by Sandra Kitt
Seeing that her father meant it, Diane pouted and began to angrily pull her mask off.
“Now just a minute,” Adam began sternly. “Don’t try a temper tantrum with me. I said that’s enough for the first time. You can try it again tomorrow. Okay?”
“Yes…” Diane whispered, her stubborn disappointment warring against her quivering emotions at being disciplined again. Maxwell turned from Diane to Eva who stood watching the episode with a quiet sympathetic frown for both of them on her soft brown face.
Maxwell’s face went from sternness to impatience. He looked at Eva silently for a moment and turned back to his daughter, still standing dejectedly behind him.
“Look…I’ll let you practice another half hour…”
Immediately Diane came to life, her eyes lighting up in a smile.
“But I want you right here where I can keep an eye on you.”
“Thanks, Daddy,” she gushed, pulling the mask on again and untwisting a side bun and setting the thick strands of hair free.
“Wait. I’m not finished yet.”
Diane’s smile faded as she recognized the hard command in her father’s voice. But surprisingly Maxwell gentled his tone, or at least as much as his deep voice would allow.
“I don’t want any more pouting from you when I say no. And the next time I say no, I mean it. Understand?”
She kept her head down.
“Look at me. Do you understand?”
“Yes…” she responded, no longer piqued, but looking seriously at her father as someone who would, indeed, not brook any more nonsense from her. Maxwell stood with his hands braced on his hips.
“And when I say it’s time to come out, I won’t hear any more complaining, right?”
“Yes, Daddy.”
“All right.” He nodded, dismissing her, and quietly Diane went back into the water.
Eva was impressed. It was the most effective handling of Diane she’d seen Maxwell perform. Eva realized that both father and daughter had so much to learn about each other. It was also clear that Diane tried to manipulate her father to get her way, as children will, but Maxwell dealt with it firmly and constructively.
Maxwell now stood looking at her strangely. Eva felt self-conscious again and looked around hastily for her cover-up.
“Forget it,” Maxwell declared, reading her mind. “You won’t be needing it.” He reached toward her and took her by the arm. “Come on…it’s time you learned how to swim.”
“Now just a minute!” Eva said haughtily, pulling her arm. “You can’t treat me as if I’m your daughter.” But her argument was as ineffective as Diane’s had been.
“I don’t think I’m likely to make that mistake,” he drawled suggestively, sweeping his eyes over her attractive frame. That completely silenced her. Whether or not it was meant as a compliment, she didn’t know how to handle it. She was led into the water, and already Maxwell was talking to her about what to do with her arms and legs. He treated her rather impersonally, and that made it easier for her to listen and follow his actions. She forgot about being self-conscious in the tangerine suit that so clearly outlined all her curves. But she still could not control the odd tremor that seemed inevitable each time Maxwell came too close.
His giant hands circled her waist, touched her arms and legs. He floated her on her back, supporting her with a hand intimately on her buttocks, the other hand at her neck.
“Now put your head way back…relax, Eva, I’m not going to let you go,” he assured her.
Eva’s hair floated out from her head like a short dark fan as her head went farther back in the water.
“Use your stomach muscles…that’s it! Pull in, and push out your chest.” The hand from her bottom moved to rest gently on her stomach, spanning the whole surface and then moving over the wet suit to her rib cage. Eva drew in a breath sharply in awareness of the stroking.
“Good!” Maxwell approved her action, not knowing the real cause. “Just relax.”
The sun was toasty warm on her face. She felt wonderfully free and alive. A smile curved her mouth, and she could not see, with her eyes closed against the overhead brilliance of the sun, Adam watching her with a thoughtful expression on his face.
“You’re doing fine,” he said vaguely, distantly to her ears. He seemed too far away. Eva opened her eyes and didn’t see Maxwell anywhere in her line of vision. She lost her poise and confidence and her position and sank beneath the water.
At once Eva felt strong hands pull her up by the waist, and she was hauled against Maxwell’s warm chest. She came up laughing.
“You okay?” Maxwell asked with no concern.
