She had no idea how long she had huddled there, rocked by the anguish of knowing that she had lost Curt forever, when there was a sudden knock at her door. She sat very still, not quite daring to hope that Curt stood outside that door, that he had come to tell her that after all —
She managed to get the door open, and as she saw Nora and MacEwen there, her heart did a nose-dive, falling painfully down a long flight of steps, bruising itself on each step.
“Oh,” she managed huskily, unable to conceal the bitter disappointment that racked her, “it’s you.”
MacEwen asked politely, “You were expecting maybe Santa Claus?”
But Nora was saying eagerly, “Claire, would you like to go to a wedding? Right this very minute?”
“A wedding?” Claire repeated, bewildered.
“And don’t you try to talk her out of it,” MacEwen said belligerently. “It took me three hours to talk her into it.”
“The captain will marry us, Claire,” Nora went on eagerly. “He’s got the authority, since we are way outside the twelve-mile limit. And I wanted you to be with me. Will you, Claire?”
MacEwen was still belligerent, but obviously uneasy.
“Be a good guy, Claire,” he pleaded anxiously. “She’s got to have somebody that belongs to her to stand up for her when we dock tomorrow. And that’s going to be me!”
“Claire, you don’t think I’m being heartless, so soon after Mother — ” Nora’s voice broke and fell into silence, but her eyes filled out the plea her lips could not finish, and Claire took the girl warmly into her arms.
“It’s exactly what she would want for you, Nora, and I’m very happy for you both,” she said gently.
MacEwen beamed with relief.
“You had me scared for a minute there,” he admitted frankly. “Women are sort of funny people sometimes. I was afraid you’d try to talk her into waiting until she was sure, or some such fool thing.”
Nora looked up at him radiantly and slipped her hand into his.
“I couldn’t be any more sure if we waited a hundred years,” she told him joyously. “The only thing I hesitated about was — well, what may happen tomorrow.”
“Whatever happens, I’ll be right there with you. And anyway, nothing unpleasant is going to happen to you tomorrow,” MacEwen told her firmly and put his arm about her. “Well, come on, girls; let’s get moving. Mustn’t keep the captain waiting.”
Claire looked up at him and at the girl. They were so young, so completely vulnerable, so touching in their frank adoration of each other. And that was the way it should be, she told herself desolately, as they made their way to the captain’s quarters — two people so much in love that it would never occur to either of them to doubt the other, not for so much as a single instant.
As they stepped into the captain’s quarters, she saw Curt in frowning consultation with the captain. The next moment Curt looked up, saw her, and the frown was erased by a sternness that told her he had in no way changed his mind since they had stood together beside the rail and she had groveled for his forgiveness, which he had refused.
Captain Rodolfson smiled a warm greeting at them and at Claire and said, “I’m very glad you’re here, Miss Frazier. You and Curt can be witnesses. Are we ready?”
“All ready, sir,” said MacEwen happily. He took Nora’s hand in his and smiled down into her lifted face as they stood before the captain, who held his Bible in his hand, already open at the marriage service.
Listening to the mellow, stately phrases, with their awesome beauty, Claire felt the sting of tears in her eyes as she looked at these two young people, the girl who had gone through so much darkness and grief, but was now emerging into the warmth and tenderness of this man’s love that would guard and cherish her “as long as we both shall live.” She had heard the ceremony read in a number of places: small churches, once or twice in great cathedrals where there had been much pomp and ceremony, but never had the words crept into her heart as they did now.
When at last the captain said quietly, “I now pronounce you man and wife,” Claire had to set her teeth and blink very hard to control the tears as MacEwen took Nora into his arms with an ineffable tenderness and kissed her with a kiss that was a pledge and a promise.
Captain Rodolfson kissed the bride on the cheek. Nora laughed and offered her cheek to Curt, who smiled at her and followed the captain’s lead. Then the wizened little monkey of a cabin boy came in carrying a silver tray on which there were thin champagne glasses and a cooler holding a napkin-wrapped champagne bottle.
Nora gasped as the captain poured the champagne.
“Oh, a wedding aboard wouldn’t be legal without champagne,” Captain Rodolfson answered her small, startled gasp with a laugh. “I keep this on hand especially for such an occasion.”
“Which happens,” Curt contributed with a slight smile, “much more often than you might expect. This is about the fifth time, isn’t it, Captain?”
“Oh, the fifth since you’ve been aboard, my boy,” Captain Rodolfson said genially. “But I’ve lost count of how many times since I came aboard.”
There was a moment of gaiety while toasts were drunk, and then MacEwen held out his hand to the captain and said with a deep earnestness, “I don’t know how to thank you, Captain, or to tell you what this means to me.”
