When I opened my eyes, I felt as if I had just wakened from a dream. Cary had his back to me. I watched him a while before wrapping the towel around myself again and curling up on the mattress. He took the raincoat and put it over me for a blanket, kissing me softly on the cheek. Then he went to the door and looked out.
"It's still coming down pretty hard out there," he said.
"We should go back. They'll wonder where we are."
"I don't care. Let them. Let him," he corrected. He closed the door and returned to my side, brushing my hair back and gazing down at me. "I love you, Melody. I feel I am truly free when I am with you. I am not afraid of saying anything, telling you anything, revealing anything to you."
"I'm glad, Cary. Trust is the most important part of loving someone."
"Then you do love me, too?" he fished.
"I do," I said, convinced it was so. "Yes."
He smiled.
"Then nothing that happens matters. Nothing he can say, nothing anyone can say matters. I can say good-bye to nightmares, to dreary days and dreary, lonely nights. We'll be together forever now, won't we?" he asked.
I started to nod, but stopped. After all I had been through, I was afraid to let too much sunshine come into the shadows of my heart.
"Let's take it a day at a time, Cary. When promises get too big, they have a way of turning into great disappointments."
"I'm not afraid to make a big promise," he said, smiling. He lay beside me and put his arm under my head so I could lie in the softness. He stroked my hair and we were both silent for a long while. The movement of the boat became softer, undulating, hypnotizing. I felt as if I were in a big cradle being rocked.
"Love me half as much as I love you and we'll be all right," I heard Cary say.
It was the last thing I heard before I fell asleep.
We were lucky it was Sunday, for neither Cary nor I woke with the light of morning until the sunshine blazed through the window and wiped over our faces to wash away dreams and sleep. If it had been a weekday, Uncle Jacob would have come through the door before our eyelids had opened and he would have discovered us wrapped in each other's arms, asleep, me still half naked, with only a towel and Cary's shirt to cover me.
I stirred first and then Cary blinked, closed his eyes, ground the sleep from them, and sat up, a look of confusion on his face. We gazed at each other.
"It's morning," he said as if he had made a most wondrous discovery. The look of fear on my face wiped the stunned expression from his. He shot up, gazed around a moment, and then scooped up my dress. "It's not completely dry."
"It's all right. I have to put something on," I said.
He handed it to me and I began to wrap it around my body quickly while he put on his shirt and straightened up the cabin. I put on my shoes and he put his on, too. When he opened the door, the glitter of the morning light on the sand made us both squint.
"What are we going to tell them, Cary?" I asked.
"The truth. We got trapped by the storm and slept in the boat," he replied. "And if he says one nasty thing about it, I swear I will leave for good," he vowed.
My heart thumped like the slow drumbeat of a military funeral march as we made our way over the dunes to the house. I just hoped Uncle Jacob wasn't waiting by the door. When we arrived, we paused, looked at each other, and then Cary turned the knob. To our surprise, it was locked.
"Why did he do that?" I asked.
"He just wanted us to ring the bell so he would know exactly when we came back," Cary said. "That way Ma would wake up too." He shook his head and then smiled. "Follow me," he said and we walked around the house, where there was a ladder lying beside the wall. Cary lifted it carefully and gently laid it against the house just under my bedroom window.
"What if he locked the windows, too, Cary?"
"The window in Laura's room doesn't lock," he said. "It broke a long time ago and we never fixed it. I'll go up first and get it open," he added and started up the ladder. When he reached the window, he opened it gently, smiled down at me, and then came back down the ladder.
"Why didn't you go in?"
"You go first. I want to be sure you climb up all right," he said, stepping back.
I gazed around. It was very early, so there were no other people or cars about. Surely, they might suspect burglars if they saw us, I thought. I looked up the ladder at the open window and shook my head in amazement.
"I can't believe we have to do this," I said, but I started up the ladder slowly. I trembled a few times, but I made it up to the window sill and climbed in, Cary right behind me. He closed the window softly, indicating we should be quiet. Then he went to the door and peered out.