Footprints in the Sea
Volume 4
Diamonds, Bullets, Bras and Passion
By
Frances Penwiddy
Copyright © Frances Penwiddy 2017
The characters in this novel are fictitious and any resemblance to persons living or dead is coincidental
Footprints in the Sea includes erotic scenes and is not considered suitable reading material for minors
Footprints in the Sea Volume 4 continues from where Volumes 1,2 and 3 ended. If you have not read the earlier volumes I would advise that you do so for the plot and characters of volume 4 to have impact. For those who have been following the adventures of Charlotte and her husband Will Devonshire, the story continues with a reprise of chapter 70.
Reprise
Chapter 70
“You look absolutely stunning. It’s unbelievable that a little over two hours ago you were sitting on a grassy mound crying your eyes out because you had a few muddy streaks on your skirt. Look at you now, a picture; a picture so lovely I’m tempted to scorn the use of the buggy and walk along Goats Cove High Street all the way to The Promenade at Revelation Bay just so the mad scientists could look out of their laboratory windows and envy me.”
“Liar, but don’t let that stop you, tell me more,” I left the dressing table chair and went over to him and put my hands on his shoulders which took a little stretching because I hadn’t any shoes on. “Go on, tell me more, I’m listening and I’m a very good wife, I’m paying you the utmost attention.”
He didn’t say anything, just rested his hands on my waist, pressed lightly and lifted me into a lovely kiss, a tender kiss and equally tenderly he lowered me back to the carpet.
“That’s good, I loved every word and later, you must tell me more and I’ll listen as avidly as I have just done.”
“Slip your shoes on and we’ll be on our way and give the scientists a treat, should I bring my pistol?”
“I’ll keep my shoes off until we’re on the quayside, it’s safer. I’m very good on old steps and grassy slopes but a boat that’s rising and falling whilst I’m trying to step off it is beyond my abilities and these stockings are nylon and expensive and if I’m not careful, I’ll run out of supplies until I can shop in New Zealand.”
“I wouldn’t want that, want me to carry you in case you ladder them?”
“Yes please and no pinching my bum.”
When he were on the quayside we walked towards the car park and saw both electric buses waiting, “In here, Charlie,” called Christine waving from the first, “We’ve kept seats for you.”
We climbed up and had a lovely surprise, David, Gwyneth and the three girls were there and Christine and ‘J’ were sitting together and at the back was Larry with a very pretty, brown haired girl wearing black horn rimmed glasses, a white peasant’s blouse and black full skirt and three inch heels. “Are we having a party?” I asked Christine.
“I hope you don’t mind but as you were a bit upset earlier I invited your friends from the posh side and we’ve organised a dance at the Revelation Bay Club. We’ve hired the orchestra you had at your wedding and there’s the sound system and the bar is stocked. There’s food laid on as well, your cook on Pacific Wanderer sorted it out and sent it over.”
“Was it Will that upset you,” asked Emma.
“Probably kept molesting her, we need to have a word with him,” threatened Faye.
“Don’t do that,” I said in alarm, “He might take you seriously and I like it when he molests me.”
“So do I,” Will grinned, “And I’ll strangle anybody who tries to stop me.”
The second bus was filled now and people were climbing onto the back of an electric low loader. “There’s a lot of people coming.”
“We’re the second wave, when they drop us off, they’re returning for three more loads. The word got around that there’s a dance and it’s the first we’ve held on this side,” explained Christine, “We’re charging ten NZ dollars entry to pay for the food so I’ll give that to you and you can give it to your chef friend to pay for the food.”
“Will, did you bring any money?”
“Not much, about fifty pounds.”
“That won’t be enough, I’ll pop back to Undine and get mine.”
“You haven’t time, we’re moving off,” said Faye, “Don’t worry about money,” she dug into her bag and held up a wad of notes, “I’ve about twenty dollars US and another two thousand in Confederate money.”
“And I’ve got this,” said Liz holding up a gold bullion bar.
“Where did you get that!”
“Chrissie gave it to me to check in the lab but I’ll spend it instead, it must be enough.”
“And some,” I answered looking at Christine.
“She’s kidding, we don’t need money and that’s not the real bar, it’s a plaster fake we made and painted. Good isn’t it.”
I nodded, “We can make a load more out of pewter or lead and sell them to the tourists. How come we don’t need money?”
“People stationed here can run a tab and it’s taken out of their salaries each month, the same as the system in the forces messes. They’ll give you one without any probs but you won’t need it, Will can pay yours because he keeps upsetting you. Where did you get your dress, London?”
