Searching For Treasure

chapter 9

"This doesn't look too bad,”said Rose, admiring Dana's handiwork in the mirror. "Not bad at all. You must have been a popular attraction at those carnivals."

"I did all right," Dana said.

"I only hope I can show it to Henry before it sweats off."

The rain had fallen hard and fast and then moved out of the area quickly, leaving behind a heavy sultriness that pulled and dragged at them. Earlier, Josie had put a box fan in her window in a vain attempt to give them some relief. Grace fanned herself with a magazine. "I don't know how anyone can survive this heat wave,”Grace remarked crossly.

Dana shrugged as she began a new design on Josie's face.

Grace fanned harder. "I feel like I'm sitting in a swamp."

"Well, you're not far from one. Just south of here is the largest area of forested wetlands in the country."

Rose snorted. "I can't believe we're sitting around here talking about the weather and the local geography. Let's get to the good stuff." She settled herself on the bed and looked at Dana expectantly. "Let's talk about men."

Dana, filling in a circle around Josie's eye, turned the tables neatly. "Sure, Rose, tell us all about Henry."

Rose grinned in delight. "You hussy."

Josie giggled. "I was just thinking this seemed like a sleepover, only during the day," Josie said.

"I used to love those, only we called them pajama parties. They were fun. Why do women feel like they have to stop doing fun stuff when they stop being teenagers? Who says that grown-up women can't get together with their girlfriends, eat ice cream, play records and gossip about boys?" Rose asked.

Dana shook her head. "No reason I can think of."

"We do all kinds of stuff when we are younger just because it's fun. But then you hit twenty and suddenly it's not fun, it's immature. I've never understood that. I think that's why there are so many stressed out folks. They've forgotten how to play. They don't bother to do things like, like-"

"Like chasing fireflies in the backyard,”offered Dana, her eyes smiling at a kindred spirit.

"Or watching Saturday morning cartoons."

"Or creating a masterpiece with crayons."

"Or reading comic books."

"Or playing in the sprinkler on a summer afternoon."

Rose jumped up. "Sister!" she said with a hug. "Grace, we've got to get this girl in the club."

"Hey, what about me?" Josie pouted prettily.

"Sorry, hon. When you get old enough to realize how much fun it was to be your age, then give us a call."

"Do you still do all that stuff?" Josie asked.

"Sure,”admitted Dana. "I figure you only start to get old when you think you're too old to play with toys. Just last year, Jack bought me an Easy Bake Oven for Christmas."

"Why?"

"Because I never got one when I was a kid. I think I had more fun making those tiny little cakes and cookies now than I would have if I'd gotten it when I was ten." She didn't add that part of the fun had been Jack trying to help her and making a mess instead. They had laughed and chased each other trying to smear batter on their faces. Dana smiled at the memory.

"Which brings me back to my original subject,”Rose interjected slyly. Dana cut her a glance, but said nothing. "Come on; don't give me that fish-eyed look. The best part of this weekend has been watching the two of you trying to figure out what the hell was going on."

"Really?" She added the finishing touches to Josie's face. "Better than Henry?"

"All right, all right, you'll show me yours if I show you mine, huh?"

"Or we could both gang up on Josie and quiz her about Noah."

The teenager blushed through her makeup. "Hey, I'm just sitting here minding my own business. Why are you picking on me?"

Relentless, Rose continued. "I get the notion that this is all pretty new for you two."

Dana sighed in exasperation. "Don't you ever give up?"

"Nope."

Dana laughed quietly. "Sometimes I wonder how new it actually is. I have a hunch it has been going on for a while and I just haven't bothered to notice."

"On his part?"

"No, on mine. It's really kind of confusing. If a few days ago, someone would have asked me if I loved Jack, I would have said sure and not thought anything about it. I mean, he's my best friend, of course I do. But now if someone was to ask me, I'd have to stop and think. Not because I don't, but now I don't know what I would mean by my answer. Does that make any sense?"

