Tony Hillerman - Finding Moon_v4
Page 29
"I think all along you really believed Damon was alive. Probably getting him out alive was hopeless, but you still believed you should try."
"Yes," she said. "I did."
"So now I'm going to guess at why you didn't want me to go into Cambodia to bring him out. And if I guess wrong, you have to tell me I'm wrong. Even though it means I've made myself look like a damned fool."
"You don't have to guess. I'll tell you."
"I guess you didn't want me to get killed. I guess you knew I'd fallen in love with you, and I guess you'd begun caring some about me yourself."
Moon joined her at the railing. He took her hand.
"Anyway, you didn't want me to get killed."
"Oh, Moon," Osa said. Her eyes were wet but she was smiling. "Do you want me to answer the first question?"
"Only if it's the right answer. Only if you feel sad because you think you are losing Moon Mathias. But Mathias is not getting lost. As soon as I get little Lila back in the States and settled in, I'm coming back here. I'll chase you down wherever I can find you and I'll talk you into marrying me. Or try to. So what's the answer to that question?"
"The answer is Moon," she said. And put her cheek against his shoulder, her arms around his waist, and squeezed. "M-O-O-N," she said. "Moon."
He took her in his arms then, engulfed her, surprised at how small she seemed, conscious of the perfume of her hair, of her smooth skin beneath the silk, that when he tilted up her chin she was returning his kiss.
"It shouldn't take me more than eight or ten days," he said. "Where will you be in eight or ten days?"
"You're going to fly back with Lila? You'll try to take care of her on the plane?"
"Why not?" Moon said. "I can change diapers. Feed her. She can say `Moon' now. I'm learning."
"Not very fast. I watched you on the aircraft carrier. You weren't designed to be a nanny. And that Baby in Space game you play with her is dreadful. You will break her neck. It scares her."
"It just scares people who're watching it. She likes it. Makes her giggle. She knows I won't drop her."
Osa was shaking her head. "And feeding her. Keeping her clean and comfortable. Getting her to sleep."
He hugged her to him. "Can you think of an alternative?"
"Yes," she said.
"So can I," Moon said. "With a Dutch passport you don't need a visa. So I postponed my flight a day and made reservations for Osa van Winjgaarden."
"No Mrs.?"
"No Mrs.," Moon said. "Until we can make it legal."
The End