“The West End, there’s quite a lot of retro stuff around, it’s becoming more popular every year. If you want something like it, there’s loads on the Internet.”
“I want one, I’ll have to be nice to ‘J’, I have a birthday in November and then Christmas, he can get me the dress for Christmas.”
I jotted down the URL of a website and gave it to her. “Skirts, blouses, dresses, lingerie, the lot, anything from about 1930 through to 65. Some of their stuff is genuine from those dates but most is modern reproductions. But,” I smoothed the peach coloured skirt of the dress out and lifted the hem to show the petticoat, “Very full and not the sort of thing to wear in the monsoon season.”
“I can see that but I’ll get one for the spring and early summer.”
We arrived at the club and piled out and made straight for the bar, I had got rid of the depression and fear I had earlier and was in the mood to party.
David and Gwyneth had beaten us to it and David waved me across, “White wine?” he asked pointing to the only remaining chair at their table.
“Yes, thank you but aren’t you joining the crowd, I need you as my tango partner.”
He smiled, “Yes, shortly but I would like to have a word with you, a personal doctor and patient word, would you like Gwyneth to leave us alone?”
“If you’re going to chat me up, I’d prefer she stays, you’re a married man.”
“I’ll chat you up during the tango, now answer the question.”
“Of course Gwyneth stays, she’s my chief mentor and confident. Has somebody been sneaking on me about this afternoon?” I asked sitting down.
“It wasn’t sneaking, it was a very concerned husband asking a doctor for advice.”
“What did he tell you and more importantly, what did you tell him?” I felt Gwyneth’s hand take a hold of mine but she left the answer for David.
“I told him that the only thing I was prepared to say was that Randolph is coming here for a visit next week and that was all, apart from asking him to get you to have a word with me. The fact that you are married now does make some difference to patient-doctor confidence. When a doctor thinks a spouse might be a way of getting the patient to see him, then he is at liberty to arrange it.”
“It’s about my nervous breakdown this afternoon?”
He smiled, “Hardly a nervous breakdown and yes it is, do you want to tell us about it?”
I shrugged, “There’s nothing to tell really. I was doing a bit of exploring, dug up a casket and inside were boxes and bags containing gems, lots of gems. Now I hear there’s small bullion bars as well and all of them date back two thousand years or more. After the discovery of the altar house and the gold Celtic torc and the beacon at the entrance to Aurora Inlet and then today, my discovering a casket of such value and in an odd place to hide things, I just got very frightened and started to run away. Will came after me and I bawled my eyes out and then slowly got back to normal. I’m still a little scared at the way things are happening to me. This, to say the very least, has been a traumatic, scary and life changing year. I’m going to be very wary of digging holes, looking into nooks and crannies or any other sort of nosy activity. If I find something else like today’s discovery I might just go totally catatonic and kill anybody who tries to help me recover.”
“You can’t find a rational explanation as to why these things are happening?”
“It isn’t the things happening, David, it’s the ‘Why Me’ and not one of the others that scares me . Why I have dreams about ancient Greek women and see pagan goddesses and fairies and having the feeling that somebody is guiding me, protecting me helping me to discover things, putting crazy daydreams into my head which lead to these discoveries.”
“You haven’t tried to rationalise these events?”
“Yes, I’ve being trying most of the afternoon and to some extent I have succeeded but there’s still a doubt nagging at the bottom of my subconscious.”
“I’m going to leave Randolph to speak to you if you’re willing to see him…”
“Yes of course I’ll see him in fact I want to see him.”
“Good. This much I will say without pre-empting Randolph, who I have already spoken to. The events over the past few days can all be explained rationally. It is an unusual string of coincidences I agree but all have rational explanations, even the pagan goddesses and sprite’s. You’re not going whacky or having a nervous breakdown but to some extent you are having a reaction to two or three major incidents in your life and I am not including the dreams and visions in any of that.
“First there was your Aunt Molly’s death, then shortly after that you are shipwrecked and marooned on a desert island with little chance of rescue. When you beat the odds and are rescued you are diagnosed as intersexed and that alone is about as large a trauma as anybody of your age can have. You countered all of these events by finding a large number of accepting friends but then had another trauma to add to the list. A ship you were travelling on is attacked by heavily armed pirates and drug smugglers and you were instrumental in beating them off. Soon after you suffered the realisation that during this event, you discovered yourself capable of killing other people. I suspect you still haven’t come to terms with the fact that your actions were a perfectly normal thing when a human being, male or female, finds themselves having to defend loved ones who are under attack.
