The Last Oracle (18 page)

“That was fun!”

Alex laughed again and she was excited to know that she enjoyed something that brought him so much pleasure.

They worked their way down dropping down from shallow cliffs, forging deep ravines, hanging on to branches and trees, and scrambling over boulders until, at last, they reached the base of the trail near their cabin. Outside their pleasure of each other, it was the most fun Valeria
had experienced in a long time. Once she saw the back of the cabin, they held hands.

She glanced up at Alex and began to laugh. “You should see your face!”

Alex glanced down at his still bare chest, and saw that he was coated in sweat and dirt. Raising a brow he ran his finger along her chin and displayed the dark stain on the end of his finger. “I’m not the only one!”

They laughed for a few minutes and then he grabbed her by the belt loops and led her into the shower with him, clothes and all.

They slept for hours in the late afternoon heat, with the cool breezes blowing across their bodies. Alex propped himself up on his elbows next to her, running a finger over her sun-kissed shoulders.

“Not bad for the first full day of our honeymoon!” he said.

“Not bad at all,” she said, with her eyes aglow with love. “I think besides our wedding day—and night—that this is the most fun I’ve ever had.”

“It’s only the beginning,” he whispered, and then he kissed her shoulder. “By the way, did you remember that those lobsters were only ‘starters’?” 

“Are you going to tell me what that means?” she asked.

“It means that we need to either go snorkeling for fish or lobster—or we could run down to Jamaica Joe’s.”

“After that hike, these legs aren’t running anywhere tonight.”

Alex nuzzled her neck. “Just the hike?” he whispered.

“No. Not just the hike,” she said with a giggle.

“And by the way, I meant running figuratively,” he grinned. It was so unusual to hear Alex make jokes, and she loved seeing him in such a light mood. “I thought we could take the boat. Jamaica Joe’s is a small island café. I thought we could take in a little dinner and dancing.”

“Is it safe?”

“I think it might be smart for you to wear your contacts as a precaution, but they all suspect that I live on St. Thomas. Jimmy is there to assist with the illusion. His ancestors have worked for me for a hundred years. Jimmy has let the place go, but I can trust him. His grandmother told him so many stories about ancestors who betrayed
sacred oaths that he’ll never say a word. Linc will probably leave the islands but he can always manage it from a distance.”

∞

The outing gave Valeria a chance to wear a sexy little sundress that Camille had packed for her. They drove down the mountain winding down the steep hairpin turn, past the plane, and all the way to the base of the mountain. There, Alex parked under a tree and pulled out a small sailboat. He dusted it out and pulled a cushion from the back of the Jeep and set it down on the bench on the back of the boat; he helped Valeria onto it and then pushed them off.

With an almost nonexistent wind, he skillfully wove along the shoreline staying close enough for her to feel safe. The moon glowed silver and perfect on the smooth water and she was finally feeling relaxed.

“There it is!” Alex said. There was a shack built on a dock. Alex stopped in front of a ladder. He tied up the boat and then climbed up the three steps and onto the dock. Then he reached down and helped pull Valeria up.

Immediately, a giant of a man approached them looking almost like Brutus from Popeye. His face was unshaved and he wore a colorful shirt. 

“Alex, hearts are gonna be breaking—for once you got company!” Then the man looked Valeria up and down and pulled his fist to his heart. “And my heart is breaking! Who is this goddess?” Joe said, still eyeing Valeria.

“Joe, this is my wife, Val.”

“Wife? You been holding out for this one—now I understand! Nice to meet ya, Val. You newlyweds? Tell me he ain’t been leaving you home alone at night!”

“We’re on our honeymoon,” Valeria said shyly.

“Well, last time I saw Al, here, a few months back, I thought maybe he might be doing himself in. I told Deano, the bartender, I was afraid of that. You leave him back then?” Joe asked.

