Searching For Treasure (14 page)

The panic grew in her belly until her whole insides churned from it.
Oh no, I'm blowing it
, she thought. Terrified of saying the wrong thing, she found herself unable to verbalize anything of what she felt. Last night had been magic. And for the first time in her life, she woke up feeling complete. Did he want to hear those things? Or did he want to hear how he had made her tremble with need, with ache for his touch, and with burn for his kisses? "I don't know what you want me to say
,”
she whispered wretchedly.

Feeling utterly dejected that he couldn't make her understand, he began to turn away from her. "It's not what I want you to say. It's what I need to hear you say. I need to hear you say it, Dana, and you're not."

Near tears, she clutched his arm. "What is it, Jack? Tell me what you want to hear and I'll say it."

"I can't tell you. You have to tell me."

"Jack, what's wrong? Why are we out here fighting instead of-?"

"Playing?" Hearing the misery in his voice, Dana felt her panic morph into a cold knot of despair. "When you know the answer to that Dana, come let me know."

Dana slammed the door in his face. She threw her shoes across the room. She cursed him. She cursed herself even harder. She beat her fists on the wall. Then she sat on the floor and cried until she gave herself a headache. She did everything but understand what the hell had just happened.

She was still on the floor sometime later when Noah knocked on the door. He had gone to his room to change his shirt and heard strange noises coming through the wall that separated it from Dana's bedroom. "Dana?" The sight of her tear-stained face shocked him. "Dana! What's wrong?" He quickly closed the door and dropped to his knees next to her.

"He wants something and I want to give it to him. But he won't tell me, so I can't."

"Dana, you're not making any sense." Noah didn't know what to do. Dana rarely cried and when she did, she never cried in front of him. "What happened?"

"He doesn't want me anymore
,”
she wailed. "He's walking away from me, from us." She rounded on him furiously. "What did you say to him? He's been acting funny since you talked this morning."

Noah was stunned. This was about Jack? He thought everything was fine now between them. "Nothing! I-I just asked him if he loved you."

Dana looked at him through her fingers. "What did he say?"

"He said that he did. And
,”
Noah took a deep breath, "I asked if you loved him. He said he wasn't sure."

"What's the matter with him? How can he not know?"

"Maybe because you haven't told him?"

Dana blinked once, twice, feeling quite stupid. She shoved the heels of her palms into her eyes as fresh tears flowed. "Oh, God, I've messed everything up!" She sobbed brokenly into her hands.

"Dana, please; please stop crying." Noah patted her foolishly on her back. "Do you want me to get someone? Do you want me to get Rose?"

"No
,”
she said bitterly, turning away from him.

*****

"You made her cry, dude." Noah had gone looking for Jack ready to fight. But the fight drained out of him when he found Jack on the back steps staring morosely at the gazebo, clearly as miserable as Dana was.

Jack closed his eyes in pain. "That wasn't my intent."

"Yeah, well just what was your intent?" Not willing to give up his anger just yet, Noah clattered noisily down the steps and sat down next to him.

"You don't understand, Noah, I need to hear her say she loves me."

"What is it with you and words all of a sudden? You're pushing her, man. You've had a lot longer to get used to the idea of the two of you being more than friends. This is new to her. You need to give her time."

Jack laughed harshly. "I've given her nothing but time."

Noah stared at him. "That's just stupid. You've waited and waited. Finally, she's starting to come around and you're giving up? Now?"

"I'm not giving up."

"Well, it looks that way to me. And it looks that way to her." Jack said nothing. "So what, she doesn't say what you want to hear today. What are you going to do, go out and find another girlfriend?" Jack flinched as if from a blow. "I didn't think so. You two have been together since before I could walk. I don't think either of you would have the first idea how to live without the other. You're making ultimatums you can't follow through on, Jack."

"I wasn't making ultimatums." Jack paused and then laughed with self- loathing. "I don't know, maybe I was. I just wanted her to think."

