“Where’s Katherine?” Moriah laid the zip-locked diary on the counter and washed her hands in the sink.
Nicolas sat at the kitchen table, his laptop in front of him. “Upstairs in our room. She has a headache.”
“Is she okay?”
“She’s fine.”
Moriah noticed that he was frowning as he stared at the laptop.
“We finished the cottage today.” Moriah was proud of what they’d accomplished. “The floor is completely finished and it is gorgeous. Jack and the others did such a good job on it. The only thing left now is installing the big windows in the lantern room and rigging some sort of light. Oh, and if you don’t mind, I’d like to purchase an excellent telescope. The lantern room needs one. When the weather is good, you’ll be able to see for miles up there.”
Nicolas ignored her.
“What are you looking at?” She searched for a towel, but the one Katherine usually kept near the sink was missing. “You seem concerned.”
“I am. Ben sent me an e-mail.”
Her heart nearly stopped. “Is something wrong?”
“He doesn’t sound coherent.”
She dried her hands on her jeans and bent over Nicolas’ shoulder to take a look.
“It’s as though he’s hallucinating or something. The message is garbled and misspelled,” Nicolas said.
“Ben doesn’t misspell words.”
“I know. That’s why I’m worried. Here, read it for yourself.”
The message was short and disturbing.
kum fast ben bad hot
“What in the world?” Moriah said.
“I don’t know. I sent a reply and I’m waiting for an answer.” Nicolas forked his fingers through his hair. “When did you last hear from him? Yesterday?”
“Actually, no. There was no message from him yesterday or last night. He had mentioned he might be visiting another tribe in a neighboring village. I thought perhaps he needed to stay over.” Fear wrapped icy tentacles around her stomach. “What do you think is going on?”
“I don’t know. But something’s wrong.”
He typed a sentence. “Ben. Do you have a fever?”
no ben fusiwe
“Fusiwe?” Moriah said. “Who is Fusiwe?”
“A good friend of Ben’s who lives in the village. He speaks decent English, but I didn’t know he could read or write yet. Apparently Ben has started teaching him.”
“Is Ben sick?” Nicolas typed.
yas
Are you sick?” Nicolas asked.
no
“Ben is hot?”
bern lik fir
“Burn like fire.” Moriah gripped Nicolas’ shoulder. “What’s happening to Ben?”
“Wrap Ben in a wet sheet,” Nicolas typed. “Fan him. Do not stop.”
i do
“Is there a rash?”
yas
“On his face?”
no pleze kum
“High fever. A rash that hasn’t spread to his face.” Nicolas shook his head in dismay.
“Is it Breakbone?” he typed.
mabe
“Maybe,” Moriah said. “What’s Breakbone?”
“Another word for Dengue Fever.”
“What’s Dengue Fever?”
“The Brazilians call it ‘Breakbone Fever’ because a person who has it aches so badly he feels like his bones are breaking.”
“How could Ben have gotten it?”
“It’s mosquito borne.”
“Like malaria?”
“Different mosquito. A day-biting one.”
“But Ben said he was taking malaria medicine,” she argued. “Wouldn’t that help?”
“Not with Dengue. There’s no vaccine to prevent it or medicine to cure it. The only line of defense is Deet and mosquito netting. Problem is, a man can’t live his life beneath mosquito netting and it’s easy enough to sweat Deet off and forget to reapply it.”
“But he’ll be okay?” she pleaded.
“He might.” Nicolas’ voice became cold and clinical, as though he were detaching himself. “As long as it doesn’t turn into Hemorrhagic Fever.”
“What’s that?”
Nicolas didn’t answer. “Fusiwe,” he typed. “Is Ben bleeding?”
sum
“Where?
skn
“Under his skin?”
yas
“He’s bleeding beneath his skin?” Moriah ranted. “Ben is bleeding beneath his skin! Nicolas, how bad is that?”
“It’s not good.”
“Do not give him aspirin,” Nicolas wrote. “Keep him cool. Give him as much water as he will drink. I’m coming.”
“Me too,” Moriah said. “I’m coming too.”
“Impossible,” Nicolas said. “You don’t have a passport.”
“You’re wrong.”
“When did you get a passport?”
“While you were gone.”
“You aren’t ready yet.”
“It doesn’t matter. I’m coming.”
“Think about it, Moriah. What other phobias might this trip stir up within you?”
“I’m going.”
“Ben’s life is at stake,” Nicolas argued. “Having to stop to deal with your emotional problems isn’t worth the risk. Besides, you have no medical training and I can travel more easily and quickly alone.”
“I love him.”
“If he is as sick as I think he is, he won’t even know you’re there.”
“I can fix things!” she said. “If something breaks I can fix it.”
Nicolas gave her an appraising glance. “Okay then. Sometimes there is a great need in the jungle for someone who can fix things. Go pack.” He reached into the top drawer of the desk and pulled out a prescription bottle. “I got these for you last week… just in case. They are sedatives. Pack quickly and then take one. I don’t intend to deal with hysterics while we’re in the air.”