“Yes,” Eva answered, finding her footing in the sandy bottom. Only then as she stood on her own was she conscious that Maxwell held her rather closely. Too closely. Her hands were braced against his chest. Her head barely reached his shoulders. He seemed much larger than she first realized. His thighs pressed against hers were rough with hair and incredibly taut.
Slowly Eva raised her eyes to look into his face. She was certain that Maxwell had a kind of permanent hard fixture to his rugged face, always making him look forbidding. But his eyes were different. The light brown of them was bright, searching…and soft. There was a new interest in them, making Eva aware of her femininity and his maleness. Her heart began beating faster as Maxwell raised a hand to her neck and barely touching the skin slid his fingers up the side to her jaw. Eva began pushing away from him. In the next instant they were totally jerked apart by the frantic cry of Diane out in the bay.
Chapter Four
Maxwell pushed Eva and released her so abruptly that she fell into the surf up to her neck. But already Maxwell had cleaved the surface of the water cleanly and with long powerful strokes started for Diane. Diane was a good swimmer, and Eva was, therefore, confused as to what had gone wrong. The little girl was farther away from shore than she should have been. She was sputtering water and obviously in trouble.
Adam was moving very fast, but it seemed an eternity before he reached Diane, her body now frighteningly limp, and started back to shore with her. Eva found a towel and held it ready to wrap around her wet body when she reached the beach.
Maxwell carried Diane from the water, his mouth and eyes grim and sternly set. Eva gasped, her hand flying to her mouth in dread when it appeared that Diane was unconscious. She stood stunned as Maxwell lowered her to the sand, yanking off the face mask and hose and tossing it aside. At once he pushed Diane’s head back until her chin was straight up and, covering the child’s mouth with his own, began to blow air rapidly into her lungs. Then he flipped her over on her stomach and pushed the heel of his hand roughly into her back between her shoulder blades. Diane coughed once, water gushing from her mouth. Again Adam placed her on her back. But before he could again breathe into her mouth, she coughed again, and her eyes fluttered open. Maxwell pulled her into a sitting position. Suddenly Diane heaved and, holding her head down, Maxwell let her lose her lunch and all the salt water she’d swallowed as well. At last Eva came alert and hurried over to wipe Diane’s damp face and put the towel around her chest.
Diane looked at her father’s face, finally focusing on him. Her face collapsed and she began to cry.
“Daddy!” she screamed in awful fright and threw herself against her father’s chest. Maxwell’s jaw clenched, and he held his daughter so tightly that Eva was afraid he’d hurt her.
Eva’s heart turned over when Maxwell lifted his eyes to her with a tortured expression on his face as he realized the near tragedy they’d escaped. He didn’t seem capable of words in that moment, and Eva understood. She herself got up and quickly gathered the things scattered in the sand around them. And while Adam continued to hold, rock, and comfort the frightened little girl, Eva put everything into the launch. Finally Maxwell attempted to get Diane to her feet, but she moaned and fell back to her knees.
“Ooooooh! It hurts…it hurts!” she whimpered. Adam looked at her feet and, lifting her once more into his arms
, moved with her to the waiting launch. Eva climbed in first and sat with her arms held open. Adam placed Diane next to her, and immediately Eva’s arms closed around Diane, who put her head to Eva’s chest and quietly sobbed.
There had been no time to put on her cover-up, and her skin was now raised with gooseflesh as the cool sea breeze touched her still-wet skin. Diane was sick again and Eva let her relieve herself in the end of the towel then once again wiped her mouth clean.
In the meantime Maxwell was silent, fast, and efficient. In no time he had them back on the sailing vessel, and the launch was secured to a trail line behind the craft. He went below deck and came back with a bottle of vinegar. Eva frowned at him as he lifted Diane’s left foot. For the first time Eva could see that the foot was slightly swollen and there was a large red spot on the underside. She was even more confused when Maxwell poured generous amounts on the small puncture in the skin, and Diane winced in pain, clutching at Eva and beginning to cry again.
