The Light of the Blue Pearl (19 page)

She could tell he had paranoia too, over a
different matter though. Less worried about the seizures and more
worried that she was just going to change her mind one day and end
things, which honestly wasn’t far from reality.

While she loved being with Scott, absolutely
loved having him in her life, she was constantly afraid of losing
him – and the longer they were together, the more attached she was.
After losing her parents she had sworn to never get attached to
anything or anyone ever again.

Scott had brought her back to reality by
sending her to Belize, but what he couldn’t do was heal the scar
from her past. A scar that was always with her, reminding her of
how fragile life was; no matter what Scott tried to do, he couldn’t
take that fear away from her. And becoming so close to her had just
made that fear all the more prominent.

He was beginning to worry about her. She
hadn’t had a seizure in over six months. She was driving again and
life was returning to normal, but he could tell that she still felt
like a ticking time bomb.

The doctors were optimistic that she had
once again found a balance with the medications. But they too
couldn’t promise that she would never have a reoccurrence.

He had upped his game as promised and was
constantly surprising her with things. She loved it, and he loved
seeing her face when it lit up from something he had done for
her.

Tonight was something he had planned for a
long time. He was just walking up to the door with roses in hand
when he noticed that the lights were off, which was strange given
the hour.

After somehow managing to unlock the door
without dropping everything he was carrying, he went inside. The
house was quiet and dark, no sign of Ethne anywhere.

He set everything down in the kitchen and
went looking for her in the bedroom. She was curled up in bed fast
asleep. She hadn’t known about the surprise he had planned, but it
was only eight o’clock so it was rather strange that she was
already in bed.

She looked incredibly peaceful sleeping. He
hated to wake her, but he was concerned about why she was in bed,
and he also had reservations he needed to keep…if possible.

He sat down next to her and started stroking
her hair and back trying to gradually wake her up. It didn’t work.
After a little longer of trying the subtle way, he finally shook
her gently and said her name until her eyes focused on him.

She looked around, seeming a bit confused,
yawned and stretched before asking him what time it was and why he
had woken her up.

“I think the more important question is why
were you asleep so early, are you feeling okay?” he asked.

“Umm...,” she said, pausing to try and
recollect why she had been sleeping – everything seemed rather
fuzzy. “Yeah, I’m okay, I had a headache earlier so I lay down for
a while, guess I dozed off.”

“Is your head better now?” he asked, a
little worried since this was the first sign of anything wrong
since her seizure had happened.

She stretched again and yawned as if her
slumber had brought her back from another world. “Yeah, it’s better
now,” she said, smiling at him and giving him a hug hello.

“Oh, good,” he said, getting up and hurrying
out the door. “Hang on, I’ll be right back.”

She giggled. “Okay.”

When he returned to the room he was carrying
the red roses and had a huge smile on his face.

She smiled back at the lovely surprise and
instantly took them and started inhaling their intoxicating
scent.

“What are these for?” she asked, not that he
ever needed an excuse it seemed.

“I was hoping they could convince you to get
dressed and go somewhere with me.”

“Oh?” she asked, surprised by the short
notice. “And where are we going?” she asked, already knowing he
wouldn’t give up that information even if she spent an hour
torturing him with tickles.

“Just wear something warm, nice…but warm,”
he said, leaving her to her devices and heading back to the
kitchen.

Within a half hour Ethne was making her way
down the hall dressed and ready to go. Scott looked up at her and
smiled his approval of the outfit she had chosen.

“Are you still feeling okay?” he asked. “I
wouldn’t want to go do this if you weren’t feeling well.”

“Well, unless you’re taking me bungee
jumping, I think I’m good,” she said.

“Shall we?” he said, offering her his arm
and walking her to the door.

She hadn’t been completely honest with him
about how bad the headache had been. Typically she wasn’t one who
was ever in bed before midnight. But her head felt fine now, so she
didn’t see any point in worrying him.

She took his arm and they headed out into
the night. It was a gorgeous night, the perfect temperature even
though they were heading into the colder evenings.

Ever since Ethne had met Scott she found
herself getting to enjoy little beauties like these; the small
things she most assuredly had been missing before.

They got in his car and started heading to
his secret location. She wondered if one day he would stop
surprising her like this, but knowing him, she doubted he was
capable.

“Are you hungry?” he asked.

“Yeah, I am,” she responded. “I haven’t had
dinner yet. So…where to, Paris for some croissants?” she giggled,
pretty sure one day he would probably answer yes to that.

Even though he hadn’t done anything quite as
extravagant as the trip to Belize, he still constantly had
something up his sleeve. She hoped he did it because he wanted to,
and not because he felt he had to.

She wasn’t sure she knew any other man on
the planet that did as much planning of things and surprising as he
did. Rather than worry about it too much though, she decided she
should instead enjoy all of the sweet little things he did for her;
it was quite a change from how her life had been.

When they pulled into the parking lot of the
marina she started feeling a little anxious, it looked like a boat
ride was in her near future. While she didn’t necessarily mind
boats, she had never been on one this late at night.

He seemed pretty excited though so she
decided to keep her reservations to herself.

Pretty soon they were standing in front of a
yacht. A beautiful white yacht. She looked over at Scott with a
skeptical look on her face; he was grinning at her.

“You have
got
to be kidding me!” she
said.

“After you…,” he said, helping her step onto
the boat.

Inside the lights were lit low, they were
greeted by a young man.

“Welcome aboard,” he said, taking their
coats and showing them to a table that was romantically decorated
with candles and champagne glasses.

Scott held the chair out for her and she sat
down, still not believing that he had chartered a private yacht for
just the two of them.

