GULL COTTAGE VALENTINE        Susan Griffith(& Lynn Murray!)

   Drawn by the sound of giggles from the children's room, Carolyn moved down the hallway quietly. 
   "Planning on boarding their vessel by stealth?" came a soft, melodious voice in her ear.  She jumped, and turned a startled, then red face towards the Captain.
   "No, of course not!" she denied, then grinned up at him.  "Not with you to keep me on the straight and narrow!  What are they doing?" she asked in a hushed tone.
   "I believe some craft..." he shrugged.  "Not being a nursemaid, I did not deem it necessary to check further into the situation."
   "Mom, are you two out there?" came Candy's voice.  "Don't come in!  We're making a Valentine's card for you and the Captain!  Stay out, please!"
   "Valentine's card?  We just got over Christmas!  I still have some of the decorations to put away!  Why are you starting in on Valentine's Day already?"
   "Because." Candy answered, sure that that was quite enough to say on the matter.  "So please don't come in!  Or the Captain!"
   "Very well." he answered for himself in a louder voice.  "But I must say, I tend to agree with your mother..."
   "Of course!" Candy said impatiently.  Carolyn turned a startled look at the Captain, and met his speculative one.  "But just don't come in!  We'll be finished soon.  For now."
   "Shall we retire to our room, madam?" the Captain asked, a hint of laughter in his deep tones.
   "OUR room?" Carolyn almost gasped.
   "Oh, come now!  We've gone into this many times!"
   "I begin to suspect you of saying it just to embarrass me!" she said, a trifle crossly, aware of the colour rising in her cheeks.
   "It appears that even the children think of us as a couple now.  After that time your parents were here, trying to marry you off..."
   "Captain!  You promised not to mention that again!" Carolyn fumed, heading back to her room.  "It's not MY fault Mother decided to surprise us with a wedding!  Why she thought I'd elope again is beyond me!"
   "It didn't work out the first time?"  His question came quietly, surprising her into stopping in her tracks.  She looked at him wide- eyed.  "Forgive me, dear lady...I had no call to say anything of the kind to you."  He studied her now pale face, the bright green eyes dominating her features.  "Truly, I did not want to ..."
   Carolyn sighed and turned away from his piercing gaze.  "It's all right, Captain.  I'll tell you about it sometime.  But not now.  Please."  Entering the bedroom, she crossed over to his telescope.  "May I?"  She needed to do something to get her mind off all the images brought up by the last conversation.
   "Be my guest." he said gallantly.
   "Thank you." she put her eye to the lens, and concentrated on the water, with the sun sparkling on the translucent green.  Somehow, watching the endless waves soothed her as nothing else could.  Well, nothing except an occasional glass of Madeira with the Captain!
   Soon Martha was calling the family for dinner, and Carolyn hurried down with the children. 
   "Did you get finished?" she asked the two.
   "Nope.  But we're working on it!  We're doing one for Martha too!"
Jonathan slid into his chair with a big grin at the housekeeper.
   "Well, I'm flattered!" she smiled at him.  "Now eat all your supper!"
   "Hey, Martha, did they have Valentine's Day in the old days when you were little?"  Jonathan asked.
   She dropped the pan heavily on to the table and glared at him.  "I'm no longer flattered.  What do you mean, ‘in the old days'??!"
   "Oh, you know, Martha!" Candy giggled. 
   "I'm afraid I do." the older woman said, dryly.
   "Well, did they?" Jonathan was nothing if not persistent.
   "Yes, they did.  We gave out cards, we had parties...same as now."
   "Even in MY day, we had Valentine's Day." the Captain appeared, smiling at the boy.  "People began celebrating it hundreds of years ago.  Early on, men gave gifts to their loved ones, then in the 1700's, the custom of sending romantic messages gradually replaced that of giving gifts.  They also had some comic valentines called penny dreadfuls.  And some WERE dreadful!  But they only cost a penny, and some of the fancier ones could cost up to $10!!  WE would give elaborate home-made cards to our sweethearts, and the grownups would go to a ball that night... I remember having to wait and wait and wait until I was old enough to go, then I went off to sea before I ever got there!"
   "So you never got to go?"  Candy was sorry for him.
   "No, not right away.  But I did get to one or two later on."