“Finally, you marry and suddenly discover just how much in love you are and took on the total commitment of accepting the responsibility for another person…”
“It works both ways, I know Will feels the same…”
“Of course he does and part of that commitment was to come to me for advice. He didn’t want to know if you were unstable, insane or a freak. He wanted to know what he could do to help you. Now that’s all I’m going to say because Randolph is the psychiatrist and will make a better job of it.”
We got up from our table and went over to the rowdy mixture of scientists and beach bums that my once disciplined group of friends had become.
We did party and I danced my legs off and quite deliberately flaunted myself. I jived faster, tangoed more outrageously and danced the rhumba like a harlot trying to seduce a gang of dockers and not once did I become scared of anything more than finding a ladder in my stockings or a hole in my knickers.
As for Will, once I had spun around him until he was dizzy he gave up dancing anything fast with me and pimped me out by finding me partners for the jives and Latin American dances. We had a disco session as well and I had the same feeling I had experienced in the pub in Beaconsfield. My boobs were bouncing up and down, Will couldn’t take his eyes off my chest and I nearly panicked when I realised that they might bounce right out of my bra so I stopped impersonating a kangaroo running from a cheetah and adopted a more ladylike style of dancing and Will frowned.
During a quiet moment I was sitting with Christine and chatting and it turned to the day’s events. “Your doctor had a talk to me earlier, he asked me about this afternoon when you found the treasure trove.”
“He’s investigating me, thinks I’m turning whacky. It was about the incident when I ran off?”
“Yes, but he only asked me if I could explain why you had cried. I wasn’t going to say anything but I thought, well he is your doctor and it wasn’t a deeply personal question so I just told him I thought it was just the shock of finding the box and the diamond and stuff.”
“Did he say anything?”
“Not really, just asked if you were simply crying or did I think you were on the verge of panicking. I said no, you did run away from it but I told him I was shocked as well and could only stare, not believing what we had found.”
“It was the coincidences that upset me. The things I keep discovering that frightened me and the hallucinations.”
“Emma told me about that but she said she had seen your ghosts, fairies or ancient spirits as well and so had Faye and Liz so they can’t be hallucinations. She also said there was no threatening behaviour, that the people were nice, friendly and seemed fond of you.”
“That makes it worse. If I was seeing ghosts or demons I would probably laugh it off and swear off drink but as Emma said, they are nice people I keep seeing. I’m speaking to Randolph Sinclair the South Pole psychiatrist next week, it’ll be interesting to see what he has to say. If you want, I’ll fix you up with an introduction to Artemis and Undine the water sprite. Undine is real enough, Will has heard and seen her and she’s following us on our honeymoon because she’s in love with a sailor and wants to know how humans make love so she can gain a human soul and marry him.”
“You’re kidding!”
“No, honestly, she was near us when we were on the little island in Aurora Cove and again the following day.”
“If she comes round again, ask her to make a love potion for me to use on J. We’ve been engaged for a year and we still haven’t set a date for our wedding. The Antarctic keeps getting in the way.”
“I don’t think she’s allowed to make love potions, but I’ll ask her. I can give J a kick for you, in fact Emma and the girls can work on him as well.”
She laughed, “Do it before we’re too old to marry and have to make alternative arrangements like being buried in the same grave.”
“Is this private or can we all join in?” Emma asked as she came to the table.
“Where’s your blokes?”
“Up at the bar discussing derrieres and cricket. They got bored with dancing and claimed they needed to stoke up their energy.”
“Who’s been elected driver to get you back to the other side, or are you walking?”
“Neither, Howard had a word with Larry who had a word with the bloke in charge of this club and we’ve been allocated four rooms in the temporary hotel they have here for visitors. What about you?”
“Will and I will get the buggy bus back to Goat’s cove and tomorrow continue on our honeymoon.”
“What about the stuff you found today?”
I shrugged, “Larry and Christine are in charge of that.”
“We have it under lock and key and will probably start testing it tomorrow. It depends on how high a priority it gets and what else is waiting for lab time,” answered Christine. I’ll be taking a small group up to the new roundhouses and start a scan and open a few trenches as well.”
I opened my bag and gave Emma an envelope, “This is a report on something else I found earlier today and it’s in your remit. It was either a hare or a prairie dog or something similar, there’s a couple of pics of where I saw it and just one long distance zoom picture of its head. The map shows exactly where I saw it. I’ve also put a written report in there about bats. I’m pretty sure I saw bats flying about over the inlet three nights ago.”
“The inlet! that’s salt water!
”
“More saline I suspect at the bottom end because we’ve found places where fresh water is empting into it. Why did you ask, don’t bats like salt water?”
