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EPILOGUE
Three months later…
“Are you sure about this?” Marsh asked her again as he brought the pirogue to a halt next to the dock. It was the first time they’d been to town since their quick wedding in the registry office the week after Harold’s arrest.
She smiled at him and squeezed his hand.
“I’m sure,” she said firmly. “No matter how good you are at creating things out of nothing but plants and air, there are some things that need to be purchased.” And some people I need to see. “But you don’t have to come with me if you’d rather not.”
“I’m not letting you go by yourself.” His immediate protest was followed by a sigh. “And I told Jimmy I’d come see him.”
“Good. Then shall we go?”
He lifted her easily out of the canoe, then followed her, moving with his usual easy grace. The heavy humidity of the late summer afternoon surrounded them, the trees hanging limp and heavy in warmth and the cicadas whirring in the distance.
No one was on the docks, not even a few boys trying their luck with bamboo poles. The morning fishermen had returned and the night fishermen had not yet departed, just as she’d hoped. Although Marsh’s relationship to the town was a lot less troubled now that he’d allowed for the additional boats, she wanted their first trip to town to be as stress free as possible.
Jimmy’s ramshackle building was set back from the docks, the large garage door on the loading dock open to catch any hint of breeze. Jimmy was sprawled in an old recliner next to the open door, his hat over his face and a faint whistle emerging with every breath.
“He’s asleep,” Marsh said quickly. “Maybe we should -”
“Ain’t asleep.” Jimmy pushed his hat back and grinned up at them. “Didn’t think you’d actually show up, Marsh. I’m gonna owe Walt a dollar.”
“Aurora wanted to come to town.”
“Ah. Didn’t think it was the lure of my company that brought you here. How you doing, ma’am?”
“Fine, thanks, Jimmy. I was wondering if you’d mind keeping Marsh company for a little bit while I run some errands?”
“Aurora -”
“I’ll be just fine, I promise. You really don’t want to stand around while I look at women’s clothes, do you? You can’t come in the dressing room anyway,” she added with a teasing smile.
“Too big to fit too.” Jimmy shook his head. “Damned if you don’t look even bigger in full sunlight. Why don’t you fetch us a beer and have a seat while your wife does her shopping?”
He was clearly torn, but when she gave him an encouraging smile he sighed and reached into the big metal cooler. He tossed a can to Jimmy, before opening his own and draining half of it in one swallow. For someone who’d never had beer before he met her, he’d certainly developed a taste for it.
She went up on her tiptoes and kissed his cheek.
“I won’t be long. No more than an hour.”
“An hour?”
Ignoring his immediate protest, she hurried up the street away from the docks, hoping she’d timed it correctly. She had, and by the time she returned an hour later carrying her packages, she felt as if her feet barely touched the ground.
Walt and a few of the other fishermen had joined Marsh and Jimmy, leaning against the loading dock and swapping what she guessed were apocryphal stories of their fishing prowess. Marsh looked surprisingly at home, leaning against the loading dock, beer in hand. The late afternoon sunlight brought out the mahogany hints in his multi-colored skin, the hint of a breeze stirring the flowers woven into his golden hair.
He looked up as she approached, emerald eyes gleaming, and her heart did a happy little flip. Her husband - her big, different, wonderful husband.
“I told you I wouldn’t be long,” she said as he came to meet her, wrapping an arm around her shoulder as he took her shopping bags.
“It’s been fifty-eight minutes. You had two more minutes before I came looking for you.”
She rolled her eyes and Jimmy laughed.
“Don’t worry, Rorie. We’d a calmed him down.”
Although she suspected that all five fishermen couldn’t have stopped Marsh if he decided otherwise, she gave him a grateful smile.
