Safe Harbour

“Was she begging your forgiveness? She damn well should.” He was still outraged over what she and Ted had done, and then Ophélie realized suddenly that she should have asked him about the baby. But how could she refuse? She didn't think she could, nor should. He was, after all, Pip's half brother, and Ted's child.

“She's dying.”

“When did that happen?” He looked stunned.

“She found out two months ago. She has ovarian cancer, and it metastasized to her lungs and bones. She doesn't think she has more than a few months. She wants me to take the baby. Us …” She decided to make a clean breast of it immediately. “I said yes. How do you feel about that? I told her we were getting married, and I can tell her we can't, if you don't want to. But she doesn't have anyone else. How do you feel about it?” He sat at the foot of her bed for a minute and thought about it. It was certainly a major addition to their life, and not one he had expected, but he could see her point. It would be hard to refuse, and in some ways harder still for her, because the baby was Ted's, and Pip's half brother. It was a very peculiar situation.

“Our family seems to be growing exponentially, doesn't it? I don't see how you can't take him. Do you really think she'll die?”

“Sounds like it. She sounded pretty bad.”

“I don't think we have much choice. At least he's cute,” he said, leaning over to kiss her. He was an incredibly good sport. And they agreed not to tell Pip about it for the time being. It was too depressing, and she had been through enough trauma with her mother over the past six weeks. She didn't need to know Andrea was dying. It was just too much.

Ophélie got a note from Andrea, thanking her, a few days later, and she didn't call after that. Ophélie was going to call her, but she was so tired and weak herself, she kept putting it off and it still upset her. Matt drove her to the beach two weeks later, with Pip and the dog. They took a short walk, and sat in the sunshine. It already felt like summer, and was only March. They talked about their wedding plans. They had decided to do it quietly at the beach, with just their children present, and a priest Matt knew in Bolinas. It sounded just right to them. Neither of them wanted a fancy social event.

And two days after they'd taken Pip to the beach, they went back out together on a brilliantly sunny day. She said that she thought the sea air had been good for her, and he agreed, but he had something else in mind. They packed a picnic lunch in the city, since he had nothing to eat out there. And as soon as they got to the house in Safe Harbour, he set the basket on the table, and put some music on. She had a fair idea of what he was thinking, and she was ready this time. They had waited a long, long time for this. It was what should have happened in Tahoe, and didn't.

As soon as they walked in, he put his arms around her and kissed her, and she looked up at him. Long before he ever touched her, she was already his, and wanted to be. She followed him into his bedroom, and he took her clothes off gently and laid her down on his bed, and then he joined her, and they cuddled quietly under the sheets, until passion overtook them, and swept them away on a gentle sea. It was the joining of two lives, two people, two hearts, two worlds, and was all they wanted it to be. It was what they had both hoped for and had only dreamed. And together in each other's arms, at Safe Harbour, the dream came true at last.

28

OPHÉLIE HAD BEEN PLANNING TO CALL ANDREA EVER since she'd heard from her two weeks before. But she'd been overwhelmed, trying to catch up on things that had piled up when she was sick. She had to go to a suppression hearing in the case against her assailant, because the defense wanted to suppress her testimony and prevent her from testifying at the trial. After an exhausting morning in court, which Matt attended with her, the defense's motion was denied. And she was still tired. Something always seemed to stop her when she was going to call Andrea. She had promised herself finally that she was going to call that afternoon, before Pip came home. She was about to dial the number, when Andrea's au pair called.

“I was just going to call her,” Ophélie said pleasantly. “How is she? I'm glad you called.”

The voice at the other end sounded uncomfortable, and hated to tell her the news. “She died this morning, just before noon,” she said, and Ophélie felt as though she'd been hit by a brick.