Wrecked (8 page)

“I was wondering when I’d see you again,” Bess grinned
brightly as Andrew waited for her to enter the house and then followed her
inside. “Where have you been?”

“I haven’t been anywhere but here.”

“So when I can’t see you, are you watching me?”

“Not usually,” Andrew replied. “Why aren’t you scared of
me?”

“Are you going to harm me?”

“No,” Andrew stated emphatically.

“Then why should I be scared of you?”

She had a point. He had no intention of harming her. He
didn’t even want to scare her.

“So you’re not scared. Good.”

“Well I might be more inclined to be scared if you were
rattling around the house with chains and moaning all the time,” Bess teased.
“But seeing as though you are as sweet as a teddy bear I’m not frightened at
all.

“I suppose I could try and find some chains if you would
like me better.”

“I didn’t say I’d like you
better
,” Bess laughed. “I
said I’d be more frightened of you. But even if the next time I saw you there
was a huge chain hanging around your neck, I still wouldn’t be scared of you,”
she grinned. “You’ve proven to be quite
un
-scary.”

“I should have tried harder,” jested Andrew with a smirk.

“Why me?”

“Why you what?” he asked.

“Why have you shown yourself to me? Have you appeared to all
the tenants of the house?”

“No.”

“So, why me?” She wanted an answer. “Why
me
?”

That wasn’t an easy question for him to answer. Andrew
walked into the family room. It was the room he felt most comfortable in,
although he spent most of the time upstairs in the uninhabited level of the
house. It was more peaceful.

“Well, for one thing, not everyone can see me, even if I
allow myself to be seen.”

“Really?” Bess was surprised.

“Really. And there needs to be a reason to be seen.”

“What is the reason you showed yourself to me?”

“You were going to throw yourself off the cliff and plunge
to a gruesome death.”

Bess remembered the night well. She had given in to the
sadness and hopelessness that she’d kept at bay for so long. There had been no
strength left to fight it and in a moment of weakness she had given in.

“It was you,” she whispered to herself in realization. “You
were the one who yelled at me to stop.”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“So many questions,” he sighed.

“Please tell me why?”

“I’ve already seen a beautiful and vibrant young woman die
here. I didn’t want to see another one.”

“I am not beautiful and definitely not vibrant, at least not
that night.” Bess sat in her favorite spot in the family room, the sofa that
sat underneath the large picture window overlooking the Atlantic Ocean, and
those rugged rocks below the cliff.

“No, you were not vibrant that night,” Andrew agreed sadly.
“Tell me, what was so bad that you thought ending your life was the only option?”

“I guess everything just hit me at once and I was
overwhelmed with… with memories from my past. The future didn’t look much
better,” she shrugged.

“That isn’t a good enough reason,” Andrew replied gruffly.

Bess looked up at the ghost standing in front of her, his
hands clasped behind his back, staring at her.

“You have no idea what my life is like. You don’t get to
judge me.”

“You’re angry. Good.”

“Why is that good?” Bess asked… angrily.

“Because it means there is a fighter inside of you.”
Andrew’s expression softened and a tiny smile curled his lips. “Elizabeth, if
you don’t like your life, change it! Be grateful for every day you get to be
alive.”

She suddenly felt very guilty and it showed in her expression.
Her eyelids lowered and her chin dropped.

“You
are
a beautiful and vibrant woman who has so
much to live for. You must not waste a moment. If there is something you want,
go after it. If there is someone you want, go after them.”

“There isn’t anybody who would want me,” she whispered.

“Nonsense! Ethan is in love with you.”

“He is not!” she declared.

“He is,” Andrew chuckled.

“He is
not
,” Bess repeated.

“You are young and naïve, I suppose.”

“I’m not that young. I’m twenty-three and I’ve lived enough
to last a lifetime. I had to grow up very young and it was… unpleasant. I am
not as naïve as you think.”

“But you can’t see that a young man is wooing you.”

“
Wooing
me?”

“Yes.”

That made Bess laugh. Ethan wasn’t wooing her by any stretch
of the imagination. But, she supposed looking at it from the Captain’s
perspective, from an age when if you held hands with a member of the opposite
sex you were basically engaged, it may look more than it truly was.

