Maria, Juan, Katrina and Miguel took turns opening their gifts. There were squeals of delight and shouts of joy from the children. The other families had enjoyed shopping for them. They knew the Velasquez family was struggling to make ends meet and that there had been few gifts under their Christmas tree at home. The Camerons, DeLongs and Bennetts had gone all out in an effort to make this Christmas one to remember for the sweet little Velasquez kids. Besides, buying toys was fun, and it had been several years since they’d had little children of their own at home! The adorable little ones cried out Gracias! Gracias! with each new gift they opened and ran around the room passing out hugs and kisses.
The teenagers got down on the floor once they were finished, all set to play with the younger children and their new toys, when Rachel called out, “Wait! Wait! We still have the grab bag to do for the rest of us! Let’s let the kids play with their toys on their own for a while—Skeeter—while we go on with the party, okay? Jennifer has put numbers on all the grab bag gifts, and she’s going to let you pick a matching number out of one of these bowls. One bowl is for the teens to draw from, and the other is for the parents. Understand? Okay, let’s go!”
Pete’s mother went around the room letting them each draw a number from a bowl. “We’ll start on this side of the room,” she said when they were all ready. The teenagers groaned. They would have to wait—the grown-ups got to open their gifts first! They watched as their parents opened cologne, earrings, a pretty silk scarf, a glass chess set, a video and the mostly highly prized gift of all—a coupon for a dozen handmade tamales from Daniella Velasquez! The teens laughed when Mr. DeLong pretended to try on the delicate earrings he had received. He ended up trading them with his wife for the video she had opened. “Not my style!” he said with a laugh.
Finally it was the teens’ turn to open their grab bag gifts. They had already given their real gifts to one another a few days before, but they were excited to do it one more time. “I have an idea,” Steve Cameron said. “Why don’t you all open them at once, and we’ll see who can get theirs open first! Ready, set, go!” Before anyone could object, the race was on!
Paper flew in the air and ribbons were tossed. Skeeter was the first to get his unwrapped and he opened the box. “Huh?” he said looking strangely at the things inside.
“Oh, how—nice,” Kristi said when she had her gift open.
“Hmm, this is—different,” Robyn said as she pulled her gift out of the gift bag. The others were having the same reaction as they opened their gifts—a quiet puzzlement and not much enthusiasm.
The adults could hardly hold back their laughter. “Well, let’s see what you all have there,” Mr. Bennett finally said.
One by one the teenagers held up their gifts for all to see. Robyn had a stuffed parrot. Pete held up a small model sailing ship in a bottle. Anna had a little chest with chocolates wrapped up like gold coins. Skeeter had already put on his gift—an eye patch and pirate hat. “Arrgh!” he scowled. Dan pulled a plastic sword from its sheath. It made an electronic clanging noise as he did. Kristi said, “I got an old-fashioned spyglass and, uh, I think it’s a treasure map.”
Pete grinned. “I think I see a pattern here,” he said.
“These aren’t the grab bag gifts we wrapped up to give!” Kristi said.
“They’re not?” her mother asked innocently. “Are you sure? Take a closer look!”
The teenagers turned their gifts over in their hands, examining them. Suddenly Skeeter let out a whoop! “I found something in the lining of my hat!” He pulled a scroll of paper out and waved it in the air. A few moments later they were all finding matching scrolls in and around their gifts. They opened them and began to read out loud,
It’s time for a trip to the Caribbean Sea,
Where we’ll play Pirates and learn some history!
So pack that new swimsuit, get ready for some fun
On a tropical island, in the surf, sand and sun!
“What?! Wow! When are we going? This is crazy!” the teenagers were all yelling and jumping up and down. “The Caribbean! I can’t believe it!” Their parents were laughing, also, almost excited as their children. The little Velasquez kids weren’t quite sure what all the excitement was about, but they were jumping up and down and squealing, too.
