Chapter Forty-Nine
Trapper lay on his back, watching the dancing shadows created by the sheers blowing in the breeze, seeing Leah as wisps of motion, dancing among them. She was a chameleon, shifting from one personality to another in the changing parts of her life. She was a capable, astute businesswoman in her chosen field tough enough to deal with male egos, she could be as elegant as any woman he'd ever known, she had a vulnerable side she hid for so long, and now he discovered she had a love of adventure. She was also a very passionate woman. Though she was subdued their first night together, maybe even a little frightened at a very personal experience she hadn't known for over four years and with a man with whom she had never shared that part of her; a man other than her husband, she had allowed him to love her. Afterwards, she said she was letting her past go, and if her love making this night was any indication, she had indeed let that part go.
As she lay next to him with her head upon his shoulder and a hand upon on his chest, he knew she wasn't sleeping. Her breathing wasn't deep, her body wasn't completely relaxed and he could feel her eyelashes moving occasionally against his skin. "Why aren't you asleep? You should be exhausted." He rolled toward her, moving his free arm over her and drawing her into him.
She shifted, straightening her legs and moving her head so she could see his face. "I've never sleep very well…unless I'm exhausted," she answered softly. "I guess I'm not as tired as you thought."
"Why don't you sleep?" he asked, kissing her nose. "I can give you something to help you, you know."
"I don't sleep because of nightmares…usually. I've been avoiding sleep for so long I guess I do it automatically now. But I don't think that's the problem tonight."
"What is it then?" he whispered as he nuzzled her neck.
"I'm not looking forward to going back. I mean…" she stopped talking when his lips found hers on his way to the other side of her neck. "I like the technical aspect of what I do, but I'm not looking forward to dealing with all the rest; Doug, Mark…and you in your capacity as a department chief."
Enveloping her, he kissed her so fervently she felt the same heated rush she had felt earlier that night. "We have another day and night before we have to go back," he said, breathing deeply. "I intend to see that you enjoy every minute."
When Trapper opened his eyes, he knew she was gone before he even looked over. He didn't feel her. Flying up out of the bed, he grabbed his robe and looked out on the deck, in the bathroom, in each bedroom. He ran down the stairs to the kitchen, and when he didn't find her there or in the living room, he went to the garage and stopped, taking a deep breath. Her car was still there. So was his. But she was nowhere in the house, and it was still dark outside.
Walking out onto the deck, he stood at the rail and listened for awhile, but only heard the water lapping at the boulders and the wind blowing the boughs of the trees and the leaves of the shrubs. He had no idea where she could've gone, and the longer she was gone, the more concerned he became. He was startled out of his thoughts when a loud scream came from the trees above and to the right of him; shrieks so loud and strange, he shrank back. As he was moving away from the trees, he spotted movement in the water ahead of him and watched as a something dark and sleek glided smoothly through the water toward him. Between the screaming above him and the water critter in front of him, he thought about standing on the inside of the French doors, but when the lake creature slowly rose, he squinted and realized the creature was a person… with womanly curves, wearing a snug wetsuit.
As she walked out of the water, she pulled the zipper down the front of her wetsuit and began to pull her arms out as she made her way to the deck. By the time she was up on the deck, the top of the wetsuit hung limply at her waist, leaving her top half bare. Leaning back on the rail with his arms crossed, he watched admiringly as she went by him to a towel she had left over the back of a chair.
"Why are you grinning like a Cheshire cat?" she asked, grinning back. "This is nothing you haven't seen before." She proceeded to peel the rest of the wetsuit down, stepping out and hanging it over the rail.
"Somehow it doesn't quite look the same as it did in the OR," he replied, chuckling
After brushing her hair out, she went to him, untying his robe and moving in against him. "Why are you so cold?" he asked, pulling his robe around her and encircling her with his arms. "I thought the wetsuit was supposed to keep you warm.
"It does for the most part, but not completely. And then when I get out of the water, what warmth I had wears off quickly with nothing on, especially this early in the morning. But you're warm, so problem solved," she said, snickering at his shiver as she moved her arms around him underneath the robe, pressing into him. "I'm sorry if I worried you again. I thought you'd still be sleeping when I got back."
