Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters, and I make no money from this work of fiction!
TRICK OR TREAT OR BOTH?
"Mom, are you really going to the Masquerade Ball with CLAYMORE?" Candy sounded shocked.
"Well, he asked me, and I hated to refuse him." Carolyn shrugged. "It might be fun."
"With CLAYMORE?" now it was Jonathan's turn to pipe up.
"Yes, with Claymore." Carolyn tried to defend her actions. "He's ... he's ..."
"Claymore." Candy said, flatly.
"Not at all like the Captain." Jonathan added.
Carolyn said nothing. Her children had said it all.
"What're you going to wear?" Candy asked after a moment.
"Grandma sent me a costume ... she told me I couldn't open it until Halloween. I don't know what it is."
"And you haven't opened it yet? Mom, Halloween is only a couple of days away!" Candy was astonished.
"Well, Grandma thought I would be attending the Ball with the Captain, of course. So I'm sure it's something nice. Probably a pioneer costume, or court lady from the past, maybe a princess or an angel costume?"
Jonathan giggled. "The Captain would think it was funny to see you dressed like an angel!"
Carolyn laughed. "True. But Grandma doesn't know about the real Captain."
"Imagine thinking Claymore good enough to marry YOU!" Candy hugged her mother.
Carolyn put her arms around both of the children. "Claymore's nice enough, he's just ... just..."
"Claymore." the children chorused.
Carolyn laughed again. "Now," she sobered. "You two are organized for what you want to be?"
"I'm going to be a ghost." Candy grinned. "The sheet-wearing kind. It's easy. And I'm getting too old for Halloween. I'll be here to give out the candies to the little kids."
"Me and Danny Shoemaker and Timmy Garrison are going to be the three Musketeers!" Jonathan volunteered.
"And I," Carolyn corrected him, automatically.
"No, not you." Jonathan frowned in puzzlement. Then he grinned. "Oh, okay. Danny, Timmy and I."
"Thank you." Carolyn smiled.
"At our school party tomorrow afternoon, we're going to bob for apples! And we all carved pumpkins today to put around the gym for our jack-o-lanterns. And we learned the history of a lot of the customs of Halloween."
"Yeah. I wonder if the Captain used to tip outhouses over, and unhinge gates in fences and do rotten tricks like that?"
"I, laddie? Play rotten tricks? Never!" the Captain's amused voice resounded through the room, and he materialized near them.
"But you DID have Halloween, didn't you?"
"Of course. Not quite the same as now. But close. I never moved or tipped privvies, though many did. I recall helping move a haystack onto someone's front doorstep. And fastening a fishing net over the door so another family had to exit through the window. And..."
"Captain Gregg! I'm shocked!" Carolyn laughed.
He grinned back at her. "The thirty-first is on a Sunday this year. Surely Halloween won't be celebrated on the Sunday?"
"No, Captain," Carolyn answered. "Schooner Bay has switched all the festivities to the Saturday night."
"The same night the time changes!" Candy grinned. "That means we fall back an hour, right? So we actually get one more hour that night than we should?"
"Time changes?" the Captain looked blank.
"You know, Daylight Saving Time. It happens two times a year. It's been happening for a long time ..." Candy's voice trailed away.
"I guess not long enough." Jonathan said. "But why didn't you know about it before?"
"Time means little to me now, Jonathan." the Captain spoke quietly. "I do remember hearing about it, but I've not paid much attention. It changes in the middle of the night, does it not?"
"Two in the morning." Carolyn said. "So we're usually not up either! Martha and I change the clocks the night before, if we remember!"
"You might be up this year, Mom, since you'll be at the Ball." Candy said.
"The Ball?" queried the Captain.
"The Masquerade Ball. She got asked this year." Jonathan made a face. "By CLAYMORE."
"You're attending a party? With that miserable excuse for a man?" the Captain fixed her with a glare.