   "Were they what you had thought they might be?" Carolyn cut in.
   "Are things ever what we dream?" he countered, looking at her significantly.  She blushed and lowered her gaze.  Everyone was remembering their Christmas dream.  Martha cleared her throat.
   "Something to eat or drink, Captain?"
   "Thank you, Martha, but no." he looked at the children again.  "If you like, I'll see what I can find in the wheelhouse from Valentine's Day in the REAL long ago!  I'm sure I have some of the first Valentine cards that were printed in Massachusetts in 1848.  They have paper flowers on them or lace, or both.  I believe I also have a Civil War valentine ... it's a picture of a tent with a flap which opens showing a Union soldier writing to his sweetheart back home.  All of the valentines in the 1800's were handpainted, some had fat cupids on them and some with arrows piercing the heart -- much like those of today!"
   "Find them, please!" both children chorused, beaming happily.
   "But no rush!" Carolyn broke in again.  "There still is a month to go before we have to even THINK about Valentine's Day!"
   "They're having a party again at the Yacht Club." Candy said.  "I wonder if it's the same kind they used to have here when the Captain was growing up here?" 
   "I suppose it's possible." Carolyn shrugged.
   "Too bad you and the Captain can't go.  You're both such good dancers..." Candy mused.
   Carolyn reacted as if she'd been shot.  "How do you know?" she demanded, memories of waltzing with the Captain very vivid still in her mind.  But she had thought they were JUST in her mind, not common knowledge in the household!  The Captain merely chuckled quietly.
   "Well, I know YOU are, and just from the way he walks, I bet the Captain is.  Besides, he's always talking about parties and balls and stuff he has been to...."
   "Yeah," Jonathan put in.  "I don't know why you'd want to go there just to dance with GIRLS, Captain!  I sure wouldn't."
   "Just wait, lad." Captain Gregg smiled, while Candy rolled her eyes and Carolyn hid a grin.  "And usually it's not to dance with girls, as such, but one very special one..." his eyes met Carolyn's and both held for a long moment, unaware of the scrutiny first of curiosity then acceptance from the others.
   Martha cleared her throat noisily again, and Carolyn looked at her with a startled expression.  "Welcome back." Martha said, and a wave of colour washed over Carolyn's face.
   "I'm sorry, Martha."  She immediately began eating.  "Your goulash is delicious."
   "It always is." both children said at once, then laughed. 
   "I'm glad you could stay here instead of having to go to look after your mother, Martha." Candy said.
   Jonathan nodded agreement, his mouth full. 
   "Yes, just think, if I HAD gone, I'd never have met the Captain!  And he's so good to clean up leftovers...." Martha teased.
   "Come now, Martha, surely I'm good for other things as well!" he protested, smiling beguilingly at her.
   "Well...you ARE learning to run the vacuum cleaner..." she admitted, grinning at him.  He rolled his eyes.
   Carolyn laughed at all of them.  She exulted, thinking what a wonderful family she had! 
   After supper was over, Carolyn went into the living room and started the fire in there, curling up in the chair with a book.  With the chill in the room, she was very glad she had a warm sweater.  Then the Captain arrived, and taking up his usual position in front of the fire, he began weaving his stories, telling of some of his voyages among the Pacific islands.  Soon Carolyn's book was forgotten on her lap as she watched him.  She was so engrossed, she almost missed a flash and a muffled giggle.  But the Captain stopped abruptly and swung around to the door, a frown gathering on his face.  "Was it something I said?" he asked haughtily, and Candy appeared, grinning broadly.
   "No, Captain.  Sorry, sir.  Umm...we were just wondering if Mom could play a game with us before bed.  We're done our homework now."
   "Of course."  Carolyn got up. 
   "We've set up the scrabble board on the kitchen table." Jonathan piped up.  "Martha said she's too busy baking.  So could you play, too, Captain?"
   "Very well, lad." the Captain unbent, his irritation at the interruption evaporating.
