He laughed without humor. “Only here in the islands. Not in the States.”
“You’ve been in prison. We can’t adopt the children unless you clear your name. You said yourself you’re innocent.”
“Yeah, and you damn well know that I can’t get a fair hearing here. What are the chances of them finding me innocent back home?”
She didn’t say anything. They had no future without clearing his past.
He began to pace. “Hell, Smitty, that’s a stupid excuse. If you don’t want to marry me, then damn well say so!” He was shouting now and running his hand through his hair.
“I love you, Hank, but you can’t keep running away.”
“I’m not going back to prison. Listen closely, sweetheart. I won’t let them lock me up again.”
“I don’t want you locked up again. But we can’t have a life with this hanging over us. It would always be there. I couldn’t live like that. We can’t have the children. They need us. And someday you’re going to have to learn to trust. Give the law a chance to work for you.”
He closed the distance between them and grabbed her by the shoulders. “Look, we’re arguing over something that’s stupid. It might not ever matter. Who knows if a ship will ever come. We can go on like we are and worry about this if it ever happens.”
She could hear the panic in his voice. “We’re just pretending on this island. It’s not real. We’re not a real family, Hank. What happens on this island isn’t real.”
“What I feel for you and those kids is real, Smitty.”
“What I feel is real, too. But what we are together isn’t. We’re not a family. Those children aren’t our children. They can’t be because we’re not legally their parents.”
“Who cares if it’s legal?”
“I do. And the law does. They can’t be our children until the law says they are. I won’t go against everything I believe in. And you have to understand that your past is not going to go away because you pretend it doesn’t exist.”
“Shit! I know that!”
“Stop shouting at me.”
“I don’t understand why you’re bringing this up. Why are you worried about something that might never happen? We should live each day just like we have been.”
“And never think about the future?” She could hear the sarcasm in her voice, but she couldn’t help it.
He looked at her long and hard, and there was no doubt he was angry. “I told you before. You think too goddamn much.” Then he turned and walked toward the door.
She called out his name, and he paused. “Remember what you said about never being able to run worth a damn?”
“Yeah?” His voice was bitter and rough.
“Well, you’re wrong, Hank. You run away from things better than anyone I’ve ever known.”
Then he was gone.
She stared at the empty door, then she buried her face in her hands and cried.
Theodore’s fingers tightened around Muddy’s hand as they stood in a dark corner of the hut watching Smitty sink to her knees and cry, her angry words and Hank’s still echoing in their ears and minds. Theodore looked up at Muddy with tears rolling down his freckled cheeks.
Muddy raised a finger to his lips. They moved quietly and left the hut together. The boy stopped and looked back, but Smitty was still crying, her back to them. His small shoulders began to shake, and Muddy led him down the beach to a quiet and secluded place where they could talk. Perhaps he could make the boy understand what had happened and why.
* * *
There wasno moonthat night—just a black, dark sky that looked and seemed endless above the secluded patch of beach where a boy and a genie stood. The others on the island were sound asleep. No one was talking much. No one smiled because harsh words and tension were all that was left of their paradise.
“Muddy?”
“Yes, master?”