"I am attending with Claymore." Carolyn's gaze was level as she looked back at him. Her chin tilted a little as she prepared to do battle.
"And she hasn't even looked at her costume. Can you believe that, Captain? Grandma wanted to get her something stunning..."
"Stunning?" Carolyn and the Captain spoke at the same time, staring in surprise at Candy.
The girl looked embarrassed. Then she confessed, "Grandma talked to me about it."
"I think I had better check this out now." Carolyn moved to the door. "I've got the box in my room. It just arrived a couple of days ago."
"What is it, Candy?" Jonathan asked in a loud whisper.
"I don't know ... Grandma just said she would find something that would be stunning so that the Captain would realize what he was missing and stop pro ... procraschinating ... or something." Candy hissed back.
Carolyn and the Captain looked at each other in silence, then Carolyn fled upstairs.
The Captain hesitated, and Candy said, showing wisdom beyond her years, "I think maybe you had better wait until she comes down, Captain. Grandma's ideas can be pretty scary. You saw THAT when she was here!"
The three went to the bottom of the stairs and waited. After a few minutes, their vigil was rewarded when a muffled shriek came from the master bedroom, followed by a fit of laughing. After a moment, Carolyn appeared at the top of the stairs, still wiping her eyes and partially convulsed with laughter.
She came down the stairs, her face alight with merriment. "Grandma has an incredible sense of humour!"
"What IS it, Mom?" Jonathan asked.
"Not a GHOST, is it?" Candy wanted to know.
"No." Carolyn giggled again. "I'm not going to tell you ... you'll see on Saturday. If I have the nerve to wear it."
All through Friday and most of Saturday, Carolyn steadfastly refused to tell anyone what she was going to dress as for the Masquerade Ball. "It's supposed to be a surprise! No one is to know." she protested, when the children clamoured to be let in on the secret. Also, she hadn't been fooling when she had wondered if she would have the nerve to wear it. She was still incredulous that her mother had sent her such an outfit.
After an early supper, Carolyn retired to her room to get ready. She took a deep breath, and opened the box she had hidden in the depths of her closet. There it lay. A harem girl outfit. What could her mother have been thinking? She would look like Barbara Eden from "I Dream of Jeannie"!
Undressing, Carolyn put on the scanty vivid green bra and underpants. Then she slipped on the voluminous green chiffon pants with an emerald sequined belt which clung to her hips and bared her midriff. Sequins were generously scattered over the legs of the pants as well, and tiny silver bells had been sewn onto the belt, so every movement could be heard. A short bolero jacket which matched the belt accentuated the curve of her breasts. A black wig, with thick wavy hair which hung past her waist changed her appearance entirely. Carolyn looked in the mirror and grinned. People would definitely have a hard time recognizing her with THIS colour hair! The chiffon-draped headdress was the same material as the pants, sequins and all. A deeper green veil could be fastened over the lower half of her face, leaving only her green eyes showing. A pair of emerald green sequined slippers, with the toes curling up and ending in tiny bells completed the outfit. Her mother had included a slave ring/bracelet with an large emerald-coloured stone on the ring and a series of smaller stones on the delicate silver filigree of the bracelet and the chain linking the two. After a moment's thought, Carolyn slipped off her wedding ring and put it in a drawer. She replaced it with the one her mother had sent. Realizing her eyes would be the only feature to be seen, she carefully outlined them in black, then brushed on green eyeshadow. Dark mascara completed the effect. Adding some lipstick and touch of blush, Carolyn surveyed herself critically in the mirror. She swivelled this way and that, feeling the hair tickling her bare back. It was definitely a stunning outfit. If only she didn't feel so ... so NAKED in it!
"There's enough material in these pants, if they weren't see-through!" she groaned. Her mother had included a matching chiffon scarf to use as a shawl, but Carolyn felt flushed just looking at herself and imagining the reactions from everyone in Schooner Bay. Still ... she grabbed the scarf and wrapped it around herself. Then, taking a deep breath, she opened the door to her room.