   Over the next couple of weeks, Candy and Jonathan were seen to have their heads together, whispering and giggling.  Carolyn was patient, knowing it would all be cleared up on Valentine's Day.  Captain Gregg had found the old cards, and some decorations for the children to put up.  The community was busy organizing the Valentine's Dance, too, and Carolyn was trying to come up with an excuse not to attend.  Somehow, the thought of going to a dance without the Captain was horrible.  She had danced with him once in a dream; a dream which she remembered as vividly as if she had just awakened from it, a dream which even now could cause her pulse to race, a dream which STILL left her frustrated if she dwelt on it too long!  She had also danced with him once when he had invaded Claymore's body.  When she had shut her eyes, and simply listened to him talking softly to her while they twirled in the living room, it had indeed been heavenly.  Unfortunately, when she opened her eyes, it was to see Claymore there ... and that had left a bad taste in her mouth for even the memory of THAT dance!!
   One night, Candy asked the family to pose for a picture in the living room -- she had gotten a new camera for Christmas and was still trying it out.  So she wanted a series of "family shots", as she said.  She talked the Captain into taking the picture, but insisted on it being in front of his portrait so that he could "be in it, too".  Touched, but not willing to show it, the Captain blustered a little over the small object he was to manipulate ... then he smiled as he looked at the grouping through the lens, and he took a couple of pictures.  They moved around a bit, but each time Candy asked if he could still get the portrait in -- to which he always replied in the affirmative.  Martha was given the task of taking the film in for developing -- and had to take an oath not to peek before Candy and Jonathan saw them. 
   Finally, it was February the 13th.  Listening to the weather report as she was drinking her morning coffee after the children had gone off to school, Carolyn looked up at Martha, who was clearing away the breakfast dishes.  "I think I've been given my excuse to miss the dance tomorrow night.  A blizzard is supposed to hit the coast!"
   Both women heard the forecast which called for "a hurricane with snow and freezing rain instead of rain".  Martha nodded.  "So much for the new dress I got for the dance.  They'll cancel the dance -- or at the very least, postpone it."
   "Oh, Martha, I'm sorry!  I forgot you were to go with Ed!  Well, maybe the blizzard won't get here for another day or two..."
   Throughout the day, however, it became increasingly obvious that a major storm was approaching.  Everyone in Schooner Bay was putting up shutters, "battening down the hatches", and making sure of necessities in the houses.  And, yes, the Valentine's Dance was cancelled.  They would try to have a "Spring Fling" instead!
   In the middle of the night, the storm struck with a fury and suddenness that had Carolyn sitting bolt upright in bed with a gasp.       "No need to fear, Madam," came the Captain's voice.  "Gull Cottage will weather this storm, and many others for years to come..."
   Carolyn swallowed.  "I...hope so, Captain."  She sank back and pulled the covers around her slim form, trying to warm up again.  But her body was tense, listening to the wind outside...and wondering where the Captain was.
   "Would you like me to start the fire?  I'm afraid the power has gone again, and it will start to get fairly chilly soon!" he said.
   Sighing, Carolyn threw off the covers and got up, groping for her yellow robe.  She pulled it on and zipped it up.  "Yes, please ... but start the one in the living room.  And maybe the wood stove in the kitchen.  I'll start this one."
   "Very well, madam."  She couldn't see him, but felt his presence leave the room.  After a moment of fumbling, she found the matches and lit a candle, then lit the fire she had set the night before, preparatory for such an event as a power outage.  Taking the candle, she went to the children's room and added an extra quilt to their beds without waking them.  She stood for a moment, listening to their soft breathing, and her love for them welled up.  How very lucky she was!
   Back in her own room, she climbed back in to bed, robe and all, and huddled under the blankets.  She kept her gaze on the flames of the fire until her eyes grew too heavy to keep open.  Just as she closed them, she caught a fleeting glimpse of the Captain settling in the chair, and the knowledge that he was staying with her warmed her.  Suddenly feeling wide awake again, Carolyn sat up, then got out of the bed, ignoring his surprised look.
   "Thank you, Captain."  She curled up on the hearth, and looked up at him.  "It's warmer here... I don't much like storms, but I'm glad this one came to prevent the dance." she admitted.
   "Why is that?" he asked, a trifle arrogantly, as if he had a perfect right to know.
   Her green eyes returned to his blue ones.   Acknowledging his right, she smiled, "YOU know ... Daniel."
   Comprehension came over his face.  "Aye, Carolyn, I do.  Happy Valentine's Day, my dear." he said softly.
   Her glance slid away from his to the flames of the fire.  "Thank you.  And to you."  There was a pause, then she added, "Do you know much of the history of Valentine's Day?"
