At the railing, Alena lost track of time and continued to look out into the dark water, holding her empty washbowl until her arms grew weary. When he didn’t show, she guessed correctly that he’d remained on watch, and she boldly made a decision she knew would change the course of their relations.
Alena had always dreamed of standing in the pilot house, but she didn’t dare enter the sanctity of his domain until now, when she missed his presence enough to boldly seek him out.
Daniel absently held the wheel while his mind drifted to forbidden thoughts. He didn’t hear Alena enter, but he smelled the delicious aroma of jasmine, and knew she’d come in answer to his desire to have her there.
When he turned, Alena appeared tentative and vulnerable, afraid to step forward and yet unwilling to turn back. She self-consciously turned her eyes away from his, and looked around at the glass that surrounded them. She saw the great wheel that stood like a monument to man’s unity with nature, and her face lit up with wonder.
“I’m glad you came,” he said in a deep voice that nearly purred. He walked slowly but purposefully toward Alena, reached for her hand, and escorted her to the wheel. He placed her hands on either side of it beneath his own, and settled in behind her.
Alena felt his hard body lightly touching her back, and she couldn’t help herself from leaning back against his strong frame. At five foot three, she was only inches higher than the wheel, but she was just tall enough to glimpse above it. She gazed at the river and uttered as if in a trance, “Sparkling ripples caress my body; its gentle music haunts my soul.”
“That’s lovely. Did you write it?”
“Yes, but until now, they were just words.”
“Would you like to give the wheel a turn?” he asked.
“Yes.” Her voice broke with child-like enthusiasm.
“Let’s pull her down,” he smiled. Daniel helped her feel the weight of the wheel as they nudged it downward.
“It’s so heavy. How do you manage it?” she asked.
“The way I do everything; one spoke at a time,” he replied.
“I imagine this is what heaven feels like,” Alena whispered as she breathed in his scent. Daniel smelled of an intoxicating blend of pitch pine and cigar smoke.
He moved in closer, crouching his tall frame to press his cheek against hers, as he pointed to a spot in the water that winked at them through the rain outside. “See that speck in the water?”
Alena nodded.
“It’s a tree limb that used to hang on the shore of a pretty little island. One day the river became hungry, took a bite out of its side, and now that limb is part of something greater. She’s alive, this river, and like a woman, unpredictable too. At times, she’s dangerous, untrustworthy, and moody, but always breathtaking.” Daniel paused, searching for just the right words, and when he found them, he whispered them into her ear reverently. “I never expected to meet a woman who could rival the beauty of the Mississippi. You, Alena, are a revelation to me.”
Daniel lowered his hands to Alena’s waist, gently spun her around, and anchored his lips to hers. The kiss was cautious at first, but soon became something else, something raging, wild and natural, as though the force of their feelings couldn’t be contained by any obstacle of the mind.
Oblivious to their surroundings, neither noticed the visitor who quietly entered, and quickly left the pilot house with his memorandum book in hand. Simon came to tell the pilot that he caught the chief engineer drunk at the boilers again, and that the engineer had threatened him. Instead of delivering his report, Simon had a new entry that would dwarf all the others.
Not long after Simon’s departure, a thunderclap from the heavens brought the lovers back to earth, and Daniel reluctantly withdrew. “It isn’t safe here.”
“It isn’t safe anywhere for us. But now that we’ve...I don’t want to go back to my life, Daniel.”
“What choice do we have?”
“We can choose each other.”
“Can we? What about your reputation?” he said calmly.
Alena didn’t want to be rational. “Up until now, I’ve been slowly dying. Do you wish me dead?” she asked with a fevered look.
“I wish many things right now, but not that.”
“Then say that we’ll be together when all this is over, no matter the cost.”
“Right now, I’d promise you anything, Alena, but it’s the storm talking. Tomorrow we’ll feel differently.”
“No we won’t. Don’t you see, we’re ourselves right now, finally, and everything we declare now is the truth. I love you. Do you love me?”
“Yes.” On that point he was certain.
“Then you must promise me, we’ll be together.”
“Yes,” he couldn’t help but answer.
“Promise?”
“Yes, Alena, I promise. But now you should go.”
“When will I see you again?”
“Is your husband any better?”
“He’s a little improved, but still weak as a kitten.”
“Then he won’t be going to the concert tomorrow night will he?”
“No.”
“Then neither will you, but you’ll tell Charles you are. I’ll assign someone to my watch and we’ll meet. If you change your mind...”
Alena silenced Daniel with a kiss. “I won’t.”
“Come to my stateroom at nine, but be careful no one sees you,” he cautioned.
“No one will. They’ll all be at the concert.”
“Are you sure this is what you want Alena?”
“I swear to you on my life, you’re all I want.”
Alena reached up and kissed the scar above his eye. “I’ll heal all your old wounds, and you shall set me free,” she whispered and lightly touched the scar with her fingertips. She then turned and swiftly flew down the steps like a bird newly released from its cage.