“No but they will eat insects that fly over it and they might also be vegetarian or vampire bats and prefer feeding of the animal blood or the fruit in the trees and just fly over the inlet as a favoured route to a food source. There’s also the possibility of insects being blown in on a high altitude wind. How big were the bats?”
“I didn’t really pay that much attention but think I remember seeing two different sizes, one was biggish, about the size of two human hands together and the other was small, smaller than a hand but as I say, I didn’t take much notice.”
“Have you seen any over the lake?”
I shook my head, I haven’t been up there at night and haven’t seen much except a few seabirds and the odd land bird.”
Emma nodded, “I’m going up there tomorrow before we go back to Pacific Wanderer and Liz wants to have a look at the big field where your roundhouses are to see what crops were grown there and I suspect Faye will want to have a look at the stuff they built the dam from and the way it was constructed. If we can chat our blokes into it, they might agree to come as well and join in the dig and we can camp out and see if we can’t get some sightings of the bats and your furry creature.”
“Are you okay?”
We had just climbed back on board Undine and I stopped to take in the night and listen to the faint sounds of the other party goers as they called their goodnights. “I’m fine, Will, just clearing my head after the drink and food at the party. Honestly, I’m on top of this afternoon if that’s what’s worrying you. I’ll see Randolph and as long as I avoid finding anything else for a few months, I’ll be fine. But what an eventful year we’ve had. David itemised what had happened to me over the past eight months, My Auntie Mo’s death, the shipwrecked and then being rescued only to discover that I’m intersexed and then having to go through the operation. The sea fight with the smugglers, the visions I’ve been having and the string of discoveries we have made on an island that until we arrived, nobody had heard of and finding myself the part owner of an island paradise…so much, a whole lifetime’s adventures in less than a year.” I took a hold of is arm and rested my head on his shoulder, “What a wonderful year.”
He took my other hand and kissed the back, “And all the years that are still to come.”
I smiled up at him. “Not quite so hectic though, let’s just have one discovery or adventure each year and try to be normal.”
Volume 4
Diamonds Bullets, Bras and Passion
Chapter 71
We left Goats Cove very early, a little before seven am and Will took us out for a mile before turning towards Revelation Bay. I felt homesick in the galley because all I could see from the window was sea and a tiny point of Charlotte Island just visible in the corner. I placed everything on a heated tray and carried it out to the rear deck and placed it on the table but left the covers on and went and stood beside Will at the helm. “Food is keeping warm on the tray but if you want to eat yours first before the eggs become rubber, I’ll take the helm.”
“No need I have the pilot turned on and the depth sounder is focused below and about two hundred metres in front. We can breakfast together.”
We sat for long enough to eat comfortably and took our second cups of coffee back to the helm. “Can you take over in a short while, I want to have a look at the island through the glasses as we sail. We haven’t studied this side from the sea.”
“I’ll do the washing up and tidy up the cabin and be about a half hour, is that soon enough?”
“Fine, I’m keeping the speed down as we pass the island to give us a chance to have a good look at the profile.”
As soon as I returned, he handed over the helm and took the high power binoculars and map case, “I’m only going up to the top bridge, the view is less obstructed up there, scream if you need me.”
I grinned, ‘Scream if you need me,’ what memories that conjured up.
After five minutes he called down, “The other glasses are on the ledge under the front screen. You should just be able to make out Goats Cove and from there you can see the place where the altar house is and a little further to the left, where we were yesterday and there are people about at the altar house already. If one of them looks out to sea, they’ll spot us so get ready to wave or they may scramble the Sunderland or one of the navy ships to sink us in mistake for invaders. Flick the large green switch and that engages the auto pilot whilst you’re looking through the glasses and if a loud bleeping starts, that’s the sonar warning that there’s an obstruction ahead. Cut the engine and switch off the pilot and study the screen and scream.”
I picked up the glasses and found the group at the altar house quickly just as a party of about ten broke away and started to make their way up to the higher plateau. “I can see a group breaking away, I’m sure its five men and five women, it must be Larry, Christine and the girls.” I didn’t wait for a reply and picked up my phone and dialled Faye.
“Hullo, is that you Charlie, I thought you were going off on your honeymoon again?”
“We are. If you look out to sea, that little dot on the horizon is us.”
There was a pause, “I can see a boat is that Undine?”
“Yes, I’m waving can’t you see.”
“At that distance! I can just about make out the boat let alone a waving hand.”
“No wonder you keep missing when you fire your rifle and your hair’s a mess.”
