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“Still the same, we are all so happy to see you. Pray tell, how did the rest of the crew fair?”
“You’ll be happy to hear we all survived to see another day.”
“Oh blessed the Lord.”
“Come, Mother.” Clive stood behind Ryan and watched the glances the two younger couple exchanged. “Let’s give them some privacy.”
“Yes, yes, of course.” May eagerly nodded then quickly regathered the tray of food and left the room, stopping only to shut the door behind them.
Ryan turned back to Evelina and stared as if searching for something. Then at last, he said, “For a woman who allegedly mourned my passing, you don’t seem too happy to see me.”
“You have no idea how I feel.” Evelina said in a raspy voice, barely able to control the quiver in her voice.
“Oh? Perhaps you wished me dead instead?”
“Don’t say such things,” she snapped angrily.
“Then is it too much to ask for you to get out of bed and greet me properly?”
Oh how Evelina would have loved nothing more than to throw back the covers and run into his arms. Her jaw trembled as she shook her head. “I’m happy to see you home and safe.”
“Is that all you have to say?”
“What more is there? I believe we said all we needed to say when we last said goodbye.”
“Perhaps then, but not now,” he said. “When you are confronting death in the face, it gives you a new perspective on life.”
“How’s that?”
“I had to come back and see you. To tell you the truth.”
“What truth?”
“When the Spartan began to sink, I thought of only one thing. That I wanted to see you again.”
Her gaze shifted to his face.
“Actually it tormented me recalling our last meeting. To realize that was the last memory I would have of you to take to the grave.” He advanced into the room closer to Evelina. “I knew if I had the chance again, I would redo that moment. Say things differently. Change my decisions.”
“Such as?”
“I would never have left you to go to Toledo and board that ship.”
“You had no possible way of knowing what would happen.”
He held her gaze then shifted directions in his speech. “While I was in hospital recovering, the captain came to see me and offered to secure me crew work on a ship he was sailing to Europe.”
“Europe?”
“Yes. An offer such as that I would have snatched up in a heartbeat in the past, but I realized in that split second that traveling the ocean and exploring other continents was no longer my heart’s desire.”
“It isn’t?”
“No, the only thing I wanted was to come back home to you. The very idea I may never see you ever again was heart wrenching.”
“You mustn’t talk that way.”
“Why not?