Valeria opened her mouth but couldn’t find the appropriate words. It didn’t
matter, Joe didn’t require two people for a conversation. “Well, next time you decide to dump the guy, give old Joe a call, will ya?”

“Thank you, but I could never replace my husband and he has promised me that I’ll never need to.”

“I’m just sayin’,” Joe said, and then immediately busied himself with a table.

They had a casual dinner looking down on the sea turtles and other marine life moving through the Caribbean. Their dinner tasted even more delicious because of the exertion of the day’s hike. Someone began to play the steel drums, and Alex took Valeria’s hand and led her to the dance floor; they danced under the starlight, joyfully ending another day in paradise.

It took Alex almost a week of encouragement to get Valeria into the warm Caribbean waters. He began by taking her out with him on his dinghy, while he speared fish or gathered lobsters.

She was amazed at his skill as he maneuvered the boat around coves and rocks as if it had wheels under it. Then Alex would put on his snorkel gear and dive down, finding the perfect lobsters or fish and returning to an always-tense Valeria.

One afternoon, he pulled the boat into a sandy cove and they both got out. Alex built a fire and played the guitar while Valeria built a sand castle. When it was time to sail back, she realized that she was covered with sand and didn’t want to get back into the boat. Alex dipped under the water to clean off. She stepped in nervously and then, realizing how comfortable and beautiful it was, stepped in a bit further. Once she rinsed off, she climbed back into the boat and waited.

“Did you notice this beach is deserted?” Alex said, surfacing behind her.

“Yes.”

“Well, I was thinking…”

She sat in the boat hanging on to the edges, although it was still beached.

“Alex?” she said, suddenly frightened.

A moment later, something sprang out of the water and immediately she recognized it as his swimming trunks. They landed in the front of the boat with a splat.

“Alex, that’s not funny,” she said.

She heard him on the other side of the boat. “It was kind of funny.”

“Okay, maybe just a little, but I’m still not getting in,” she said.

“Come swimming with me,” he said, as he swam along in a few feet of water.

“Now?”
She looked around.

“Yeah...” She saw the sensual turn of his smile.

Within seconds, she had stripped and was, for the first time, enjoying herself in a large body of water.

It took over a month until Valeria was snorkeling and loving it. Alex promised to take her to some of the other islands as she progressed. At night, they sat by their fire pit and ate lobster, while Alex played the guitar. Everything he played sounded so sweet and romantic. In his music, she could hear the sad yearning of his life before; she knew that this had been a place where he would come to think about her over the years. Now, they were living the most beautiful life she could imagine.

She brushed her finger along the body of his guitar where there was pearl inlay that read,
Orpheus
. “Why does that say Orpheus? That’s not the brand is it?”

Alex smiled and said, “Well, actually...I made this guitar. I named it Orpheus.”

“Orpheus? Why?”

He shrugged. “I guess, for many years, I felt a sort of kinship with Orpheus. Not in talent...but in love lost.” He narrowed his eyes and looked away. “I should probably rename it now.”

She kissed his neck and took a sip from her cold beer. “I think I’ve heard of Orpheus.”

“Hmm.
Do you want to hear the story? You do realize, by now, that most stories from mythology don’t have happy endings.”

“I have my very own happy ending,” she said, as she smiled and pulled his arms around her. He nodded and looked out to sea.

“Orpheus was a legendary musician and poet from ancient Greece. On their wedding day, his bride, Eurydice, was walking amongst her people, in tall grass when she was attacked by a satyr—”

“A satyr?”
Valeria interrupted.

“Yes, companions of Pan with goat-like features, including a goat-tail, goat-like ears, and sometimes a goat-like phallus.”

“Oh, dear! Were they real?”

Alex shrugged. “I’ve never seen one, but I imagine so. You will have to ask some of the immortals. Perhaps Paolo knows, but I don’t believe that he is that old—Myrdd would know, if he were still around to ask,” he said.