“This isn’t the eighteenth century anymore,” Bess explained.
“Just because a man and a woman share a meal and go for a walk, doesn’t mean
that they are in love and going to live happily ever after. Things have changed
since you were… were alive.” Her tone was a tad condescending and Andrew picked
up on it in an instant.

“Men are men no matter what the year, or century. And you
obviously have no insight into how a man thinks or feels. All one has to do is
look at Ethan when he looks at you and a blind man could see what his feelings
are. Obviously you don’t know nearly as much as you think you do.”

And with that, Captain Andrew Wentworth disappeared in front
of Bess’s eyes.

*****

“She couldn’t wait to get away from me,” Ethan was telling
Regina a couple of days later. “She literally ran away from me and into the house.”

“What did you do?”

“
Nothing
!”

“You obviously did
something
,” Regina accused.

“We were heading back and talking about the different
grasses that covered the ground. Literally nothing I said could have offended
her.”

“Maybe you bored her enough to run away,” she laughed.

“Bess asked the question!” Ethan was still beside himself
over what could have made her simply run away.

“Then I guess you should ask her,” suggested his friend.

“You really are not much help,” Ethan growled.

“
I’ll
ask her then.”

“Don’t tell her I told you!”

“We really are back in middle school, aren’t we?” Regina
laughed again.

But Regina didn’t get a chance to talk to Bess before Ethan
ran into her… literally. He was rounding the corner at the end of his shift to
get his jacket and ran right into Bess and she was coming out of the locker
room.

“Hi,” he said as he balanced her with both hands. “Sorry.
Didn’t mean to send you for a tumble.”

Bess laughed and her eyes sparkled as she smiled. “You
didn’t knock me over. Nice try though.”

“Everything alright?”

“Course. Why wouldn’t it be?”

Ethan paused and then spewed out in a hurry, “I thought
maybe I’d said something wrong the other night because you just kind of ran
away like you wanted to separate yourself from me and I wanted you to know that
if I did say or do something that I didn’t mean to and I’m really sorry and I
hope you’ll forgive me.”

“Take a breath,” Bess laughed. “Why do you think you did
something? Just because I ran back to the house?”

Ethan nodded.

“I’m sorry, no. You were a perfect gentleman. I, ah, just
was, um, ready to, um, get to bed because, you know, I had to be at work the
next morning.”

“Okay, well if you’re sure,” Ethan replied, not buying her
excuse for one second.

“I am,” she smiled.

No. He didn’t buy it.

*****

It was a real thrill for Bess having this amazing secret.
Captain Andrew Wentworth was her friend – a friend nobody else knew about and
it was exciting. There were moments when she wondered if she was slightly
crazy, but whenever Andrew was with her she knew he was as real as the sun or
the ocean… or Ethan.

There was, on occasion, a feeling of guilt that managed to
creep in when she thought of Ethan. It was his house and technically his ghost,
but Bess didn’t want to tell him – for several reasons. She couldn’t bear to
think that he thought she was crazy or mentally ill. No. Andrew was hers and he
needed to stay that way.

Although, as she stepped out of the shower in the evening
after a long day at work, a shiver ran up her spine and she whipped around looking
for someone, Andrew, in the bathroom, but she saw nothing. After quickly drying
off and throwing on a pair of comfy old sweats and a t-shirt, Bess went in
search of her resident apparition.

“Andrew?” she called as she walked down the hall of the
second floor. “Andrew, I need to talk to you, please?”

As Bess turned into the last bedroom doorway, there stood
the captain.

“You wanted to converse with me?”

“Were you in the bathroom?”

His smile made his eyes twinkle in amusement. “I have no
physical body, Elizabeth,” he cheekily scolded. “There is no need for me to be
in a bathroom, water closet, or outhouse.”

“I meant in
my
bathroom,” Bess sneered.

“No, of course I was
not
in your bathroom! What kind
of a man do you think I am?” he snarled, obviously offended. “Have I done
anything
that should have you questioning my honor as a gentleman?”

Bess shook her head, momentarily silenced in shame. He had
been nothing but kind and here she was accusing him of spying on her while she
showered.