There was pandemonium for several minutes before Rachel finally was able to calm everyone down and speak. “Your folks have all been in on this for a couple months now, and believe me—it is so hard to keep a secret like this from you all for that long!” The young people stared at their parents in astonishment. Rachel went on, “I have to do some research on a new book I’m writing about pirates, so we decided to combine it with a family vacation. And of course, we can’t go on a family vacation without taking our other kids along, Robyn, Anna and Pete!”
“Oh, thank you, Mr. and Mrs. Cameron! Thank you so much!” their friends exclaimed.
“You’re welcome! We leave day after tomorrow for a week. So start packing!”
The teenagers all started talking at once. Robyn and Anna ran and hugged Rachel, and then their own parents. Kristi was looking at the little scroll once more when she said, “So that’s why I got a new swimsuit for Christmas! I thought that was a little strange!”
“I got a new swimsuit, too! I thought the same thing!” Robyn said.
“Me, too,” Anna laughed. “It looks like our moms have been in cahoots for a while!”
“You bet!” Rachel chuckled. “It’s been fun just planning this trip with them. And we’ve decided someday we parents are all going to take a trip like this together and leave you kids at home!” The other mothers raised their glasses of sparkling punch and cheered, “Hear! Hear!”
Skeeter stomped over just then on an imaginary peg leg, wearing his pirate hat and eye patch. “Arrgh, me matey! I mean, me mommy! I’m starving—What’s to eat? Quick, or ye’ll walk the plank!” He grabbed Dan’s sword from him and waved it in the air.
The moms burst out laughing. “No wonder he’s always starving!” Rachel chuckled. “He’s got a wooden leg! It must be hollow!” They all roared again. “Okay, okay, everyone—after all that excitement is anyone else hungry again? We’ve got plenty of cookies!”
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CHAPTER TWO
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Emerald Paradise
Kristi and Robyn crowded in by Anna and looked through her window. The sea below was a beautiful deep shade of turquoise. They could see several islands rising from the Caribbean like emeralds scattered across a sheet of blue satin.
“It’s beautiful!” Anna breathed.
“I’ll bet it’s even prettier on the ground,” Robyn said as she and Kristi settled back into their own seats. “How much longer until we land?”
“I don’t know,” Kristi replied. “I’ll ask my dad.” She reached over the seat in front of her and tapped her father on the shoulder. “Daddy, how much further is it?” she shouted over the noise of the engines.
Steve glanced out the window next to his wife. “We should be there in less than an hour. We changed planes in Miami and from there it is only three hours to Saint Lucia. We flew over Puerto Rico a little while ago and now we’re over the chain of small volcanic islands called the Lesser Antilles. They stretch from north to south all the way down to the northeast coast of South America. St. Lucia is one of those islands, not too far from South America. I sure am glad I can just sit back and relax on this flight! Think I’ll just close my eyes and take a little nap now until we get there!”
Kristi patted her dad’s shoulder and sat back. They seldom went on vacation without her dad piloting the plane. He was a senior captain for a large airline, and also owned his own small plane. The trip from California to St. Lucia was too long for them to fly in the Cessna 207, though, and for once Steve had elected to just go along as a passenger on the airline he worked for. Kristi was glad for him. He deserved a vacation!
Kristi looked at her brothers and Pete sitting right a
cross the aisle from them. They were listening to something on Skeeter’s personal CD player, passing the headphones back and forth. They were grinning and nodding their heads, and tapping their feet and fingers to the music. “What are you listening to?” she asked Dan who was closest to her.
“Island music! You know, calypso, steel drums, reggae… It’s cool!” he said. Kristi didn’t really know, but she knew she’d be finding out soon.
“Have your folks told you anything about the place we’re staying?” Robyn asked her just then.
“No, and I’ve been trying to weasel it out of them for two days now! For some reason they’re keeping it a big secret, and I can’t imagine why!” Kristi said.
“Well then, it must be someplace great!” Anna said. “Maybe it’s a mansion.”
“Or a yacht!” Robyn guessed.
“I don’t know. Knowing them it could be a tent in the rain forest, you know! Or camping with no tent on the beach! We’ll just have to wait and see!” Kristi said.