“In any case, the story goes that Eurydice struggled with the satyr and fell into a nest of vipers where she suffered a fatal bite on her heel. Her body was discovered by Orpheus who, overcome with grief, played such sad and mournful songs that all the nymphs and gods wept.

“On their advice, Orpheus travelled to the underworld and, with his mournful music, he softened the hearts of Hades—he was, by all accounts the only one ever to do so. Hades’ only condition was that Orpheus must walk in front of Eurydice and not look back until both had reached the upper world. Orpheus knew that Eurydice would be in spirit form until they exited the underworld and took solace in feeling her presence as they began their trek.

“But there were other challenges: Orpheus had to get by Cerberus, the three headed, flesh-eating dog that is the guardian of Hades. So he took out his lute and sang and played and, eventually, Cerberus was lulled to sleep.

“As Orpheus continued his trek, he began to recall stories of Hades’ trickery and, soon, he doubted that his beloved was still with him. Just as he reached the portal of Hades and daylight, he needed to know, so he turned around to gaze upon her face. But because Eurydice had not yet crossed the threshold—”

“What happened?” Valeria asked, certain she didn’t want to hear the end.

Alex drew a deep breath, “She was immediately pulled back into the underworld...and this time, forever.”

“This story needs a new ending,” she said curling into him. “What happened to Orpheus?”

“He was inconsolable. He refused any company and was one day attacked and beheaded.”

“I thought he was a god!”

“He was...perhaps that’s the secret that Jeremiah discovered.
How to end the life of an immortal.” Shaking off the thought, Alex added, “On a happier note, the story goes that he was at last reunited with his beloved Eurydice in the Elysian Fields...what Dante called, Paradiso.”

Alex looked distant and, seeing his seriousness, she said, “I think you need to rename your guitar.
Something that reflects our happy ending.”

“I agree. And perhaps we had better stick with Jane Austin and Shakespeare’s Sonnets,” he said.

∞

The tropical rain poured down over the lush green hills as Valeria leaned her back into Alex’s chest in the claw foot tub.
 Despite the rain, shards of sunlight broke through the cumulus clouds and lit the Caribbean in various shades of turquoise and azure.

She rolled her head against his chest, as the steam rolled off the tub. He lifted his arm and lovingly brushed her brown curls back, and then wrapped an arm around her as he kissed the nape of her neck and in her ticklish spot behind her ear. With his free arm, he reached down to the table next to the tub, and handed her their shared glass of wine; she took a sip and savored the cool taste of the rich flavors of prune and oak. She savored it for a moment before swallowing. Then, she turned and kissed Alex deeply, letting him sample the wine from her lips.

Yes, she thought, he saved the “good wine” for them, and she liked sharing it with him so much better! She remembered his comments from her first girls’ night with Ava and Camille, before she realized that he was saving a special bottle for the two of them. She smiled. That night, almost a year before, was the first time it really clicked that he might be interested in her, despite the numerous hints. Sometimes, she was a little blind to the obvious.

She handed him the glass and he took a slow sip himself, then set the glass back down and moved his arms around her again, brushing his fingertips across her in an incredibly erotic way,  causing her to arch back into him. As she looked down at his hands covering her body, she was in awe that there were no signs of the severe burns from just a few months before.

As if he was reading her mind, he said softly, “I'm as good as new, Mrs. Morgan.” Then he kissed her neck again, taking his time on her bare shoulders. She sighed, as a tear rolled suddenly from her eye. He caught the tear with his finger and turned her face toward his.

“Hey—I'm all right,” Alex said softly.

Her breath caught. “It is just...so...amazing.”

She stopped the sob, but it wasn’t pain that caused it. It was the overwhelming joy she felt from having her husband, her symbolon, by her side—whole, healthy, and head over heels in love with her. It was amazing how much she could love someone.
 She never knew that she had that level of love within her. And here he was, this beautiful man who adored her. And they had a lifetime together...or more. His hand brushed her wet hair away from her neck.