   "Only that from the earliest records in England, the story is that birds choose their life-long mates on that day.  Chaucer, in ‘The Parliament of Fowls' wrote, ‘For this was on St. Valentine's Day,/When every fowl cometh there to choose his mate.'  Ah, Carolyn, would that you COULD be mine.  You don't remember, but that first night you were here, I knew that you were the one for me.  If I had known you when I was alive, I would have carried you off to sea with me, and shown you how beautiful the world is."
   "Like the dream you gave us for Christmas," she murmured, her eyes shining.  "You said then, ‘from the moment I first saw you, I knew that you were the one.'  I knew that first time I saw your portrait that you were special, too... And the poem you wrote for me... that you would give up all you were missing, all you had ... Could you not show me?"
   "I don't understand." he looked perplexed.
   "I'd like to be on your ship with you ... to watch a sunset with you from the beach of a remote, beautiful South Pacific island ... you gave us a dream, Daniel.  Can you not do this?"  Carolyn's voice was earnest.  She had the strangest feeling that this whole idyll by the fire was a dream ... she was saying more to him than she had ever dared say before.  But it was so easy tonight, for some reason...
   He was silent for a moment.  Then he stood up.  "Come, my darling," and he held out his hand.  She looked at it, then at his strangely- compelling eyes, then tentatively stretched out her own hand.  Their fingers laced, and as she came to her feet, she felt suddenly as if she had been sucked into a whirlwind.
   Then she was at the wheel of a ship, her hands curving over the familiar polished wood.  It was the wheel from the Gull Cottage balcony, and it felt like an old friend.  She had run her hands over it many a time, leaned her cheek against it, trying to draw from it the essence of the dashing Captain with whom she had fallen in love. 
"Your ship!" she murmured, half-incredulously.  The spray was heavy on her face, the deck alive beneath her feet, her hair blowing wildly in the stiff wind.  "It's wonderful!"
  "Yes... and here is my favourite spot of land, second only to Gull Cottage!" and his hands closed over hers.  Again the strange, heady sensation ... and Carolyn found herself at the edge of a beach, a flowering shrub behind her perfuming the warm sea air.  There was no human habitation in sight.  The sun was just beginning to set.  The beauty seeped into her very being.
   "Oh, Daniel," she breathed in wonder.  "Is this a dream?"
   "No.  You're not dreaming.  Dreams are ethereal, elusive.  This is real.  This must be a Valentine's gift to both of us." He plucked an orchid and tucked it behind her ear.  "You are so beautiful ..."
  She turned impulsively to him, her eyes glowing.  "Thank you!"  Standing on tiptoe, her lips brushed his.  Her eyes widened, then, and her hands clutched at his shoulders.  "I can feel you!"
   In an instant, Carolyn was wrapped in his arms.  She could feel the length of his body against hers, his lips on hers.  He deepened the kiss and she returned it with passion... then the now-familiar sensation overtook her, and she found herself back in front of the fire at Gull Cottage.  Her heart was still pounding unsteadily from the emotion coursing through her, her breathing rapid.  She raised a trembling hand to lips that still felt the pressure of his.
   "Daniel?  Captain?"   She couldn't see him, but she could feel his presence.
   From behind her came, "I'm sorry for the liberty I took, my dear..." regret and the roughness of desire tinging the voice.
   She spun to face him.  "Captain," she said slowly,  "You took nothing that I was not willing and wanting to give.  Thank you."
   "No, Carolyn, thank YOU." his voice faded, and she knew he had gone.
   Taking a deep breath, Carolyn tried to gather her scattered senses together.  Then she shivered suddenly.  The fire was burning down.  She added another log to it, then slid back into bed, wanting to relive the night's events.  As tired as she was, however, it wasn't long before she was sound asleep.
   The next morning, the storm was still going strong.  "School's cancelled." Martha met Carolyn at the kitchen door.  "Good thing we have a wood cookstove and these fireplaces -- still no power!"
   "How about the phone?"
   "Haven't tried it, but I doubt it'll work either."
   Carolyn went to the hall phone ... nothing.  She followed Martha into the warmer kitchen.  "No, no phone.  Mmm, hot chocolate!  The children will love you!"