“I rarely venture out of this room,” he continued.

“Why?” Bess asked. “Why this room?”

Andrew glanced to his left – a wooden trunk stood against
the wall. It was plain, but varnished, and there was a large lock that hung
from the latch, keeping it closed.

“It’s yours?” she asked.

Andrew shook his head, but his focus remained on the wooden
trunk.

“Bess?” a call came from downstairs.

“Your gentleman caller has arrived,” Andrew announced.
“You’d better go.” And Andrew vanished.

Bess turned and hurried back downstairs to find Ethan
standing in the foyer.

“I knocked a few times but you didn’t answer,” he offered.

“I was upstairs,” Bess replied. “Come on in.”

Ethan followed her through to the family room and Bess
filled the kettle with water from the sink faucet.

“Tea?”

Ethan smiled. “Sounds great.”

Bess busied herself pulling cups from the cupboard and milk
from the fridge.

“I came over to ask you a question,” Ethan said.

“Shoot,” Bess replied over her shoulder as she pulled
teabags from a terra cotta pot on the counter.

“There is the annual hospital dinner on Saturday and I was
hoping you’d like to accompany me.”

“Dinner? Sure.”

Ethan was relieved that Bess had agreed to come with him but
he needed to explain a little more in order for Bess to understand what he was
asking.

“The corporation that owns our hospital and three other
small medical centers holds an annual event for all of the department heads and
administrators. The board of directors will be there and there are some awards
that are given out, along with some serious schmoozing and ass-kissing.” He
chuckled as Bess’s head whipped around.

“So this is like a… a big deal kinda dinner?”

Ethan nodded. “Tuxes and evening wear and all that.”

“I can’t do that!” Bess yelped.

“Why?” Ethan asked, deflated at her refusal.

“I don’t have anything even remotely suitable to wear, and I
don’t schmooze!”

“The gown is easily fixed.”

“Gown?” gasped Bess. “A gown?”

“Yeah. Like, um, Miss America,” Ethan smiled.

“Good grief. I am far from wearing anything like that!” Bess
groaned.

“For me?” Ethan pleaded. “There’s no one else I’d like to go
with.”

“Who did you take last year?” Bess asked.

“I went alone.”

“So why not just go alone again?” Bess asked as she filled
two cups with steaming water.

“Because I want to go with you.”

“I don’t have anything to wear,” Bess reaffirmed.

“And if that wasn’t an issue? Would you go with me?”

“I suppose, but…”

“Great!” Ethan interrupted. “Be ready by five o’clock on
Saturday,” and Ethan left before she had a chance to argue.

Captain Wentworth watched Elizabeth hurry to the beautiful
young child, taking her by the hand and holding it tightly. With his heart in
his throat, Andrew watched his love lead the child back towards the small
mercantile shop and then disappear inside. He followed closely and stood
outside watching her through the window as she purchased some blue cloth, a
small bag of flour, and some candles. Filling her wicker basket with the goods,
she smiled pleasantly and as she opened the door to leave, she was met by her
father. Andrew would remember that man’s face for as long as he lived… and
apparently even longer.

William Sherton was a man with great influence, power and loads
of money, and he never let
anyone
forget it. He had emphatically refused
to allow Elizabeth to marry any man that he deemed unworthy. And Andrew had
been placed in that category from the first moment he’d stepped into the
Sherton home in Kent, England, nearly six years before.

As a young man with no fortune of his own, and no distant
relative likely to leave him one, Andrew was not remotely good enough for
Elizabeth and never, ever would be. But Elizabeth, Lizzie, as Andrew called
her, fell in love with him anyway, and he with her. They both knew without
doubt that they were destined to be together forever and they promised each
other that they would wait as long as they had to in order to be together.
Andrew proposed and Lizzie immediately accepted, although nobody but them knew
of their secret engagement.

When the opportunity presented itself for Andrew to find his
fortune at sea, buying a commission in the Navy, he took it without hesitation,
knowing that he would return for his love in a few short years. He was eager
and excited to make himself into a man that William Sherton could, and would
not deny marriage to his daughter, and thus they would be wed immediately upon
his return and begin their life together.

