Chapter 10
The lagoon was still and quiet, the water seeming to stand frozen with tiny silvery tips spaced evenly apart. Vi stood on the forward deck of the houseboat, looking out across the water to the now deserted beach. It was exactly like the way they had first seen it, and that time seemed so very distant in the past. It was odd, she thought, but it looked as though nothing had happened there at all.
"Isn*t it beautiful, darling?" she said as Stan slipped his arms around her waist, pulling her backside against his muscular body.
"Like the day we arrived," he answered.
"Yes, I was just thinking that."
"Well, honey, we have to go," he said softly, and he turned his wife around to face him, then kissed her full on the lips. He held her in the kiss for a long moment, savoring the newly awakened sensuality of his beautiful wife. But-then he had to stop himself, knowing that time was running out. He broke away from the lingering kiss, and he smiled at her. "Will you cast off the port Jines, mate?"
"Aye, aye, sir!"
He walked into the cabin and started up the engine of the slow moving craft, and when he was satisfied that all was in working order, he called to Vi.
"Okay. Let her go!"
"She's adrift, captain!" came the reply, and Stan pushed the throttle on' full. The lumbering houseboat slowly got under way, and he steered it back toward the channel leading to the main river.
Vi stayed outside on the forward deck, her mind rapidly scanning over the events of the past weeks. The fantastic spot near the river they thought they had discovered had become the beginning of a total change in their lives. They were going home now, but home wasn't going to be the same anymore. They wouldn't even be living there for long, as an apartment was no longer suitable. Ed Rochton had spelled it out in simple terMs. An architect designing houses for him had to live in a decent house! Of course they could afford one now, and that made a lot of difference too. Stan was really happy, which made her happy, as he would be able at last to start doing the things that he's always wanted to do, and of course that which -he was best able to do, Vi reminded herself. There was another change, and that was perhaps the most important. They now had a good sex life together, and it had brought them closer together than ever before.
The boat was nearly into the narrow channel that led out. of the cul-de-sac, and Vi took one more look around before going inside to join her husband. She was going to miss this place, she thought unhappily, and she sniffed back the tears slowly welling up in her eyes.