Far Country (37 page)

           
Fall was finally reaching the Carolinas, Beth mused as they drove to the marina
and walked out to where her little boat was berthed. There was a definite
coolness in the air, instead of the muggy heat that had pervaded the coastline for
weeks.  She jumped into the
Pearl
and knocked on the cabin
door.  “George?” She called. “
Geooorge
!”

           
George appeared a minute later, rumpled and sleepy eyed.  “Hey Beth,” he
acknowledged with a yawn. “
Goin
’ out?”

           
“Yeah,” she told him. “Steve’s going back to Hanging Rock next week. This will
be his last chance to dive for awhile. Thought I’d take him to the Civil War
wreck near Frying Pan Shoals, – want to come along?”

           
George shook his head.  “Nah, Nick is coming over around nine to work on
our bikes.  Thanks, though.” He stretched and scratched his tousled head
as he headed back into the cabin.  “Let me grab my stuff, and I’ll be out
of here in a minute.”

           
“No rush, George,” Beth called after him, but he reappeared a half a minute
later with a backpack slung over his shoulder.  “No problem,” he replied.
“I’ll just grab a bite downtown at the café.” He nodded fondly at the
Pearl.
 “She’s gassed up and ready to go, so enjoy.”

           
“Thanks,” Beth answered with a smile. George gave them a lazy wave as he
slouched down the gangplank and headed for his beat up motorcycle.  Beth
turned the key in the ignition and felt the boat’s motor purr to life. A few
minutes later, they were following a course to the south, skimming over the
smooth early morning sea.

           
“What are you going to do about your little girl when you leave?” Beth asked,
all too aware that Gracie and Steve had a lot to do with the amount of whiskey
David had been drinking since he had come home. She checked their heading and
adjusted their course slightly, swigging heavily on a bottle of water. Beth
inhaled the salty air, feeling almost human again.

           
“Gracie will stay here with her grandparents,” Steve replied, talking over the
growl of the engine. “All her friends are here, and Lee Ann and Richard aren’t
really ready to let her go. They’ve been her only family.  I won’t ask her
to move up with me until she’s ready.”

           
“How’s that going?” Beth asked detecting the sadness in his voice as he talked
about leaving her behind in Jacksonville.

           
Steve grinned. “
Its
pure joy,” he rhapsodized. “She’s
a great little girl. Too bad you weren’t in church on Sunday. We all came
together as a family. Even Richard came!”

           
Beth kept her eyes on the water, offering no explanation as to her absence last
week from church. “Sorry I missed that. I bet that you make a fine Daddy.”

           
Steve laughed. “I’m working on it. Every day is something new.  Lee Ann
says I spoil her too much, though.  She says I need to learn about
discipline and boundaries.”

           
Steve shook his head. “I don’t know what the big deal is, though.  She’s a
perfect angel already – hardly ever gets into trouble.”

           
Beth laughed. “That’s because Lee Ann has already taught her ‘discipline and
boundaries’, silly. Let Gracie find out that you don’t have the grit to say
‘no’, and  I guarantee that child will be walking all over you!”

           
Steve grimaced and shrugged. “You’re probably right,” he told her, although he
sounded unconvinced.

           
“You bet I am!” She scolded him.

           
Steve changed the subject.  “So, Bible Study tomorrow night,” Steve
reminded her.  “Reverend Graham is turning it into a sort of farewell party.
Can you be there? We missed you last week.”

           
“I don’t know,” she answered vaguely.  “I’ve had a lot come up the last
couple of weeks, but I’ll try,” she promised him.

           
Aware that he had been put off and guessing the reason why, Steve said no more,
and they rode in silence for a while.  Finally Beth checked her
bearings.  “We’re about to the site!” She called to Steve. A minute later
she cut the motor down to an idle. Steve tossed the anchor, and then helped
Beth with her gear.  There was a troubled look on his face as he helped
her slip the air tank onto her back.

