Chapter 12
It was a small drawbridge that blocked their path and forced Mac to stop so that Harm could hop out. There was a crank he had to turn that wasn't exactly an effortless feat as it took a lot of elbow grease to get the system moving.
Inch by inch the bridge rose upward and only when it was mid-way did the windless become easier to move. But raising the pathway was only half of the job, once Mac guided the ship through, the bridge needed to be lowered back into position.
Despite the mild temperatures, the force was enough to make him sweat and once Harm was finally back onboard, he was grateful for the bottle of water Mac held out for him.
"Was that hard to do?" Mac asked when he wiped his damp forehead with a shirt sleeve.
"A little. The crank takes some force to get going. Once it does it's okay. Some are a little easier." He looked back in time to see a couple on bicycles crossing the bridge. "It's a modern solution to building those huge stone bridges."
Mac glanced back as well. "Cars drive over that?"
"Yep, within reason. I think they have weight limits so no trucks."
She made a correction with the tiller as the boat threatened to hit the side during a tight turn. Mac stared straight ahead, keeping an eye on the canal as it widened again. Even at this early hour she could tell the boat traffic would be heavier than the day before, a thought that made her a little nervous.
Almost a half hour had passed and neither of them said much when the day before was filled with light conversation until bedtime. She could feel the tension between them, a particularly dreadful kind that Mac experienced before.
"About last night."
"Mac-"
"Please listen." Her sigh was heavy and after a quick look in his direction, her heart sank a little. Harm's jaw was set and his eyes looked everywhere but at her. He was visibly upset and she didn't want to be the root of that. "I don't want to hurt you but-"
"Well, you've been doing that for a few fucking years now. You tore my goddamn heart out and now you're trying to do it again." Harm snapped and though he hated sounding like a petulant child he couldn't help himself. Part of it was his upbringing, being an only child. Having lost his father at a young age, he was babied. The stepson of a millionaire, whatever he wanted he got. As an adult, not much had changed - his mood turned when he couldn't have what he wanted most.
"I've hurt you?" Mac's mouth dropped open and she stared at him with a look of pure incredulity.
"Yeah, Mac. You have."
"You don't think you've hurt me?"
"When?" He snorted and the very thing she despised about him reared its ugly head. "What are you doing?"
"Stopping the Titanic before I sink it." Mac guided the narrowboat to a stop, the rubber hull gently hitting the side of the canal. She shut off the engine and sat back on a wooden seat. "Do you honestly not know what you've done to me?... Are you really that dense?"
"Excuse me? What I've done to you? Gimme a break. What about Mic? Or how about that asshole Webb?"
"What about them? Why do you care who I've dated?"
"You went to them; to Mic when I asked you to wait. Your daddy issues have you finding every dickhead on the planet and avoiding the one guy that actually gives a fuck."
Lord she wanted to slap him so badly and only resisted because he stood a few steps too far away. Had he been closer, her fist would have certainly broken his nose. "You're one to talk! You act like a spoiled little rich boy whenever you don't get what you want, when you want it. I got news for you Captain the World doesn't revolve around the Great Harmon Rabb."
"I made mistakes! But, I wasn't the one pushing someone I care for away!"
"You really are that dense!" She threw her hands up and then poised herself to jump out of the narrowboat and onto the towpath. With only four inch gap, Mac easily stepped off and began walking in the opposite direction.
"Where the hell do you think you're going?" Harm yelled when she began to briskly walk away from the boat.
"Away from you!"
"Goddamnit." He hopped out himself and made quick work of securing the vessel to the shore, praying it would hold. It took longer than Harm would have liked and required sprinting down the path to catch her. "Mac, stop."
"Nope." She pulled her arm away before he could grab her.
"What are you gonna do, huh? Walk home?"
"I'm a Marine, I can do anything." She kept walking for a bit more and then stopped so abruptly he almost slammed into her. "Do you really believe you've never pushed me away?"
Harm opened his mouth and closed it again. He hadn't done that; had he? Memories of their nine years together flew through his mind like thumbing through a catalog. It stopped at Sydney when he really hadn't pushed, just asked her to wait. Maybe he needed to be clearer in his intentions. "When have I done that?"
