The Light of the Blue Pearl (33 page)

Now that she was finally there she let out a
deep breath and made her way to baggage claim.

She had half hoped to see Scott waiting for
her; though she hadn’t ever really expected that he would be. It
had been a work night the night before and considering the change,
it was not at all surprising he wasn’t there now. Her phone battery
had died a long time ago and she hadn’t cared to recharge it. It
would have been far too tempting to make a call in either
direction. Though Dallas had been a long wait, it was still time
she had needed in order to decide.

Even though she was sure in the change up
that her bag would not have made the switch successfully, it was
waiting for her nonetheless. She picked it up and headed for the
door, hailed a cab and made her way home. It was a strange feeling
being back home after all of the things that had happened, when she
left she hadn’t been sure she would ever come back.

Her heart started to beat faster when the
cab driver pulled onto her street, her house came into view and
before she knew it she was once again standing on her doorstep.

She watched the driver disappear; looking at
the street again she saw no sign of Scott’s car. Her heart sank at
the thought that he wasn’t here either.

Reluctantly, she dug out her keys and opened
her door and stepped inside. Everything was as she had left it, why
she expected anything different she didn’t know; although he had
been angry it would have been very unlike Scott to damage the
place.

Still, the note she had left was crumpled up
and left on the table; she recoiled at the thought that she had
made him do that. She set down her bag and was about to head to the
bedroom when she noticed the box on the counter.

Her fingers trembling, she picked it up,
wondering if he’d left this recently or before their encounter in
Belize. She was about to lift the lid when she heard Scott’s
voice.

“Don’t open that,” he said.

She gasped and looked up nearly dropping the
box; she hadn’t heard him come in.

“Scott?!” she said, half wanting to run into
his arms, but instead she stayed where she was.

The look on his face told her nothing. She
couldn’t tell if he was happy to see her or not. He was out of
breath and walked over and took the box from her hands before she
could protest.

“Why not?” she finally asked, her curiosity
at this strange homecoming getting the better of her – this hadn’t
been how she had anticipated their next meeting. “Wasn’t it for
me?” she asked, gesturing to the box he had slipped into his pocket
out of sight.

“Welcome home,” he said.

“Thanks,” she said, walking over to him so
she could attempt a robbery. “Don’t change the subject,” she said,
smiling at him and closing the gap between them.

He darted quickly into the kitchen to escape
her advances.

“Why are you out of breath anyway,” she
asked. “What did you do, run here?”

He turned to face her, confident that her
attempts to snag his hidden treasure would be unsuccessful. “As a
matter of fact, I did,” he said, side stepping out of her reach
again.

She laughed. “You can’t be serious?” she
asked. “From where? You’re hardly dressed for running.”

She made one last futile attempt before
resigning her efforts. “Did you come to get that?” she asked,
pointing to his pocket that was now hiding something she was dying
to see.

Her curiosity over the object was suddenly
replaced with the knowledge that he hadn’t come to see her.

“Yes,” he said. “I did.”

“Oh,” she said, her smile faded and she
walked over to the table and sat down, no longer looking at
him.

“Ethne?” he asked, joining her at the table
and looking at her sad face. “What’s wrong?”

“I thought you had come to see me,” she
said, staring out the window.

He took her hand. “I did,” he said, suddenly
feeling incredibly stupid about how this had gone.

Yesterday all he had wanted to do if he had
gotten to see her was sweep her into his arms and hug her tighter
than he ever had.

“You did?” she asked, doubt still clearly
marked on her face.

He smiled at her trying to reassure her that
the last few minutes of foolishness were not the only reason he was
there.

“Of course I did,” he said. “I was actually
at the airport last night.”

He looked down at the table feeling like an
idiot for his confession.

“You were?” she asked, her face suddenly
beaming again with the radiance he had seen in her eyes when he had
first walked in, though he had nearly missed it since he had been
immediately focused and panicked that she was about to open the
box.