“To us,” Nora cut in, and MacEwen put his arm about her and drew her close.
“To us,” he repeated, and once more his tone made it a pledge.
Nora said uneasily, “I just hope that tomorrow and what happens won’t make you sorry — ”
“Nothing’s going to happen tomorrow, except that you and I are going to have a wonderful honeymoon aboard the Highland Queen, and then when it’s over, we’ll set up housekeeping. Anywhere you like — a castle in Spain or a two-room flat in Brooklyn. You’ll be the boss.”
Claire slipped from the cabin unnoticed and walked along the deck. She was glad for Nora that the girl need not stand alone before whatever questioning into the tangled affairs of her mother might await. MacEwen would stand sturdily beside her and ease whatever burdens might come.
She stood for a little while at the prow, looking down at the wide, white wake the sturdy old ship was cutting through the dark tropic waters, then turned sharply, startled at the sound of a footstep behind her. The moonlight revealed Curt to her, and his face was no longer stern and angry.
“It was a very nice wedding, wasn’t it?” he offered awkwardly, as she turned her back on him and went back to contemplating the white wake.
“Aren’t all weddings?” she mocked over her shoulder, her tone brittle.
“Well, I suppose I wouldn’t know about that,” he admitted. “I’m glad it happened, though I was a little against it at first.”
“Were you? Because you think she may be arrested tomorrow — ”
“Of course not,” Curt said swiftly. “It was just that they had only known each other since they came aboard and I wondered if it would last.”
Claire turned and surveyed him coolly. His brown, handsome face was revealed clearly by the moonlight, but her own was in shadow.
“You’re a bit of a cynic about marriage, aren’t you?” she mocked him.
“Not a bit of it. It’s a wonderful institution and I’m all for it, for men who live ashore and can establish a home,” he protested. “I’ve been doing some thinking, Claire. If you’d rather live ashore — ”
“Why, what are you talking about?” Her tone now was openly derisive, though her heart had given a great jump and was pounding so hard she felt sure he must hear it.
“I’m talking about us, Claire — you and me,” said Curt, and his voice was husky with yearning. “I’ve been an awful fool, Claire, but I was trying to do what I thought was best for you. Living aboard a ship is no life for a girl like you.”
“Oh, is that so?” she snapped shakily. “Well, since it’s my life, don’t you think I should have something to say about where I live it?”
There was a taut silence, and she could see his startled, afraid-to-hope expression.
“Does that mean, Claire, that you’ve reconsidered?” he asked.
“Reconsidered? I seem to remember you were the one who was so convinced that we’d been mistaken about each other.”
She caught her breath to steady her voice, and before she could go on, he had taken a step closer and, while he was not touching her, she was within a hand’s breadth of him.
“I know I was wrong, Claire, about myself,” he explained with a deep earnestness as though it were desperately important for him to make her see what was in his heart. “When you made it so painfully plain what you thought of me, how cheaply you held me, I decided that maybe it might be as well if I let it go at that, since there is so little I can offer you.”
“You offered me everything I wanted, Curt — your love — and then you took it back.” There were tears in her voice.
“I didn’t take it back, darling. I couldn’t, not ever. It’s yours, whether you want it or not, until the end of time.”
“Then I want it, Curt — I want it so very much — ” She moved slightly and was in his arms, and for a long and blissful moment there was neither time nor thought for words until she looked up at him and asked curiously, “But just a little while ago, Curt, you drove me away from you without caring in the least how much you hurt me. Why have you changed?”
“I was trying very hard to be strong, I suppose, for your sake,” Curt confessed humbly. “And then I saw those two kids, facing nobody can be quite sure what, knowing that tomorrow may bring terrible things, and yet determined to go ahead and be together, to face whatever may come, and I realized how much I loved you and that with you in my arms, I wouldn’t give a damn what tomorrow might bring!”
“Well, it’s about time you were realizing that,” Claire scolded him unsteadily. “I’ve known it for a long time.”
“Have you, now?” The mockery was tender, inescapable. “What about last night and this morning?”
Her hand went up swiftly and covered his lips, silencing him.
“They never happened,” she told him firmly. “We’re beginning right now, from this very moment. We’re reaching for tomorrow — lots and lots of tomorrows — all of them filled with happiness because we’ll reach for them together!”
She lifted her face for his eager, ardent kiss, and, held close in his arms, very softly whispered, “Together! Isn’t that a lovely word? Together for all the tomorrows. Oh, Curt, I love you so!”
He made no answer in words, but the pressure of his mouth on hers, his arms holding her close and hard against him so she could feel the eager tumult of his heart against her own, were all the answer she would ever want.