Adam and Eva Page 16

  Adam captured her mouth, kissing her deeply, and never having separated from her before, now filled her again. They rocked and swayed, whispered and murmured to each other, receiving one another poignantly until they were once again helpless victims of a sweet, aching need for release.

  Chapter Eight

  Eva used the soft bristles of her hairbrush to fluff up the short, looped curls at her temple. She had endured rollers in order to style her hair today in soft curls, giving her face an over-all gentle appearance, a breezy carefree look. She wore a pair of wide-legged hot-pink walking shorts, which looked more like a short skirt on her slender body, and a lavender blouse with capped sleeves and a stand-up mandarin collar. It was a bright and cheerful combination to match her mood.

  Eva touched a mascara wand to her lashes, added a blusher to the high rounded points of her cheeks, and some lip gloss. She gave one final flick to a curl with a finger, and put small gold-ball earrings into her pierced ears.

  Out on the gallery she finished a glass of orange juice and looked out on the beautiful morning, wondering why everything seemed so clear, so bright, so new today. Of course, she knew the answer. It had nothing to do with the beautiful day, since all of the days had been the same since her arrival. It had to do with herself. She was different. In the dark last night, in Adam Maxwell’s arms, Eva had let go of Kevin and the past and had gone in search of and found new facets of herself. It had been exhilarating.

  After making love a second time, Maxwell had just held her quietly in his embrace, his arms around her, her head tucked under his chin against his chest and throat, and one of his muscular legs thrown over her thigh and hip. They didn’t sleep and they didn’t talk. Eva was glad that Maxwell didn’t have anything to say, as words would have broken the magic aura they’d created for the moment. Just touching each other seemed adequate communication.

  The sky was turning gray and morning sounds broke the night-long silence when Maxwell sighed deeply and released Eva, climbing out of the bed. The bed now seemed enormous and very empty to Eva. Maxwell stood magnificent and larger than life before her, his rich brown body sinewy and flexing away the night. Adam bent to kiss her quickly and turned to stride to retrieve his clothing. He came back not three minutes Iater, fully dressed. He sat on the edge of the bed, one hand braced next to her head.

  “I don’t want Diane to wake up and not find me there,” he said in a deep whisper, with a hint of regret that he had to leave her.

  Eva nodded. “Of course not. Go on…it’s almost light.”

  But he sat looking at her in the half light, his eyes searching over her face. “Today’s the parade for Carnival. We’re going down to Cruz Bay around eleven. Are you going?”

  “I’d planned to…”

  He hesitated. “Why not come with us. Diane hasn’t seen you for a few days. She’s bound to ask about you.”

  Eva half smiled at his using Diane for an excuse. It made her wonder about the other times Adam might have hidden his true motives behind his daughter. “If you want me to,” Eva responded evenly.

  Adam nodded. “Yes…I want you to.” But he continued to sit. He opened his mouth to say something else, and Eva, half guessing that it might concern the night they’d just spent together, forestalled him.

  “Maxwell, go…it’ll be light soon.”

  He touched her cheek. “Okay. Be ready by eleven?”

  “I will.”

  “Now get some sleep…” And then he got up and left quietly, moving through the gallery and out of the house. The ignition of his Jeep engine was a startling sound in the dawn air.

  Eva lay thoughtful for a moment, then ran her hand slowly down the space that he had recently occupied. She rolled in that direction on her side and was promptly asleep.

  Now as she finished the juice and continued to scan the bright horizon, she had a sudden sobering thought. She had not actually changed at all, and neither had Maxwell. It was just that something new had happened to both of them together. Eva couldn’t help wondering if Lavona Morris was right in her evaluation of Adam. Had Eva just been a conquest last night? And she also wondered if Adam was ever as careful with Lavona as she felt he’d been with her in their lovemaking, except near the end when the full force of his virility had swept over her, thrust into her. What was it about the experience that had her examining it with curiosity and with less guilt than she’d thought would be there at her betrayal of Kevin? And it nagged at her mind and conscience that Adam might still return to his amorous liaison with Lavona. Eva wasn’t sure it mattered…which was not the same as not caring.