Mulling over her comments, she didn't wait for an answer. "In a lot of ways, nothing has changed. Does that mean I've always been in love with Jack and I’m just now noticing? What kind of moron wouldn't notice a thing like that? Or does it mean I still just love Jack as a friend, only with the added element of physical attraction now suddenly there, between us?" She looked at her companions helplessly. "Do you understand? I heard a line in a movie once that said men and women couldn't be friends because sex always gets in the way."

"When Harry Met Sally,”said Josie.

"That's right. I've known Jack for almost twenty years and sex has not once been an issue. Not once. But, now, what if it messes everything up, what if it does get in the way? But as scared as I am that this is a mistake, I still have every intention of making it again. Do you see why I'm confused? I want it to mean more, and I know Jack expects it to mean more, but what if it doesn't? What if I'm ruining our relationship because suddenly I've got an itch only Jack can scratch?"

Rose looked taken aback at the serious turn of the conversation. I guess I asked for it, she thought. Having no sage advice to offer at the moment, Rose awkwardly patted Dana on the shoulder. "I can't answer that for you. That's just something you'll have to figure out on your own. You and Jack."

"Yeah, if we bothered to talk about it. Jack and I have never had a problem communicating, until lately. Half the time, I don't know what he means. And since this…this thing has happened, we seem to do everything but talk. We look at each other, we banter, we tease, we argue, we smile, we touch. But we don't talk."

"You're forgetting how the movie ended." Noticeably silent throughout this discussion, Grace paused in her fanning for the first time. "Harry and Sally. They were friends. Then by the end of the movie, they fell in love."

It wasn't long after this that Grace declared herself ready for a nap. Rose set off in search for Henry to show him her new face. With a shake of her head, Dana realized that Rose had successful avoided any talk about her own budding romance. Torn between wanting to look for Jack and wanting to be alone to think about Jack, she headed toward her room.

She paused as she spied Jack sitting on the top of the stairs as if waiting for her. Or maybe he was just trying to catch a breeze. She sat down next to him. "Hey. You're looking pensive."

To be honest, he had been brooding, which was not a natural state for Jack to find himself in. His conversation with Noah, his sudden inability to know what Dana was thinking, the casual way she had tossed off the fact that some other man had made a pass at her, and the unresisting way she had allowed herself to be led off by the other ladies, instead of spending time with him, had all contributed to a rather gloomy attitude.

Jack studied her closely. The hair around her face was curling in the humidity, her face shining with sweat, her clothes hanging damply from her limbs. And there was a smudge of white paint across her cheek. Still he wanted her so much at that moment that he could barely breathe from it. But all he said was, "You're looking a little pensive yourself. The old ladies run you over the coals?"

"Not really. But I've decided that I want to be Rose when I grow up."

Jack wasn't listening. He seemed entranced by the drop of sweat that was snaking its way down her face. He watched as it paused on her chin then slowly resumed its slide down her throat to disappear into the v-neckline of her shirt. He touched a finger to the spot where it had slid out of sight and then retraced its trail back along her neck and face to where the drop had began its journey.

Despite the heat, Dana felt herself shiver. "Jack?"

"Mmm?"

"Do you want to go play?"

Jack felt a strange, dangerous coldness grip him at her words. He smiled into her eyes, slowly, sensuously, as he picked up her hand. He held it sandwiched between his two much bigger ones. He held her hand up to his mouth and kissed the tips of each finger, softly, tenderly, never once looking away from her face. He held her hand up to his face and stroked it along his cheek. Dana felt herself getting lost in his eyes, consumed by the spell he was casting. "Is that what we're doing, Dana? Playing?"

"It was just an expression."

"Was it?"

The tone of his question confused her. She tried to pull her hand away. He held it fast and kissed her palm. "What do you want, D?"

"I want for us to go to my room."

He kissed her fingers again. "A little hot for that, don't you think?"

"So why are you trying to get me hotter?"

"Is that what I'm doing?"

With a surge of anger she realized that he was laughing at her. She jerked her hand away.

"I'm just playing with you, D. Didn't you say you wanted to play?"