The Captain was standing there. The look on his face as he saw her and recognized her was more or less what she had expected. The anticipated thunder of outrage came two seconds later. Carolyn stepped back and let the rhetoric flow over and around her. Finally she realized he wasn't going to let up any time soon, so she interjected,
"You don't like my mother's choice? Don't you think I look ... stunning?"
She found herself propelled back into the room, the door slamming behind her, and to her fury, she heard the key turn in the lock. Recognizing words like "indecent", "outrageous", and "shameless", her chin came up in its familiar stubborn pose.
"Now hear this, Captain Gregg!" With her hands on her hips, she stamped her foot and stormed back at him.
Incredibly, he stopped. Mid-sentence. His eyes swept over her again. She felt the heat of his look and her body reacted instantly.
Carolyn stepped into her role as a harem girl and spoke in sultry voice, her eyes on his, watching the vivid blue darken with passion. "You ... approve of what you see, Captain?" and she posed theatrically.
At last he spoke, his voice husky with desire. "Aside from the hair colour, you are the most beautiful creature I have ever seen."
Carolyn blinked, and swallowed, lowering her hands and clutching the shawl around herself again.
"I prefer you as a blond, but can see why you have changed to black in this instance." he added, stepping closer. Carolyn had to fight not to retreat herself. "Your skin gleams flawlessly as a pearl through the material. The colour of the sea is in your eyes and reflected in your costume. You are utterly enchanting ..." he paused, then roared, "AND I FORBID YOU TO SHOW YOURSELF TO ANYONE!"
Carolyn had felt herself swaying unconsciously toward him as he spoke, but at his final words, she stiffened and her eyes flashed fire. "You have no right to dictate how I live my life, what I wear, or where I go, Captain Gregg!"
"While you live with me in my house, you obey my rules!"
"I'm NOT living with you! And while I rent this house, I make my own rules! I'm a grown woman, quite capable of managing on my own, and certainly capable of making my own decisions!" She wrenched at the door vainly. "Open this door at once!"
He looked haughtily away.
"Very well." she spoke angrily but calmly. "I'll go down the tree from the balcony!" and she spun around.
"You wouldn't dare!"
"Oh, really?" Fury pumping through her veins, Carolyn hurried out the French doors before he got them slammed in her face. She hesitated a split second at the side, then climbed on to the balustrade.
"Mrs. Muir!" Looking over her shoulder, she saw his face set in a scowl, but she also caught a gleam of admiration for her courage in his eyes. "If you are so determined, I will not permit you to make a spectacle of yourself in this way. The door is unlocked."
"Thank you." She climbed down, and, with quiet dignity, went back into the bedroom and crossed to the door. As she passed through, she leaned back in. "And Happy Halloween to you, too, Captain." Not waiting for his response, she disappeared down the hallway.
When she got downstairs, she had to endure the surprise and admiration of both children, and the astonishment of Martha.
"You're going to Schooner Bay dressed like that?" Martha queried at last. "And the Captain is LETTING you go?"
"The Captain has no say in my affairs." Carolyn said, but her face was flushed and she couldn't meet Martha's eyes.
"That's why the thunderstorm is suddenly soaking the poor little children who have come out here?"
Carolyn peeked out the window, and although she saw no one, it was definitely pouring outside. Tightening her lips, she ran back upstairs and burst into the bedroom. "Captain Gregg, PLEASE!"
Turning from the telescope, he eyed her quizzically. "Please?"
"Stop this ridiculous tantrum!" Carolyn went right up to him.
"Madam, I assure you, I am not having a tantrum." he sounded quite mild.
"You ... you're not causing the rain and thunder?"
"No."
"But ...?" Carolyn searched his face, and realized he was being sincere. "I'm sorry, Captain. I just assumed..."
