by JJ Aughe
The winding trail took them around the northern most finger of the lake to a place where the mountain’s almost perpendicular cliffs ended just yards from the edge of the water. They carefully picked their way along the same narrow ledge Bailey had used where the outer edge dropped off into the boulder-strewn shoreline.
Bailey finally stopped at a steep gulley erosion had cut into the side of the mountain. He pointed out a moss covered pyramid-like boulder near the base of the steep cliff that Jessie thought may have been an old surveyor's or miner's line marker pyre. Ten feet from the marker pyre he indicated the pyramid shaped boulder and the a place where he had accidentally dislodged some of the thick built up moss when he had been there the first time, revealing what he believed to be ancient markings.
Kneeling by the pile of mossy stones, she examined the arrow, stickmen and various other markings and agreed he was probably right. Bailey then carefully led her away from the lake and up another dim game trail along one side of the steep gulley. They toiled upwards for what seemed to Jessie to be an eternity, but in reality was only about ten minutes, until they came to a fork in the gulley. Sweating profusely, Jessie eyed the fork leading to the right with hope that he would take her that way because it looked to be easier to traverse.
Noticing where Jessie was hopefully glancing Bailey nodded to the left. “Sorry,” he apologized. “We have to go up this one over here.”
Jessie gazed up the much steeper, brush and boulder clogged incline and groaned. “Is there a reason we have to go that way?”
“Yes,” he replied. “For one, the other way would put us out in the open where we could be seen from the air and, two, this is the way to the entrance to the cavern I was telling you about.”
“Oh!” she replied with a giggle, her eyes dancing with glee and a mile-wide smile gracing her provocative lips. “It figures there would be no easy way to the cavern!” Her eyes twinkling with delight, she finished with, “Lead on, Bwana!”
Chapter 4: A Proposal
Twenty minutes later found them wriggling on their bellies through a small entrance in the almost perpendicular wall of the gulley. Minutes later, as revealed by Bailey’s halogen flashlight as he began shining the wide beam around on the walls, they were standing in a marvelous, very spacious cavern.
A shiver went up and down Jessie’s spine and she caught her breath. She could swear she could see the lovely native maiden of her dreams standing against the far wall of the cavern. By the light from Bailey’s flashlight Jessie could see one of the maiden’s arms out-stretched, her hand pointing first to the wall paintings and etchings, then at Jessie. But there was something missing. Jessie wracked her brain to remember what it was, but she couldn’t figure it out. Finally deciding the maiden was a figment from her own dreams and couldn’t possibly be standing by the paintings, yet mystified by the experience, she slightly shook her head and tried to concentrate on what Bailey was telling her.
That man pointed out crude etchings and paintings of elephant-like animals with long, curving tusks Jessie supposed were crude likenesses of Wooly Mammoth, two cat-like creatures with two, very long upper fangs she recognized as saber-toothed tigers and something resembling a gray whale, only with two rows of jagged teeth showing in an open mouth.
“Oh my God,” Jessie exclaimed in awe, again catching her breath as her words echoed away. “If these are as ancient as they appear to be, Bailey, you have discovered something that will have archeologists the world over scrambling to be the first to examine and excavate this site.”
“Who do you suppose could have drawn these?”
“I have no idea, Jessie,” Bailey smiled in reply, his voice also sounding awed, yet pleased with her reaction. “At this point in time I have no way of knowing who the artist or artists could have been, but I would bet my last dollar that whoever drew these paintings and carved these etchings lived thousands of years ago.”
He took an awed breath, then said, “I had the same reaction of awe and incredulity as you just exhibited the first time I saw this. I couldn’t believe my own eyes at the time. I still have chills when I think of how long it has been here untouched by nature or man.”
Pointing at a darkened opening, he continued, “There are more etchings and paintings, and even a few open areas like this with fire pits down that first passage to the right.”
Jessie immediately grabbed her small LED flashlight from her backpack, switched it on and started that way. Bailey gently took her by the arm, turning her toward him. “I haven’t explored that much of those four passages, Jessie. The two I have partially explored are rife with paintings and etchings similar to these. The other two I haven’t been in and could be dangerous. I’m thinking that it would be wiser if we waited until a qualified archaeologist has had a chance to check these caverns before we venture any further. Otherwise we are liable cause irreparable damage.
Besides that, for the time being anyway, I’m sorry, you’ll have to take my word about the tunnels because Joe and the FAA should be arriving soon. That being the case, we need to get back outside and down to the vicinity of the plane to meet them. OK?”
As Bailey turned to lead the way out of the cavern Jessie again saw the vision of the maiden in white doeskin and this time she clearly understood the woman’s words. Words that, as impossible as it seemed, she had clearly heard her deceased mother saying as Bailey had fought for control of the plane. “Follow your heart, daughter! Remember your heritage and listen to your heart, Jessie! You can accomplish anything if you listen to your heart.”
Those words emblazoned in her mind, Jessie quickly clasped Bailey’s arm, forcing him to half turn toward her. Not yet willing to share the vision or the words of the maiden with Bailey, seeing the vision of the maiden for the second time here in the cavern cemented her conviction about the man, Bailey, and the financing of his dream.
