Chapter One

  

The plane dropped onto the runway with a resounding thud causing Rodreika Myers to instinctively flinch. She hated to fly. If she was going to travel she much preferred the her own car and the comfort of knowing she was in control. Failing that she preferred boat or trains, anything where you couldn't look below and see clouds. Not that she had ever looked out while flying, even the thought was making her feel nauseated. Some things you didn't need to experience to know they weren't good for you.


     The attendant announced their arrival at Grand Bahama International Airport, Welcomed everyone to the Bahama Islands and let everyone know it was now safe to unfasten seatbelts and start unloading. Vacationers dressed in full tourist gear quickly began doing just that. Rodreika noticed a young woman pop out of her seat and begin unloading her overhead compartment. The tie on her bikini top poked out of the back of her shirt like an annoying tag and peeked from out behind a head full of chestnut brown hair. The young woman was radiating excitement as she chatted away on her cell phone telling someone everything that was happening as it happened.


     Rodreika remembered all too clearly being that young woman, embarking on her first trip to the Islands, Brimming with joy and curiosity ready for two weeks of sun and surf and mai tais. It was to be her big bash before entering the grueling world of medical school. She'd been twenty-one and ready to face anything. "Well almost anything." she thought as she remembered her reason for being here again.


     Rodreika got to her feet and waited a moment while her knees got their strength back. She began to unload her own overhead compartment and Thinking of the woman on the her cell phone she turned her own cell phone on and place a call herself.

 

"Hello Gorgeous." Came the voice on the other end of the receiver.

 

"Hi." she said as a smile bloomed and the weight of her task lifted with the sound of his voice.

 

"I take it you are there safe and sound." His voice held the relief of someone who understood her fears and had felt them himself.

 

"I just arrived." She said as she undid the latch in the over head compartment.

 

"So, you haven't talked to him yet?"

 

"No, I am still just getting off the plane."

 

"You'll let me know when you do?" He said. His voice shook with an uncertain tone she was unaccustomed to. It made her slightly more worried to realize he was worried.

 

"Of course, Ryan I know this is your future we are talking about as well as mine and I don't plan to let a mistake I made eight years ago mess with it. I will talk to him. I will get what I want and when I do you and I will celebrate with a splashy dinner in Manitou Springs, complete with champagne." She hoped the confidence she tried to portray in her little declaration was evident to him, lord knew, it wasn't to her.

 

"Ok, hurry home for that dinner."

 

"I will."

 

As she was about to hang up she heard her name being said in the receiver. "Hmmm?" was all she could manage while juggling the phone at her ear and her baggage overhead.

 

"I love you." he said and hung up.

 

"I love you too." she whispered as a smile bloomed over her lovely bowed lips.

 

     The smile that had started to spread only moments before vanished as a small envelope fell for the leather case she had just freed from the compartment. It fell to the floor or the middle aisle right by her feet. Not missing a single beat Rod scooped it up on the go. As she walked with determination towards the exit of the plane she opened the envelope and once again read the single Printed word. No. That was all he'd written. There were no pleasantries. There was no explanation to why he said it. There was nothing but a simple no. She didn't have to ask what he ment. She knew he was responding to the ad she had placed in the Little Exumas local paper. What she did have to ask was why he would say "No." when they hadn't seen or spoken to each other in over eight years. Surely her request had just been the next logical step.

 

"Well David, the answer won't be no for long. You didn't think I'd come all the way out here did you?"

 

      Her joy at seeing the ocean was drowned by her anger that she had to come so far to right a wrong. If she felt as though she'd just come home she blocked that out as well as she headed to the docks. She was not home, she thought. She was visiting a beautiful Island for a very ugly purpose. It would do her more good to remember that. She couldn't get caught up in the beauty of the islands. She couldn't allow herself to become attached to these surroundings as she had before. It had already been proven that you do stupid things when you become attached. She needed to finish her business and go home. She had a life there, a medical practice to see to, Friends she didn't want to just leave behind. She had a home that was ready to move into and an apartment she would stay in until her and Ryan were married. There was too much there, not enough here. She boarded the private charter boat she had hired two days ago and began the last leg of the journey to Little Exumas Island.

 

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     David Rolle sat on the end of his pier slowly reeling in the line he had cast into the ocean moments before. As they had so many times over the last few weeks his thoughts drifted to a beautiful red haired woman. A woman he'd had for a short time so long ago. One who had plagued his heart for what seemed like forever. He thought of the note he'd sent her. It was more like bait really, not much different than the bait on the end of the line currently bobbing in the ocean.