"I admit it is a logical assumption, my dear. In point of fact, I don't think this weather is normal, but I am not the cause. I'm not sure what is. But things feel different, somehow. It's a very strange night."
"Even for Halloween?"
"Especially for Halloween." He looked out his telescope again. "I find my extremities are itchy, as if pins and needles are being stuck in them. The way they would feel if I had circulation problems."
"But you have no blood to circulate!" Carolyn protested.
"I'm aware of that. I'm just trying to explain the phenomenon to you. Ah, here comes your ride. You are determined to go with that mindless fool?"
"Yes, Captain." She left him and went to the door, then looked back, a faint frown on her face. "You're sure you're all right?"
"Madam, what could possibly hurt me?"
"I don't know. But it IS Halloween..."
"Don't be ridiculous." he dismissed her concern with a wave of his hand.
"Goodnight, then." After one last look, she hurried back down the stairs to greet Claymore.
When her landlord stepped in the door, he froze with his mouth open as she ran down the last couple of stairs. Then he stammered, "M-M-M-Mrs. Muir?"
"You look rather dashing, Claymore." Carolyn smiled at him. He was in his admiral outfit from last years' Centennial Day, complete with beard.
"Y-Y-Yes, I do. YOU look ..." his voice cracked. "Incredible!" he managed to squeak.
Carolyn laughed. "Incredibly GOOD, I hope. Or are you ashamed to be seen with me?"
"N-N-N-NEVER!" Then he noticed Martha and the children watching with interest. "Uhh, don't you have a coat or something?"
"Of course." Carolyn put her coat on, careful not to dislodge her wig or headpiece. She eyed the slippers doubtfully, and looked out at the muddy road.
"Carry the slippers in your pocket, Mom, and wear tennis shoes or something." Candy suggested promptly. "You don't want those wrecked. They are GORGEOUS! I wonder where Grandma found them?"
"I think they look funny, Mom. You look like a genie." Jonathan giggled.
"But a GOOD genie!" Martha concurred, with a broad grin. "Have fun, you two! I expect you won't be back until the wee hours of the morning! See you tomorrow, Mrs. Muir!"
"Goodnight, Martha. Candy and Jonathan..." Carolyn kissed the two, then went out the door with Claymore.
Carolyn enjoyed the masquerade ball. She didn't think too many people recognized her, and she danced with a good many men she didn't know either. The Yacht Club ballroom had been lavishly decorated for the occasion, with many jack-o-lanterns for lights. A number of the alcoves in the room had been partially hidden by strings of fall leaves creating curtains for privacy.
At midnight, the masks were removed, and a buffet meal was put out on long tables down one side of the room. Carolyn and Claymore ate together, then Carolyn excused herself to go to the powder room. As she pushed open the door, she heard a woman saying, "... and as for that Muir woman, where DID she find that costume? Not in Schooner Bay, I know."
"Or you'd have snapped it up?" came the laughing rejoinder.
"Well, at least MY husband isn't panting after her like so many of them are!"
"If we looked the way she does, we wouldn't have to worry. Come on, let's get back out before they're fighting over her again!"
Carolyn quickly slipped away to a nearby alcove, her cheeks burning. If only she hadn't overheard that conversation! She didn't think she could face anyone again. Then Claymore came looking for her, and persuaded her to dance again. She tried to tell him she wanted to go home, but he would have none of it. Carolyn resigned herself to staying for another hour at least. The dance was officially over at two, but Claymore had reluctantly agreed to stay to clean up. As she danced with him, she kept her eyes lowered, not wanting to see if anyone else was watching her.
Suddenly, someone cut in. "My dance, I believe." and she was swept away by a swashbuckling stranger dressed as a pirate.
"My dear, no one else in the room holds a candle to your beauty." he whispered in her ear. Carolyn stumbled, and jerked back, staring at the man in astonishment, from the toes up. He had black trousers, a white shirt with very full sleeves open to a wide red sash, a white beard, his hair was mostly white and he wore a pirate's patch over one eye. But the other eye was a vivid blue, and gleamed at her out of a tanned, virile face. The Captain!
