Lighthouse
Chapter 11
They both got a hint that fall wasn't that far away when, still naked, they woke up in bed and felt the cold wind blowing in through the open window; it was blowing right across both of them. Kate found out fast that Rick was warm, however he was only warm on one side. He volunteered to get up and close the window. "We may have to fire up the heat soon." Not just yet but soon.
Rick got back into bed and felt Kate snuggle in close. "I've got you to keep me warm." She would use a blanket later but for now he was enough.
"Always," he assured her then kissed her thoroughly.
Kate practically purred. She liked the sound of that. But her fear crept back in. It was just that her husband probably had the divorce papers by now. She just knew he would come here. She desperately hoped Rick was right. That Josh had no reason to come to this island.
"While this is nice I think we both have work to do." He needed to check the light after having it run all night.
"I suppose." Kate wasn't in any hurry to leave his arms or the warmth of his body. It didn't stop her from kissing him before he rolled out of bed and got out his clothes for the day.
He left Kate laying there to watch him get dressed. She smiled wide at him.
"Shows over, time to get up lazy bones." Rick picked up his pillow and hit her with it then retreated for the door. Before he made it through the door he got thunked in the head with the same pillow. He turned to look and a naked Kate was just lying there grinning at him.
An hour later he was back inside the main house in search of Kate. "Follow me, I need your help this time," Rick said. He was quite serious now. He turned and walked out of the house.
He was heading for the lighthouse. Kate was more than willing to help, but did it have to be way up there? Nonetheless she followed him up each and every step.
"Now what?" What did he need her for. He handed her a long steel bar that was flat on one end.
"See this here?" Rick pointed right at it.
Kate looked and what she saw was a round wheel filled with spokes. Save for this one had a damaged spoke. "Yeah. What do you want me to do?"
"I'm going to pull this pin that holds it in place. Then you're going to use that bar to help me pull it out. After than I need you to help me carry it all the way down the stairs and into the maintenance building. It'll probably take me a few hours to fix it. Then I'll need your help to get it back up here and back into place. We don't fix it and the light won't revolve tonight," Rick explained.
Actually he feared that it had quit turning last night at some point. Thankfully nothing bad had happened. Rick got to work and told her when.
Kate grunted; getting it out wasn't as easy as it looked. It was still between the spokes of the other two wheels until she heard it fall and hit the concrete floor. Hearing something made of metal hit the concrete floor told her that getting this thing down wasn't going to be any fun.
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Hands on her knees, Kate bent over sucking in air. "You sure you can fix this thing?" she wheezed. Wouldn't it be better just to get a new one? Until she remembered they still didn't have any communication.
"That's what that torch over there is for. I just have to make a new spoke and weld it into place – perfectly – and then have you help me put it back into place before it gets dark." What was the point of having a lighthouse that didn't have a light? One that turned in place. Maybe some day in the future it would have a different system, but today, it had to revolve.
"Yell when you need me. Do you want something to drink?" Kate inquired before she made it out the door.
"Yes, please. Thanks." Rick began his search for some steel to make a spoke with.
Kate left his drink, kissed his cheek, and went back to her new sewing project. Rick was wearing the new shirt she'd made him. Now she was working on a new dress for herself.
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"Ready, now comes the hard part," Rick told her while she'd rested a minute after helping him carry it all the way up all those stairs. "Getting it out was the easy part."
"Oh, swell." It was already hard as far as she was concerned. She now had a new appreciation for the work Rick did.
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Kate was lying on her back on the concrete looking up at Rick who was still standing. "I hate you." Her arms were killing her.
Rick laughed. "You love me and you know it. Now up. You still have to make dinner or we'll starve."
"You need to feed yourself tonight," Kate groaned. Still she lifted up her aching arms for him to pull her up. It wasn't until she was standing that everything he had said hit her. She slipped her aching arms around his neck so she could kiss him. "I do love you." Kate finally got the words out and looked him in the eye.
"That's good, because I fell in love with you weeks ago." This time Rick kissed her and felt her kissing him back. Then he risked it. "Does this mean you're ready?" He meant sex not just oral sex.