Dana shot up off the stairs and stomped to her room. Jack beat her to the door, blocking her way. "Dana, wait."

The air around Dana seemed to crackle from her anger. "I don't like this mood you're in, Jack."

"Well, I'm sorry! I don't like it much either." He rubbed his hands through his hair, growling in frustration. "What do you want from me, Dana?"

"Right now I want you to get out of my way."

"Please, I'm being serious." He ducked his head, making her look at him. "What do you want from me?"

He was serious. He was so serious it scared her. Her anger dissolved like a mist. The potential for saying the wrong thing hung like the Sword of Damocles over her head. She found herself stammering. "I-I want what I've always wanted. For you to be my friend."

His shoulders slumped as if in defeat. "So you still want to be friends."

Dana felt a little bit of panic forming in her gut. "Of course. Don't you?"

"You said you wanted to move forward."

"I thought we were."

"Is that what you call it?" Dana shook her head in confusion. "We spent the night in this room making love. Doesn't that mean something to you?"

"Of course it does,”she cried. "How you can you ask me that?"

"What did it mean?"

She looked at him helplessly. "I don't know what you are asking me."

"You should. It's a simple enough question. You asked me to stay with you and I did. We held each other all night. We made each other happy. And when we woke up this morning, I thought we'd find ourselves in a different place. If I was wrong you need to tell me. So I'm asking, what did last night mean to you?"

The panic grew in her belly until her whole insides churned from it. Oh no, I'm blowing it, she thought. Terrified of saying the wrong thing, she found herself unable to verbalize anything of what she felt. Last night had been magic. And for the first time in her life, she woke up feeling complete. Did he want to hear those things? Or did he want to hear how he had made her tremble with need, with ache for his touch, and with burn for his kisses? "I don't know what you want me to say,”she whispered wretchedly.

Feeling utterly dejected that he couldn't make her understand, he began to turn away from her. "It's not what I want you to say. It's what I need to hear you say. I need to hear you say it, Dana, and you're not."

Near tears, she clutched his arm. "What is it, Jack? Tell me what you want to hear and I'll say it."

"I can't tell you. You have to tell me."

"Jack, what's wrong? Why are we out here fighting instead of-?"

"Playing?" Hearing the misery in his voice, Dana felt her panic morph into a cold knot of despair. "When you know the answer to that Dana, come let me know."

Dana slammed the door in his face. She threw her shoes across the room. She cursed him. She cursed herself even harder. She beat her fists on the wall. Then she sat on the floor and cried until she gave herself a headache. She did everything but understand what the hell had just happened.

She was still on the floor sometime later when Noah knocked on the door. He had gone to his room to change his shirt and heard strange noises coming through the wall that separated it from Dana's bedroom. "Dana?" The sight of her tear-stained face shocked him. "Dana! What's wrong?" He quickly closed the door and dropped to his knees next to her.

"He wants something and I want to give it to him. But he won't tell me, so I can't."

"Dana, you're not making any sense." Noah didn't know what to do. Dana rarely cried and when she did, she never cried in front of him. "What happened?"

"He doesn't want me anymore,”she wailed. "He's walking away from me, from us." She rounded on him furiously. "What did you say to him? He's been acting funny since you talked this morning."

Noah was stunned. This was about Jack? He thought everything was fine now between them. "Nothing! I-I just asked him if he loved you."

Dana looked at him through her fingers. "What did he say?"

"He said that he did. And,”Noah took a deep breath, "I asked if you loved him. He said he wasn't sure."

"What's the matter with him? How can he not know?"

"Maybe because you haven't told him?"

Dana blinked once, twice, feeling quite stupid. She shoved the heels of her palms into her eyes as fresh tears flowed. "Oh, God, I've messed everything up!" She sobbed brokenly into her hands.

"Dana, please; please stop crying." Noah patted her foolishly on her back. "Do you want me to get someone? Do you want me to get Rose?"

"No,”she said bitterly, turning away from him.

*****

"You made her cry, dude." Noah had gone looking for Jack ready to fight. But the fight drained out of him when he found Jack on the back steps staring morosely at the gazebo, clearly as miserable as Dana was.