“Yeah,” he said. “I was.”

She looked at him and saw sadness in his
downturned eyes, realizing how hurt he must have been when she
hadn’t gotten off the plane.

“Oh my god,” she said. “I’m so sorry I
wasn’t there.” She reached over and took his face in her hands
forcing him to look at her.

“I thought you had changed your mind,” he
said.

She threw her arms around his neck and
hugged him. “No,” she said. “I took a different flight, that’s
all.”

“Why?” he asked quietly.

“I don’t know, someone needed to get here
sooner so I gave them my seat. I was stuck in Dallas for 12 hours –
which I don’t recommend by the way,” she said, releasing him slowly
and sneakily moving her hand down to his pocket, not fast enough
though.

He caught her hand just as she was about to
make away with the box.

“Nice try,” he said, keeping her hand in
his.

“Oh come on!” she said. “If it was for me
why can’t I open it?”

He didn’t answer.

“I said I was sorry for not being here
yesterday, would you have let me open it then if I had been?” she
asked.

He looked up at her with a coy smile.
“Maybe,” he said.

“Well that’s not fair, I was being kind to a
stranger,” she said. “That should count for something, right? If I
had known you were going to be there, I never would have switched,”
she said. “I really am sorry, I can imagine how you must have felt
– I feel terrible about it, Scott, I really do.”

“You didn’t call,” he said. “I left you a
message.”

She looked into his eyes almost able to see
the evening play out in them; she felt so selfish for keeping him
waiting, for making him wonder.

“My…battery was dead,” she said, knowing how
incredibly lame that excuse sounded, though it was true.

“Oh come on, Ethne,” he said, releasing her
hands and quickly getting up from the table. “You could have
charged it or used a payphone.”

“Yes, I could have…,” she said, pausing to
try and come up with a plausible excuse. “I thought you were
working, I didn’t think you’d be there.”

While that too was the truth, she knew she
still should have called him. The other truth, that she was
recovering from the goodbye in Miami, was not something she wanted
to discuss, especially with Scott; the wound from last night was
bad enough.

“I’m sorry,” she said. “I needed some time
to think, and it was late…I didn’t think…,” she took a deep breath
not knowing what else to say that would suffice for what she had
done…any of it. “I’m sorry.”

“And what did you decide?” he asked,
softening only a little in regard to her obvious blunder.

She shrugged, looking around the room. “Well
I’m here aren’t I?” she asked, wondering if that would be enough
for him to accept her apology.

“Yes…you are,” he said, smiling. Even though
he wasn’t sure what “here” meant, he was quite sick of words and
questions and misconnections, he just wanted to hold her.

He walked back over to her and lifted her up
from the chair and pulled her into his arms. It seemed like forever
since he had held her, truly held her. He pulled away only far
enough to lean down and kiss her. They melted together like they
had never been apart.

Ethne reached into his pocket and got the
box before he realized it, interrupting the kiss she ran off to the
bedroom.

“Hey!” he said, running quickly after
her.

When he made it past the door he saw her on
the far side of the bed, the box open in her hands.

She was simply staring at it, like it had
hypnotized her from looking away.

“Ethne,” he said, walking over to her to try
and take it away. “I wish you hadn’t done that.”

She looked up at him finally, clearly with
no intention of letting him have it back.

What she had found when she had opened the
box was her blue pearl, her “find” from Belize, set simply and
stunningly onto a platinum band.

“What is this, Scott?” she asked, a pained
look on her face. “What did you do?”

The look on her face confused him; he
thought she would have been happy, pleased, instead he couldn’t
tell if he had perhaps done something terribly wrong.

“Umm…I,” he said, nervously running his
hands through his hair. “I…thought…I was…going to…ask you to marry
me.”

She sat down on the bed, the white box
delicately balanced on her lap. “Oh,” she said, finally.