           
“Are you seeing David Bolton, Beth?” Steve asked abruptly.  Beth froze for
an instant, before resuming her preparations for going over the side. 

           
“Some,” she replied evasively. “Not that it’s any of your business,” she chided
him in a cool voice.

           
“Generally, it’s not my business,” he agreed. “But Deborah Graham told me she
thought you’d been dating David after they broke up and...”

           
“Deborah should keep her nose out of other people’s lives!” Beth snapped,
buckling her belt with sharp jerky motions.    

           
“Hold on,” Steve retorted with a frown.  “She was concerned.  David
has a real problem with me – worse, now that Gracie’s involved. But until our
last dive, you never said a word about knowing him, and after all this time, I
had convinced myself she was wrong, or if you had dated him, it was over. But
you’ve been changing, Beth, since he’s back, and frankly, I’m concerned for
you.”

           
She gave him a brittle smile.  “Thanks, but I can take care of my own love
life.”

           
“But you were so into Bible Study and active at church!” Steve argued. “Now
suddenly, you’ve just…disappeared.”

           
Beth shrugged.  “I don’t know that church is really for me. I started
attending because I was bored – looking for something to do with myself after
he left.” She laughed. “He hadn’t called me in forever. I was hurt and
confused, and thought maybe church would help me get some answers.

           
“I was really surprised when I realized who you were,” she told Steve. “David
had told me about his former best friend who had killed his sister in a car
crash and then skipped town, but you didn’t seem like the sort of guy who’d do
something that cold hearted.  I got curious, so I invited you to go
diving.”

           
She gave him a sour smile.  “I have to admit, one of the reasons I wanted
to go out with you was because David hated you so much. But you were really
nice, and I began to enjoy your company.  I even began to think that maybe
you and I…well, then Deborah stuck her nose into the picture.  I knew who
she was right off, and after that weekend, it was clear you’d lost interest in
starting anything between us.”

           
Steve smiled sadly acknowledging the truth in her words. “It wasn’t so much
Deborah.  Sarah hasn’t been dead a year yet, Beth. I enjoyed flirting with
you, but I really wasn’t ready for a relationship then, anyway.”

           
“And definitely not with one of David’s old girlfriends?” She asked pointedly.

           
“It – would have been an obstacle.” He admitted.

           
“Well, he’s back and he says he loves me, so you don’t have to worry about me
chasing you anymore,” she said, a bitter edge to her voice.

           
Steve chose to ignore the less than happy tone of her voice. “I’m glad he’s
treating you well then,” he told her sincerely.

           
Beth closed her eyes briefly as a memory of David, drunk and cursing half the
night flashed though her mind.  She forced another smile of reassurance to
her lips. “Yeah, everything’s great between us.”

           
Steve pulled her into a brotherly one armed hug.  “Then I’m happy for you
Beth, although it probably means we won’t be taking any more dives after
today.  I don’t think it would be wise. He’s not going to appreciate me
hanging out with the girl he loves.”

           
Steve kissed her on the nose and released her. “David was my best friend, once,
no matter how he feels about me now. He’s lucky to have you in his life, and I
don’t want to mess anything up between you.”

           
Beth realized that she was crying.  She wiped her hands across her moist
eyes. “Now look what you made me do!” She sniffed and gave an embarrassed
little laugh. Then she stepped away from Steve and concentrated on preparing
their equipment for the next few minutes.  When she spoke to him again,
the tears were gone and she had switched to her Instructor-to-student tone of
voice.

           
“I think you’ll really enjoy exploring this wreck. It’s a freighter that
foundered in the 1920's. It was over three hundred feet in length and there's
such a variety of fish that inhabit the wreck.

           
“Sounds interesting,” he agreed, zipping up his wet suit and checking the
gauges on his oxygen tank. “Let’s do it.”