He jerked when the shrieking in the trees began again. "What the hell is that?" he asked, moving one arm up to her shoulders as if protecting her from the unknown.
"Relax. It's reproductive physiology at its finest, though it's not the right time of year for that. Strange," she said worriedly, looking up into the trees. "Maybe it's because it's been a mild year."
"But what is it?" he asked again insistently.
She reached up and pinched his nose. "The raccoons are gettin' busy in the trees." He lowered his head, looking at her from under his brow and flared his nostrils while the corners of his mouth turned up. "Don't get any ideas," she said, poking her finger in his chest. "We're supposed to be picking up the boat from Bueno this morning, and I still have to take a shower. Now, come on," she said, taking his hand and pulling him into the house. "We have to get ready to go."
Once upstairs, she went straight into the shower and turned on the water. She squealed when she realized he had followed her in. "Wha…what are you doing?"
He gave her an innocent look. "Taking a shower. You've got a two person shower here. What's the problem?"
"You have no modesty, do you?"
He was already under the water of the opposite shower head. "You never struck me as the modest type either," he said, soaping up. "You just walked in half naked from the lake."
"There is no problem as long as you're here to bathe. Otherwise, we'll be late."
Reaching out quickly, he dragged her over to his side of the shower, moving his hands behind her and soaping her back as he leaned down for a kiss wet from the water falling over them. With a wicked smile, he asked, "And what if I'm not just here to bathe?" Upon seeing her peeved squint, his smile disappeared even as he put the soap in her hand and turned his back to her, leaning against the shower wall. "Just return the favor."
In the bedroom as they were dressing, Leah sat on the side of the bed and rubbed her forehead. "What's wrong?" asked Trapper.
"Nothing," she said, smiling weakly. "I'm just suddenly tired. I haven't been sleeping well."
He sat on the bed next to her and spoke with quiet concern. "That may not be the problem."
"There's nothing wrong."
"Maybe," he answered calmly, smiling. "How far did you swim this morning?"
"Oh, about a mile down the beach, and then the mile back. I was only going to go half a mile, but I felt good, so I kept going."
"Leah, I told you that you'd have to work back up to what you used to do. Two miles was probably too much." He studied her for a moment. "I'm driving the boat today. I want you to sit and relax. And before we leave," he said, standing and walking over to a chair where he had placed his medical bag, "I'm giving you a once over." When he was finished listening to her heart and breathing, he checked her blood pressure. "Any nausea or dizziness with the tired feeling."
"No," she snapped. "This is no way to live."
He exhaled heavily. "You won't have to live like this. You just need to give yourself time to heal. Swimming is a very good exercise to start with, but you can overdo it."
"What did Bueno say to you when you offered to pay for his work on the boat?" asked Leah as she climbed into the boat and took the picnic basket from Trapper.
"He said seeing you again and knowing you're well was payment enough." He leaned over the back of the Jeep, taking what he could hold to hand up to her. "He also said he really didn't have to do that much." Smiling up at her, he handed her the wetsuit, snorkel and fins, towels and a duffle containing odds and ends. He went back for the cooler, hefted it out of the Jeep and brought it over to the boat. Before he lifted it over his head, he said, "For someone who didn't have friends, didn't want friends, didn't need friends, you seem to have a lot of friends." He growled as he lifted the cooler to the side of the boat. "Don't try to move it. Just hold it there while I climb in," he warned. Once in, he took the cooler and set it between the two front seats, sliding it in the pathway to the bow. "Is that everything?"
"Yes. Why don't you untie her and back her in? I'll meet you over at the dock."
Trapper backed the boat into the water, giving it a push off the trailer. When Leah got it started, she slowly backed the boat away from the ramp and waved. Parking the Jeep in the lot near the guard house, he trotted to the dock and found Leah waiting for him. "All right my dear, sit back and enjoy the ride. Which way to Emerald Bay?" he asked, sitting with one leg underneath him.
She pointed, and he pushed the control arm down, moving slowly until he was beyond the speed buoys, then bringing her up to speed. Leaning toward her, he shouted, "Why the deep hull?"
