were getting a little cabin crazy and everyone was picking at one another, they felt, as my dad later told me as an adult, that having us play competitive games against each other that it was a safe way of letting us get our anger out, and forgetting whatever the hell we were bitching and moaning about.”
“And did it work?”
“Sure, we would fight about the rules of the game, but dad always laid out the rules on paper at the start of each summer season, so we just had to look them up to see that we had all agreed to the rules and nobody could complain over that. Most of the times the games would devolve into laughter and messing around. My dad had a great sense of humour and hated to see us kids fighting, so he would just pull our legs all the time, till we were ganging up on him and mom. It was fun mostly.”
“They sound like good parents.”
“Yeh they were. I miss them a lot. Especially now that I’m here alone, for the first time since they are both gone.”
“Oh, I’m sorry. Has it been long since they passed?”
“My dad was a year ago and mom was a year before that. That’s kind of why I was having trouble using their room, it’s silly I know, but nobody has been in there since they were last here three years ago. It just feels too soon.”
“You don’t have to explain yourself to me. I completely understand. My father is gone five years now, heart attack. My mom is at now and is still as sprightly as ever. She comes over and helps out with my daughter when I’m working and my sis is busy. She loves her grandkids. When my father died, it was so difficult to go through his belongings and sort out what was being given to family and what was being given away. It ended up being joyous though, in a weird way, my sisters and my brothers and I bonded again after what felt like years. We hadn’t lost touch or anything, but it felt like being back as kids again, looking through all the old photo albums, finding out things about our family history we didn’t know. You’ll get to that point I’m sure. Maybe you could ask one of your siblings to come over and help you sort out the room?”
“My brother said they would probably visit with his family this summer at some point. My sister is married to an army man, so they live on base in the South at the moment and I don’t think fancy being stuck on a tiny island with their extended families as a break away from the base.”
“Oh yeah, I can understand that,” she smiled.
They decided to make some soup and coffee while the electricity was still on. Darla lit the fire while Guy was in the kitchen. Little Pat seemed to have gone asleep, it was off to the side of the fireplace now and she could hear it just breathing very low. Walking into the kitchen she asked if she could help. Guy asked her to gather the cups and cutlery. She went looking through the cupboards and found them.
“Do you have sugar?”
“It should be in the pantry back there, I brought over a huge bag. You can pour some into that sugar container.”
&
nbsp; Darla did that and spotted some Fig Newtons while she was in there.
“Hey, there are some Fig Newtons in here, is it okay to take them in too?” she was peering around the corner of the pantry doorway and making what she hoped was a cute face, like the kind her daughter makes when she wants some candy.
Guy laughed and said, “Of course, take anything else in there that strikes your fancy. We are pretty stocked on cookies and tinned soup around here, oh and coffee beans too.”
“Well, thats good, because you would hate me without my morning coffee.”
“Oh, me too. I don’t feel alive until I’ve had my first cup.”
They both laughed and Guy filled up their bowls with the chicken soup and poured out the coffee.
They sat at the coffee table in the living room and ate in silence. Listening to the wind roaring around the cabin and the waves crashing against the beach, they could also hear the boats banging against the dock, not too badly they both hoped. Darla had finished her soup and opened the packet of Fig Newtons, taking one and dipping it into her coffee.
“What are you doing?” Guy asked laughing in shock at her.
“What? You don’t do this?”
“Eh, no! Maybe with a chocolate covered cookie or something with chocolate in it, but a fig newton? That is just bizarre.”
“No way! This makes the fig bit all rich and flavourful and the cookie bit all soft,” she said rolling her eyes in pleasure as she bit into the soggy cookie, “mmmsoogooood.” she said with her mouth full.
Guy couldn’t help himself and laughed so hard coffee almost came out his nose, she was so damn cute.
“Okay, you have to try this. Just dip half it in, for two dunks only. Anymore and you’ve got cookie coffee and thats just gross.”
“Okay then, but I hold you responsible for any gagging I do.”
Guy gripped the Fig Newton and dunked twice.
“Now quickly bite the soggy bit, it’s not nice when it gets cold.”
“Now you tell me.” He bit off the coffee bit and ate it. Damn, she was right, way better than the original.
Love Revealed: A BWWM Sweet Romance Novel Page 2