Jack closed his eyes in pain. "That wasn't my intent."

"Yeah, well just what was your intent?" Not willing to give up his anger just yet, Noah clattered noisily down the steps and sat down next to him.

"You don't understand, Noah, I need to hear her say she loves me."

"What is it with you and words all of a sudden? You're pushing her, man. You've had a lot longer to get used to the idea of the two of you being more than friends. This is new to her. You need to give her time."

Jack laughed harshly. "I've given her nothing but time."

Noah stared at him. "That's just stupid. You've waited and waited. Finally, she's starting to come around and you're giving up? Now?"

"I'm not giving up."

"Well, it looks that way to me. And it looks that way to her." Jack said nothing. "So what, she doesn't say what you want to hear today. What are you going to do, go out and find another girlfriend?" Jack flinched as if from a blow. "I didn't think so. You two have been together since before I could walk. I don't think either of you would have the first idea how to live without the other. You're making ultimatums you can't follow through on, Jack."

"I wasn't making ultimatums." Jack paused and then laughed with self- loathing. "I don't know, maybe I was. I just wanted her to think."

"Well, she's thinking now. She's crying her heart out because she thinks she's lost you. If that doesn't mean she loves you, I don't know what does. Dana has never cried over a man. Ever. But she's crying over you. Now you think about that."

*****

Jack didn't know what made him go to Dana's room, other than old habits were tough to break. Noah was right. Dana rarely cried, but when she did, Jack had always been the one she needed.

He knocked, holding his breath. She opened the door slowly, the marks of crying clear on her face. He felt his heart squeeze in his chest. Dana's eyes widened when she saw him standing there. But before he could make a sound, she grabbed him by the shirt and hauled him into the room.

Kicking the door closed, she hung onto his shirt by the fistfuls and tried to shake him. She only succeeded in tearing his shirt. "Don't you dare leave me, Jack Matthew Harrison,”she shouted furiously. "You can't leave me."

"Why not, D?"

She threw her arms around his neck and hauled herself up. Wrapping her legs around his waist she kissed him with everything she had until he staggered from it.

Leaning against the wall, Jack cupped her face with both hands and gently broke the kiss. He tenderly brushed her hair away from her face and looked at her with haunted eyes. "I need more, D."

Her feet thudded to the floor and she stared at him in disbelief as tears of frustration welled in her eyes. She'd shot her load and missed. She had declared her love. She had thrown her pride on the floor and begged him not to leave her. She had nothing left to give him. She shook his shirt again. It was like trying to shake a rock. "I don't know what you want me to say!"

Mercifully, he took pity on her. "I'm you're best friend, I know you love me. Just like I know you love Noah. Or Jinx…Or, hell, even chocolate chip ice cream. But I need more than that from you, Dana."

The light dawned in Dana's mind and she collapsed against him boundlessly. "Oh." She laughed softly, sudden understanding making her giddy. One simple little word... She now realized what he wanted and she could give it to him now without any qualms. "Jack, I am so crazy head over heels in love with you that I can't imagine life without you." She folded her hands demurely and bowed her head. "Please don't leave me, Jack,”she said meekly, peeking at him with eyes sparkling with mischief. "I couldn't bear it."

"Well, since you put it that way." With a grin and a shout of triumph, Jack swung her up into his arms and spun her around the room, falling across the bed with Dana splayed across him. "And just for the record, I am crazy head over heels in love with you, too. I can't remember a time when I haven't been."

In wonder she touched his lips with her fingers. "Silent for so long," she said.

"Then I almost blew it."

"Not for good. We are too much a part of each other. Eventually we would have worked it out."

"Noah said we couldn't live without each other."

"Smart kid."

Jack traced his thumbs across her cheeks. "I'm sorry I made you cry, D."

"Me, too, it's not one of my better looks."

"I don't know. I've always thought bloodshot eyes, a red and runny nose and blotchy skin looked rather fetching in a woman your age."