Maxwell met Eva’s concerned gaze.
“She stepped on a sea urchin,” he mumbled. “The acid in the vinegar will dissolve any particles left in her foot. It’ll hurt like hell for a day or so, but she’ll be okay.”
“Are you sure?” Eva asked softly, pulling the little girl to her, resting her chin against Diane’s hair. Maxwell looked at his daughter, his expression still anguished and tight.
“She just had a bad scare. But she’ll be fine.”
Then he stood and left them, preparing once more to put the vessel under sail and return them home to Hawksnest Bay.
The trip back seemed to take a long time, but finally they were back. Eva let out a sigh of relief. Diane was much calmer now, but still whimpering with the returning memory of her ordeal and the throbbing in her left foot. Maxwell managed to get Diane into the launch, Eva following on her own, and it was a rather silent, shocked trio that reached the beach.
“I’ll come with you,” Eva stated, as Maxwell carried Diane to the Jeep. He merely nodded in agreement. At last Eva was able to put on her damp and very wrinkled cover-up. She climbed into the back seat of the Jeep. When they arrived at the house, Eva turned to Maxwell.
“Why don’t I get her cleaned up and in bed first. Then you can come in and see her.”
Maxwell hesitated.
“I’ll only be ten minutes. I’ll just get the sand and salt water off her and fix her hair.”
He finally nodded, and Eva helped Diane off to the bathroom. Silently he turned to unload the Jeep. He’d just finished hosing off the last of the snorkel gear when Eva came up behind him in the front yard.
“Maxwell…” She touched the hard sinewed back. Adam turned around, frowning. “She’s in bed. You can go in now. You were right. Her foot hurts, but she was just scared.”
Maxwell moved to brush past her, and Eva put a restraining hand on his arm.
“Maxwell…”
He stopped to look down at her in the fading light of dusk. Eva hesitated, not wanting to seem as interfering or to preach and sound pompous, but very much wanting to ease the way for both father and daughter.
“She thinks you’re going to be mad at her. That’s bothering her more than anything.”
He remained silent and stone-still. Eva drew in a deep breath.
“Please don’t yell at her tonight…”
He stared at her a moment longer, then abruptly, without responding, he moved around her into the house, leaving Eva looking anxiously at his retreating form. Eva hugged herself in the sudden cool air. Staring out over the low-topped trees, she watched the purple sunset on the horizon, watching the sky get darker and darker. It had been a horribly frightening moment this afternoon when Adam had rushed out of the water with Diane in his arms.
Eva remembered when Gail was five and had fallen from a tricycle, putting a serious gash in her forehead and abrasions on her knees. Eva had been beside herself with panic that some more serious internal head injury had occurred. Later in the emergency room, Kevin had told her with a rueful smile that their daughter’s biggest concern was all the blood that now stained her new blue jump suit. Of course, that incident had paled to total insignificance with the fire years later.
Eva turned and walked slowly into the house. She vaguely registered that it was much neater this time than the first time she’d been here. But the books, papers, samples, and journals lay pretty much as before. Eva heard the soft low voices behind Diane’s closed bedroom door. The deeper, richer sound of Maxwell, and the softer, higher one of Diane. Suddenly there was a giggle and a brief rough chuckle from Maxwell. Smiling to herself and relaxing, Eva began to dig through the refrigerator and cupboards, looking for something to fix to eat. It was nearly an hour later before she heard Diane’s door open and close. Eva went to the square opening connecting the roof deck and lower rooms.
“Maxwell!” she whispered loudly. “I’m up here.”
Eva heard his footsteps. Then he stood under the opening, peering up at her dark form silhouetted against the night sky.
“What are you doing up there?” he questioned.
“I thought you could use something to eat.”
He came up the ladder, still wearing his swim trunks and now, also, a light-blue work shirt, unbuttoned half down his chest. Eva gestured to the small round table that contained a plate with cold chicken, bean salad, and slices of onion bread. She picked up a glass and gave it to him.
