The Turning Tides (Marina's Tales) (44 page)

I searched his face for a reaction. He still didn’t seem happy.

His voice was quiet, “Are you gonna take off like Shayla?”

“No!” I took his hand, “It’s not that kind of modeling! It’s for print modeling only. I just have to go to San Francisco for a few photo shoots every now and again.”

“How much are they paying you?” he asked, his brow knit together.

I pressed my lips together, embarrassed. “It’s a new line for a major company… And they wanted an exclusive contract… Jacques must be a
really
good negotiator.”

“How much?” he asked, leaning forward curiously.

When I told him, he fell back on the couch with a great whoosh of an exhale, “Whoa.”

I started in right away, arguing against every possible objection, “Ethan, if I’m going to be your wife, then we need to share everything. What’s mine is yours and what’s yours is mine. Now we can start building our house right away… And you can focus on school, and starting the nur–”

Now he put his finger
s
to my lips, pulling me down onto his chest.

“How did I get so lucky?” he asked, taking my face in his hands.

“I’m the lucky one,” I said, lunging in for a kiss.

~

My heart was pounding with excitement
, a
s
I chased
down
the
moon’s reflection shimmer
ing
on the smooth
wall of water
.
F
l
oating,
free from gravity’s pull
,
I was
flying
on
a
black night wave
.
Lorelei
appeared
at the
end
of the ride
to whisk me away, powering through the foamy brine to pull me to safety.

There,
floating
on the dark cold sea, illuminated by the cool
blue
moonlight, Ethan was waiting with a warm kiss.

~

“Marina… Marina…” Ethan’s sleepy voice brought me back to reality. I opened my eyes to see the first dim light of dawn filtering into our room. “Are you okay?” he asked.

I struggled up, disoriented, “I
was dream
ing
.” I settled back down, my head on his chest.

Ethan stroked my hair, his voice vibrating through me, “Tell me.”

“It was good
.
” I
yawned
,
“You were in it.”

He chuckled, shaking my head gently, “Oh really? What was I doing?”

“We were surfing… Under the most beautiful full moon ever.”

“Moons,” he sighed. “There’s still a ton left to go.”

I wrote my name across his chest with my finger,
“I’m not ever going away, you know. You’re stuck with me.”

After a few minutes h
e turned on his side to face me, “Did you know that I’ve always loved your eyes?” He leaned in to kiss them while I scrunched up my face. “And your nose.” He kissed that too. “Your lips…” After the next kiss he drew back with a grin, “And your toes…”

He dove under the covers while I scrambled to escape. We ended up wrestling and laughing, hopelessly entangled in the wound up blankets.
A
demanding
meow caught our attention and we looked up to see a little black and white face peeping in the doorway.
Stumpy
slithered in, jumped up onto the bed and proceeded to attack my feet under the blankets.

“
He’s
after your toes
now
,” Ethan laughed.

I sat up and took the frisky cat into my lap. His purring filled the room, and he started to drool a little.
“I think he wants his breakfast,” I laughed, swinging my legs out of bed to get up.

Ethan hugged me around the waist,
forcing
me
to
pull away from him.

“
I have to get up.
Stumpy needs me,” I explained.

He fell back onto his pillow, “Will you come hang out with me at the farmer’s market today?” he asked hopefully.

“Haven’t you had enough of me?”

“
Nope. I don’t think
I’ll
ever
get enough.”

I smiled to myself, because I felt exactly the same way. I couldn’t
imagine
anywhere else I’d rather b
e today than by his side.

“Okay,
”
I agreed.

“
Good
.
Now I know you’ll never
run off
.”

I stopped at the door, turning back,
“Because I’m coming today?”

“No
.
”
He
put
his arms
behind his head
with a smile, “B
ecause I know you’d never leave Stumpy.”

I took the cat out of the room with a smile.

~

C
hapter
T
hirty-
O
ne

HOMESTEAD

~

The holidays came and went swiftly,
flying by
along with our shared birthday. There had been no more trouble, and Ethan and I settled into a comfortable routine
of school and work
. Now that I was over eighteen, we were ready to make it official, and it didn’t matter if anyone else thought we we
re too young. I
had
more than
made up my mind
, and
if I
’
d
inherited anything from my father, it was his stubbornness.

Dad
wanted to stand up
and walk
with me,
asking
us to wait until he could
do it
without a cane
.
Ethan was eager to please him and agreed
, surprising me with his patience.
He
had subtlety changed; still driven,
Ethan
now
spoke
about
the future
with
confidence
, and I n
o longer
got the sense that he was mapping things out merely for the
comfort
of having a plan.