As she gazed into his eyes, she gave Bailey a sly, secretive smile. She had realized at the lake that she had fallen head over heels in love with the man. Should she reveal that love to him? Maybe not, but her heart was telling her she couldn’t hold her feelings a secret from him another minute.
Holding her flashlight toward the ceiling so as not to blind him by its brightness but so it would still illuminate their faces, Jessie silently gazed into his eyes for another space before saying the words foremost on her mind. When she did speak, she was still a bit evasive about her feelings, yet direct and her voice was soft, holding a timbre of awe as if where they stood were sacred ground.
“I love what I am seeing, Bailey. I really do. As for why we are here? I have made my decision.
You were so right! This cavern is magnificent and the surrounding area is so wonderfully pristine! And, as all prehistoric finds should be, this cavern and the etchings and paintings here should be saved and shared with the whole world, not just a select few or destroyed by random souvenir seekers!”
She took a step closer, closing the space between their bodies and threw her arms around his waist, giving him an enormous bear hug as she happily finished. “I have to confess, Bailey. The way you so glowingly described this place I had my doubts. But no more! You will have your financing Bailey Gilmore! But on two conditions.” As she spoke those words, she stepped back to watch his eyes.
Conditions made Bailey leery. Even so, he wanted to hear what this beautiful woman had to say. His heart had done a flip-flop by her arms wrapped tightly around his waist, her faint scent wafting into his being and the thought of actually being able to make this dream come true. Now she had stepped away and he knew he needed to answer. “OK. May I ask what those conditions are?”
Seeing his hesitation she again stepped close, replacing her arms around his waist. Leaning into him she kissed his cheek and, feeling ornery, she moved to his lips and nipped the lower one. Drawing back so she could better see his face in the now dim light from their flashlights she replied, “Number one. We have to work together on everything involved with this project.”<
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Cocking his head to one side, Bailey quickly agreed. “I don’t have a problem with that. It will probably be a refreshing experience. And what is the second condition?”
“We-e-e-l-l,” she hedged. “That may take some time.”
“Oh?” he asked, curiosity getting the better of him. “What is it that may take ‘some time’?”
Glad their flashlights were now pointing at the surrounding cavern walls as she knew she was blushing pink, Jessie charged on with what she knew would seem an unorthodox condition. “Okay. Remember, you asked!”
Releasing her hold, she took a step back and spoke frankly. “I think I have fallen in love with you, Bailey Gilmore. So, I want you to court me and maybe, down the road, I want you to consider marrying me!”
Stunned because he was thinking of something on an entirely different level, Bailey took a step back of his own. “Ah, ah, you’re not serious?”
Before she could answer he stammered, “I, I mean about the second condition! You don’t really love me and want me to marry you? Do you?”
“Yes,” she answered in an almost whisper. “Right now, I really do. Though I know in my heart that I fell head over heels in love with you back there on the beach, I realize that my feelings for you may change. But, right now? Right this very instant? Yes, Bailey Gilmore, I love you and there is nothing in this world I want more than to be your wife for eternity. As unorthodox, weird even, as it may seem, I am proposing to you. I do want you to consider marrying me.”
Bailey couldn’t believe she had said she was in love with him. To his way of thinking there was no way a woman as wealthy as she would ever consider him husband material. And fall in love with him? That was out of the question! No. The man she needed to fall in love with had to have the polish of sophistication, the where-with-all for her to live the lifestyle she deserved. The very things he lacked.
No. Financially and morally, he wasn’t worthy of her. She had to know his bank account was all but depleted and his credit was probably going to be in the dumps before long. If she married him they would have to live off her money and that was something he could never live with. It would make him feel like he was cheating her. Besides that, except for the brief times they had seen each other in the past two weeks, she didn’t even know him! She didn’t know the real truth about his past and, even though it was in the line of duty, the horrible thing he had done.
He was opening his mouth to tell her how he felt when she again closed the distance between them, put a gentle hand to his cheek and smiled that enticing smile she had used at the restaurant that first morning. The light from their flashlights revealed the firm set to Bailey’s jaw. Jessie had just watched his facial features harden. She instinctively knew what caused it and her voice was forceful as she spoke. “I think I know, Bailey Gilmore, what is going through your mind right now!” Giving him a knowing grin, she continued. “You are thinking you are not worthy of me. That I am too wealthy and you would feel like some gigolo!”
Remembering past experiences with men and especially the last one, her voice echoed in the dark chamber as she firmly continued. “Well, don’t you ever think you’re not good enough for me, Bailey Gilmore. You are honest, trustworthy and the most upstanding man I have ever met! I don’t know of another man in the same circumstance who would have turned a blind eye to a bare breast as you did! Most other men would have tried to seduce me on the spot” Cooling the ardor in her voice she replaced it with a wistful sigh as she finished with, “Or one who can make me feel like a queen every time he looks at me!”
After a slight pause to let her words sink in, she kept her voice to almost a whisper. “And as for your feeling like a gigolo, Bailey? I have a solution for that too! Just by the way you run your charter business you have proved you know what you are doing businesswise. That alone, shows me that you are good at what you do. Convinced of that, I want to be your partner in everything concerned with this site and anything else we decide to do together.”