 

     Unless he was completely off mark, she should be arriving in the next few days. He'd done the calculation. He sent the note to her over a week ago. That was plenty of time for it to have reached her before the first ship left harbor and headed to the Islands. He had made sure to print the return address clearly. Though he figured she would know where to find him he wanted to state clearly that he could still be found in the same spot.

 

     The first ship of the season left Florida the next morning. Since it took a three day leisurely trip to get to the islands he figured Rod would get there in time for the weekend, at which time he planned to be out on his boat. He figured his lobster traps would need checking by then and the good Lord had provided an excellent fishing season that he planned to take advantage of. He figured he would be gone until Saturday night, more than enough time for her to cool her heels waiting for him. He had waited long enough for her, she would learn a little bit about what it was like.

 

     When he got back it would be like reeling in the line deep below the oceans surface, his chances of making a catch depended on instinct, patience and of course the Lords will. Of course, David thought, you can't expect to be handed what you want on a silver platter. You have to put in the effort to get it, then you can leave the rest up to God and His plan. He already had plans for his part of the work and he could hardly wait to put them in motion.

     David had expected a divorce request; it was an inevitable next step, even more inevitable because of the logic behind it. Rodreika thrived on logic so it was only a matter of time before this happened. He didn't expect an ad in the newspaper however. Why she would do that was beyond him. She knew where to find him. She could have had the papers drawn up and served him at his door. Instead he had read it in the Sunday paper. Right there in the personal ads in bold print. David didn't plan to dart into a safe coral at the first ripple in the water and he certainly wasn't going to allow Rod to take the easy way out again. This time she would have to work for what she wanted, she couldn't just run in the middle of the night this time.

 

     He cast his line, now freshly baited, back into the ocean and began the luring process again. He thought again about the note. It was a bit petty of him to send it the way he had but it was the only thing he could think of to do. He had asked for forgiveness from the Lord for it already. Besides she was so beautiful when she was angry, as she certainly would have been upon reading it. Furious was probably more along the lines. He could see it so clearly. Her cheeks would have flushed under that light dusting of freckles. Her pretty bow lips probably tightened into a thin hard line while her Ice-blue eyes blazed with fury. She would have sat like that, a magnificent sight, for a few minutes until her computer like brain kicked in and started to form a plan. Then she would have run all of her fingers through that long, curly burnished gold hair of hers. He really wished he could have seen that, it was an unconscious habit that had captivated him from day one. Even more so because she didn't realize that she was even doing it much less how gorgeous she looked when she was. Thinking of her had made David anxious for her arrival which in turn made him more determined to gone when she got there.

 

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     Rodreika sat on the balcony outside her hotel room thinking of how she would approach him. She didn't notice her finger running through her hair. She'd had to put effort into blocking out the beauty that surrounded her. She didn't have time to be lured from her thoughts by white sand beaches that called her name each time a wave reached the shore, or by the need churning inside her to, once again, see the wonders hiding below the glistening teal surface of water. As much as she secretly wanted to she couldn't be stalled by seeking the solitude of the empty beach and the soothing it offered her fragile nerves. So she blocked these temptations from her mind and focused instead on how to get her pigheaded husband to agree to a quite friendly divorce.

 

     Rod's problem wasn't going to be finding David. Rod thought she had a good idea of where he could be found. If he wasn't there it was a small island all she had to do was ask. "And have word of my arrival reach him before I do." she whispered. Frustration caused her fingers to once again take the often traveled path through her hair as her brain focused on ways to keep her presence quiet until she was ready to reveal it. She needed the element of surprise and the advantage it gave her. He wasn't expecting her so she could probably use that to get him to sign the papers she'd had drawn up. She also needed a plan and she needed one fast before word spread of the single guest in the islands one hotel. David certainly wasn't stupid he'd know right away that it was her. She didn't have much time before everyone on the island knew Rodreika was back.

 

Author's Note

When reviewing I would love to hear any suggestions on grammar and typos and such things but please leave technical errors typos and grammar problems to the notes, please review only the story in reviews. Let me know if you left some notes when you do find errors, but please, make it easier on me to correct the problem by leaving mention of it in notes.

Reviews

[Jane Doe]

This is a wonderful start to a great story. It is very well written, and leaves the reader wanting more. I can't wait to read the next chapter.