wrath of the Sea Queen (10 page)

Ben leaned over and kissed her
again, interrupting her rambling
.  Salma was quiet after that.  He returned to his seat, s
till s
miling.
  Salma enjoyed seeing Ben smile.

"
Sometimes, you are very much like that niece of yours.  Why don't you try to rest until I can take you home?  Let me take care of you this once.  At least, let me pretend to be in charge. 
I
wi
ll handle the
worrying for
both of us right now
, Mrs. Erickson.
"

CHAPTER 4

A sharp pain in her side roused C
a
eli from the comfort of her favorite resting spot about
thirty minutes before the alarm was set to go off.  She quietly scooted off Vin's shoulder and out from under
the
arm
he had
wrapped around her shoulders, trying not to disturb him
while he slept.  She
ha
d been
awake
for
quite a while
,
thinking about upcoming events while she waited
patiently
for Vin to wake
or for the alarm to buzz
. 
C
a
eli
made her way across the
dark bed
room and closed the door of the adjacent bathroom as she slipped inside.  The cramp
in her side
beg
a
n to ease as she moved around, but her stomach
took
control
of
the complaint department. 

Last night, Vin
had taken
her out to dinner so that she would not have to cook the night before
her trip
. 
They went to a
steakhouse in town they
ha
d
eaten at
a few times before.  She debated between the Saturday night fresh catch
and
a baked chicken
fettuccini
, one of her favorites
. 
Normally, C
a
eli would have chosen the pasta
without hesitation
. 
However, s
he
was feeling
adventurous
and chose the fish
instead
.  Vin warn
ed
her that it was probably not a good idea
.  S
he thought, how bad can it be?  C
a
eli was
now
regretting
that
decision.  After several unpleasant waves of nausea, she
finally
began to feel better.  Soon, her stomach
calmed
and the
queasiness
settled
. 
C
a
eli
brushed her teeth and, as quietly as possible
, fumbled in a bag that she pulled out of a cabinet
.  She
retrieved
a box
purchased at
the drugstore, followed the instructions, and then
returned to bed
ten minutes later
. 

C
a
eli
sighed
happily
as she worked her way back into Vin's warm embrace.  There w
as
still fifteen minutes before either of them
was required
to get up
;
even still,
they would be up
well
before the sun this
Sunday morning
. 
Yet, h
er excitement about the upcoming trip
made it difficult for
C
a
eli
to l
ie
still
. 
She
adjusted her head, tossing her long, chestnut hair out of her eyes
to
look up at Vin's face. 
His arm
around her shoulders
instinctively pull
ed her
inward
, drawing her closer as he continued to sleep.  She ran her fingers along the strong line of his jaw as the
dim blue glow from his alarm clock
played against his
handsome
face.

C
a
eli smiled as
Vin's
chest beg
a
n to shake lightly and
she
noticed that he was now looking do
wn at her and laughing softly.

"
What's so funny?
"
  She asked as
Vin
bent down to kiss her.

"
You are. 
You cannot l
ie
there without waking me, can you?  What's a guy got to do to get a few extra minutes of sleep around you?
"
  Vin teased. 

"
I'm sorry. 
It m
ust be your irresistible charm,
"
she said flirtatiously.

"
Or, perhaps, you
simply
can't stand to let me sleep
at least until
the sun comes up.  Just because you're a morning person doesn't mean I should be,
"
Vin continued to joke with her as he extracted himself and sat up, tossing his feet off the edge of the bed
and flipping on a light switch on the wall
.  He reached over to
his nightstand and
turn
ed
off
the
alarm
before it
sounded
.
  Vin picked up the
water
glass
from his
nightstand and gulped down a few
swallows
to clear the dryness from this throat.  Looking over his shoulder at C
a
eli, he asked about her earlier
trip to the bathroom
.

"
Are you ok?  I was about to
come
check on you when you came sneaking back into bed.
  I was hoping it meant you were going to sleep in another half an hour.
"

"
Oh, so you weren't really asleep then?  I should
ha
ve known
.  Y
ou
a
re
just
trying to make me feel guilty
for waking you
so
that I might be inclined to
fix you breakfast.
"

"
Well, you can't blame a guy for trying
; and, if you must, then b
lame it on
my addiction to your
pancakes,
"
Vin hinted, still hoping she might be enticed to cook.  However, he also reminded her that she still hadn't answered his original question.

"
Yes, I'm fine now.  Turns out you were right about dinner
last night
.  Remind me
never to
risk
a good meal on
a
fish
special
ever
again.  I think it was still trying to
swim
away,
"
she answered with a smile.  Before he could reply, C
a
eli reached up and pulled
Vin
back onto the bed facing the opposite direction. 

"
Wait right here.  I have a surprise for you.
"

C
a
eli
hopped up
,
hurried
into the bathroom
,
and closed the door
with a girlish giggle
. 
Vin
could hear her rushing around
inside
. 
He
smiled to himself at her excitement.  He loved how she took such pleasure in the simplest things.  Vin loved to see C
a
eli so happy.  She was almost glowing this morning, except for the slight tint of green and the tiniest remainder of the bruise over her left eye. 

While he lay there, Vin
recalled
a time six months earlier when
such happiness had eluded her.  H
e almost died and
C
a
eli
had been cruelly tortured
in
a ma
dman's
futile attempt to force Vin to use his
ability
to manipulate the wind
to do
his
bidding.  But, with the help of a few friends, they overc
a
me the threat and found a way back to each other. 

Vin re
membered
, with sorrow and a touch of veiled anger, the events that
had
changed their lives.  He vividly
recalled
the details of the car wreck that sent him
,
temporarily
,
to the other side of the barrier
between life and death
;
memories of
the subsequent quest to
prevent Deacon
Antonius
, C
a
eli's grandfather, from destroying that barrier
were just as sharp
.  The events were
permanently
embedded in Vin's mind.  He was certain that Antonius would never trouble them or anyone else ever again
and
assumed the
deacon's
students scattered to remote locations
after
the battle
.  Unfortunately, Vin's embittered and misguided half-sister, Dalla,
was
killed before he ever had the opportunity to know her.  And his
own
father, who allowed Vin to be put up for adoption at birth, died the very night the ordeal beg
a
n.  Vin did not feel any sense of loss, nor did he grieve for the stranger.  Having grown up in a succession of foster homes and repeated stints at St. Anthony's orphanage, Vin never considered his biological father to be a member of his family.  He
was
certainly never
a
part of Vin's life.