It was a reasonable request, although it galled her to accept Nicolas’ directive. “You want to knock me out until we get there?”
“You spent exactly five whole minutes in the air before begging Bob Jr. to land the plane. Just take the pill and don’t argue.”
He closed the computer. “I have phone calls to make. If they go well, we can leave within the hour.”
“I’ll go tell Katherine,” Moriah said. “She’ll want to come too.”
“No.”
“But Katherine has medical training.”
Nicolas picked up the telephone and dialed a number.
“No.”
“Why?”
“Kathy’s pregnant.” He turned his attention to his phone conversation.
It took Moriah a moment to absorb the shock of his abrupt announcement. She heard the words “private jet” before she backed away from him and stumbled up the stairs.
The bedroom was dark, and Katherine lay on the bed with a washcloth over her eyes. Moriah stood at the doorway, calming herself before she sat down on the bed beside her aunt.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” Moriah gently stroked her aunt’s hair.
“Why didn’t I tell you what?” Katherine pulled the washcloth away from her eyes.
“That you’re pregnant.”
“Oh that.” Katherine waved a hand as though dismissing her concern.
“Yes, that.”
“I knew you’d make a fuss.”
“Well, of course I’ll make a fuss.” Moriah gazed into her aunt’s eyes. “I’m worried about you. I’m so sorry this has happened to you.”
“Excuse me?”
“You know, accidentally getting pregnant. At your age. I know having babies after forty is dangerous.”
“You think this was an accident?” Katherine sat up and scooted against the headboard. “You are so wrong. Nicolas and I desperately want this child.”
“You got pregnant deliberately?”
“Yes. I’m healthy as a horse, and I’m perfectly capable of carrying a child full-term. The only reason I’m lying down now is because I have a slight headache and I don’t want to take any medicine for it because of the baby.”
“So, you’re happy about this?”
“You’d better believe I’m happy.” Katherine laid her hand over Moriah’s. “Just think. I’m going to have a baby! I’m so happy I can’t even talk about it without crying.”
“Is Nicolas pleased?”
“Ecstatic.”
“Nicolas? Ecstatic?”
“Yes, Moriah. Ecstatic. He just doesn’t jump up and down to show it.”
“When are you due?”
“June.”
“You guys didn’t waste much time.”
“We knew we wanted a child.” Katherine shrugged. “As you keep pointing out, I am past forty.”
“Okay, if you’re happy, I’m happy. But I can’t talk anymore about this right now. Ben is sick and Nicolas and I are leaving for the Amazon within the hour.”
Katherine grasped her by the arm. “What’s wrong?”
“Nicolas thinks Ben may have Dengue Fever.”
“That can be fatal!”
“I know. Will you help me pack?”
“Of course!” Katherine was suddenly all business; headache and pregnancy temporarily forgotten. “You already have some jungle gear selected, don’t you?”
“I’ve been getting things ready. They’re in my closet.”
They hurried to her room and began filling a nylon backpack with cotton underclothes, quick-drying shorts, pants, socks, hiking boots and t-shirts. Katherine went to her own room and came back with a handful of energy bars that she shoved into a side pocket.
“Where did you get those?” Moriah asked.
“I seem to be hungry all the time since I became pregnant. You’ll need these. I can get more.”
“Moriah!” Nicolas called from the bottom of the stairs. “You ready?”
“Doesn’t he need to pack too?” Moriah asked.
“Nicolas keeps a packed bag in his car and another one in his plane at all times,” Katherine said. “He’s like a boy scout, always prepared.”
Katherine’s “boy scout” appeared in the door, his expression grim and determined. “The weather is good. I’ll fly my plane to the Toronto island airport. There will be an Extended Range Leer jet fueled and readied by the time we get there.”
Moriah slid the passport she had recently obtained into a side pocket of her bag and zipped everything up.
“Don’t forget this.” Nicolas tossed the bottle of medication to Moriah.
Moriah stuck it in her pocket.
“Take one now, Moriah,” Nicolas said. “This trip is too important to risk you falling apart in the air. I won’t order the pilot to land if you have a meltdown.”
Moriah opened the vial, tossed one capsule in her mouth and swallowed. The capsule stuck in her throat. She pushed past Nicolas to go into the bathroom, filled a glass, threw her head back and drank until the pill reached her stomach.
She sat the glass down, gripped the sides of the sink, looked at the mirror and stared into her own eyes. Even if she had to stay sedated the whole way, no matter what it took, she would go to Ben.
Moriah ran down to where Nicolas’ pontoon sat in the water, fully aware that she would be traveling across Lake Huron, the continental United States, a portion of the ocean and deep into a South American jungle.
Nicolas stowed her bag as she buckled herself into the seat, grasped the armrests with an iron grip, and whispered. “Stay alive, my love.”
Then she squeezed her eyes closed, clamped her jaw, and fought her desire to scream as the seaplane lifted into the air.