“You can see my hair from that range?”
“Yes but I’m a crack shot and can see further than ordinary humans.”
“Liar, you’re just guessing and my hair is always in a mess unless I use three cans of lacquer why have you gone out so far?”
“Will and I have never seen the South Pole so we’re going down to have a look.”
“I believe you. When you get there, warn Will not to go outside to pee, it’s so cold that one wrong move and he’d snap it off and that would upset you.”
“Nope, he’s ex SAS and carries a spare. See you next week.”
I heard her laugh and start telling the others as she cut her phone.
Once we passed Revelation Bay Will came down from the upper bridge, “I’ve videoed the whole trip with your posh camera. We’ll download it later and have a good look. I’d like to move in closer to the island as we go up the side or would you prefer to stay out here?”
“Let’s go in close, I’d like to go into the cove that Emma and I found and see what’s up there.”
“The water is deep, I’m pretty sure that cliff continues down below the surface but keep the sonar pointing ahead and when we get close, I’ll go up to the bow and keep my eyes open for rocks.”
I started to get nervous when we were less than twenty metres from the cliffs but Will called out, “Come to port and follow the coastline and keep her at five knots.” He must have seen the set look on my face, “You okay with being this close in?”
“A bit up tight, I’m worried about an underwater rocky spur jutting out and catching us.”
He didn’t say anything but trotted down the side deck, “I’ll take the helm, you go up front and watch for reefs.”
I stepped back, “Good. I’m okay with Pacific Wanderer this close in but on Undine, the feeling is different, she’s more vulnerable and something that Wanderer would just hit and break off might rip Undine’s fibreglass hull and down we go. I’m tempted to put my wetsuit on in case we have to swim for it.”
Will smiled, “Okay, I’ll take the helm, you use your mermaid’s eyes as lookout.”
“Aye, aye, Cap’n,” and with relief I grabbed my polarized aviator’s sunglasses, binoculars and almost ran up the side deck. Once in my look out position I did a check and satisfied there were no hidden reefs I looked up at the cliffs of Devonshire Hill and from this close in, it looked enormous and towered above us and there were crevices, exposed rock, shrubs and grass all the way to the top and once again there were goats standing on impossibly tiny ledges looking down at us as they chewed.
Here and there were very small coves and in two of them sandy beaches hardly wide enough to moor Undine beam on. There was one tall very narrow cleft that disappeared into the hill. The sides were sheer, solid rock and it had a slightly sinister look even with the sun shining straight onto this side of the island. I turned back to Will and pointed, “Keep quiet, that might be Poseidon’s bedroom.”
He grinned and brought the binocular’s to his eyes and studied it so with him distracted I returned my attention to the water ahead of us. Occasionally I saw underwater spurs or reefs jutting out but they were well below Undine’s keel and I took quick bearings and jotted the information down. We were approaching the cove now and I called out to Will and pointed, “Are we going in?”
He nodded and I felt Undine slow as he turned towards the entrance. I looked into the sea about six or seven metres ahead of the bow but the water was too deep to show a bottom until we started to enter the tight gap and on either side I could see subsurface rocks but these only projected a metre before the water turned a deep greeny/blue. I turned my head a little and called, “How much depth dead ahead?”
“Fifty metres in the centre . It’s a ‘V’ widening towards the surface. The narrowest so far has been twenty seven metres and the maximum on the screen at the moment is closer to thirty five.”
“That’s wide enough for Pacific Wanderer?”
“Yes but there’s no space to turn so she would have to come out going astern and that can be very tricky. In fact near impossible, even with you at the helm.”
I didn’t look back, I daren’t take my eyes off the water so I gave him the Agincourt two figure salute. “There are two fingers, rocks or reefs dead ahead one each side and nearly opposite each other but there’s space between for Undine. If you can bring her to a halt in about ten metres we can try and get accurate readings of the depth and width.”
There was no reply but I felt the engine cut to little more than a tick over and we edge slowly forward, “Now, Will, we’re right over them.” I felt a burst of speed from the engine and the propeller wash slid past the bow and then Undine stopped and rocked gently on the small amount of swell still able to influence the cove. “Do you want me to try and throw the bow anchor out and lock onto something on the reef.” I could turn to face him now and he was already looking over the port bulwark.
“No, I don’t think we could throw it out far enough but it doesn’t matter, I’m printing the readings out and we can check them when we stop. There’s plenty of room for Undine, I’ll take her up a bit further where the cove bends and we’ll see what’s around the corner.”
I looked up and all I could see was a narrow strip of sky and then almost sheer drops to the surface of the water. “There’s a cave and a waterfall right at the corner.”
