He tugged the box out of his pocket, watching her eyes go huge and wide as he flipped open the lid with his thumb. The little diamond centered on the thin gold band winked out points of fire in the sun.
“Marry me, Alexa.”
Her heart swelled and butted against her ribs. Her eyes misted so that the light shooting from the diamond refracted and blinded her. Her hand trembled as she pressed it to her mouth.
“Oh, how could you! How could you spoil it all this way?” Spinning around, she thumped the hammer against the edge of the wood.
“Like I said,” he murmured, “you’re always a surprise to me. You want me to put it away until we have candlelight and moonbeams?”
“No, no, no.” With a little sob, she struck the wood with the hammer again. “Put it away. Take it back. You know I can’t marry you.”
He shifted his feet, planted them. “I don’t know any such thing. Why don’t you explain it to me?”
Furious and heartsick, she whirled back to him. “You know I will if you keep asking. You know I’ll give in because I love you so much. Then I’ll have given up everything else. I’ll stay on this damn island, I won’t go back to New York, and I won’t try to make it in the theater again. Then I’ll start to hate you as the years pass and I start to think, if only. If only. I’ll just shrivel up here wondering if I could ever have been something.”
“What makes you think I’d expect you to give up on New York and the theater, that I’d expect you to give up everything you want? I’d hate to think you’d marry a man who wants less for you than you want for yourself. Whatever you want for Lexy, I want twice that much.”
She wiped a hand over her cheeks. “I don’t understand you. I don’t know what you’re saying.”
“I’m saying I’ve got plans of my own, wants of my own. I don’t plan on swinging a hammer on Desire my whole life.”
Mildly irritated, he took off his cap to wipe the sweat off his forehead, then shoved it back on again. “Things need to get built in New York, don’t they? Things need fixing there just like anywhere else.”
She lowered her hands slowly, staring into his eyes, wishing she could read them. “You’re saying you’d go to New York. You’d live in New York? For me.”
“No, that’s not what I’m saying.” Impatient, he snapped the lid closed and shoved the box back into his pocket. “If I was to do that, I’d just end up resenting you, and we’d be right back where we started. I’m saying I’d go for both of us. And that even with the money I’ve been putting by, we’d live pretty tight for a while. I’d probably have to take some classes if I wanted Nathan to give me a chance at a job in his firm.”
“A job with Nathan? You want to work in New York?”
“I’ve had a hankering to see it. And to see you, onstage, in the spotlight.”
“I might not ever get there.”
“Hell you won’t.” His dimples winked down, and his eyes went from sulky brown to golden. “I’ve never seen anybody who can play more roles. You’ll get there, Lexy. I believe in you.”
Tears gushed out even as she laughed and threw herself at him. “Oh, Giff, how’d you get to be so perfect? How’d you get to be so right?” She leaned back, catching his face in her hands. “So absolutely right for me.”
“I’ve been studying on it most of my life.”
“We’ll have a time, we will. And I’ll wait damn tables until you’re out of school or I get my break. Whatever it takes. Oh, hurry up, hurry up and put it on.” She jumped down, held out her hand. “I can’t hardly stand to wait.”
“I’ll buy you a bigger one someday.”
“No, you won’t.” She thrilled as he slipped the ring onto her finger, as he lowered his head and kissed her. “You can buy me all the other bright, shiny baubles you want when we’re rich. Because I want to be good and rich, Giff, and I’m not ashamed to say so. But this . . .” She held up her hand, turning it so the little stone winked and danced with light. “This is just perfect.”
***
AFTER two hours, Jo’s head throbbed and her eyes were all but crossed. Kate had come and gone twice, hauling guests to and from, swinging by various cottages. Brian had dropped off a dozen campers, then headed back to make another sweep in case there were any lingering. Her only news of Nathan was that he was helping board up cottages along the beachfront.
Except for the monotonousthwackof hammers, the house was finally quiet. She imagined Kate would be back shortly with the last of the cottagers. The windows on the south and east sides were boarded, casting the house into gloom.
When she opened the front door, the wind rushed in. The cool slap of it was a shock after the thick heat of the closed house. To the south, the sky was bruised and dark. She saw the flicker of lightning but heard no answering thunder.
Still far enough away, she decided. She would check shortly and see what track they were predicting Carla to take. And as a precaution, she would get all of her prints and negatives out of her darkroom and into the safe in Kate’s office.
Because she wanted to avoid her father for a while yet, she took the main stairs, checking rooms automatically to see that nothing had been left behind by a harried guest. She flicked off lights, moving briskly toward the family wing. The sound of hammering was louder now, and she found it comforting. Tucking us in, she thought. If Carla lashed out at Sanctuary, it would hold, as it had held before.
She caught the sound of voices as she went by Kate’s office. Plywood slipped over the window, blanking it as she passed. Either Brian was back or her father had gone out to help Giff, she decided.
