Catherine's Cross (25 page)

Jenks was surrounded by darkness. She could hear her sister telling her to wake up. Suddenly, Gigi was standing before her. A deep frown was etched in her brow.

Jenks sat up on her bed. She stared at the place at the foot of the bed where her sister had been standing, but Gigi was no longer present. Jenks looked at the clock on the nightstand. It was three-thirty in the morning. She wiped perspiration from her forehead, and then she heard what she thought were faint footfalls on the hardwood floors.

Picking up her flashlight, she quietly walked into the living room and turned on the outside floodlights. The eight-day clock on the mantle chimed the half hour. She sat down on the living room couch and listened for noises. There were only the night sounds of the crickets. She returned to her bed, but had difficulty falling asleep again.

Seth returned from Columbia Friday afternoon, and they spent the late afternoon fishing on the Chechessee River. They stayed on the river until twilight, and then grilled their catch of redfish over a charcoal fire on the grill at the back of the Walker's house.

As they sat down to eat, a distant rumble of thunder sounded to the west.

“How did the firearms training go?”

“It's always good to have a refresher course, and I passed the proficiency test.”

“I'd like for you to teach me how to shoot a handgun.”

A frown crossed his brow. “Is there something wrong?”

“Several times now I've heard walking in the middle of the night at Gigi's, and a few times I've seen shadows. When I investigate, there's no one there.”

The ceiling fan in the kitchen rotated slowly sending a light breeze through the kitchen. Lightning flashes appeared in the windows, followed by the rumblings of thunder.

Seth took her hand. “Why haven't you mentioned this to me before?”

“It's just happened lately.”

“I don't want you to ever be frightened. You can stay here with me . . . or I could stay with you several nights in a row to see if we hear anything.”

“Thank you. I've wondered if I've been dreaming the walking sounds.”

“That's a possibility. I've heard noises in my sleep before that I thought were very real. When I awakened, I discovered the sounds were just part of my dream.”

Another flash of lightning illuminated the nighttime sky, followed by a rumble of thunder.

“I had a very odd experience today,” Jenks said shaking her head.

“Tell me about it.”

“A real estate agent came to show Gigi's house, and I walked to Sands Beach. On my way back, I walked on some streets I had never been on before. I started to have this strange feeling that someone was watching me. I was in front of a house that looked abandoned, and I saw a young woman in an upstairs window looking down at me. I smiled and waved at her, but she did not respond. She only looked at me with such a sad expression.”

“What did she look like?”

“She was lovely, with bright blue eyes and straight blonde hair.”

“There must have been something troubling her for her not to respond.”

Jenks reflected on the experience for just a moment and said, “I bet you're right. I feel badly for her, whoever she is.”

Seth rose from his seat and, taking Jenks by the hand, he pulled her up, into his arms. “Let's not talk of sadness anymore tonight.” He started a CD player, and they danced slowly to piano jazz in each other's arms. “Bill Evans?”

“Yes, ma'am,” he whispered in her ear.

As they held each other, Seth kissed her on the mouth. Jenks could feel her body begin to ache with desire for him, and she whispered back, “Please—I want you.”

He lifted her in his arms and carried her into his bedroom.

After making love, Seth gently whispered, “I want to show you a special place in the morning. We'll need to wake early, and get there before the day becomes too hot.

“Is this my surprise?”

“One of them.”

“Please give me a clue?”

“You're going to taste something wonderful,” he said as he gently stroked her face with his fingertips. Outside, rain was falling, accompanied by occasional thunder. Lulled by the sounds of the storm, Jenks wrapped her arms around him and fell asleep.

By six a.m., Seth had prepared a large breakfast for the two of them. She could smell the delicious aroma of bacon when he gently woke her. Pulling her up from the bed, he helped her put on her robe.

“Okay sleepy girl, this way,” he said as he steered her toward the kitchen. “We're going to work very hard this morning, so I want you to have plenty to eat.” She felt hungry and ate all her breakfast.

After cleaning the dishes, Seth gave her a bottle of insect repellant and told her to be liberal with the application. They both put on blue jeans, and Seth gave her a pail.

“What am I going to need this for?”

“You'll see. Let's head to the path behind the house that leads into the woods.”

In the field, near the overseer's cabin, was a large blackberry patch with very ripe fruit. Seth started to pick the fruit, placing the blackberries in his pail.

“Have you ever picked blackberries before?”

“When I was a little girl,” she responded.

“Watch the thorns on the bush.”

“Yes, sir.”

They stood side by side and picked the berries for over thirty minutes. Seth quietly whispered to her, “Look to your right, but make gentle movements.”

Jenks turned her head slowly, and standing about ten feet away from them was a doe that was feasting on the berries. The deer glanced in their direction and then continued to eat.

