AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Well, what would you bring?”
He grabbed his father’s invention from his tool belt and flipped it open. “This versatile tool. It’s all I’d need.”
Beatrice held out her hand and he handed her the tool. “It’s ingenious. I wonder that your father hasn’t patented it—didn’t Isobel say something similar?”
“My father is a dreamer. He’s always concocting these wild schemes, inventing these tools. He’s always so certain that the next one will be the one that earns him a fortune. But they all come to naught. And he’s just a carpenter on your brother’s land. He owns nothing of his own and has no capital for patent applications. This one is his best invention, though.”
Ford placed no trust in dreams or schemes. He believed only what he saw, what he touched with his hands. He was a self-made man.
“I would use the blade to carve wooden spears to use for defense, and to catch wild game and fish to eat. This tool is all I’d need to build us shelter. It even has a fork so that you could eat the food I provided.”
“Oh, so now we’re stranded on the desert island together?”
“That’s right. And the only thing your book would be good for would be to start a fire.”
“That’s not true. I didn’t tell you which book I’d bring with me.”
He raised his brows. “Well?”
“A desert island survival guide.” Her smile was triumphant.
“Being stranded on an island with me might not be so bad. I’d teach you how to swim, how to spear a fish.”
“How do you know I don’t know how to swim?”
He raised his brows higher.
“You’re right,” she admitted. “I don’t know how. Ladies aren’t taught many practical skills. Do you know how to swim?”
“I’d better. I’m a sailor.”
“Isn’t the water dreadfully cold?”
“Not off of Greece. Before the war for Greek independence began, my mates and I would sometimes have time for a swim.”
He stopped working, remembering the hazy, sun-dappled pleasure of it. “The sun painted a sparkling trail across the water that seemed to lead directly to me, water like glass, waves rolling and then breaking closer to shore. I was far out, where land was only a line on the horizon. I dipped my head underwater, and what I heard was a profound silence. It’s peaceful out there, and you float, and your feet could never touch the bottom, and there’s a fear in that but also a freedom.”
“In Cornwall I liked to stand on the cliffs and watch the waves battering the land. I certainly never felt the desire to be tossed about in those stormy seas.”
“Too cold to swim off that coast. I prefer Greece. Or maybe our desert island.”
“It does sound enchanting. Though I’d have to bring paper, pens, and ink to continue my dictionary.”
“No dictionaries on our desert island. No pens and ink. You’d have to chisel your words onto stone, write on the side of a cave, memorize your words and pass them down to your children.”
“I’m not going to have any children.”
He lowered his hammer. “How do you know that?”
“Because I’m never going to marry. Have you forgotten?”
“I haven’t forgotten. You’d have no talent for it. You wouldn’t want anyone telling you what to do.”
“That’s it.” She wrenched a section of board out too hard and the wood split down the middle. “Drat. You won’t be able to salvage this one.”
“Happens sometimes. Don’t worry. But if you’re tired you should take a rest.”
“Why don’t you rest, as well? We could have a cup of tea. Mrs. Kettle isn’t here yet but I think I could manage.”
