I am not imagining this. I found this ship. I walked onto it. I touched the nearly rotted hull.
“Are you coming topside or not?” Luc asked.
The spinning stopped, and Grace reclaimed her balance. “Luc? What are you doing here? I never said your name.”
He smiled down. “You did not have to. You came to me.”
“So,thisis theOnly Love?”
“Aye.” He extended his hand. “Welcome aboard.”
She climbed the last steps of the ladder and took his hand. It felt warm and solid. She lifted their clasped hands to examine his. Opaque, tanned, hair sprinkled, calloused fingers. When she looked out at the deck it was level and all in one piece fore to aft.
“How…?”
“The moon is still waxing and won’t be full for nearly two weeks.”
“Yes, so how are you corporeal, and this ship was broken in two when I arrived. Now it isn’t.”
Luc walked with her to the port rail.
“It’s theOnly Love, at least in part. This ship and I are linked through that curse. I had to learn how to manage my curse while aboard ship, and it’s a little different than when I’m on land, or even on board another ship. “I remember that woman said you were ‘…as inconstant as the moon. So shall you and your ship be until…’”
“Until I earn the heart of a woman who has none.” His smile had a sad, tortured edge.
“I understand being as inconstant as the moon, but that last bit. How can a woman have no heart?”
“I have yet to understand that part of the curse.”
“How long has it been?”
“Ninety-eight years.”
Grace gasped. “Yet, you still don’t know?”
“Well, you have to admit…” he turned leaning back, his elbows and forearms resting on the broad rail. “A woman who has no heart is a bit of a puzzle. Then there’s the other half. She must be willing to take my heart in its place.”
“True, that is implied. Although, technically all you have to do is earn hers. She doesn’t have to accept yours.”
“A fine line, that I am certain will make little difference should the day ever come when I meet such a woman,” Luc said wryly.
“Heartless people are cruel,” Grace frowned out at the bayou. “Part of me hopes you never meet a heartless woman, let alone love her enough to give your heart into her keeping.”
“May I take it from this conversation that you have come to terms with any disbelief you might have about me and my curse?”
“I think so.” She slowly nodded.
“What changed your mind?” His expression held an urgency that she did not understand. “I’m not certain I want to talk about it.”
“As you wish. Would you like a tour of the ship?” His handsome countenance brightened. He smiled again and gave a half-bow, then offered his arm, like a courtier.
“Yes, thank you.”
***
Luc saw the thing he treasured above all else, Grainne’s smile on the face of a woman from another century. Had God put that smile on Grace Thibodaux’s face to torture him with reminders of a love he could never have?
The worst of him wanted to strangle Grace, so he never need see that smile again.