"Quiet, buster, or I will have to hurt you." Dana was once again clutching huge fistfuls of his shirt. The fabric would never be the same. She placed a string of tiny kisses along his jaw, down his throat and across his chest. "Jack, you know that drop of sweat you were so fascinated with earlier?"

"Yeah?"

She raised her head and whispered in his ear seductively. "I've got more."

Less than an hour later, Dana leaped from her room wearing nothing but Jack's crumpled shirt. Flinging her arms out wide, she shouted to the world, "I love him! I love him! I love him!" She then dashed back into her room, the closing door muffling much laughter and giggles.

*****

When they appeared for dinner that evening, it was a different couple than who had come down for breakfast. Gone were the glittering looks of sexual discovery, replaced instead with besotted looks of love. Rose didn't even bother to tease them.

Because this was the last dinner they would be having together at Raven Keep Castles, Mrs. Babineaux had tried to make every effort to outdo herself. The table was beautifully set, as usual, and the sideboard was loaded to groaning with lamb chops broiled with bananas and pineapple, a rich seafood bouillabaisse, jambalaya, crawfish ettouffee, hopping john, dirty rice, candied sweet potatoes, and corn spoon bread. A steaming, fresh-from-the-oven blackberry cobbler served with dairy cream was for dessert. She also chose this night to finally make an appearance.

Bustling out of the kitchen wiping her hands on her apron, all five-feet of her, Mrs. Babineaux rushed up to Dana. "Oh, Cher, it's really you." She turned to the rest of the table, who were all staring at her as if a ghost had just appeared in their midst. "It's the Pickle Lady."

With some effort everyone tore their astonished gaze from Mrs. Babineaux and refocused it on Dana. In unison they repeated: "The Pickle Lady?"

"When Mr. Gaston tell me tha' lady whose pickles you like so much, she be sittin' at my table, I tells him go on wi' hisself. But I peek and I seen you picture on the com-poo-ter. An' it's you, Cher. The Pickle Lady."

Jack grinned. "I knew that picture would get you in trouble," he whispered to Dana.

At the questioning looks from her friends, Dana tries to explain. "It's my business. Remember I told you I sold jams and jellies online. I only dabble with pickles, though."

"O, she jus' bein' modest. Not tha' she don' put out some good spreads. Muscadine, mayhew, blueberry, blackberry, cinnamon apple, I gar- an-tee, tha's good eatin'. Bu' she make the best garden pickles I ever put a tooth around. An' her piccalilli, umm-umm, tha's good. I serve it wi' my turklin."

At this everyone looked to Oscar for translation. "Turkey" he mouthed silently.

"Well, I be gettin' back. I jus' wanted to tell, well, I be wantin' to shake your hand. You jus' been, o, Cher, I bin a fan of your pickles forever."

Dana was getting downright embarrassed by the effusive praise and by the suspicious glistening in Mrs. Babineaux's eyes. One would have thought pickles had changed her life. "Well, I, um…thank you, but I've only been making them for three years."

"Oh, foot, cher, you know wha' I mean." The tiny cook looked around at the rest of the table. "Look at yous folks, not eatin', wha' the food no good?"

Henry was the first to find his tongue. "The food is fabulous, Mrs. Babineaux, but, but, shoot fire, we thought you were a myth!"

"Oh, go on wi' youself." She shook her head and chuckled. "Mr. Gaston, you got some mighty strange folk sittin' at you table." She then bustled back into the kitchen out of sight.

Once the cook had disappeared, everyone looked at each other with a glazed look as if a force of nature had just visited them. Oscar and Josie simply grinned.

Compared to Mrs. Babineaux the rest of the meal was pretty anticlimactic. Soon Henry was pushing away his plate with a sigh. "I think I've done as much damage as I can do. Don't nobody look while I pop my buttons."

"Hey Oscar," called Rose, "this is our last night here. Do you have anything special planned?"

As they once again headed out to the courtyard after dinner, they learned that Oscar had planned a simple summer evening of old-fashioned socializing complete with homemade ice cream and lemonade. "I thought it would nice," he began uncertainly, "if we could all just relax and spend part of the evening together. Not to sound like an old fool, but I feel as if all of you have become good friends of mine."