“Now,” she continued. “I know that you feel that I deserve to be married to a wealthy, successful man. Well, that is where you are wrong. My wealth is mostly the result of the efforts of my grandfather and my parents, not me. I would be satisfied as your wife no matter what our circumstances turned out to be. That said, Bailey. I want you to be satisfied that I am serious. So that you will not feel like you are cheating me, I’ll do something to prove that my wealth means very little to me.
When we get back to Bellevue I will immediately make arrangements with Reggie to have all my present bank accounts, and any income that is designated for deposit into those accounts from my various business concerns, placed into a trust account for the children we will, hopefully, some day have. Then I’ll appoint an executor for all the properties and businesses I own. That way, when we get married we will have to live on what we make together on this project and any others we should decide to take on. That should take care of any possible feelings of inferiority or of being a kept man. Now, shouldn’t it?”
“Now,” she said before he could answer, as she tilted her flashlight so it lit his face. “Since I am willing to do all that, what other objections could you possibly have against courting and maybe marrying me?”
Bailey gazed into her eyes for a few seconds. Suddenly he took her in his arms, his head lowered, his lips covered hers in the gentlest of kisses that sent her heart into a whirl and her mind into orbit. He pulled his head back, breaking the kiss so he could again gaze into her eyes. Then he shook his head.
“You are the most intriguing woman I have ever met, Jessie Melano! By that, I mean you have a contagious, positive attitude that reveals the real you. You’re trusting, at times almost too much so. When you make up your mind there is something worthy to be done you do it with flair and panache. You are bold to the point of daring. Yet you are naive enough to have no inhibitions when it comes to matters of the heart. That is a very dangerous trait, but, to me . . . an endearing one.
I’m saying, Jessie Melano, that you have tempted me. So much that I am close to the point of taking you up on your offer!”
Kissing her again, this time more forcefully, he drew his head back. “You blow my mind, Jessie. So much that right now, though I know I do have feelings for you, I don’t know just what those feelings mean. So, I’m not going to give you an answer right now. With everything that is at stake here, you know, your future, your heart, my heart and this project, I am going to try to think of a good reason to turn you down. I’ll try to think of a reason before we get back to the beach. If I don’t think of one, I hope it’s alright with you if I wait until we are finished with the FAA, or maybe a while longer, before you get an answer.” Hearing Jessie’s giggle and seeing her beautiful, knowing smile at his hesitation to give her an immediate answer, he again shook his head. It was like the woman could read his mind. He glanced down at his watch and, noticing it had been over an hour since they had left the beach, he finished with, “The FAA should be arriving about now. So we had better get back to the beach.”
Jessie smiled into the darkness as she followed him to the crawl hole leading outside. Oh, Bailey, she thought. You don’t know the half of the inhibitions I don’t have when it comes to matters concerning you and my heart! But you are sure going to find out! And soon!
Bailey was silent on the way back to the beach and the ruined plane as he valiantly tried to get his mind around Jessie’s proposal. That final kiss had blown his determination to keep his distance right out the window. It was a foregone conclusion that she was in love with him and that he felt the same. But could she handle the horrendous incident that had taken place in Afghanistan? Or would it devastate her and kill any feeling she might have for him? He had to tell her, though. There was no way he could ever keep that secret from her. Only last night he had again been awakened by the nightmare of that woman’s last words and her forgiving acceptance of what he had done. The following explosions still echoed in his mind.
He kne
w who was behind that incident. The same terrorist that had murdered Burney, his best friend! Now, in light of the message the terrorist had relayed, he suspected that the same person was behind the deliberate attempt to knock his plane out of the sky. If he was right, and he was sure he was, they were still in danger. For the time being there wasn’t a thing he could do about it. He had to think of Jessie. Get her to a safe place somewhere far from the danger, then he could concentrate on taking the terrorist down.
Finally deciding he didn’t know whether she could never forgive him, he let his mind tackle something he could resolve. The second attempt at destroying his plane had taken him by complete surprise. That, in itself was unusual because the basic rule that had been drilled into him in the Navy had been to always watch and be ready for the unexpected.
He realized he had screwed up big time. It wouldn’t happen again!
When he and Jessie reached the beach the FAA had not yet arrived so he talked to Joe Mahr on the radio and they agreed to use an unspoken secret signal that each knew from their days in flight school together. If a seaplane tried to land without that signal Bailey knew a few tricks and whoever was in that plane, if they survived, were going to have one hard time getting back in the air!
There was no need for him to worry though for within minutes Joe’s plane appeared. They watched as Joe circled the lake twice, touched down close to the southern end of the lake then lifted off the water again before letting the plane settle onto the water for a final time. When the plane was near the beach Joe cut the engine and let it glide to within a few feet of the sand.
Bailey and Jessie hurried to the shore behind the ruined plane to meet Joe and three Federal Aviation Administration officials as they deplaned. Recognizing Jim Cannus, the Northwest Mountain Region head of the FAA, Bailey spoke directly to him. “As you can see Jim, there isn’t much left of the fuselage over the cabin or the tail section.”