"What...? How...?" Carolyn couldn't find words to express her utter amazement. She clutched his arms, and her eyes were wide. "I can FEEL you!"
"And I can feel you in my arms..." he pulled her close once again, his fingers sliding over the bare skin of her back, and began moving with the music. Carolyn automatically followed his steps, swaying with him.
"When...?"
"And 'why'? The 'who' we have already established, I believe." his voice was warm with a hint of laughter in it. "And the 'where' is right here. Right now."
"Captain Gregg," she spoke rather unsteadily, in a muffled voice, talking into his chest. His BARE chest. "I don't understand..."
"I don't myself. But suddenly at one o'clock, I realized a miracle was happening. I believe you call it Daylight Saving Time? In this "lost" hour, I am fully here, in ways I never can be at other times. Naturally I came to find you. Realizing it was a costume ball, Martha helped me find a costume ... the only time and certainly the only way you'll ever see me aping a pirate! Martha found this shirt and told me how to wear it, muttering something about Errol Flynn, whoever he is. She was also responsible for the whitening of my beard and hair, and for the black patch. I believe it's the one Candy wore the time that little beggar blacked her eye. Then Martha had the nerve to call me Cinderella and to remind me to be back home by the pumpkin hour."
Carolyn's lips moved soundlessly, but her huge eyes never left his through his long and convoluted explanation. They relaxed into a smile at the end, as he no doubt had intended.
Someone else came up at that moment to ask Carolyn to dance, but the Captain barked, "Shove off, man!" and the startled man moved away at once. The Captain pulled Carolyn closer. "I'll not release you to anyone until I must..." His fingers moved caressingly over her back, and Carolyn felt the heat racing through her. She forced herself to take a breath, and another and still another.
"It's a Halloween trick-or-treat..." she spoke unsteadily.
He chuckled. "Which one? The trick or the treat?"
Wanting to nestle into his arms, Carolyn couldn't quite relax yet. Her mind refused to accept what her eyes and body were telling her. "I'm not sure ... it's a trick that is causing this treat?" her words were halting.
"Not a trick of mine, you may be assured of that. No, I told you earlier this was a strange night ..."
"I must be dreaming." Carolyn concluded. "It's ... it's like the dream I had when I was sick..."
"All these fools are ogling you!" the Captain suddenly became aware of the muted hush in the room.
Carolyn cast a quick look around the room, and grinned. "Well, the WOMEN are ogling YOU..." her fingers touched his bare chest lightly, then skittered away as she dropped her eyes in confusion again.
He held her close as they danced. "At least that hair creates a curtain to shield some of the brevity of your costume."
She leaned her head on his chest, as she had wanted to do for so long ... and realized again the truth. There was no heartbeat, no sense of lungs moving the air in and out. Even in this state, the Captain was an illusion.
Then somehow he maneuvered them into one of the alcoves. Carolyn shifted against him, and it conjured a near-mortal response in the Captain's lower body. Her eyes flew to his in recognition. She promptly forgot Claymore, forgot the others in the room on the other side of the curtain of leaves, forgot that she was a widowed mother of two who had no business falling in love with a spirit.
"Captain?" she spoke at last. "I love dancing with you. But this is our chance, now ..."
"Mrs. Muir, you're a lady. You have a reputation to uphold. Think of the risk you are taking ..." he tried to dissuade her.
She stood directly before him and whispered, "I'm ready for some risk." She wrapped her arms around his neck and used his strong shoulders to pull herself upward. She brought her lips to his but paused just short of touching them. She gave him the space of three heartbeats to claim her lips. He didn't.
Instead, he spoke hoarsely, "Carolyn, I'm not a real man!" Even his use of her first name didn't slow her down now.
