wrath of the Sea Queen (206 page)

CHAPTER
45

Ben asked Apela to
spare a few minutes to
speak with him in the lounge after dinner and invited Vin to join them.  C
a
eli was tired of sitting around cooped up
in her room wh
ile
surrounded by such beautiful scenery
. 
The rain
had
nearly
stopped and the threat of the storm was temporarily on hold.  C
a
eli
, having
donned her shoes,
wanted to go for a walk on the beach.  However, Salma did
n
o
t want her up on her feet for too long
after already having walked on the treadmill
.  Vin did not want her to go out
at all, but especially not
without him
.  Unfortunately
for C
a
eli
, Vin
did not know how long he was going to be
occupied
with Ben and Apela. 

Vin
disliked
asking C
a
eli to wait indefinitely, but too much had already happened to
her to
change his mind.  Vin
absolutely refused to let her
go out alone. 
C
a
eli
understood
Vin
's
well-founded
concern, but she was determined to go
out
and
would wait for Vin as long as necessary.

Salma, seeing that C
a
eli
's mind was
made up
,
regardless of objection
s
and
wait
time
, decided to
tag
along. 
She could use the time to talk to C
a
eli about another matter.

"Salma, could I speak with you in private please?"  O
f course,
Salma's decision did
n
o
t set well with Ben
.

"Sure.  What do you need?"  Salma asked as she joined him on the opposite side of the lounge.

"You do remember that you are still under a protective custody order, right?
  Please wait a little while.  I'll walk out with you later.
" 
Ben
was no less
worried about
Salma
than Vin was for
C
a
eli
.

Neither lady was pleased about the restriction
s
, yet each
accept
ed
them
graciously
in
the loving spirit they were intended
.

C
a
eli leaned on the door frame and stared out at the rolling tides
as the sun edged its way toward the horizon
.  She could not seem to remember her last normal day.  Her life was changing drastically, and
she
needed ten minutes to step off the roller coaster ride and catch her breath. 
A
fter being in bed for
what felt like months
to her
, C
a
eli really wanted to stretch her legs
and get some fresh air in her lungs
.
  The storm winds
had
died down and the rain stopped, though the waves continued to surge to larger than normal
heights
.  C
a
eli didn't care.  She would have walked in
a downpour given he
r
strong
urge
to move.  Sitting idle
provid
ed
her
with
too much time inside her own mind
which
,
recently
,
was
a
dangerous place to be
. 
C
a
eli
needed something normal to do, however briefly, before
the confinement of
the
walls drove her stir crazy.

Salma checked once more on Pete before the young man turned in for the night. 
His improvement was already
noticeable
, though he still had a long way to go. 
Then, with nothing more to do, Salma
suggested
to Ben
that going for a walk with C
a
eli
might, indeed, be
a good wa
y to end the evening
and hoped he would reconsider
.

"Ben, what if
C
a
eli
and I went for a walk together and promised to stay within sight of the hotel?  You and Vin can catch up with us when you're ready.  Look at her over there.  She needs this."

"Perhaps she does, but she can wait a little while, and so can you.  What's the rush?  We won't be too long with Apela.  I just need him to answer a few questions for me, and then we can all go out together."

"That sounds lovely, Ben, but I would like a few minutes to talk to
C
a
eli
alone
." 
Salma
wanted the chance to talk to C
a
eli privately
about h
er sudden recovery
.  It w
as great to see, but Salma was still worried about the baby, especially after seeing the spots on C
a
eli's robe before dinner.  They definitely
were
not on the robe
before the incident with th
e
strange man
in the black suit
. 
C
a
eli
had
managed to conceal the
stains
from Vin
, but
Max pointed them out to Salma when nobody else was looking. 
All Salma needed
to do
was
convince Ben to give her and C
a
eli a
little dis
tance to discuss the issue
.

Ben
rubbed his chin as he considered it before
eventually
agree
ing
that it would be better if the ladies
went
together
.  Furthermore
, he was
n
o
t sure that
either of them should
hear the conversation he
intended to have
with Apela.  Ben finally relented
under the condition that
Maku and Jeremy sh
adow the ladies on their walk.

"All right, that's settled.  However, we've still got to convince Vin.  He won't be nearly as easy to persuade," Ben stated.

Ben then
had to h
elp convince Vin that C
a
eli would be as safe as possible.  Vin was
reluctant
,
but also knew
that C
a
eli was only waiting out of consideration for him. 
She did not join Salma and Ben as they asked him to reconsider the walk; she had already accepted his terms. 
At last
,
Vin
fell victim to
a
n irresistible
plea from Max.  The boy offered to go along and keep an eye on the
pretty ladies
, as if he truly believed he could make a difference.

C
a
eli and Salma walked slowly along the beach, each holding one of Max's hands as he walked between them.  Vin insisted that they go no further than ten or fifteen f
eet away
from the building
.  He wanted C
a
eli to
stay close to the hotel and
as
far away from the
water
as possible
.  Maku and Jeremy followed a
polite
five feet behind them.

It was refreshing to be outside in the evening air.  C
a
eli looked up at the night sky
briefly visible between the clouds
.  The vast number of stars w
as
amazing, and the moon was nearly full.  C
a
eli inhaled deeply.  The air seemed to support her,
embrace
her, and offer her protection.  It was almost
as if..
.
  She glanced over her shoulder with a smile, seeing Vin
'
s
tall stature
silhouette
d
near the door.

"
Thank you,
"
she said through their special link.  C
a
eli
watched
him move away from the door, but the feel
ing in the air remained
.