"In a bad storm, the waves here can get pretty big. They can easily swamp a smaller boat," she yelled back. "Why don't you slow down a little and enjoy it? We have plenty of time to go around the lake."
Trapper slowed down, staying several hundred yards away from the busy south shore of the lake. Turning north along the west shore, they saw historic homes in the area of Camp Richardson. "These old lake homes were certainly grand, weren't they?" asked Trapper.
"You're right. There aren't many small ones. The ones that aren't privately owned are usually open for tours if that interests you. There are also ruins here and near the Fallen Leaf Lake house. There was a large saw mill right down from the house along with an estate. In fact, the pylons you see in the water off the shore at Glenbrook were part of a large pier that served the largest sawmill in these parts. That mill was the one that processed the lumber from the basin that is now under the ground around Virginia City." She rose on her knees, leaning on the back of the seat. "Emerald Bay is just up ahead. You'll want to go to the center of the mouth of the bay to enter," she instructed, prompting Trapper to rise on his knees.
"No wake speed, I assume?" asked Trapper.
Leah smiled and nodded as she looked into the bay. She'd always loved Emerald Bay more than any other part of the lake. It wasn't prone to the choppiness of the lake, and the clarity of the water here was better than other areas of shore because the silt from the bottom and the shore in the bay didn't get churned up. The morning sun made the little ripples in the water glisten like twinkling lights. It was early for lake traffic, so they mostly had the entire bay to themselves.
"Well, we can go take a look at Vikingsholm or climb up to the tea house on that little island up ahead. Or if you prefer, you can go in and take a look at some of the wrecks on the floor of the bay. The clarity here is extraordinary."
"It's a little early in the morning for swimming, isn't it?" he asked as he looked up at the top of the rock that was Fannette Island."
Following his gaze, Leah said, "That's Mrs. Knight's tea house. She's the one who had the castle built," she said pointing toward the end of the bay.
An open-mouthed smile appeared on Trapper's face. "Remarkable."
"This island is the only one in the lake, and the waterfall," she said pointing above Vikingsholm, "is the only one that falls directly into the lake. And of course, the mansion is touted as one of the finest examples of Scandinavian architecture in the country."
"Having no idea what Heaven looks like, I can only surmise this is as close as it gets," said Trapper, taking it all in. "What I'd really like to do is spend some significant time here. That's time we don't have today."
"Back there on the right is a boat-in campground. Maybe we can plan some time to come back and camp and do some hiking," she replied, smiling and receiving a grin and a nod in return. The campground is on the site of the old Emerald Bay Lodge, and the Rubicon Trail runs right through it." Standing next to him, she watched him look back at Vikingsholm. "You know, you were standing up there in the middle of the top of that waterfall yesterday."
"Mm. I remember," he said, moving his arm around her and drawing her into his side. He steered the boat around Fannette Island and headed back to the mouth of the bay. "What's next?"
"What you'll see besides the natural beauty of the lake is mostly old mansions. Lake Tahoe was the playground of California's rich just before and after the turn of the century. There are even some of their old turn-of-the-century wooden boats left that come out at the end of the summer for the Concours d'Elegance here on the lake."
Trapper took his time moving around the lake, paying careful attention to the manmade as well as nature-made features. When it came time for lunch, he asked Leah where she'd like to stop. "I thought we might stop at Secret Cove. It's just a little further east from here."
"What's so special about Secret Cove?"
"It's a favorite of the locals for swimming and picnicking, and the only way to get to it is by boat or by a very steep path. It's also has one of the most beautiful and pristine beaches on the lake, probably because it's so hard to get to. The people who go there tend to take excellent care of it." Leah took the wheel of the boat and guided it in, maneuvering around submerged boulders and finally stopping. "We can drop the anchor here. Trapper?"
Standing with his hands on his hips looking out toward the beach, he asked puckishly, "Is there something else you particularly like about this beach?" He turned back around to see her sans clothes, sitting on the side of the boat with her legs hanging over.
She giggled as she dropped into the water, and when she came to the surface, she laughed. "It's clothing optional. Would you please drop the anchor and come in? If you're not comfortable without, you can still wear your trunks. I doubt anyone will care one way or another."