Kate opened her mouth; she really did want to say yes. But a piece of her was still telling her not yet. Since she wanted to give him all of her and not just the part that was ready she shook her head. "I want to, truly I do. I just don't want to be that married woman." She was still in the same pickle she was earlier.
"It's okay, sweetheart. I told you once that you're worth waiting for and you still are." Rick kissed her again. When he broke from the kiss he asked, "Dinner? I'm starving!"
Kate suggested a change in plans. "You warm up the grill. I'll get the steaks ready and everything to go with them."
He smiled. "Sounds good." He gave her a quick kiss and they both went their respective ways to get dinner ready.
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She still feared Josh greatly. "Where do you think he is?" He had to have seen the divorce papers by now.
"In a hospital suffering from a heart attack," Rick snarked and Kate giggled. She knew he wouldn't do that but that didn't make it not funny.
"More likely right over there." Kate pointed to where Caribou Island was located.
"Standing in the middle of a vacant lot." Rick erupted in laughter and Kate laughed with him. "I can see it now. He's just standing there, twisting in place cursing up a storm. Then when he calms down enough he'll march over to the local police station and start asking questions. He'll show them his badge and demand answers. Except they don't know SHIT!" Rick was ready to start laughing yet again. The locals couldn't tell him one single thing.
Then he got serious. "If they stick to the schedule, the contractor should be here tomorrow to survey the site for the new antenna."
Kate knew what that meant. "I'll need to hide." She really wished she could stop hiding. She wanted her life back. The life she had before she married Josh.
She did have a question though. "Why are you wearing that thing?" She pointed at the revolver that Rick had been carrying around with him everywhere.
"This little thing?" He put his hand on it then pulled it out and spun it on one finger just to show off. "Just in case. I have no intention of underestimating him or what he's capable of doing. But if he sets one foot on this island I'm going to fill him full of lead. That or make him look like Swiss cheese." Rick was resolved. He may not have wanted to go to war and kill German soldiers, but he was going to defend the woman he loved.
"Against a trained cop who knows how to shoot?" She shook her head. Rick didn't stand a chance. "You've been watching too many Hollywood cowboy movies." Walking down the street while the good guy waited for the bad guy to make the first move. That was stupid. Josh would just shoot him in the back and call it self defense. Since he was a cop he would get away with it.
Rick started shaking his head. "He'll never make it off the boat and he won't even see me." He was sure he was going to kill him in cold blood and not give him a chance to even say one word. If he got the opportunity that is.
"Just be careful, Rick. He's well-trained." Kate made up her mind to kill herself if Josh killed Rick and took her back home. She wasn't going to be his slave any longer. She either got to stay with Rick or she would move on to her next life.
"Nothing's going to happen to you. I'm not going to let it." Rick leaned across and kissed her.
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Josh couldn't believe what it took for him to get there. He took a flight to a larger city then took a small two prop plane to a much smaller landing strip. He wasn't even willing to call it an airport since the landing strip was mostly rock and dirt. From there he was in a single engine plane that landed on the island in the middle of Lake Superior.
He could've taken a boat but that would have taken hours. Besides he was prone to sea sickness. The only part to the trip that'd had him worried was the tiny single engine plane trip. So he'd drunk from his thermos a little more often. By the time he got to the island he had a good buzz going.
Next he found out that they didn't have taxis. They also didn't rent cars. He cursed them all as he started walking. They didn't even have a map to get him to where he wanted to go.
He put out his thumb to hitch a ride from any car or truck that went past him. None of them even slowed down let alone stopped to give him a lift. Worse he didn't have his badge any longer to force them to pull over and give him a ride, if not even actually take their car.
Another problem with this trip was the only weapon he had was the little .38 that was strapped to his ankle. And this trip had not been inexpensive. Some of it was via a real airline that required him to purchase a ticket. He only had to hire the guy with the single engine plane. He was also going to be forced to stay there for two weeks if he wanted to go back by plane since the pilot who got him there was going to stay for two weeks before going back.
What little he knew about this place was that there was only one hotel. He'd called and had made a reservation for a two week stay. Long enough for him to fly back with the same guy. WITH Kate when he found her.
He had to stop twice to ask directions for the hotel. It wasn't so much turn at this street as it was turn just past this or that and then go straight until you see it. The entire trip only pissed him off even more and he was going to take it out on Kate when he caught up to her.
