With renewed enthusiasm fueled entirely by hope, Moriah threw herself back into the work at the lighthouse the next day.
“You doing okay?” Jack buckled on his tool belt.
“Yes.” Moriah tied a handkerchief around her forehead to keep the sweat from getting in her eyes. “And if Ben comes back—excuse me—when Ben comes back, I want to have everything about this lighthouse finished and ready to show him.”
“Have you heard anything from him?”
“He called from the Toronto airport to tell me he had gotten there safely. That’s the last I talked with him.”
“What about Katherine and Nicolas?”
“Got one phone call from the Cayman Islands.” Moriah grinned. “Katherine sounded all giggly.”
“It’s hard to imagine Katherine giggly,” Jack said. “I suppose we can assume the honeymoon is going well?”
“Sounded like it to me.”
“If anyone deserves a nice honeymoon, it’s Katherine.”
“I agree. Nicolas is not my cup of tea, but he seems to be exactly what Katherine has waited for all these years.”
“No accounting for taste.” Jack drew on his work gloves. “Alicia picking me, for instance.”
“Or Ben picking me.”
“He’s a smart man, Moriah. He knows a good thing when he sees it.”
“You suppose?”
“Suppose nothing. Nobody miters corners like you do. Now help me get this lumber off the truck. The foghorn room is not going to remodel itself, you know.”
It was a two-day trek into the rainforest to reach the boundaries of the Yahnowa. Ben’s clothes were either soaked or damp for the entire two days. This was nothing new to him. He was used to living wet in the jungle and had learned long ago to ignore the discomfort. That was something easily endured, but the ache of being separated from Moriah was nearly intolerable.
His mind was so occupied with the image of Moriah crying and falling to her knees, as the ferry took him away from her, and the waves pounded against the rocky Canadian shore, that his first glimpse of the Yahnowa village felt dreamlike. The scene before him of fragile huts, smoking cook fires and naked children seemed unreal, like something lifted out of the pages of a magazine.
Then he saw Abraham and Violet sweltering beneath the shade of their loosely thatched porch.
“Hello, Ben.” Violet remained where she was, seated on a bench.
Normally, she would jump up and greet him with a hug. This time she could only manage a weak smile.
“What are you two still doing here?” he asked. “I thought you were going home.”
“Violet was not strong enough to leave on foot,” Abraham explained, with a quick, worried glance at his wife.
It was obvious to Ben that Violet had kept her secret far too long. He was shocked at how feeble she had grown over the summer. He understood now why Abraham sounded so desperate on the phone.
“She didn’t tell me.” Abraham said later, after drawing Ben aside. “She kept hoping the problem would go away. She didn’t want to keep me from my work.”
“How long has she suspected?”
“Since the week before you left.”
“I could have taken her with me!” Ben groaned. “I could have gotten her to a good hospital.”
“I know,” Abraham said. “Trust me, that thought has been keeping me up at night.”
“So, what’s the plan?”
“When I trekked out to make that phone call to you, I looked up Ron Meacham. His helicopter has been out of commission for a while. It takes a lot of time and effort to track down parts for that old Huey of his, but he says he thinks he’ll have it ready within the next couple of days. Some of the villagers have been clearing a space big enough to set it down.”
“Thank God for the Christian Pilot’s Association,” Ben said.
“Truly,” Abraham said. “They are such a lifeline.”
“You and Violet will be sipping sweet iced tea with your son in Alabama in no time.”
“Ben.” Abraham’s face was grim. “I don’t think Violet and I will be coming back.”
The two men had been close for far too long for Ben to fall back on platitudes.
“I know, brother.” Ben placed a comforting hand on the older man’s shoulder.
“I don’t think I could bear it if you weren’t here to continue our work.” Abraham searched Ben’s face. “You will stay, won’t you, son? You’ll see this work through?”
Ben’s heart was heavy as he made the promise he knew Abraham desperately needed to hear.
“Yes, Abraham. I’ll stay.”