“I noticed them. If we go up that far we might find a wide pool that mould enable Wanderer to make an assisted turn.”
“Like we did when we were getting her off the reef.”
“Something like that or, if there’s room get the barge up here to help. What’s the reason you have in mind for getting the ships up here?”
“I was thinking of defence. If for instance the island was attacked or being threatened from the south, we could get a small warship, out and round to the south side to defend Goats Cove or Revelation bay. Something like those boats they had in the war, a corvette or motor gun boat.”
“Keep it hidden in here and surprise them,” he smiled when he said it.
“No, in fact the opposite. If any potential aggressor saw that we had something like it patrolling or even readily available, it would make them think twice before attacking us.”
“What about the North Korean’s, they have a large navy, a corvette or MTB wouldn’t have much chance against them.”
“If that happens, I’ll tell Faye to yell at the American’s in Pearl Harbour and they can send their cruisers, missile ships and a bloody great aircraft carrier.”
“And if we replaced the armaments on the Sunderland, we could back them up with that.”
I smiled, “I have a secret weapon up my sleeve as well, Poseidon and Artemis could get Zeus off his backside and I’m sure Undine, Undine the water sprite I mean, she’d know a few serpents and assorted sea monsters.”
“A world power no less.”
“Come on let’s go up and see what’s around the corner. There might be a way of channelling that waterfall back onto the island instead of letting it go to waste in the sea.”
Will was right, as we turned, the narrow inlet opened up into a pool. At the far end, the slope up to the summit of Devonshire Hill was much easier. A hard climb but it could be done by people not weighed down with heavy back packs and the goats were up there as well, quite a few of them and there were kids with them. In the far right corner there was a small shingle beach and between it and the cliff face there was another stream, this tumbled over rocks and was like rapids rather than a waterfall. About twenty five or thirty metres further up there was a deep ledge of flat, grassy land with one or two shrubs and at the back, where the land started to rise steeply, there was a small cave.
I pointed, “Do you think the goats go into that cave to shelter from storms?”
“Probably, it looks wide enough. Want to land and see if we can get up there.”
“Yes, now we’re here, let’s go and take a look.”
We managed to run the bow of Undine onto the pebble beach just high enough for me to use the diving ladder to clamber down. Will took a back pack with the first aid box, a couple of sandwiches each and one or two small tools in case we found rock we needed to take samples from and a pair of torches and I carried the compass, map case and binoculars. The rocky path was steep to begin with but became easier after thirty metres and we gained the grassy ledge a little quicker than anticipated. For the most part, the goats didn’t seem at all worried by our sudden appearance in their secret world and ignored us apart from the occasional glance and moving a few steps away when we got too close. The kids were the curious ones, they’d approach just out of reach and said hullo in goat speak and one or two followed us for short distances offering advice with the occasional baa, babaah and hahaha. When we got to the cave, the sides were lower than head height but the centre was just high enough for Will to walk in and after a couple of paces, like our cave at Undine’s Pool, the roof lifted and it widened quite a bit. The floor was a mixture of sand, pebbles and an occasional large rock and was dry so it obviously didn’t flood after a rainfall. Off to the right we could hear water and I assumed that the stream or whatever was making the noise originated underground and probably flowed along the wall of the cave to join the stream outside. There was quite a lot of fresh goat droppings so it was probably the main source of water for the animals inhabiting Devonshire Hill but there was only old evidence that they used the cave as a regular place for shelter.
We went in about twenty metres and here the cave narrowed quickly and ended up by becoming little more than a tunnel which had a slight downward slope. The water had, it seems, found a tunnel of its own and I guessed that this was once a place where the old lava pockets had forced their way out of the side of the hill. “How does the height above sea level compare with the height of our cave at the house?” I asked Will.
“A little higher I would think. We had more of a climb to get up here than we do at the beach to get up to our cave.”
“Do you think that tunnel might connect to our cave?”
“It could do because the passage from our cave bends in this direction but nobody has explored beyond the bend.”
“We must do it one day. It would be nice to stroll up here and have a day out sunbathing, fishing and doing a bit of diving. We could even bring a couple of sleeping bags and build a camp fire. Just think what a terrific adventure place it would make for our children as they grow up. It’s better than a tree house, they could have their own private goat pets and if a fence was built at the front of the ledge to stop them falling over and we built a fence across the mouth of the pebble beach they would have a safe place to swim.”
Will was smiling at me as I babbled on. “Is this you planning ahead or are you really looking for an excuse to build an adult adventure playground?”
