Neverland (24 page)

Jamie takes my bottom lip between his teeth and sucks it tenderly. Then he reaches for the hem of my shirt. In the softest purr, he says, “Tell me to stop if I'm going too fast, or if it’s too much for you.”

I'm past talking, caught in his sensual spell. I merely nod. But I know I’m not going to do anything to stop this. It’s all I will have left of him. Memories.

James Hook

ANGEL’S LEG IS draped over my hip, her cheek pillowed against my chest as she dozes. Not a good idea, given that in her sleep she’ll most likely forget everything I told her today. But I can’t find it in my heart to drag her back to reality.
My
reality, not hers.

The candle on the small table by the door has burned down to half its size. The flame’s soft glow fills my room with peace and so do Angel’s content breaths against my bare skin. Carefully, I pull the blanket farther up her back and caress the downy spot between her shoulder blades. The scent of tangerine drifts from her hair and tempts me to press a kiss to the top of her head. Half an hour ago, I made the sweetest love to this girl. I don’t want to let her slip away from me just yet.

“Your heart is beating so slowly, I thought you were asleep,” Angel says in a soft voice.

Tilting my head back, I smile as I study the ceiling and the many knotholes in the wood. “I thought the same about you.”

“No, I was just listening to that beautiful sound. Beat, beat, pause…beat, beat, pause…” She shifts on me so her chin is pressing into my sternum and grins at me. “I could listen to it all night.”

I rake my fingers through her hair. “Nice idea. Need I remind you that we have other plans, though?”

“Maybe I changed my mind? Don’t you want me to stay? In Neverland? On this ship?” A dauntless gleam enters her eyes. “With you?”

“Ah, Angel. I wish I could keep you with me forever.” She’s holding my heart in a tight grip. The thought of having her on the Jolly Roger and being able to steal a kiss whenever I want is tempting as hell. I want to keep her with me, because after the past few days, I know that I’m hopelessly in love with this girl. “Remember what you asked the other night?” I say quietly. “What my biggest adventure was?”

She gives a slight nod.

“There was a time when I spent many afternoons with the fairies. Bre’Shun and I philosophized the hours away. One day she asked me what I thought would be the biggest adventure of all time. I said to be a pirate and find the biggest treasure out there.” Skimming the bangs out of Angel’s eyes, I keep back a smile. “She laughed at me then.”

“What did she think it was?” Angel asks.

“Bre said there’s only one
real
adventure in this world. Love. It’s finding the one person who makes you want to be better than you are.”

Angel’s eyes shine warmer as a smile plays on her lips. “You didn’t believe her.”

“No, I didn’t.” I kiss Angel on the tip of her nose. “Now I know she was right. And by the way you look whenever I do this”—I brush my thumb across her cheekbone and Angel squeezes her eyes shut, leaning into my palm—“I can tell how much you enjoy being with me, too. I really wish it was enough for you, Angel. Me. The pirate life I can offer you. And Neverland. But there are two girls waiting for you somewhere.” A sigh escapes me. “And you love them more than me.”

Her grin slips away. “No, Jamie, it’s not true,” she whispers, but she knows I’m right. And we better get through what we have to do, before one of us forgets about it and makes a stupid decision. It’s not unlikely that it’ll be me.

“I’m going to get your dress.” Gently easing her off of me, I roll to the side and get out from under the covers. On the floor at the end of the bed, my discarded leather pants lie in a bundle. I pull them on then walk out the door shirtless to retrieve Angel’s gown from the galley.

Sidelong glances follow me across the decks. If the crew knows what’s good for them, they ain’t gonna say a word. On the highest mast above even Bull’s Eye Ravi’s basket, Peter lounges on the crosspiece, legs stacked in the net and arms folded behind his head. He looks like he’s taking a nap up there. When I stop to zoom in on him, he casts me a slanted look from under the mud-brown leather hat he doubtlessly stole from Fin Flannigan.

For all it’s worth, I don’t mind him still hanging out on my ship. In fact, it gives me a kind of reassuring feeling to have him there when Angel is going to take a jump off the mast in a little while. Breaking our locked gaze, I stride under deck and find the galley empty. All the better. Clipped to a line above the stove, her dress hangs like a blackjack that’s lost its wind. The smell of cooked food clings to the fabric, but it could be worse. It’s a good thing Angel washed her dress with soap earlier.