But the eagerness dissipated quickly when his last day in
England arrived and he would have to say goodbye to his lovely Elizabeth. How
he would manage to be without her for the years to come was beyond
comprehension. She felt the same way as she clung to him and sobbed, knowing he
would be gone in just a matter of hours.

“How will I survive without you?” she sputtered.

“Oh, my love. It won’t be that bad. And know that I will be
thinking of you every hour of every day.”

Lizzie pulled a locket from the ribbon tied around her waist
and handed it to Andrew. “For you… to remember me.”

“I don’t need anything to help me remember,” he smiled. “You
are forever here,” he said as he placed his hand over his heart. Then, he
opened the locket to find a lock of Lizzie’s silken hair. “Thank you.”

“I will wait no matter how long it takes,” she declared.

“I have something for you too.” Andrew pulled a small velvet
pouch from his waistcoat pocket and handed it to his love. “It was my mother’s,
the only possession she ever had that she treasured, or that was worth
anything. It is the only thing she had when she died,” he sobered.

Lizzie opened the pouch and retrieved a strand of small
delicate pearls on a pale pink ribbon. “Andrew!” she spoke reverently. “I can’t
accept these. They are beautiful but they are all you have left of her.”

“You must have them, please,” he pleaded. “It is all the
wealth I have in this world and it is yours. It is my promise that I will make
a man of myself and when I come for you I will be worthy of you.”

His kiss was soft and gentle as his warm lips touched hers.
Her response was impatient and greedy, wrapping her arms around his neck and
holding him close as she pressed her body against his. She swallowed his moan
as his body responded swiftly, hardening with each beat of his heart.

“Lizzie,” he gasped.

“No,” she stopped him from saying anymore. “I will give you
all I have to give and you will know that no other man will ever have me. Now,
make me yours while we still have some time.” It was not a request but a
demand, and Andrew had not the willpower to deny her, nor did he want to. He
desired nothing more than to take her as his.

He pulled the pins from her hair, letting the golden curls
loose and cascading down her back, and untied the ribbons that held her dress
on her shoulders, the satin falling to her waist, exposing her perfect pale
breasts. His breath hitched as he gazed at her bare skin, and as his fingers
grazed the sides of her firm round breasts, she gasped and he hardened more as
he watched her rosy pink nipples peak with need.

Lizzie arched her back and Andrew needed no more
encouragement as he took one pebbled bud into his mouth, his hand holding the
weighty flesh of her bosom and feeling her heavy breath on his cheek as her
chest rose and fell under his deft tongue.

“Andrew,” she moaned into his hair as her head fell forward,
watching his lips kiss across her pale skin to the other nipple waiting for his
lips to caress her more and more.

Once all of her clothes had been removed, Andrew laid her on
his dark blue woolen coat covering the thick green grass under the moonlight
and kissed every inch of her body, leaving Lizzie arching and moaning with
unbridled hunger for what was to come. Once he could wait no longer, knowing
his restraint was hanging on by its last miniscule thread, Andrew stood over
his beloved and removed his boots first, and then his clothing.

Lizzie gasped at the sight of his nakedness and then smiled
as she reached for him. “Please,” she begged. “Make me yours.”

“You are mine,” Andrew growled as he lowered himself over
her, propping himself up on his elbows. “You will always be mine and
only
mine.”

“Yes,” she whispered. “I will always be yours.”

Andrew entered her slowly, knowing it would hurt her for a
moment, and once she had taken every inch of him, he stilled as Lizzie caught
her breath.

“Mine.”

*****

Andrew couldn’t stop the tears from falling from his cheeks
as he stood over the only woman he would ever love. She slept soundly, wrapped
in his coat, gloriously naked underneath, his mother’s string of pearls around
her neck and green blades of grass twisted in her hair. He had loved her and
made her his. She had given him the only things that mattered to her – her body
and her love, and he would treasure her always. Committing her face to memory,
he turned and walked away, not knowing how long it would be until he would see
her again, his tears leaving a trail behind him as he walked to the stables,
mounted his horse, and rode for London and the ship that would enable him to
make his fortune so that one day he would be worthy of her.