The Night Mark(104)

“Too long,” Carrick said and laughed against her sweating skin. “Did I hurt you?”

“Only in the best ways.”

Faye tried to sit up and promptly fell back on the bed. She was so raw inside she could barely close her legs. “I wish we had an ice maker.”

“Ice maker?”

“One other thing I’ll miss about my time. My ice maker. I could use an ice pack right about now and right about here.” She pointed between her legs.

“I can’t do that, I’m afraid. How about this instead?”

He dipped his head between her open legs and licked her gently. She twitched with pleasure, and Carrick groaned in annoyance.

“Hold still,” he ordered. “I’ve been dreaming of this for days.”

Faye laughed, but Carrick was serious. He took her thighs in his large strong hands and held her down in a death grip to keep her moving out of reach of his mouth. As he made love to her with his tongue and lips, Faye raised her head to see him. The last rays of evening sunlight spilled into the room, and in the shadows created by the dusk, Carrick looked nothing like Will at all. He looked only like Carrick; he looked like the man she loved.

“I’m so glad *-eating exists in 1921,” she said.

Carrick looked up at her, one eyebrow cocked high.

“*? That’s what they call it in your time?”

“That’s what they call it. Maybe because of the hair?”

“Really?” Carrick said. “How queer.”

“We’re going to have a long talk about that word. Later,” she said. Carrick slid a finger into her and she collapsed back onto the bed. “Much later...”

Much later Faye lay on top of Carrick, listening to his heart beating and relishing the rise and fall of his broad chest with every breath.

“She gave you to me,” Faye said.

“Maybe your Will gave you to me,” Carrick said.

“Maybe he did. Will always said ‘Give the lady a prize.’ You make a fine prize, Chief.” Faye raised her head and met Carrick’s eyes. “You miss her?”

“I’m at peace,” he said. “I only hope she’s as happy somewhere as I am here. You? You miss him?”

“Yes,” she said. He wrapped his arms around her naked back and she turned her face to kiss the center of his chest. “I’ll miss him a little later tonight. I’ll miss him a little tomorrow. I’ll always miss him a little.” She smiled up at him. “I hope that doesn’t hurt you. Does it? Tell me if it does.”

“It’s good you miss him. If you miss him, it’s because you know he’s not here.”

“He’s not here. He’s not even born yet. I find that very comforting.”

“And you’ll be happy here with me?”

“I could die here a happy woman. I don’t know if I could be any happier than I am now. I feel like I got everything back that I’d lost in my old life. Husband, baby on the way, a friend...”

“You’re still missing something.”

“I am? What?”

“Stay there,” he said as he stood up and headed out the door.

“Thanks to you I can’t walk,” she called out after him. “Where would I go?”

“Just stay.”

She stayed.

Carrick was gone only a minute before he walked into the room holding a leather case the size of a large book in his hands.

“You said the other day you wanted one of these.”

Faye unfastened the leather straps on the case and pulled out something she’d never seen before but recognized instantly.

She looked up at him in shock and joy.

“You got me a camera?”

“You said you missed having a camera.”

“When... How?”

“Bought it from one of the keepers at Hunting. He wasn’t using it. They say Kodak is pretty good. Hope so.”

“Yes, Kodak is a good camera. A very good camera.” She ran her fingers over the camera, turning knobs and adjusting the straps. She lifted the camera’s viewfinder to her eye, aimed it in the direction of the lighthouse, and as soon as she saw it, she knew...

“You’re smiling,” Carrick said.

“I know what I’m here to do,” she said, looking up at him, breathless with happiness and excitement. “I know exactly what I’m supposed to be doing with my life here. I should have known... I mean, it’s what I was supposed to doing in 2015.”

“And what is that?”

“What I was hired to do. Take pictures of the islands.”





25


Faye spent half the night with Carrick up in the lighthouse before coming back down to her bedroom. She woke up right after sunrise to find him in her bed, where he belonged, sound asleep. She kissed his forehead, and he didn’t stir. She’d let him sleep. With Dolly gone they had all day to play honeymooners and half the night. And the rest of their lives. As quietly as she could, she slipped from the bed and went downstairs. The mantel clock revealed the time as half past seven. She’d slept late today. How decadent. When she was married to Hagen with no reason to get out of bed, she’d wake up around ten, and maybe by noon she’d be showered and dressed. But that was her old life, and she didn’t miss any of it. Not even her ice maker.