She didn't let his inaction bother her. Slowly and deliberately, she took the initiative. She touched her lips to his. He wasn't returning the kiss, but she felt his response in the tension of his shoulders. "You FEEL real enough..." her own voice was throaty.
She tasted his lips, pressed closer, then suddenly he responded passionately and she found herself engulfed in sensations. His arms drew her flush against his frame, heating her blood to a weakening degree, eliciting a moan that seemed to come straight from her soul. Her breasts, flattened against his hard chest, swelled and ached, not in resistance to the harsh treatment, but as if they craved closer contact. Her mind was reeling when he raised his head. She tried to open her eyes, but her lids merely fluttered lazily.
"Madam, this way lies insanity," he murmured, pressing light kisses across her cheek.
She would have agreed. In fact, she tried to. All that made it past her lips was a sigh.
"We must stop." he murmured at her ear, his fingers smoothing over her back, making her arch nearer still.
Claymore's voice broke the spell, "Mrs. Muir! I've been looking all over for you! What ... oh, excuse me ... uhh, who are you?"
The Captain tensed, then, still holding Carolyn close, he turned his head and fixed a one-eyed glare on the hapless man hovering in the archway of the alcove.
"It's ... it's YOU!" squeaked Claymore, clutching at the wall to prop himself up. "Oohhh, tell me it's not! Tell me it's only a trick ..." he moaned.
His lips curling in a grimace, the Captain said, "Trick or treat, Claymore."
Stifling his shriek, Claymore tore through the dancers, terror etched on his face. He headed straight out the front door, and presumably home.
"I'm so glad you did not react like that at the sight of me." the Captain sighed, looking lovingly at the woman in his arms. "But then, you never did, did you?"
"Let's go, Captain." Carolyn urged. "Let's go home. People are beginning to stare."
Sweeping a hostile look at the gawking crowd, the Captain put his arm around her and led her to the cloak room where she collected her coat and shoes. They stepped out the front door, and no one was around. The rain had stopped. Although the night was chilly, it was still warm for late October.
"I'll have you home in an instant." the Captain promised.
Carolyn blinked ... and they were back in the front yard of Gull Cottage. She clung to the Captain, unafraid, unwilling to ask questions. Her coat fell unnoticed to the ground. His hands smoothed over her head, and with an expression of distaste, Carolyn pulled off the wig and head-dress, shaking her own short blond hair free.
The Captain ran his fingers through it gently, stroking along her jaw, and under her chin. "I cannot believe I am touching you ... it must be the hour of the time change ... the lost hour ... for lost souls ... but with you, Carolyn, I am no longer a lost soul." His lips were gentle, almost reverent, on hers.
Carolyn wound her arms around his neck, then stole a glance at her watch. It was a quarter to two. "If it IS the hour, we have only fifteen minutes left."
"We should go in ... you'll be getting cold," and he picked up her coat and draped it over her shoulders.
"No ... I don't want to go in. Not yet. Come over here, under your tree..." and they moved as one under the Monkey Puzzle tree.
"Daniel, I'm sorry I cut down your tree..." her lips were warm on his cheek.
"This one will do. It has already grown in the past few years. In fact, because you bought it for me, it means that much more. And it will continue growing, if we care for it." his hands on her hips trembled. "Carolyn, you are so beautiful..." and his lips captured hers again.
"Will this happen again next year when the time changes?" Carolyn's hand cupped his cheek.
"I have no idea. I certainly HOPE so."
Again their lips met ... then his touch faded, and Carolyn was left with a feeling of emptiness. She opened her eyes and saw him standing before her sight, but miles away from her touch. "Oh, Captain..." her voice broke and tears stung her eyes. She blinked them back furiously. "My watch was slow!"
"By some trick we have had our treat this Halloween, my love. Perchance we shall be granted it again." his eyes were gentle and his voice spread like velvet through the battered reaches of her mind. His love. She had finally touched him, felt his kiss, known his love.