“No, I’m serious. They could even have a couple of canoes and as long as we stopped them getting out into the sea…my goodness, what I would have given for a playhouse like the cave when I was small.”
He walked over to me and took me in his arms and kissed me, “Okay, just say the word and I’ll start organising it and I’ll speak to the Governor General and inform him that as the rulers of Charlotte Island, we require a number of princes and princesses to guarantee the line of succession.”
“Yes, we must. Not yet though, we’ll wait a little longer, perhaps six months or so until we’ve settled in and got things organised. Just wait until I tell Auntie Kate and Ted that they’re going to be a grandad and grandma.” It was my turn to kiss him. “Let’s go outside before I start moving rocks around up here before we’ve even finished our house. We can eat our sandwiches and make plans.”
We left the cave and walked to the end of the ledge where we found a goat path that meandered a little but eventually reached the summit. We sat on the rocks and ate our sandwiches and then explored a little more before starting back. “Do you want to go up to the summit or back to Undine?” Will asked.
“I have to prepare dinner and I don’t think there’s time to explore very much more. Shall we stay in the cove tonight and go up the hill tomorrow. I don’t want to rush it because we’ll be able to see the entire island from the top and see what else we need to explore.”
“Okay, but I’ll need to check the beach and probably have to move over to the rocks to find a better mooring otherwise we could be left high and dry when the tide goes out.”
We made our way back and Will was right, the tide was still coming in and Undine had drifted back into deeper water. I took the backpack and untied the single mooring rope and insisted Will carry me as far as the diving ladder. I was dry footed and went to the cabin and sorted him out with dry socks and boots and he waded back and started exploring the rocks for somewhere to moor, leaving me to start the engine and wait for his signal. He found a spot where a large, fairly smooth section of rock looked good and we moored beam on and Will dropped the fenders over the side to stop Undine rubbing her paintwork against the rock.
“Want me to prepare something from the freezer or are you going to catch a fresh salmon?”
He grinned at me, “You willing to take a chance on me catching something?”
“I’ll cook steaks, there’s a couple defrosted in the fridge. Don’t let me stop you from fishing though, if you catch something, we can have it tomorrow.”
“You want to stay here for a couple of days?”
“It’s pretty and secluded and if we climb Devonshire Hill tomorrow we won’t be back until evening. We would be better staying here, it will only take a couple of hours to get back to Pacific Wanderer so if you fancy it, we’ll stay here for a couple of nights and then go back home.”
“Or, once we’ve explored the hill, we could walk back to Mermaid’s Cove, that will only take about three or four hours.”
I nodded. “We’ve been away for what, five days and I’m thinking we’re miles away from home but we can’t be much more than two miles as the crow flies and two and a half from the top of the hill and yet look how quiet this place is. People could land here and never know there were all the science buildings and houses just a short distance away.” I picked up the binoculars and compass and put them away in the locker beside the helm, “Dinner in a little over an hour, I’m having a shower before cooking so you can have a nap or go fishing.”
We stayed outside long after dinner was finished and the table cleared. We sat making notes of what we’d seen during the day, I entered all the measurements on my laptop and then on my copy of the map. When that was all done, we still remained on deck listening to the soft sound of the sea reaching us through the inlet and when the moon appeared we watched that and the stars as they moved slowly around the night sky. We spoke of our plans, the house, the island, our jobs, the children to come and the adventures we would have with them and our words seemed to become a mist above us and it slowly settled and all the strife, all the problems, every worry seemed to evaporate and for a quarter of an hour we sat in silence, just being aware of our existence, our love for each other and wrapped in this wonderful blanket of safety and contentment. Then my telephone warbled, it was Penny; “How is your honeymoon going, I’m not interrupting you am I?”
“Yes. We were sitting on the deck enjoying a lovely evening and a quiet glass of wine before retiring for the night.”
“Sorry but I haven’t spoken to you since your nervous breakdown and I was a bit anxious.”
“It wasn’t a nervous breakdown, just a touch of the vapours and I’m fine now. Thank you for phoning and asking. How are you and Morris getting on?”
“Terrific, he asked me today if I liked him enough to become his only girlfriend.”
“Only girlfriend?”
“I think he wants me to become his fiancé but was afraid to ask and was sounding me out.”
“What did you tell him?”
“I said I already thought I was his only girlfriend.”
“Good answer, how did he take it?”
“He replied that he knew that and I was, but he was thinking about me remaining his only girlfriend permanently.”
I shook my head and stifled the giggle, “What did you tell him.”
“I said I would speak to you about it.”