“And I thought you could use a stiff drink.” She grinned, making note of the look of appreciation on his face. He looked exhausted. Maxwell sighed, took the glass, and emptied it in two gulps. He tried to hold back a cough but couldn’t, as the liquid burned its way down his throat.
“That’s straight rum!” he rasped out in his deep voice.
“That’s right.” Eva smiled. Maxwell looked thoughtfully at the empty glass before setting it on the table.
“I swear kids can drive you to drink,” he commented to her dryly.
Eva chuckled lightly. “Yes, I know.” Maxwell did not follow up by asking her how she knew, and she didn’t think to enlighten him. Eva got him to sit down and watched as he absently began to eat. He didn’t thank her for the food and didn’t comment on it. He was deep in thought, and Eva left him to his own inner workings as his brows furrowed in some concentration. He was completely finished eating before he said anything at all. He looked up at her.
“You didn’t eat anything. Are you on a diet?”
Eva smiled in the dark, shaking her head. “Are you suggesting I need to lose weight?” she asked.
“I’m not suggesting anything,” he said wearily, running a hand across the back of his neck. “I was just asking a civil question. That’s all.”
“Well then, I guess I’m surprised at your concern,” Eva said smoothly, without rancor.
She could see Maxwell’s head slowly lift in her direction again, searching for her eyes and expression.
“You don’t think very much of me, do you?” he asked conversationally, but not as if he really cared one way or another. Eva settled back farther into her chair.
“I think it’s more the other way around. You don’t really care for me…”
“It’s not you…”
“Okay…women in general then. Except for Lavona Morris, of course. She has obviously found the way to your…heart.”
“You don’t know anything about Lavona and me.”
Eva laughed softly in real amusement, sure of herself. “Maxwell…I know everything about it!”
“You know nothing!” he grounded out hard. His vehemence surprised Eva. “You think I’m conducting an affair with her right here in this house under my daughter’s nose!”
“Well, aren’t you?” Eva accused.
Maxwell chuckled dryly. “I was right. You don’t think very much of me.” He stood up and walked to the edge of the deck, bracing his hands on the railing. “I told you once before this isn’t a very large island. But still there are a dozen places I can go to be alone�
�or with Lavona. I don’t have to do that in Diane’s presence.” But he didn’t deny that he was having an affair with Lavona.
Eva was quiet for a moment, realizing that she was way out of line. “I’m sorry,” she said low. “It’s not my business…and I shouldn’t criticize.”
“But you still don’t like the idea.”
“Maxwell…my concern is for Diane. It must confuse her, seeing you with Lavona. And I don’t think Diane likes her very much. Maybe she feels…threatened.”
“That’s stupid,” he growled impatiently.
“Not to a ten-year-old child who once a year had to start all over again getting close to her father. Maxwell, she’s just not sure where she stands with you.”
“But I’m her father!”
“Yes! But do you treat her like she’s your daughter?” Eva asked forcefully. They stood tense and indignant, and, Eva at least, unsure. She sighed. “There I go again.”
She was surprised at the sarcasm in Maxwell’s voice when he spoke again. “I guess she’s lucky to have you on her side. Under different circumstances you’d make a great lawyer.” He turned away to look out into the night.
“What other circumstances?” Eva frowned.
Maxwell remained silent for a very long time. Then he turned around, bracing himself against the railing and crossing his powerful arms over his chest. “Other times, when you’re not busy being maternal and domestic…fussing over Diane. Cleaning up houses.”
“You make it sound like some kind of—of disease I have,” she said in amazement. “I thought I was just being concerned and helpful. Would you have preferred if I’d stood around and just watched?”
“I don’t think you can help all those instincts,” Maxwell explained. “You need to feel you’re important to someone.”
Eva just stared at him wide-eyed. “Why, you conceited…I’m an independent human being, Maxwell, but does that mean I shouldn’t care? Why are the two terms mutually exclusive in your mind?” she asked angrily.
“I really doubt that women want to be independent. You’ll play at being alone and running your own lives, but the bottom line is you’re all looking for someone to take care of you.”