I grew closer to Amrita, and
I was happy to see my family expand again.
Much to Evie’s chagrin, Dad and Amrita had opted for a civil service wedding
,
insisting on
tying the knot at city hall.
Denied the
perfect
opportunity to throw one of her grand fetes, she insisted on hosting a lavish banquet to send them off on their lecture tour.

Our small family sat clustered at the end of Evie’s long table in the massive dining room
of
her penthouse
apartment
. The length of the table was crowded with my father’s colleagues, Evie’s high society friends and the university’s largest donors. It was exactly the sort of event my father hated, and I felt a rush of sympathy watching him endure toast after toast singing his praises.

Abby and Amrita had hit it off immediately, bonding over their common
quest for the ideal diet
, prompting Dad and Dutch to roll their eyes at each other in sympathy. Cruz and Brad spent the better part of the dinner
with their heads together,
discussing their latest business venture. Brad had insisted on using
some of
his newly acquired fortune to launch Cruz’s first line of sportswear, and under Evie’s expert tutelage, it was certain to be a success.

After the lavish ten course meal wound down,
Evie pulled her chair up to where Ethan and I sat holding hands, “Are you two enjoying yourselves?”

Ethan straightened up politely, “Yes, thank you.”

She smiled at him, looking down the table at my father pulling at his irritating collar. “Honestly,” she shook her head sadly, “I’ll never understand why Martin can’t seem to enjoy his own parties!”

“You know he doesn’t like all this fuss,” I defended him.

“I suppose,” she
shrugged with a sigh. Then she
looked
at me
dreamily, “But now we need to discuss your plans. You’re going to make the most beautiful bride. Have you given any thought about where we should have the ceremony?”

“I was thinking about going to Vegas and getting marri
ed by an Elvis impersonator,” I
joked,
a little
more than half serious.

Evie wasn’t amused,
narrowing her eyes
at me, “Marina.
This is
not
a laughing matter
.”

“
Sorry
.
It’s only,
I’m with Dad–
simple
will be just fine.” I looked down the
table at all the strange faces,
“I want to keep it family only.”

Evie reeled back in her chair with horror, her hand to her throat. “This is unacceptable! You can’t possibly get married without a proper wedding!”
For
the first time she
was
sp
eaking
of our union like she accepted it, and I don’t think that fact was lost on Ethan.

“I’d rather have the right husband than the right wedding,” I squeezed his hand.

“What about the right dress?” An eavesdropping Cruz chimed in from across the table. 

Evie was beside herself, and her voice rose dramatically, “You wouldn’t rob me of the opportunity to throw you a wedding!” She turned to Ethan, “Please talk some sense into her!”

Ethan surprised me by siding with Evie. “You know… We’re only going to do this once… I’d hate for you to regret not having a real wedding…”

I arched a brow at him, “A
real
wedding? Et tu Brute?”

He smiled, “You know what I mean.”

Evie looked relieved, and then leaned in to kiss both of our cheeks, triumphant, “Darlings, just leave the details to me and I’ll throw you the wedding of the century.
I’ll have to call Fatima and have her pick an auspicious day.
” 

I looked back and forth between the two of them.

“I’ll make you a fabulous gown…” Cruz added in.

I could see I was outnumbered, “Alright, on one condition.”

“What?” Evie and Cruz leaned forward expectantly.

“We keep it small… and have it on the beach.”

“The beach!” Cruz complained loudly, “How am I supposed to make a fabulous gown for a
beach
wedding?”

“A
barefoot
beach wedding,” I tossed in just to taunt him.

“
Make it s
top!
She
’
s
killing me!” Cruz clutched his heart.

“Take it or leave it,” I folded my arms across my chest.

Cruz struggled to maintain his pout, but I could see his mind was racing, considering the possibilities. I knew I was in good hands; he’d end up making a dress worthy of an oceanic goddess.

Evie sighed. She
knew I’d
dug in my heels, and had no
choice but to agree.
She got
up to go visit with some other guests, first bending down to murmur in my ear, “You didn’t say
what
beach.
”
She wandered off, visions of Tahiti and San Tropez dancing in her head.

“Have we stayed long enough?” Ethan sighed, tired of all the drama.

~

We talked about Evie’s plans on the way home, and again, Ethan surprised me with his take on it. It was hard to believe he’d defend her considering the way he and Evie had clashed when they first met.

“Let her have her way,” he advised me, “You can’t really blame her for trying to make a big deal about it.”

“Why not? She knows I don’t want a big fuss.”

He looked at me reproachfully, “Don’t you see? She thinks of you as her daughter. After everything she’s done for you and your dad… I think you should humor her.”

I knew he was right, and
I
looked down, quiet for a minute. Then I looked at up at him with narrowed eyes, “Are you sure it’s only Evie that wants a big fancy wedding?”