They didn’t have long to wait. Their plane landed at Hewanorra International Airport right on schedule. Steve Cameron rented a van at the airport and soon they were loaded and ready to go to their “mystery destination.”
“Whoa, this takes a little getting used to!” he said as they swung out into traffic. “St. Lucia used to be owned by the British, so they drive on the wrong side of the road here! Well, wrong to us, anyway! Remind me to stay on the right side of the road! And by that I mean correct—if I drive on the right, I’ll be wrong!”
“Huh?” the teens said in unison.
Rachel laughed. She patted her husband’s arm and said, “Don’t worry, honey, I’ll keep you on the straight and narrow!”
“Hey, Pete, tell us what you’ve learned about St. Lucia,” Dan said. “You did research it before we came, didn’t you?”
“Well, yea,” Pete admitted sheepishly. “I looked it up on the Internet. I like to know about the places I’m visiting.”
“Great! Now share with us,” Rachel encouraged him.
“Well, St. Lucia is only twenty-seven miles long and fourteen miles wide, with the Atlantic Ocean on the east side and the Caribbean on the west. The airport we landed at is on the southern end of the island. There are several small volcanic mountains, wide valleys and the rain forest in the center of the island. This is the tropics, so it is warm, but there are beautiful trade winds and we are in the dry season, so the weather should be great,” Pete said. “Oh, and by the way the name of the airport—Hewanorra—means Land of the Iguana. We’ll see all kinds of reptiles, birds and marine life on and around St. Lucia.”
“That’s wonderful, Pete!” Anna said. Kristi wondered if Anna meant the weather or Pete!
The drive northwards from the airport was along a winding mountainous highway. On the left they caught glimpses here and there of the coast and the Caribbean Sea. On their right rich green valleys stretched out before their eyes. They passed through several small fishing villages with their colorful wooden houses and boats, and stared in amazement at the Pitons—two almost perfectly shaped volcanic cones that rose from the sea.
The teenagers exclaimed in delight at each new sight, and wanted to stop and explore, but Steve just laughed and said, “Wait! We’ll be back when we have more time to do it right! There is so much more to see on this island than you can even imagine on this short trip up the coast. We’ll be staying on Marigot Bay, one of the most beautiful places in all the Caribbean—and a hideout for pirates in days gone by! It was also the place where they made the movie Dr. Doolittle and one of the Superman movies, as well.”
“Pirates? Superman? Sounds like my kind of place!” Skeeter said enthusiastically. The other teens agreed and watched eagerly out the windows for the beautiful bay.
Steve finally turned off the coastal highway onto a small dirt road. They followed it just a short way before two stone pillars appeared marking a drive. A sign on one of the pillars said “Emerald Paradise.” Emerald Paradise? What could that mean? The girls stretched their necks, trying to see the beautiful (it must be beautiful!) secret place Steve and Rachel had refused to talk about.
They passed under some trees and, at last, there was the shore again on their left. Ahead of them was a wide stretch of lawn with a single small building on it. It was colorful and pretty, with the trim and porch railings painted in tropical colors, but there was nothing especially unique about it. A wraparound porch furnished with plenty of rocking chairs and swings provided a gathering place for guests to gather to enjoy the marvelous view of the beach and the Caribbean Sea just beyond. Lush tropical plants and flowers flourished everywhere and filled the air with their rich scent.
Steve stopped the van in front of the building, and the teenagers piled out, eager to check out the place where they’d be staying for the next week. They ran up the porch steps and through the double doors. They stopped suddenly just inside the doors, staring around them in confusion.
It looked like a hotel lobby. There was a check-in desk and several seating areas of rattan furniture and bright floral cushions. On the other side of the lobby was a wall of floor-to-ceiling windows and another set of glass doors leading out to the pool. There was something missing, though—there was no sign of the rest of the resort! No hotel rooms, villas, cottages—not even a tent!
“Told you so!” Kristi muttered. “Looks like we’re sleeping on the beach under the stars!” The other girls groaned.