“Looks like someone's having breakfast. I suppose the blackberries taste better than the usual diet of acorns and fresh shoots of plant growth,” Seth softly said.

“It's nice of her to share with us,” Jenks whispered back.

The doe continued to eat the fruit, and after another fifteen minutes, she walked away in the direction of the overseer's house.

“I can't believe I just saw that,” Jenks told Seth.

He smiled at her and continued to pick the berries. When his pail was full, he assisted Jenks until both containers were full.

“Are you ready to make blackberry jam?” he asked.

“Yes, sir.”

The rest of the morning was spent making jam and canning the cooked blackberries. By the time they finished, they had made twenty jars of jam, and they smiled at each other in satisfaction.

When the work in the kitchen was complete, Seth said, “Now are you ready for the second part of my surprise?”

“Yes, what is it?”

“Hale Branson said he would take you flying this afternoon. He said for us to meet him at Frogmore International at two.”

A feeling of exuberance coursed through her body. She smiled broadly and responded, “Really! That's so exciting. Frogmore International?”

“Remember? That's the old nickname for the Beaufort County Airport. A lot of the locals still call the airport by that name.”

Jenks ran to Seth and flung her arms around him. “Thank you for arranging this. Aren't you going up with us?”

“I don't think so. He said he was going to show you what flying was all about, so I expect he'll be taking you up in one of his acrobatic airplanes, which are two seaters.”

“Wow, I'm thrilled! I'm ready to go whenever you are.”

“All right, young lady, after you,” Seth said as he opened the back door in the kitchen for her.

On their drive to Lady Island, they passed Hiller's Barbells. A large Sold sign was mounted across the top of the For Sale sign.

“It looks like Frank has had success in selling his business.”

“Amazing . . . and Gigi's house has only had a few showings.”

Seth parked his truck in front of a hangar at the Beaufort County Airport. He came to Jenks's side of the vehicle and opened the door for her. Together, they walked in the direction of a side entrance to the building.

Seth knocked, and within a few moments Hale Branson opened the door, greeted them, and invited them inside. The two men began to converse, and Jenks took the time to look around the hangar. Brightly lit with fluorescent lamps, the concrete floor of the hangar was painted gray and appeared polished to perfection. There were several handsome aircraft inside the building; the paint on the airplanes gleamed brightly. Her eye focused on a cherry-red biplane that had a rear tail wheel.

At a pause in the men's conversation, Jenks turned to Hale, “Thank you for offering to take me flying this afternoon.”

“Yes, ma'am, I'm glad to do it,” he responded.

“All your airplanes are beautiful. What type of aircraft are they?”

“Let's start over here.” He led them to a polished red-and-white airplane that had a tail painted like the beams of the rising sun. “This is a Citabria. I fly this airplane in a number of aerobatic competitions in the United States. If you spell Citabria backwards, it spells airbatic.”

He ran his hand along the side of the fuselage, and then led Seth and Jenks to the biplane that had caught her eye when they entered the hangar. “This is a Pitts Special. The aircraft was designed by Curtis Pitts and got the nickname Stinker because Pitts put the drawing of a skunk on some of his early designs. Many pilots believe that the Pitts Special is the ultimate aerobatic aircraft for competition.”

“Wow, this biplane is gorgeous! This is the airplane you were flying the day you flew near the Walker's property!” Jenks exclaimed.

“Yes, ma'am,” he replied.

They looked at a third aircraft that Hale explained was an Aeronca Champ, and lastly at a sleek plane that he said was a Mooney 231 and used for cross-country travel.

“Which airplane are we going up in?” Jenks asked.

“I'm going to take you flying in the Citabria.”

Hale raised the hangar door and then went to a wall phone and placed a call. Within a few minutes, two young men wearing mechanic's suits arrived in front of the hangar with a tug and pulled the Citabria out onto the tarmac. Hale thanked them for their assistance, and then Jenks and Seth watched him preflight the airplane. He checked the oil and then ran his hand down the sides of the propeller. Jenks was offered the back seat in the airplane.

Suddenly feeling nervous, she said, “Now, remember, I've never been up in a light airplane before. Please don't do any scary maneuvers.”

Hale smiled back at her; his handlebar mustache seemed to curl on the ends. “I'll tell you a saying that I heard when I was learning to fly airplanes. My flight instructor always said, ‘There are old pilots and there are bold pilots, but there are no old, bold pilots.'”

He smiled again, and then Seth and Hale helped her into the airplane, fastening her seat belt and shoulder harness. Hale handed her a headset with a mike and then demonstrated how they could hear and talk to one another. After the engine was started, Hale taxied out to a place on the tarmac that he called the runup area and did mechanical checks on the engine. When this was complete, he taxied the airplane out to the runway and announced his intentions to take off on Runway 25.