   "Enough to eat some oatmeal porridge?"  Martha was stirring a pot on the hot surface of the cookstove.
   Carolyn wrinkled her nose and considered briefly.  "No -- not THAT much!" and both women laughed.
   Then joyous shouts could be heard as Jonathan and Candy came clattering down the stairs.  "Look at the snow!  I bet there's no school, right, Mom?  Can we go outside?  Please?"
   "After breakfast!" Carolyn said quickly.  "The wind is pretty bad, but you'll probably be all right if you stay close.  I don't THINK many branches will come off the trees around here."
   "Good thing you cut down that rickety old monkey puzzle tree, Mom!" Candy grinned.
   "I beg your pardon?" the Captain was there in an instant, a stern look on his face and almost harsh tone in his voice. 
   Candy giggled.  "I thought that would get you, Captain.  You know, that was really the first time I realized that you might be here, just as Jonathan said.  The house really DID feel different when you weren't here.  I didn't like it nearly as much."
   Agreeing wholeheartedly with her daughter, Carolyn nevertheless stayed silent and passed out hot chocolate.
   "Toast or porridge?" Martha asked, over squeals of delight.
   "Toast!" came the cries, and both women grinned at each other.
   "Oh, and Happy Valentine's Day!" Candy said.  "Jonathan, go get the presents..."
   "Can't they wait?" asked Carolyn, but Jonathan had already gone around the corner, and was back an instant later.
   "We brought them downstairs with us." Candy explained.  "Here's yours, Martha.  And you and the Captain have to share, Mom."
   "They're like big cards!" Jonathan exclaimed, as Martha and Carolyn began unwrapping them.  "Candy and I took the pictures, then put them together in a sort of book for you both.  To show how much we love our family."
   On the cover of both was one of the pictures Captain Gregg had taken of all of them in front of the portrait.  The inside pictures varied.  Martha even had two pictures of Ed Peevey in hers which made her laugh, then sigh.  "You two are quite the pair!" she shook her finger at them.
   Carolyn looked at hers in silence and wonder.  The children were really very good with the camera!  Her eyes lingered on one taken in the living room -- she was sitting on the chair, looking raptly up at the portrait of the Captain.  There was such a soft look of love and longing on her face that her throat tightened.  Did she really look like that?  She hadn't realized she was so obvious!  No wonder the children thought of them as a couple!
   "That was taken one night when the Captain was telling you stories." Candy said, realizing quickly which picture was holding her mother's gaze.  "He didn't show up in the picture, of course, but because he was standing right under the portrait, it just looks as if you ARE looking at him.  That's my favourite."
   "Mine, too." Jonathan said.  "‘Cause you're wearing my favourite green sweater!"
   "Mine, too." the Captain said softly in her ear. 
   Carolyn felt her cheeks grow hot and turned the page quickly.  "These pictures are all VERY GOOD!" she said. 
   "We wanted to put the Captain's song in it, but couldn't find a copy."  Jonathan said.  "And we didn't want to ASK him.  But he's a part of the family now anyway."
   "Yeah ... we left a space for it, if you want to write it in." Candy said.
   "I'll find it for you." the Captain appeared to all of them.  "And I thank you for allowing me to share your mother's book."
   "Happy Valentine's Day, Captain!" Candy and Jonathan said together.
   "The same to you.  And to you, Martha."  Finally his gaze fell on Carolyn's bent head.  "And you, my dear."  He put a package down beside her.
   "Thank you." her voice was a mere thread of sound, barely heard over Martha's hearty thanks.  Grateful that the other three were looking at and discussing Martha's book, Carolyn's hands trembled as she opened the gift.  Inside she found a perfect wax replica of a orchid -- the same flower the Captain had put in her hair on the beach.  She could almost smell the fragrance. 
   "For my heart, with thanks." he said, so softly that only she could hear.
   Her eyes met his, love brimming out of them.  "You have MY heart." she whispered back.
   Then the moment was interrupted again.  "Hey, Mom, Captain Gregg, have you read the last page?"
  "No," Carolyn turned to the final page.  There was a picture of Candy, Jonathan, Carolyn and the portrait.  Underneath, in Candy's writing, were the words, "Our family is complete now.  We love you, Mom and Captain Gregg!" and it was signed by both children.