Kristi’s father finished checking them in, and then turned and said to the group, “We’ll just leave the luggage in the van. They’ll deliver it to us later. Right now we have a little bit of a hike before us, so let’s go!”
“A hike? Huh? We’re going hiking now? What kind of place is this?” the young people exclaimed. Rachel just smiled and tucked her hand in her husband’s arm.
“Come on, you wimps!” she called over her shoulder. “If we can do it, you can at least try to keep up with us!” They led the way out the doors by the pool and the teenagers followed.
The pool looked inviting, and the beach beyond was even more beautiful, but rather than turning toward the beach as the girls were expecting, Steve and Rachel marched past the pool and headed for the trees. Steve consulted a small map he held in his hands and said, “This way!”
There was still no sign of the rest of the resort, but now they noticed there were several paths leading off under the trees. Palm trees faced the beach, but deeper into the woods were many other species of trees, giant ferns and plants. The growth was thick, but the wide path they followed was clear and they were able to move easily. Beautiful bird-of-paradise and orchids lent their bright colors here and there to the green background and filtered sunshine that surrounded them.
“Well, now we know why they call it Emerald Paradise,” Rachel murmured. “This is absolutely stunning!” The girls agreed and looked about them in awe. Even the guys were taken with the beauty of this small piece of the rain forest. The quiet stillness made it seem almost like a chapel, and a praise to the Creator.
Suddenly Steve noticed a small wooden sign sticking up out of the undergrowth by the path that said Jacquot. “Here we are!” he said.
“Here we are—where?” Skeeter asked, looking around. There was nothing to be seen but trees all around them.
“I think I know!” Pete exclaimed. “Look up!” They followed his gaze up into the trees above them. High above their heads were several large platforms connected by rope bridges. Each platform held a small building nestled among the branches of the massive trees supporting them.
“A treehouse!” Skeeter yelled. “We’re staying in a treehouse! How cool is that!”
“What? Wow! I can’t believe it!” the rest of the teenagers were all exclaiming. “How do we get up there?”
“Look—there’s a spiral staircase!” Robyn said. “Come on!”
The teenagers made a dash for the stairs leading up into the treehouse closest to them. They laughed as they wound their way hig
h into the tree. Rachel and Steve were right behind them. “I sure am glad we don’t have to shimmy up a rope or something to get into this thing,” Rachel panted. “And someone else is going to have to carry all that luggage up!”
At last they were on the small deck surrounding the first level of their “villa in the trees.” Skeeter opened the door and went inside with the rest close behind. They stared around them in amazement!
The first thing that caught their eyes, of course, was the huge trunk of the tree going right up through the floor and out the ceiling of the room they were standing in. It was the living and dining room of their treehouse villa, as beautifully decorated as any hotel suite would be. Comfortable chairs, tables and lamps circled the bole of the tree. At one end, a dining table big enough for eight bore welcome gifts from the resort. Screened windows went all the way around, and on one side they could see above the surrounding trees the sparkling blue of the Caribbean. It was a place meant for relaxing and just drinking in the view!
“Let’s go look at the rest of it!” Skeeter called. He was already out the door and scampering across one of the rope bridges. There were three bridges fanning out from the main living quarters, each leading to another deck. These were the separate bedrooms of the villa. The rest of the teenagers eagerly followed Skeeter now to the closest one.
“Whoa!” Rachel laughed as the bridge bounced and swayed under the young people. “I don’t know how much weight this thing can hold at once, but I’m not getting on until they’re all off!” Finally she started across with her husband right on her heels, giggling all the way as she tried to keep her balance.
They found the teenagers already examining one of the sleeping rooms. There were four bunks draped in mosquito netting built into the walls. The room had a luxurious feel to it, despite the bunks, with colorful pillows, rich fabrics, and antique furnishings all around. “This is the girls’ room!” Kristi piped up before the guys could call dibs on it. She bounced on one of the bunks, while Robyn threw herself across another. “Ooh, it’s so beautiful!” Anna said clapping her hands.
The Secret of Buccaneer Bay (Kristi Cameron Book 5) Page 2