  Eva was fully aware of the contradiction she was in, having informed Adam that she didn’t want to be treated with the indifference he showed Lavona. But that did not mean necessarily that she would reject his overtures and not respond to them. She sighed. It was much more complicated than her experiences had ever given her to understand. She recognized as well that she wasn’t indifferent to him, and her lovemaking with Adam had, by no means, been casual to her. Eva puzzled then, over where the relationship would go from here, what would happen next.

  In all the time Eva had been in the house, the phone had never once sounded. Its sudden ringing trilled through the gallery space, startling her with the noise. It began to ring a second time before she broke out of her reverie and hurried to answer.

  “Hello?”

  “Hi, Eva. Milly Decker…”

  “Hi, Milly. How are you?”

  “Oh, pretty good. Getting ready to go down to the parade like everyone else on the island, no doubt,” the woman chuckled with humor. “I’m calling to find out if you’d like to meet me and watch it?”

  “That’s nice of you to ask, but…I—I was already invited.”

  “Oh!” Milly exclaimed surprised. “If I’m not being nosy, by whom?”

  Eva frowned for a moment, thinking. She didn’t want to put the wrong emphasis on the fact that she was going with Adam Maxwell and his daughter. Adam was right. St. John was a very small island, and people who knew him must know of his connection to Lavona.

  “With Adam Maxwell and his daughter Diane,” Eva finally supplied.

  “Oh, fine. By the way, did Adam return your wallet to you?”

  “Yes, he did, thank you. I was surprised to get it. I thought it was gone forever.”

  “Well I’m glad for you it wasn’t. It’s such a pain having to replace ID. It was good of Adam to offer and return it. I didn’t realize you two had finally met.”

  “Oh, er, well, I’ve been sailing with him…and Diane,” Eva quickly added. But warm blood went rushing to her neck and face at the remembrance of her lone sail with Adam and their short, but exquisite, foray on the beach.

  “Isn’t sailing fun? I’m so glad you got a chance to go. Did you enjoy it?”

  Eva smiled softly. “Very much,” she admitted.

  “Well…since you seem all taken care of this afternoon, how about having dinner with me tomorrow night? Nothing fancy, just a few friends. Anna Simpson, the public relations director for the local tourist board, will be there. She was born here but went to school in Chicago. I think you’ll enjoy meeting her. And there’ll be Margot Levine, who directs the high school steel band…it should be fun.”

  “I’d love to come,” Eva responded, delighted.

  “Good, good. It might be a late evening. Get a few of us together and we talk a lot!” Milly laughed. “You’re not afraid to drive back late alone, are you?”

  “No, not at all.”

  “All right then!”

  Mildred Decker gave her driving directions and soon Eva replaced the phone in its cradle. Eva smiled ruefully, remembering Milly Decker telling her the day she arrived that the orders from Martin Isaacs were that Milly take care of Eva. Still it was fun having something to do that wouldn’t put her in close proximity to Adam.

  Eva was rinsing out her juice glass when her name was called.

  “Eva! Are you ready?” Diane bounded through the ent
rance, her arms in the air as she grappled with her loose hair. She wore a yellow dress that buttoned down the front and stopped just above her knees.

  Eva smiled at the little girl, noting at once that Diane had lost some weight in the last week and was looking taller and more trim. “Hello, Diane. I haven’t seen you in so long.”

  “I was very busy,” Diane informed Eva with some show of importance.

  “So I heard. Helping Dory with her costume…”

  Diane nodded, as she twisted and struggled with her hair. Eva shook her head at Diane’s effort.

  “Would you like me to do that for you?” she asked as she moved from the kitchen and directed Diane to sit at the dining table.

  Diane kept up a running stream of talk about what she’d been doing all week. And then she got suddenly quiet. Eva tipped her head forward to see Diane’s frowning face.

  “What’s the matter?” Eva asked as she combed Diane’s hair off her face. She pulled it all back to the top of Diane’s head, off-centered it into a soft bun, and secured it with hairpins.

  Diane sighed and pouted out her lower lip. “I go home tomorrow…”

  “Oh…is it time already?” Eva asked.

