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"Excellent. We've already booked another trip
with Jack. Think you might be up to it next time,
Pierre?" he asked, still with that demonic grin on his
handsome face. Pierre blushed and turned away.
Before they left, Pierre thanked Mama for hen,
hospitality, and she thanked him for the purchases he
had made. Daddy was busy with his gear at the dock,
so he didn't see Pierre approach me to say good-bye. "I had a wonderful day. I mean it," he said,
pressing my hand in his. "I will be back sooner than
my father thinks," he added, "or you, for that matter." "Please, Monsieur Dumas. You should not. . ."
"Watch for me," he said with a twinkle in his eyes,
"where and when you would least expect to see me." He hurried to join his father and their friends in
their big limousine and rolled down the window to
wave as they pulled away. Mama, who had just sold
something to another traveler, stepped up beside me. "He's a very nice young man," she said. "But
he's married, Gabriel," she added in a dark voice. "I know," I said sadly. "He told you?" "No."
"Then how did you know, Mama?"
"When I put his pants on the stove to dry, I felt
the wedding ring in his pocket and gave it to him to
hold with his other things. A man who takes off his
wedding ring so easily does not wear it so well," she
commented.
"Beware of him, Gabriel," she said softly. "He
has an unhappy heart, and unhappiness is too often
contagious," she said. She went to speak to Daddy and
left me trembling a little as I gazed after Pierre's
limousine, his beautiful words falling away like
teardrops in the wind.
Weeks passed and Pierre Dumas began to fade, his face pressed to my memory like some embossed cameo to cherish deep in my heart, but never to see or feel again. At night I would fantasize about him, think of him as I would my dream lover, the ghost who emerged from the swamp to win my heart even though I knew the price I would pay for loving him. I couldn't help but replay his words, relive his kiss, hear again his laughter, and feel my heart warmed by his
soft, green eyes, smiling.