Grace linked her arm with his and beamed at everyone. "I for one think there's nothing foolish about it. Because I feel the same way." She sniffed loudly. "I'm going to miss you all."

"Now, now, Grace, don't start. It's not the end of the world,”Rose said brusquely, blinking away the brightness in her own eye. "Maybe we'll trade Christmas cards or something."

The ice cream maker was the old-fashioned hand crank type. After Oscar brought out the buckets of chilled ice cream mix, ice and rock salt, the men took turns turning the crank. Josie and Noah were arguing about what radio station they should play. And Mark was trying to explain to Grace what a defensive linebacker does on a football team. Rose tugged at Dana's arm. "They're going to be at that for a while. Take a walk with me," Rose said.

Arms linked, Rose and Dana wandered off the courtyard and around to the back of the castle. Although the Sun had set, there was still light enough to see by. Rose was unusually quiet. "I hope I didn't start something this afternoon with my nosy questions."

"What? No, of course not." They stopped beside the old water well and Dana peered inside. "Hello, in there." Dana grinned. "I always have to do that."

But Rose wasn't willing to be deflected. "We heard you two fighting again just after you left us. I thought maybe." She trailed off.

"It wasn't because of you. Besides it all worked out." In a horrible imitation, she declared, "What we have here, is a failure, to communicate." At Rose's puzzled look she explained. That's from 'Cool Hand Luke'."

"Never saw it."

"Yeah, well, anyway, I think we've got our communication problems ironed out."

"Sometimes watching the two of you was worse than any soap opera I've ever seen. You're either shouting and fighting or laughing and loving. It gave me whiplash trying to keep up with it."

Continuing on, they stopped to rest on a stone garden bench. "You might not believe it, but Jack and I don't usually fight. I'm afraid you've gotten a skewed view of us this weekend."

"And just before dinner I heard a different kind of shouting. Something like 'I love him'? I gather that's not usual either." Dana could only giggle. "Damn, girl, I guess you did get things worked out, huh? I knew you would all along."

"You did, huh?"

"Sure, especially after I finally got Oscar to come clean about the rest of the legend of the Whispering Oak."

Dana eyed her suspiciously. "Yeah?"

"Yeah, only couples who are destined to be together forever hear the whispering lovers at night."

Dana studied her, mulling over what she said. "I didn't think you believed in that sort of thing."

"For this, I'll make an exception."

"Hmm. Still, there's a part of me that wants to be angry with him."

"What part is that?"

"The part that doesn't like being coerced or manipulated. The part that doesn't respond well to threats."

"Is that what he did?"

"Kind of. Maybe. I don't know, but that's what it feels like he did."

"But you did respond. I guess you felt you had to. It was either that or the alternative."

"What alternative?"

"Learning to live without him."

"I wouldn't want to even try."

"So now you don't have to. You both got what you wanted. So go ahead and forgive a little manipulation. Just don't let him make a habit of it."

They sat there for a moment enjoying the quiet summer sounds around them. Sounds like the crickets in the trees and the sound of leaves rustling in the slight breeze. In the distance was the sound of the golden oldies station that Noah and Josie had settled on. And overlaying all of that was the sound of someone running. Dana and Rose looked at each other with wide eyes. Were they about to see Just Cedric?

The sound of running footsteps grew louder in their ears. Then all at once he was there, a rather comical looking gentleman in nineteenth century clothing. He ran with an odd stride, leaning backwards as if his body couldn't keep up with his feet. He was close enough now that they could hear him gasping a little from exertion. He was also close enough to see that he was completely transparent.

He ran past them without even glancing in their direction. His whole focus was on the water well. He ran straight for it and then without slowing his stride, dove in headfirst. There is no further sound except the tiniest of splashes. Then there was silence. Even the crickets were quiet.

"Uh, Dana?"

"Uh."

"Let's keep this to ourselves, yeah?"

"Uh."

"You said it."