Chapter 38

 

Shock washed through her. What would make a man like him come after her? And now, he would be here when this storm killed them all. It was her fault. Please forgive me, Lord. He’s a good man. Please spare him, even if I have to die.

As so many times before, since she arrived in America, he had come to rescue her, take care of her. She turned to Rose and clutched her arm. “I can’t believe he’s here. I thought I’d never see him again.” Her voice was a hoarse whisper.

Rose smiled and nodded. “I think that man loves you, Addie. You had better be thinking about that good and hard while he makes his way up here.”

Another loud crash hit the outside of the lighthouse and a gasp went through the mass packed into the staircase as the lanterns hung along the stairs seemed to sway with the boom of the waves hitting the building. Addie and Rose clutched the top of the iron stair rail and waited for the vibrations to stop.

Michael appeared behind them, his arm at once went around his wife. He raised his voice. “It’s alright, folks. She’s a sturdy lighthouse. She’ll hold.” His voice was strong and confident.

It was meant to be reassuring, but just the thought that they need such hope sent shivers of terror through Addie. It was more than just a storm. Mark had said they were common in Texas, but something about this one was different than the others. People didn’t usually gather in the lighthouses of Galveston for an everyday squall, she realized. And the expressions on the faces of those crowded so close held nothing but fear. This hurricane was beyond anything the natives of this place had endured before now.

She turned her eyes down the staircase. Her heartbeat increased as she caught sight of him again. She could see his blond head, dark in the low light, now, half-way up his climb. He had stopped to pat a small child with braided hair. He pulled something from his pocket and handed it to her. Candy or gum, she guessed. It was like him to comfort a child.

Someday he would be a wonderful husband and father to a very blessed woman. It wouldn’t be her, but, while he was here, just for a moment, she could pretend. She resisted the urge to head down the staircase as fast as she could. She needed his arms around her, holding her close, assuring her everything was going to be all right, even if it wasn’t.

She shook her head. What was wrong with her that she’d never seen him for what he really was? He treated her as an equal, always valuing her opinion, always waiting to hear what she had to say about any subject, never laughing at her or patronizing her views. Except that one time, perhaps, when he had believed it wasn’t possible for a girl like her to feel love for him.

Mother had always said that life depended on choices. And so far, she had made all of the wrong ones. How could Adam have turned out to be so different than she had believed? And how had she turned blind eyes to the only man that really loved her?

She caught Rose staring at her and smiled at her friend. “He must have come to say good-bye. He had to know that I would be going back to England,” she offered, by way of explanation.

Rose shook her head and gave a knowing laugh. “Oh, Addie. Stop being so stubborn. You said he loves you. That’s what brought him here. You need him.”

Addie blinked back more tears. “He shouldn’t have come.” Now he will die with the rest of us. But she wouldn’t say it aloud.

Rose put her hand on Addie’s arm. “That‘s what loves does, Addie. It puts others first, before themselves. Besides,” she laughed, “he doesn‘t sound like a man that gives up on something he wants.”

Addie felt the sting of hot tears forming behind her eyelids. Was it really possible, that after everything that had happened, after every cruel and mean thing she had said, that he might still love her?

He only had a few more curves of the stairs before he would be to the top. She could see how soaked his clothes were. What had he endured to get to Shepherd’s Point? Rose shoved a dry towel into her hands as she waited for him.

Just a staircase below, he looked up and his eyes met hers. She pushed the towel over her mouth to keep from sobbing aloud. The tears began to flow freely down her face. There was no doubting the expression on his face. He was here for her.

Another four steps and she was in his arms, holding as tight as she could. He gently touched the top of her head and forced her face to look at him. His lips were on hers at once. She put her arms around his neck and pulled him closer.

She would have stayed in that kiss forever, but the people lining the stairs were beginning to clap and cheer, although practically none of them knew what relationship existed between the two people above. Mark pulled away and turned and waved to the sweat-soaked crowd below.

He shouted. “I’m getting ready to ask this woman a very important question and I think I may need a preacher. Is there one in the house?

Addie stared into his face. Was he oblivious to the storm? Didn’t he know they were all going to die?

“Well?” he said, turning his eyes to hers. “Will you marry me?”

Doubt seized her. “You still want me?”

“Forever.”

She bit her lip as another gust hit the building, sending the walls shuddering, the people below shrieking. “That may not be too long if this storm gets much worse.”

He leaned in and spoke in her ear. “None of us, but God, knows what’s going to be happening in the next few hours, but whatever it is, I want to be here with you because I love you. There is no place else I’d rather be, Addie. So I’m asking you again. . .will you marry me?”

She couldn’t trust herself to speak. She nodded and hugged tight to him as the building began to shudder again. With his arms around her, it was the safest she had ever felt in a storm.

“We’ve found one!” Someone shouted from far below. “He’s coming up.”