“Oh?” he asked. “Is that all you have to
say? – I’m sorry…did I do something wrong?”

She looked up at him, her eyes glistening.
“No…I just, I didn’t expect…this.”

He sat down next to her taking the box from
her hands. “I know…I’m sorry, that’s why I didn’t want you to open
it.”

“Oh?” she asked, realizing the offer had
possibly just been rescinded. “Are you…not asking me…anymore?”

“Well…that depends,” he asked, looking down
at the pearl he had secretly stolen from her.

“On?” she asked, her heart beating faster
than she thought was humanly possible.

“On…what the answer would be,” he said.

She reached over and took the ring out of
the box and slipped it on her finger; instantly she felt a rush of
warmth as the heat from the pearl radiated throughout her body. In
a flash it felt like she was swimming in the waters of the Blue
Hole, like the magic and calm from that place was now permanently
surrounding her.

She felt safe.

When she had placed the ring on her finger
she realized she had closed her eyes, feeling it more than seeing
it. She opened her eyes and looked over at Scott, a questioning
anticipating look on his face.

She smiled at him, reached over and held his
cheek in her hand.

“The answer would be yes,” she said.

Scott smiled and took her in his arms so
fast he nearly knocked the wind out of her. She laughed as he held
her tightly, feeling his relief and her own escape together, the
question no longer lingering uncomfortably in the room.

The moment she had placed the ring on her
finger everything had felt right, everything had melted away. All
of her fears and reservations were gone, a distant memory that no
longer plagued her mind. Maybe things were easier with Ian miles
away, but regardless of her feelings for him she knew she loved
Scott and knew that she was happy.

Scott released the hold on her finally, but
only enough so that he could see her face. He smiled again as he
looked into her eyes, eyes that no longer held the sadness that had
drawn him to her, but eyes that were brilliantly full of life and
with a new spark he hadn’t seen until today.

Seeing the happiness in his eyes Ethne
smiled back before pulling him to her and kissing his soft lips.
With her tightly wrapped up in his arms Scott knew he would never
have to let her go.

T
he weeks had gone
by fairly quickly after Ethne had returned home, the first night
with Scott still felt like a dream in her mind. The ring still held
the same warmth it had when she had first placed it on her finger.
Every moment she looked at it she was reminded of Belize and the
comfort she felt there.

Though, there was sadness when she looked at
it too, since the location was so intricately connected with Ian
and it was hard not to think of him. But she was happy; she had
made her choice and all the days since had been nothing short of a
fairy tale.

Although her fairy tale included going to
work and paying bills rather than crystal balls and glass slippers,
it suited her just fine. Scott was his typical bouncy and hilarious
self, something she had greatly missed during their days apart. It
still amazed her that he had forgiven her, but she supposed they
were even since he had stolen her pearl.

When she had first seen the ring she had
almost wanted to kill him for taking the pearl without her
permission and having it “altered” for the ring, but now that it
was permanently with her she was actually quite pleased that he
had.

Things had pretty much gone back to the way
they had been before the accident, if not better. Scott was no
longer having any headaches and she still kept her fingers crossed
that her seizures had made their last appearance.

She had hoped the chicken apron had made its
last appearance too but Scott still insisted that she was going to
wear it for him, she had absolutely no idea why this was a lifelong
goal of his. She hid it far back in one of her closets one night he
was at work and instructed him she would wear it when pigs could
cook waffles.

Probably not the best choice of words since
it set him up perfectly for a fairly rude joke at her expense,
though calling her a pig was rather ridiculous in itself.

There was only one thing that still needed
tending to, and this was something she had been putting off. She
wasn’t even sure she wanted to do it, but she had learned her
lesson with Scott when she hadn’t called him, she would not be
cruel a second time in the same manner.

The house was quiet. Scott was at work when
Ethne picked up her phone and unfolded the piece of paper that held
Ian’s number. Her hands were shaking and she had a knot in her
stomach.