I pull it down and bring it back to my room. Angel is sitting on the edge of my bed with the sheets wrapped around her delicate body. I toss the dress into her arms then give her a private moment to put it on. When she’s done, she comes up behind me as I stand in front of my wardrobe buttoning up a fresh shirt that I just put on. Her soft hands roam up my back. In spite of the warmth it evokes inside me, her touch makes me sad. I turn around. “Are you ready to go?”
Home.

Angel nods. I take her hand and plant a kiss into her palm. Then I pick up my hat from the floor. Her mouth curls disapprovingly. I quickly kiss the pout away before I put on my hat.

Together we walk through the door, more stones weighing down my heart with every step. The entire crew has lined up by the railing, which surprises me. Then they tell Angel goodbye in their creepy pirate manner. Some of them even take down their hats. I grin to myself and shake my head as we pass each one.

Last in line is Smee. He’s the only one who takes a step forward and places a gentle hand on her shoulder. “Good luck, Angel,” he says, inclining his head. Heck, he means it. They all mean it. As their captain for countless decades I’ve never been this impressed.

And Angel too, it seems. “Thank you, Smee,” she tells him and smiles. “Take good care of the captain, will you?”

Smee cuts a glance at me, which I return with rolling my eyes. As if I needed someone to look after me. But it’s nice to hear her worrying nevertheless.

Then we start to climb. I let Angel go first. It’s a long way up to the top of the mast and I feel better right beneath her in case she loses her grip. Peter is already there and supports Angel on the crosspiece until I follow.

She hugs him tight and kisses his cheek as they say goodbye. It makes me grit my teeth but I give her the moment with her friend—my brother. Then she turns to me.

For an endless moment we just look into each other’s eyes. Bile rises in my throat. Probably in hers, too, because she swallows hard and her lips start to tremble. I reach out and caress her cheek. “No tears. Not tonight,” I whisper. “Let me remember you with a smile, Angelina McFarland.”

She sniffs and the corners of her mouth tilt up, but it’s forced. Finding a hold on the net behind the crosspiece, she takes a cautious step toward me then flings her arms around my neck. I can’t let go of the net, or we’d both tumble to the ground. It doesn’t matter. I wrap my free arm around her waist and crush her to my chest. “I’ll miss you,” I breathe into her ear.

“Just don’t forget me, Jamie!”

“How could I ever?”

Against the skin on my neck I feel her tears. They break me. I reach for her chin and tilt her face up, brushing the wet trail on her cheek away with my thumb. Then I kiss her one last time. Only our lips touch for a long tender moment.

As she pulls away from me, I take off my hat and put it on her head. Now I get what I want—Angel’s honest smile.

Peter leads her to the very edge of the crosspiece where she turns around to face me. Her mien is brave, but her eyes are filled with sadness. Slowly closing them, she takes a deep breath. I swallow against the pain in my throat. Then she tips backward and falls.

Gripping the net to my right, I rush forward and desperately cry her name. But it’s too late. Angel drops toward the sea beneath her. She closes her eyes, arms stretched out at her sides and the skirt of her blue dress flapping in the wind like it’s waving goodbye. The pirate hat flies off her head. Swaying sadly, it follows in the wake of her fall.

A moment later, the love of my endless life submerges in the ocean.

I pray that she gets where she longs to be.

Chapter 14

A SPLASH OF water hits my face. I gasp for air. The waves should have swallowed me, but the ground beneath me is hard. I struggle to open my eyes. Someone is bent over me. Soft hands touch my cheeks. Blinking a few times, I only catch glimpses of a purple dress. “Bre’Shun?” I mumble.

“Oh no, she hit her head!” a familiar voice pipes out to my right. Too familiar…and it sounds wonderful! This time, in spite of the achy head, I put more effort into focusing. Then I see her.
Them.

“Fairy bug!” Still on my back, I grab my little sister and pull her to my chest. Then I reach for Paulina and squeeze both of them so hard, the air wheezes out of their lungs.

Paulina wraps her tiny arms around my neck and buries her face in the crook of my neck. A relieved sigh escapes her. “We thought you were dead! You didn’t answer for so long.” She’s almost crying. But I only laugh. I laugh so hard that the entire street should be able to hear me and hug them tighter. I never intend to let them go.