He told the young man to bring out their
dinner shortly after they had left the dock, the man nodded and
left, leaving them alone.

“Who are you?” she asked, only half
jokingly.

“Batman’s cousin,” he said, pouring her some
cider.

Not long after leaving the dock a waiter
brought them their food. The dinner alone at a fine restaurant
would have cost a pretty penny; she didn’t even want to think of
what the rest of this had cost.

All the time she had known Scott they had
never discussed money. While it had occurred to her he must make a
nice living, since he had spared no expense on her from the
beginning, it was an issue that never came up.

This however, was a whole other ballgame;
she couldn’t believe anyone would go to such lengths for her.

The boat slowly made its way out into the
bay and she could see the lights of the city and the glow of the
bridge. It was beautiful and peaceful and a side to the city she
had never experienced before; she didn’t even realize she was
smiling until she looked over and saw him smiling back at her.

His eyes were bright with the recognition
and confirmation that she loved it.

After dinner he asked her if she wanted to
dance, this officially being the first time that they had. She
nervously accepted.

They danced a few slow songs swaying with
the water below them before heading out onto the deck. It was
getting colder, but it was still nice out as they snuggled up
against each other and stared out into the night sky.

The moon was casting a beautiful reflection
on the water, and Scott had his arms wrapped around her tightly,
his lips lightly kissing her ear. The whole thing felt like a
dream, she wondered in fact once or twice if it was.

She looked up at him after a while, just
staring into his eyes, kissed him and whispered “thank you” in his
ear.

A few hours later the boat had travelled
quite a distance, Ethne asked him how long they’d be gone.

“Oh…until tomorrow,” he said.

“What?!” she said. “But I didn’t bring
anything for overnight.”

“Oh don’t worry you, I packed everything you
would need, it’s in our room.”

She just looked at him in complete
disbelief.

“You really aren’t normal, you know that
right?” she asked, snuggling back into his arms, quite happy of
this fact.

“Well, neither are you my dear,” he said,
poking her side until she couldn’t help but laugh.

“Yes, I know,” she sighed.

When they both started yawning he asked if
she was ready for bed. Having had a long evening she said she was
and they made their way to their cabin for the night.

On the bed she saw a bag waiting for her;
alarmingly it didn’t look very full. She opened it to find that the
only thing inside was her ugly apron.

“Oh, very funny,” she said, pulling it out
and throwing it across the room at him.

“What?” he said, laughing at her
reaction.

“Please tell me you brought me something
else to wear,” she said, only partially amused.

“Nope,” he said, with a huge grin on his
face. “Guess you’ll just have to sleep naked, or wear a chicken
apron, your choice.”

“Scott?!” she said, for once actually
thinking he was being serious. There was no way she was going to be
spending the night on a boat naked, or in a chicken apron.

“Oh relax, baby,” he said, throwing it back
at her. “Go open the closet.”

She skeptically walked over to the closet
and opened it revealing a gorgeous dark blue nightgown; it was long
and elegant like an evening dress, with a slit up one side, only it
was sheer, so maybe not something you’d wear out on the dance
floor. The color of it reminded her of the beautiful waters in
Belize.

He was watching her from across the room,
seeing if the nightgown was going to be flying his way too. But
instead she took it off the hanger delicately and looked up at
him.

“Do you like it?” he asked, already knowing
the answer.

She just nodded and started to put it
on.

He walked to her side of the room and looked
at her staring at herself in the mirror.

“You look beautiful my love,” he said.
“Ready for bed?”

Turning around quickly and catching him off
guard, she knocked him over onto the bed and kissed him
passionately.

After a minute she came up for air and
pulled away slightly to look at him.

“I’ll take that as a yes,” he said, helping
her crawl under the covers and snuggling in close.

It was then that Ethne had made her decision
about Scott. She decided that there was no way she wanted to
continue her life without him, fear or no fear; seizures or not. He
obviously was willing to take the risk, she decided now that she
was too.

The headache she’d had scared her, and the
thought that she had been alone when it happened had scared her
even more. She didn’t want to bring any strife to his life, but the
idea of being alone just didn’t appeal to her anymore. Having him
with her made her feel at ease, and happier than she had ever been
– why would she choose anything else?

She was snuggled tightly against him while
one of his hands slowly followed the opening of the gown that
exposed her leg. He kissed her neck and she turned to face him,
looking in his eyes a moment before kissing him softly on the lips.
Helping her stand, he slowly lifted the nightgown over her head and
laid it on the bed and looked at her naked body in the moonlight.
It wasn’t the first time they had been together. But it was the
first time that she had felt like this, letting herself go
completely she had finally invited someone into her heart without
fear. He laid her down on the bed and made love to her while the
boat drifted peacefully along the coast line.

Before she fell asleep she took a deep
breath and felt his arms wrap tighter around her. Listening to his
soft restful breaths, Ethne finally knew what it meant to be truly
happy.

W
hen the boat
docked in the early morning there was a light fog clinging to the
water. Ethne was still sleeping soundly cuddling close under the
blankets and didn’t hear the voices of the crew outside. Scott lay
there listening to them, happy that they weren’t waking her.

They had been instructed not to disturb,
apparently that had a different meaning to them than it did him.
They had the boat only for another hour but he figured sleep was
probably the best way for her to spend it.

He was thinking about the headache she’d had
the day before. He hadn’t let on at the time how much it worried
him.

Luckily, it hadn’t returned and they had
enjoyed quite a pleasant night together. He saw a change in her
instantly after she had put on the gown. It had been a look he had
been hoping to see. Now that he had, he couldn’t stop smiling.

He decided he should probably tone down his
elation a bit, lest she recoil back into that shell of hers.