“Me! Why do you need to speak to me?”
“Well, you know, I mean you were Will’s only girlfriend, didn’t you need to talk to somebody?”
She had me then. Of course I needed to talk to somebody and I had Gwyneth and Aunty Katie. “You have my approval and I know Clementine will approve…”
“She has, she told me we were obviously in love and it’s about time he made it official and then she told me to speak to you.”
“Well if I approve and Clementine approves, what else do you need?”
“Well could you ask Will and Aunty Katie for me.”
“Certainly not. You just tell Morris he needs to speak to Will if he’s making long term plans. If Will approves that’s good enough. I know Aunty Katie and Ted will agree.”
“Okay, I’ll tell him he must speak to you and Will.”
“Do it gently or you’ll scare him off.”
“I’ll kiss him a bit and wriggle like you do when you kiss Will.”
“That’s coercion and might not be approved in a court of law.”
“It’s only coercion if they find out and Morris is not the complaining sort.”
I had to laugh softly, “You’re right, it’s just as well Will isn’t the complaining sort. When are you planning to do your wriggling?”
“Oh, I’ll wait until you are back.”
“You do realise that wriggling can lead to other things.”
“Yes and I’m looking forward to it. Goodnight and thanks for letting me disturb you.”
I looked at Will who was smiling, “I don’t need to ask who that was.”
“Penny, she was anxious about my nervous breakdown and needed advice on her romance with Morris.”
He nodded, “I managed to get the gist of it from your side of the conversation.”
“She thinks he’s about to pop the question and wanted our permission?”
“Why us?”
I explained the situation and he laughed quietly, “She’s certainly bonded with you.”
“Us,” I corrected, she needs your approval as well but I told her that was Morris’s job, so be prepared for what sounds like a very nervous Morris asking if you would give permission for him to wed Penny.”
“He doesn’t need my permission, you can tell him it’s okay and it’s really down to Penny.”
“Penny is old fashioned like me and believes in doing things properly, which reminds me, I don’t recall you asking Ted and Auntie Kate for their permission to marry me.”
“I didn’t ask because I would have ignored them if they had refused and Aunt Kate and Ted approved me anyway. Now what’s this about wriggling and coercion?”
“I’m not telling you, it’s a girl secret.”
The telephone rang again, “That’s Auntie Kate.” It was, “Hullo Auntie Kate, I was expecting a call.”
“I wanted to speak to you yesterday about your bad turn but never had the chance. Gwyneth told me you’re fine now.”
“I am. We’ve had a lovely day and I’m calm, happy and there’s a bloke here looking out for me. Now what’s all this about Penny?”
She laughed, “She button holed me as soon as we got back this morning. Wanted to know if we approved of her becoming Morris’s fiancé.”
“She thinks he’s going to ask her to marry him, what do you think?”
“Our opinions don’t matter it’s how you and Penny feel.”
“She loves him that’s pretty obvious.”
“So you approve?”
“Of course, don’t you?”
“Yes, they’re like a married couple already. Does that mean Ted and I can be relieved of our duties of keeping them apart at bedtime?”
“I brought that up and she told me she would wait until Morris has asked Will for his permission.”
She laughed again, “I know it sounds funny but I think she’s doing it correctly but you’re the one who is best suited to advise her.”
“I told her that I was okay with it if you and Ted were and Will approves when Morris asks him. How are you and Ted, enjoying yourselves?”
“We’re having a good time. I’m going up to the house tomorrow to start cleaning and airing it for when you get back. Ted is already doing things to the garden but he hasn’t found any of the treasure we were told to look for and that man Roman has been up and done some measuring and said it will take a month as soon as you give the go-ahead on the extension and another two weeks to do the outside so that it matches the house.”
“If you see him before I get back, tell him to go ahead if you approve the plans.”
“We do, Ted said it will suit us better than Beaconsfield.”
“See you the day after tomorrow, love you.”
I smiled at Will, “That’s my admin work completed for the day. What about you?”
He shook his head, a sad look in his eyes, “I still have work that must be done.”
“I’ll help, what is it you have to do?”
“Help you get undressed and see that you are comfortable.”
“Come on then, I’ll definitely need help. I need help getting undressed, then more help when I shower, then I have to massage my body with coconut oil, particularly my breasts then brush my hair, and put on my baby doll nightie and panties and I might need help in keeping warm.” I heard the faintest suggestion of a sigh coming from behind one of the rocks on the bank. “Undine, go home!”
“It sounds so beautiful.” There was a tiny splash and a small circle of ripples spread out a few feet from the bow and danced with the moonbeams.