"Well, she's thinking now. She's crying her heart out because she thinks she's lost you. If that doesn't mean she loves you, I don't know what does. Dana has never cried over a man. Ever. But she's crying over you. Now you think about that."

*****

Jack didn't know what made him go to Dana's room, other than old habits were tough to break. Noah was right. Dana rarely cried, but when she did, Jack had always been the one she needed.

He knocked, holding his breath. She opened the door slowly, the marks of crying clear on her face. He felt his heart squeeze in his chest. Dana's eyes widened when she saw him standing there. But before he could make a sound, she grabbed him by the shirt and hauled him into the room.

Kicking the door closed, she hung onto his shirt by the fistfuls and tried to shake him. She only succeeded in tearing his shirt. "Don't you dare leave me, Jack Matthew Harrison
,”
she shouted furiously. "You can't leave me."

"Why not, D?"

She threw her arms around his neck and hauled herself up. Wrapping her legs around his waist she kissed him with everything she had until he staggered from it.

Leaning against the wall, Jack cupped her face with both hands and gently broke the kiss. He tenderly brushed her hair away from her face and looked at her with haunted eyes. "I need more, D."

Her feet thudded to the floor and she stared at him in disbelief as tears of frustration welled in her eyes. She'd shot her load and missed. She had declared her love. She had thrown her pride on the floor and begged him not to leave her. She had nothing left to give him. She shook his shirt again. It was like trying to shake a rock. "I don't know what you want me to say!"

Mercifully, he took pity on her. "I'm you're best friend, I know you love me. Just like I know you love Noah. Or Jin
x…
Or, hell, even chocolate chip ice cream. But I need more than that from you, Dana."

The light dawned in Dana's mind and she collapsed against him boundlessly. "Oh." She laughed softly, sudden understanding making her giddy.
One simple little word
... She now realized what he wanted and she could give it to him now without any qualms. "Jack, I am so crazy head over heels in love with you that I can't imagine life without you." She folded her hands demurely and bowed her head. "Please don't leave me, Jack
,”
she said meekly, peeking at him with eyes sparkling with mischief. "I couldn't bear it."

"Well, since you put it that way." With a grin and a shout of triumph, Jack swung her up into his arms and spun her around the room, falling across the bed with Dana splayed across him. "And just for the record, I am crazy head over heels in love with you, too. I can't remember a time when I haven't been."

In wonder she touched his lips with her fingers. "Silent for so long," she said.

"Then I almost blew it."

"Not for good. We are too much a part of each other. Eventually we would have worked it out."

"Noah said we couldn't live without each other."

"Smart kid."

Jack traced his thumbs across her cheeks. "I'm sorry I made you cry, D."

"Me, too, it's not one of my better looks."

"I don't know. I've always thought bloodshot eyes, a red and runny nose and blotchy skin looked rather fetching in a woman your age."

"Quiet, buster, or I will have to hurt you." Dana was once again clutching huge fistfuls of his shirt. The fabric would never be the same. She placed a string of tiny kisses along his jaw, down his throat and across his chest. "Jack, you know that drop of sweat you were so fascinated with earlier?"

"Yeah?"

She raised her head and whispered in his ear seductively. "I've got more."

Less than an hour later, Dana leaped from her room wearing nothing but Jack's crumpled shirt. Flinging her arms out wide, she shouted to the world, "I love him! I love him! I love him!" She then dashed back into her room, the closing door muffling much laughter and giggles.

*****

When they appeared for dinner that evening, it was a different couple than who had come down for breakfast. Gone were the glittering looks of sexual discovery, replaced instead with besotted looks of love. Rose didn't even bother to tease them.