The twins help me sit up on the snow-covered ground. Water drips from the garden hose at Brittney Renae’s feet and forms a puddle. “What did you do with the hose?” I ask.

“We splashed your face,” Paulina informs me. Then her sweet little face crunches up in a grimace as though she expects to be scolded. “It was Brittney’s idea. She said you would wake up then.”

Well, this explains why I’m wet all over. I turn to Brittney Renae and ruffle her hair. “Great idea, fairy bug.”

Giggling, she dances over to the tap and turns it off. Paulina pulls on my hands to make me get on my feet. This is the first time I realize I’m wearing my own clothes again. The jeans and my black tee. It isn’t torn any longer.

I take a deep breath. Was it all just a dream? Everything about Neverland, about Peter Pan and…Jamie? With a jolt of shock, I remember which book I read with the girls before I fell. Could I really have hurt my head so badly that I dreamed up such a fantastic story?

Maybe. But the longing that seeps into my heart makes me believe otherwise. When I close my eyes, a roguish smirk is all I see. The scent of tangerine still lingers in my nostrils. Could it all really have just been a dream?

The pain in my chest is very real.

Where’s my sweater? Looking around, I can’t spot it anywhere. Maybe it snagged on the twigs when I fell. Lifting my head, I scan the tree, but it’s too dark to make out anything.

Paulina tugs at my hand. When I look down at her happy face, she squeezes harder. “Can we go inside? It’s so cold out here.”

Brittney Renae grabs my other hand and we walk back into the house. The warmth floods me. It smells of cinnamon cookies that Miss Lynda smuggled in this afternoon. And of beech wood burning in the fireplace.

It smells of home.

Shivering, I send the girls to their rooms to change for bed then I hurry into the bathroom to get rid of my wet clothes. There’s my pink bathrobe hanging from a hook on the inside of the door. Wrapped around me tightly, it warms my trembling body. I push my feet into the matching fluffy slippers and shuffle first to Brittney Renae’s room to tuck her in. I kiss her goodnight and hug her for a long time.

Then I head for Paulina’s room. After she falls asleep and I get up from her bed, I skim my fingers over the book on her nightstand.
Peter Pan.
A flying kid is portrayed on the cover. My heart swells, the memory of him still vivid and warm in my mind.

I pick up the book and take it with me, turning off the honey bunny’s light. Back in my own room, I sit on my bed and open the book. Tinker Bell, the Lost Boys, everyone’s there. Even a white-haired Smee grins from the page. And next to him…Captain Hook. He wears that gaudy red brocade coat and black hat that Disney put him in. He looks so much different from the
original
. The real guy. Just Jamie.

My chest hurts awfully as I stroke my fingers over his face. Just a dream…was it really?

Sliding the book under my pillow, I get up and shrug out of the bathrobe. It lands in a pink heap on the floor next to my bed. From my closet, I fetch a short, satiny nightgown. It’s not what I usually wear at night, but it was a present from my grandma a couple of years ago and ever since then it’s waited on a hanger to be taken out and worn. I don’t know why I want to put it on tonight of all nights. Maybe because the soft blue reminds me of what I’ve been wearing for the past few days. Because it reminds me of him…

I slip it over my head and walk to the mirror at my door. Held by thin satin straps, the dress hangs silky soft from my shoulders. My bare legs are white from the cold and my hair is a wet mess. But that’s not the reason why I gasp right now.

A beautiful heart-shaped ruby rests against my cleavage, attached to a slender silver chain around my neck.

My lips start to tremble, as do my knees. The mirror fogs up with my fast breaths. Why?
How?
Skimming my fingers over the smooth facets of the shiny gem, I feel tears welling up in my eyes.

It’s true! I was there.

With no idea what to really expect, I look down at my hand and twist it. There’s half a tattoo on the inside. The letter A and some stars dusted beneath what once was the name
Angel
. Paulina gave it to me less than an hour ago. But during the past five days it has faded away.

I’ve met them all. Peter, Tami, the fairies. And James Hook. The most incredible man I’ve ever known. He sneaked into my heart in a real pirate manner. My throat constricts and hurts when I think of him.

There’s a rap at my door just before the first tears would have spilled over. I clear my throat and open it. Paulina stands in the doorway with her stuffed bunny in her small arms. A single tear rolls down her cheek. “When I close my eyes, I see you lying in the garden. You don’t answer to Brittney and me.”