"We've talked about this before on the Admiral's porch." She turned to him and sighed. Harm had the utmost confused expression. "On the Watertown you didn't want to talk about personal things. I realize it wasn't the time and, that's on me but how you approached the subject hurt me. 'This isn't a marriage.'"
For some reason those words hurt like hell because it was like he was ending their future before it even started. "When I needed you, you weren't available. When you needed me you got pissed because I didn't immediately offer to help after you kept me out of the loop…When Chris came back to the picture, I went to you first. You…Not John…You. I needed my best friend. I needed you and you were too busy playing hide the salami with Bobbi Latham…Again, it was probably my fault…Bad timing, I guess."
Mac cast her eyes to a boat that passed the opposite way. Of course there would be a young couple standing on its stern, the man's arm draped over the woman. They looked happily in love as they waved and laughed. The void in Mac's heart grew a bit more. "I shouldn't have been upset about Renee and I shouldn't have run away but I had to."
"I never loved Renee."
She shrugged. "It really doesn't matter anymore, does it?"
"I didn't want to chose her over you." He really hadn't understood how wrong he'd been or how all of their little hiccups might have been easily avoided. "Come back to the boat, I'm gonna really need your help soon."
Perhaps his lack of apology shouldn't have hurt but it did. Sadly, Harm was right, she wasn't about to walk 30 miles and even if she got back to London, her things were in his locked apartment.
"Okay, fine."
"What is that?" Mac popped out from over the cabin, her head and upper torso being the only thing visible from her spot on the bow.
Harm shifted the boat to neutral and let it glide to a stop next to an embankment which had a 'traffic' sign that informed of what lay ahead. The sound of gurgling water was faintly heard where the canal narrowed down to a channel between high stone walls. No less than one hundred feet away stood a wooden gate that blocked their path. "It's our first lock."
They were slightly behind schedule. His little tift with Mac hadn't helped either. This meant they needed to clear four sets of locks in the next couple of hours in order to reach the next town on their voyage. While it wasn't an impossible feat, canal traffic had been a little heavier than the day before.
Mac walked through the boat and came out to the stern. "I'm guessing we're at the Welsh version of the Panama Canal?"
He grinned, "Helluva lot more primitive. Updates have been made but it's still an old system." Harm pointed at the towpath and how it went upward where the horses would have pulled each boat.
The locks weren't massive by any means and only raised the boats a total of 40 feet in this stretch of their journey. There would be others along with a viaduct and something of a narrowboat "elevator."
There were no electronics and nothing to show that anything about the lock was automated. Harm slowly guided them in and used a rope on the side to hold the boat still while Mac used a ladder to climb to the top.
The gate had two sides each of which had a windlass system called a "paddle" that opened a small door inside the gate. It allowed pressure to be released and made the gate easier to open or close.
Most locks had a lock keeper to aid with the passage and make sure they were used properly. Uneven water pressure could damage the system and the wrong placement of a boat could get it stuck on a sill causing it to capsize.
The keeper stood on one side of the lock while Mac followed on the other. Paddles were hard to get moving at first even though heavily oiled. The gate was another dilemma constructed of heavy wood with a massive handle that Mac leaned her back into. Stone steps helped keep her footing as she pushed with her legs as hard as possible until the lock was finally closed.
The hand crank was removed and used to open the next set of paddles that fed water into the lock. Instantly the narrowboat began to rise until the water levels reached a certain height and the next set of gates were opened.
Most of the day passed traversing locks and raising bridges, a little workout Mac was enjoying until the final lock that was keeperless. For the most part, people walking the tow path loved to help those in narrowboats but as the late afternoon approached, less and less persons walked along the canal.
For the final lock, it meant doing the hard work all on their own, a feat Mac insisted she could handle. Each gate had a tiny footbridge at the top with a railing that was used for solo narrowboat travelers allowing for somewhat safe passage from one side to the other. In this instance, it was Mac traversing each span while staring down to the murky water below. A wrong step and she'd fall into the cold water and possibly hurt herself.
She moved quickly and carefully, following each step to open one side and then the other. The work was hard and the crossing took three times as long as the others but as the boat lowered down into the lock, her sense of pride was overwhelming.
That would explain why she threw herself at Harm, hugging him for all she was worth, once she was back on the boat and they moved away from thr locks. "I'm proud of you. You done good, Marine." He said in a voice so sweet and gentle that it gave her stomach butterflies.