Because this was the last dinner they would be having together at Raven Keep Castles, Mrs. Babineaux had tried to make every effort to outdo herself. The table was beautifully set, as usual, and the sideboard was loaded to groaning with lamb chops broiled with bananas and pineapple, a rich seafood bouillabaisse, jambalaya, crawfish ettouffee, hopping john, dirty rice, candied sweet potatoes, and corn spoon bread. A steaming, fresh-from-the-oven blackberry cobbler served with dairy cream was for dessert. She also chose this night to finally make an appearance.

Bustling out of the kitchen wiping her hands on her apron, all five-feet of her, Mrs. Babineaux rushed up to Dana. "Oh, Cher, it's really you." She turned to the rest of the table, who were all staring at her as if a ghost had just appeared in their midst. "It's the Pickle Lady."

With some effort everyone tore their astonished gaze from Mrs. Babineaux and refocused it on Dana. In unison they repeated: "The Pickle Lady?"

"When Mr. Gaston tell me tha' lady whose pickles you like so much, she be sittin' at my table, I tells him go on wi' hisself. But I peek and I seen you picture on the com-poo-ter. An' it's you, Cher. The Pickle Lady."

Jack grinned. "I knew that picture would get you in trouble," he whispered to Dana.

At the questioning looks from her friends, Dana tries to explain. "It's my business. Remember I told you I sold jams and jellies online. I only dabble with pickles, though."

"O, she jus' bein' modest. Not tha' she don' put out some good spreads. Muscadine, mayhew, blueberry, blackberry, cinnamon apple, I gar- an-tee, tha's good eatin'. Bu' she make the best garden pickles I ever put a tooth around. An' her piccalilli, umm-umm, tha's good. I serve it wi' my turklin."

At this everyone looked to Oscar for translation. "Turkey" he mouthed silently.

"Well, I be gettin' back. I jus' wanted to tell, well, I be wantin' to shake your hand. You jus' been, o, Cher, I bin a fan of your pickles forever."

Dana was getting downright embarrassed by the effusive praise and by the suspicious glistening in Mrs. Babineaux's eyes. One would have thought pickles had changed her life. "Well, I, u
m…
thank you, but I've only been making them for three years."

"Oh, foot, cher, you know wha' I mean." The tiny cook looked around at the rest of the table. "Look at yous folks, not eatin', wha' the food no good?"

Henry was the first to find his tongue. "The food is fabulous, Mrs. Babineaux, but, but, shoot fire, we thought you were a myth!"

"Oh, go on wi' youself." She shook her head and chuckled. "Mr. Gaston, you got some mighty strange folk sittin' at you table." She then bustled back into the kitchen out of sight.

Once the cook had disappeared, everyone looked at each other with a glazed look as if a force of nature had just visited them. Oscar and Josie simply grinned.

Compared to Mrs. Babineaux the rest of the meal was pretty anticlimactic. Soon Henry was pushing away his plate with a sigh. "I think I've done as much damage as I can do. Don't nobody look while I pop my buttons."

"Hey Oscar," called Rose, "this is our last night here. Do you have anything special planned?"

As they once again headed out to the courtyard after dinner, they learned that Oscar had planned a simple summer evening of old-fashioned socializing complete with homemade ice cream and lemonade. "I thought it would nice," he began uncertainly, "if we could all just relax and spend part of the evening together. Not to sound like an old fool, but I feel as if all of you have become good friends of mine."

Grace linked her arm with his and beamed at everyone. "I for one think there's nothing foolish about it. Because I feel the same way." She sniffed loudly. "I'm going to miss you all."

"Now, now, Grace, don't start. It's not the end of the world
,”
Rose said brusquely, blinking away the brightness in her own eye. "Maybe we'll trade Christmas cards or something."

The ice cream maker was the old-fashioned hand crank type. After Oscar brought out the buckets of chilled ice cream mix, ice and rock salt, the men took turns turning the crank. Josie and Noah were arguing about what radio station they should play. And Mark was trying to explain to Grace what a defensive linebacker does on a football team. Rose tugged at Dana's arm. "They're going to be at that for a while. Take a walk with me," Rose said.