He had to pay up front which used up a lot of his cash. The hotel was $15 dollars a night which included breakfast and free parking, not that he had a car. He was given a key and told where his room was located.
While he was hungry after dropping off his lone bag in his room he went back to the reception area. "Where is this address?" He showed him the address on a piece of paper. The desk clerk had to think about it since he couldn't remember there being anything there to orient himself with. Still he told him where to go.
Josh hurried out the door. He had his weapon on him, his wallet with all his cash and everything else that was in it. He also had his handcuffs since his boss hadn't asked for those when he was put on leave. He planned to keep Kate cuffed to his bed until it was time to leave so he might as well start now.
He walked down the street and kind of liked where he was. But not so much the houses since they looked really old and ready to fall down. He could tell their backyard was Lake Superior. If Kate had plans to live here he could see it. Although she was going back and that was the end of it.
He finally came to a house that actually still had a number that told him he was close. A few more houses and suddenly he was past the number. He looked across the street for the number just to make sure. It should have been on this side but he hadn't seen it.
He had walked it three times now and was now standing in front of a vacant lot. "That little bitch!" Oh, he was going to give it to her that was for sure. Still he needed answers so he went across the street and knocked in their door.
A man and a woman who each easily weighed 300 pounds came to the door. "Do you know anything about this address?" Josh showed them his piece of paper.
"That's the vacant lot across the street. You planning on buying it and building something?" He was interested in a possible new neighbor. His wife, though, was only thinking about all the noise and disruption that was going to take place.
Josh instead pulled out a picture of his wife. "Have you seen her?" He watched both of them shake their heads. "Look really close. You're sure you haven't seen her?"
"Yeah, I'm sure. If we're done here?" He backed up and shut the door in his face.
That only pissed Josh off even more. His next move would have been to go find the local police, show them his badge, and demand their help in finding his wanted for murder suspect since her picture was still out there. Except he didn't have a badge any more.
Still he had two weeks to find her before his hotel stay was up and he had to leave.
"I gave her everything and this is how she treats me." He was fuming mad and went to drink from his ever present thermos. But it was empty. Now he needed to find a liquor store.
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Kate was standing next to Rick as they watched as the light came on and worked like it was supposed to. "Thanks for the help." Rick was happy and he turned to kiss Kate's cheek.
She laughed a little. "If I want my exercise all I have to do is go up and down those stairs."
"I'll go make you a cog to carry up and down with you," Rick teased which earned him a swat to his arm. All it did was get him to laugh. "You're not fooling me, you loved every minute of it."
Kate had to admit that she did like being helpful. If she hadn't been there Rick might not have managed it by himself or he might have hurt himself trying.
She pretended to yawn. "I'm tired and going to bed. Are you coming?" Kate looked at him.
"I'm going to go check the maintenance building and the main generator first. I'll catch up to you in about an hour. Wait up for me." Rick gave her a quick kiss and headed toward the maintenance building.
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Kate was naked, lying in their bed and stroking herself to get herself nice and wet. She was still stroking her lips when Rick walked in. "You started without me." He wasn't a fan of that.
"Clean up, strip, and put your head right here." Kate gave her nether lips a nice long stroke to emphasize where she wanted his head and his tongue in particular.
She was still stroking her lips and was practically on fire when Rick finally came back from the bathroom naked. She got to watch as he crawled onto the end of the bed and work at placing his head between her spread legs. She moaned loudly when she felt the first touch of his tongue.
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Josh was equally naked but he was alone in bed and was presently pounding his pillow that was a piece of junk. Instead of finding Kate and having her handcuffed to the bed at his feet, he was alone in a dark room in a wretched hotel on a small island in Lake Superior.
He sat up and put all of the pillows behind his head then got up to turn on the black and white TV. The channel selections were extremely limited and presently it was all news from around the United States.
He was drinking straight from the bottle this time as he watched the news. He even watched something about the anniversary of a freighter losing power, crashing into the local reefs and sinking. Since the crew had abandoned ship no lives were lost. However, the broken ship was still at the bottom of the lake where it was going to remain. Still filled with all of the grain it had been carrying.