  “Yeah,” Diane answered, obviously disappointed.

  Eva sat down next to her. “Did you have a good time while you were here?”

  “Oh, yeah. It was my favorite time. I told Daddy I didn’t want to go home.”

  “What did he say to that?”

  “He said I didn’t have to go if I didn’t want to.”

  Eva frowned. “Then why go tomorrow? Why not stay a few weeks more?”

  Diane slumped back in her chair and began to swing her foot. “’Cause I’m supposed to go to my grandmother’s house with my mother and stepfather.”

  “Oh…I’m sorry,” Eva said with sympathy.

  Diane brightened a little. “But Daddy said I could come for Christmas if I wanted to.”

  “Did he?” Eva responded, happy with Adam’s understanding of the situation.

  Diane nodded sagely. “He said I could stay the whole holiday!”

  Eva felt a flood of warm gratitude and admiration for Maxwell’s decision. He and Diane had come a long way together in two weeks. “I’m very pleased for you, Diane.”

  “And you know what else?”

  “No, what?”

  “Look what he gave me!” Diane lifted her leg, and frowning, Eva’s eye followed the length of the brown limb, but saw nothing unusual. “Look…look!” Diane said impatiently and began wiggling her toes. Something flashed and Eva picked up the glint of gold on a delicate, very thin band daintily circling one of Diane’s toes.

  Eva smiled and raised a brow. “It’s very pretty. But don’t you have it on the wrong part of your body?”

  “Uh?” Diane puzzled.

  “The ring is supposed to be on your finger.”

  “Oh no!” Diane giggled. “It’s a toe ring! Everyone has one. Dory has one. And so does Lavona,” she grimaced, rolling her eyes heavenward.

  “I’ve never heard of that before,” Eva confessed.

  “It’s special. They only wear them here on St. John.”

  “I see,” Eva murmured in amusement, seeing how grown-up Diane sounded.

  “Ooooh! I almost forgot!” Diane jumped to her feet with an exclamation. “Daddy’s waiting for us. We better hurry or he’ll leave us!” She ran for the steps.

  Eva grabbed her camera, glasses, and purse and hurried after Diane. She suggested they drive her Jeep to save time. Eva bent quickly before climbing into the vehicle to pick a wild hibiscus along the house wall. Once in the Jeep, she leaned over and attached it to the side of Diane’s topknot. The effect was winsome and pretty. Diane ooohed her image in the rearview mirror, occasionally touching the flower during the short ride, as if to make sure it was still there.

  Diane went running into the house calling her father, and Eva followed. She was pleasantly surprised to find the house clean and neat, magazines and books stacked or shelved, and all of Adam’s specimens confined to one part of the room instead of all over the place.

  “Daddy! Look what Eva did!” Diane yelled. Adam emerged from his room, pulling a blue shirt down over the waist of a pair of white summer slacks.

  Adam braced his hands on his hips and let out a low wolf whistle at his daughter as she paraded her hairstyle in front of him.

  “Oh, Daddy!” Diane scoffed with embarrassment, but nonetheless happily as she moved to put her arms around his waist in a hug. Adam pulled Diane to himself with his arm and, smiling, bent to kiss the top of her head.

  Then Adam raised his head and his light brown eyes connected with Eva, as she stood for a moment watching father and daughter. She smiled tentatively, and although Adam said nothing, his look said that he thanked her for the attention given to Diane and also that he was remembering their last time together, as he ran his eyes over her lithesome, pert outfit.

  Cruz Bay’s main street was lined with people waiting for the start of the parade, which finally began nearly two hours late. Apparently that was traditional, too.

  Adam found a conveniently large shade tree for them to stand under at the beginning of the parade route. Participants in costumes strolled in happy groups to take their place in the procession. Eva used a whole roll of film even before the parade got started. She caught a nice image of Adam leaning nonchalantly against the tree with Diane leaning back against him. Both were looking off in the same direction watching the practicing members of a band. In the instant Eva saw the remarkable similarity between father and daughter. Eva took a picture and one more as Adam put his hand on Diane’s shoulder and bent forward to say something into her ear.