           
The water was clear, and in places, surprisingly shallow, Steve realized, as he
kicked his way toward the ruined hulk.  He supposed that accounted for
this particular wreck.  From the surface, land was a mere ribbon on the
horizon, and deceptively far away. He would have expected fathoms of water
beneath the little cruiser he and Beth were diving from, but instead the bottom
rose steeply.  Steve kicked past several outcroppings of rock, any one of
which could have been responsible for tearing the wicked gash in the hull of
the old ship, sending it to an early grave.  Had the sailors aboard her
had time to abandon the ship and reach safety?  He would look up the
ship’s history on the computer tonight…suddenly Beth caught his attention with
a wave, and he changed directions, following her through the gaping wound near
the bow.

           
He switched on his head lamp as the water around them grew murky. 
Carefully they weaved their way through the cargo hold and up a gangway ladder
then out through another wide hole in the keel. Nearly all the surface area of
the ship were covered in a colorful variety of  corals, sponges, and
algae.  Time was methodically reclaiming the vessel, but there was still
much to see and wonder at. As always, Steve was struck by the irony of sharks
and parrot fish gliding in and out of port holes and around the huge remains of
the ships boilers, all once the domain of men.  Eventually, Beth tapped on
her watch: time to return to the surface.   

           
As they reached the first rest stop, Steve squinted up in surprise.  A
second boat had arrived while they were inside the old wreck.  Steve
looked around, but he did not see any other divers nearby. He shook off a
premonition of trouble. All that meant was that the divers hadn’t gone over the
side yet, he chided himself. There was nothing ominous about that. Besides,
what choice did they have but to continue up? They were nearly out of air.

           
Steve and Beth broke the surface near the stern of the
Pearl
.  She
pulled off her flippers and climbed the ladder.  Steve was about to swing
up behind her when she stopped abruptly on the top step.

           
“Welcome back!”

The voice was loud, but the
tone was sardonic, not welcoming.

           
Beth recovered from her momentary shock
. What was he doing here?
She
wondered in dismay, a sickening feeling of dread twisting her stomach into
knots.

           
He lounged on the captain's chair, dressed in swim shorts, and a tight
sleeveless shirt that accented his heavily muscled shoulders and powerful
biceps. Despite his relaxed and non-threatening demeanor, Beth had no illusions
about how quickly that could change. Summoning her courage, she smiled at the
unexpected visitor.

           
“Hello, David,” she said mildly, trying to sound more pleased than she felt.
She stepped over the side and casually began to unbuckle her oxygen tank. 
“This is early for you. I didn’t think you liked getting up before noon.”

           
“There are a lot of things I've been compelled to do that I haven't always
liked doing,” David replied conversationally.  His gaze centered on Steve
as he stepped into the boat. Steve nodded at him. “Hello, David.”  Warily
Steve began to unbuckle his tank as well.

           
“What a surprise,” David said with cool irony. “My former best friend.” He
looked at Steve with the slightest hint of distaste.  “Most men don’t
survive falling off a cliff,” he observed.  “You must be extremely lucky.”

           
Steve paused and looked into David’s icy gray eyes. “Not lucky, blessed,” he
answered firmly.

           
David snorted in derision. Beth hurried to distract David from his conversation
with Steve.

           
“Have you waited long for us?” Beth asked brightly.  “If I had known you
were coming out to join us, we wouldn’t have stayed down so long.”

           
David’s lips tightened as he turned his cool gray eyes in Beth’s direction.
“Long enough,” he answered, “but I found plenty to keep me entertained while I
waited.”

           
Beth frowned at the enigmatic reply. “Like what?” She asked.

           
David merely shrugged. “This and that. Worked on my suntan, cleaned up the
cabin…”

           
“Glad you weren’t too bored then,” she answered with a smile, straightening up
and stretching her back out. “But you haven’t gotten up before noon in a week,
and you never did like recreational diving. What brings you out of the house
and all the way out to a shipwreck this early in the day?”