When she laughed at his answer, he continued. “Sometimes, when I’m with you, I’m caught in the moment and fear if I don’t grasp what the moment offers, I’ll lose it forever.”
“Captain Halloren, you are a very strange Englishman.” Rachel reached over and brushed his hair out of his eyes before standing and brushing stray sand from her skirts. “I think it’s time we showed these young people how to skip rocks, as you promised.” She turned and headed toward Tenneh and the boys. She put an arm around the girl and squeezed tightly before leading the way down toward the beach on the less windy, leeward side of the island.
Chris followedclose behind Rachel and her students, stooping to collect properly shaped stones for the best skipping. His older brothers had been masters of far-reaching, multiple skips, and they’d taught him how to spot well-made skippers.
He’d gathered one for each of them, and then he’d spotted something so small and perfect, he could not resist slipping it inside his belt. The striations were variegated shades of blue and orange, which made the small, flat stone shine out in the shallow water near the beach and beg to be taken home. Sometimes, the gifts of the sea were a mystery. The stone looked nothing like the others around it, yet the tidal surge each day would have flung all sorts of flotsam from the bottom of the sea to the edges of the island’s narrow beach.
When he caught up to the others, Mingo and Eli were teasing Tenneh, of course, by pretending to lunge at her and cause her to wet her slippers in the surf. Boys were the same everywhere, no matter what language they spoke and no matter what they’d experienced. The exuberance of youth still resided within these two boys and surfaced when they were allowed to let go and be themselves. He was glad he was able to provide a way for them to explore the island and enjoy the picnic.
“Who wants to learn stone-skipping from an expert?”
“Me.” Eli pushed his way to the front.
“And me.” Mingo tripped his friend with his foot so that he could go first.
But when Tenneh uttered a shy “Me, please?” the two boys stepped aside so that she could go first.
He showed them pile of stones he’d collected and had each of them choose one.
Rachel stepped forward. “How about me?”
“Of course. Here, I have a special one just for you.”
“But it has a funny shape. It’s not smooth and rounded.” She’d removed her lacy gloves to feel the surface of the skipper.
“That, my lady, is the secret known only to the Society of Magnificent Stone Skippers.” Chris felt absurdly pleased with himself at having found something he could give her she’d never done before.
“There’s not really a society like that, is there?” Her eyes widened at the possibility of such a fanciful thing.
“Of course there is. I know two other members.”
“Who are they?”
“My brothers, John and Theo.”
She brushed her hand against his shoulder in a dismissive gesture, and his hand shook so hard, he dropped his skipper rock. “You made that up.”
“No,” he said solemnly, “I am not a teller of tales.”
She shook her head slowly. “If you are indeed a member in good standing of this so-called society, then you can teach us what you know.”
“Of course.” He selected another flattish, odd-shaped, three-sided stone from the pile and faced the water at a slight angle. He gripped the stone with his left hand, using his thumb and middle finger, with his index finger against the edge.
With a quick, downward snap of his wrist, he sent the rock skipping out into the river: one-two-three-four skips. He bent down a bit to watch the skipper’s progression, and when he stood back up, Rachel had moved so close, he could have stolen a kiss, but he remembered in time. Her students were watching.
She nearly vibrated with excitement. “Show me,” she insisted. “Show me how to do that.” Her face was so animated with pleasure, he couldn’t help smiling in return. Pleasing Rachel had turned into an obsession. He was already casting about for ideas for the next thing he could do to make her happy.
Chris’s by-the-book, Captain Halloren side suddenly reigned in his enthusiasm. This would be a pretend engagement, nothing more. When they returned to England, Rachel would go off to live the life she’d chosen. And he would continue with his own, alone.
Rachel triedto manage a graceful stoop to gather more flat, three-sided skipper rocks from the shore. She’d given up being a proper lady and had stashed her lace gloves in her reticule while she learned the mysterious ways of rock-skipping.
She wanted to practice her own skills some more, but when she straightened to add her contributions to the growing pile, she caught sight of Christopher patiently teaching young Eli the secret of the proper throw to keep the stone skipping as long as possible.
Mingo, of course, had caught on immediately with his quick learning skills and his long arms and legs. He’d already progressed to as many as a dozen skips. Young Eli had listened carefully to Christopher’s instructions, but couldn’t quite master the form needed to set the stones into powerful flight across the surface of the water.
She marveled at the man’s patience. He’d been working with Eli for at least an hour, and would hold the boy’s hand in his own while he demonstrated how to wind up and let go. Eli, whose English was limited, turned his face up toward Christopher’s and the look in his eyes said it all. Even Christopher knew. He drew back and let the boy try on his own.
The force of the boy’s throw was a bit weak, but he’d learned the trick of a fast release with a spin of his wrist. The rock skipped once, twice. Eli raced to his teacher, jumped up and down in triumph, and then clasped his arms around Christopher and buried his head low on his chest. The man she was coming to care for in spite of her misgivings leaned down and placed his hand on top of Eli’s head before sending him off to practice on his own.