  Eva had a picture in her own mind now of them together that showed her a Maxwell much more at ease with his daughter, concerned about her, enjoying her company, and happy to have her with him. He’d discovered being a father again, and Eva was emotionally moved and pleased for him.

  Adam looked suddenly in her direction and gave her a quizzical look as she stood with her camera poised in one hand. “What are you doing with that thing? Not taking my picture, I hope,” he said caustically. “I won’t take responsibility if your camera breaks!”

  Eva laughed at him. “You do and I’ll get the Mocko Jumbies after you!” she quipped.

  Adam looked in surprise at her. “What do you know about Mocko Jumbies?”

  Eva found herself hesitating. “I—I know that they’re supposed to chase away evil spirits and protect you. Deacon Butler told me about them,” she added reluctantly. Then she watched as a shadow dropped and his mouth pursed. Adam nodded indifferently and turned away again.

  Eva’s smile slowly faded. She didn’t understand why it bothered him that she knew Deacon. She sighed helplessly and advanced the film in her camera. Off in the distance was the sound of bugles and drums. There was a whistle blast, a moment’s pause, and the bugles and drums broke into a march introduction that heralded the start of the parade.

  Eva took up a position on the road edge that allowed her to see the procession and take pictures. The crowd began to swell and crush together in a bunch. Some rather impetuous teenaged boys, jockeying for a better view, elbowed Eva aside, and she found herself at their backs, unable to see. She lost sight of Adam and Diane, and in frustration, looked for a small opening somewhere else that would allow her to get through.

  A large hand grabbed for hers, and she turned her head to find Adam pulling her away from the crowd and farther down the road. They caught up to Diane who was standing clapping in excitement and trying to catch the goodies being thrown from the passing floats.

  Adam pulled Eva in front of him, and his large body protected her from the jostling and maintained for her a clear view of the rest of the parade.

  Dory floated by dressed in a white lacy dress and wearing a tiara, having been chosen a crowned princess for the day. Diane waved and shouted furiously, until Adam had to whisper to her to calm down. Which she d
id, but only for a moment.

  The crowd began to close in again, but Adam maintained his stance, putting a hand possessively on Eva’s waist. His touch seemed to burn through her clothing to her skin. And she was not surprised to realize that she enjoyed his sudden personal care of her. And then Adam moved closer until her back was against his chest and thighs. Eva held her breath. She stole a glance over her shoulder at him but his attention seemed to be momentarily focused on the proceedings of the parade. Eva was very conscious of his firm body so close to her and began to feel also giddy with the aura of his masculinity.

  Eva forced herself to concentrate and pay attention as Diane pointed out one of Dory’s brothers playing in a drum corp and the other who was one of the Mocko Jumbies, walking gracefully on six-foot stilts and dressed in gaily patterned pants and top. She was impressed with his agility and daring on the long, thin poles. And then the parade was over.

  Diane asked to go with Dory to the school to help her undress from her fancy outfit. Adam agreed, saying he’d pick her up there in a few hours. Then Adam and Eva proceeded to trail behind everyone else into town. All over there was music and spontaneous dancing in the streets as the locals celebrated. It was even more crowded now, Adam again took firm hold of her hand as they walked leisurely.

  Eva loved the secure feel of his grip and the feeling that they belonged together. It was surprising how everyone else noticed and, respectful of their connection, walked around instead of between them. But they soon got tired of the crowds and moved off to the less populated side streets. They found a bench near the main square. Adam purchased frothy piña coladas to sip as they sat and people-watched. Eva was feeling a contentment that had long been absent in her life. Adam watched her happy face thoughtfully. Then he reached out to flick a curl with his index finger and raised a brow seductively at her.

  “I didn’t get any sleep this morning, you know,” he said hoarsely.

  “That’s too bad. I did,” Eva came back, looking at him impertinently. Adam grunted.

  “I thought I’d get a quick nap for an hour or so. But I got in and Diane and Dory were up a half hour later. They made me breakfast,” he informed her in a low voice deep with surprise and pleasure.