He'd always done that even when Mac was furious at him. Just a glance or a smile could make her forget that she was upset with him. She slipped out of his arms and then turned towards the ever changing landscape.
The canal widened again and the canopy of trees partially covered the pathway. A strong scent of atmosphere hung in the air, a warning of an impending rainstorm though it was currently sunny.
Mac leaned against the rail and let out a breath.
"Would you have ended it with Renee had she not broken up with you first?" Her question came from out of the blue but, for years, Mac longed for an answer.
"Yeah, I would have. I would have given her up the second Mic left and you were free." But their relationship was plagued with complications. Renee had made it too easy and inadvertently, made their break up mean nothing. "It just didn't happen that way and I couldn't do it at her dad's funeral. She gave me the out I couldn't find."
"If you'd asked, I would have left him."
That admission forced his heart to sink. He wasn't the kind of man to steal what wasn't his and if she'd chosen Mic, he would deal with the consequences. "Really?"
"Yes. It's not easy for me to admit but, yes. One snap of your fingers and things would have never gotten so far. Your crash, it tore me up inside. Not sure what would have happened if you'd never been found." It scared Mac to admit that outloud. She didn't want to be seen as pitiful or weak but the truth was that his accident had saved her from a life she wouldn't have enjoyed. "I'm sweaty and gross. Gonna shower and change before we stop."
"I hoped you wouldn't go through with it, you know? The wedding. I only left to fly because I didn't want to be there. I didn't want to see you marrying him." He didn't want to bare witness the very moment she slipped through his fingers forever. "I don't think I could have handled it."
"Would you have stopped it?"
Harm shrugged. "I don't know."
She shrugged then ducked down into the cabin leaving Harm to wonder if he could have stopped the wedding.
With a couple of hours left until sunset, Harm docked the boat and secured the ropes. He knotted and unknotted the mooring lines and played with a few techniques until he found one that held the best.
To his chagrin the engine had a warning light blinking red and after making sure all of the fluids were topped off, the next check was a trap door near the tiller which led down to the water line and the propeller. "Shit."
More vines were stuck, wrapped around the blades and the tool he needed to help remove them wasn't in the box at the stern which meant it was likely in a similar box at the bow. Muttering curses under his breath, Harm descended into the cabin.
He wouldn't make it to the other side of the vessel and stood, dumbstruck, in the galley.
It wasn't his intent to see her naked.
Well, it was - just not in their current setting.
Actually, their current setting would be a perfect place to see her naked if and when she-
God, she's so beautiful.
Due to the cramped size of the bathroom Mac had stepped out and was currently using a towel to dry herself. It was made of a light yellow terry cloth and not nearly big enough to wrap all the way around. She dried one leg, then the other and his eyes could only feast on her naked flesh.
As attractive as she was, Harm wasn't prepared to see Mac this way, her skin glistening, hair slicked back and nearly every inch he'd fantasized about exposed. She bent one leg just enough that it accentuated her backside and his eyes followed the curve of her six where it met the back of her leg.
Mac's breasts stood proudly, her nipples only partially erect and despite the distance between them he swore he could see a droplet of water slide between the orbs. As cliche as it sounded, she looked like a goddess or, at the very least, a siren that a helpless sailor couldn't resist.
His brain was malfunctioning at rapid speed. That could be the only reason why it failed to engage and send him right back from where he came from, not continue to gawk like a horny teenager. Instead, he stared with his mouth opening slightly. If the sudden snugness in his jeans was an indication, he definitely liked what he saw.
'What are you doing? Snap to!' His mental voice only somewhat snapped him into the present but it was a breath too late for when he turned to leave, Harm heard a shift and footsteps that followed.
"I'm sorry." He said hastily while keeping his back to her. "I was looking for my tool."
"Your tool?" She sounded doubtful if not a little amused. He inwardly cursed when he felt Mac come closer. "What tool?"
Harm only turned when he looked over his shoulder and saw the towel now covered her more interesting parts. He swallowed hard and let his eyes drift down her covered breasts to the juncture of her thighs that the terrycloth barely hid. "I'm sorry."
"You've seen me in a towel before."
He swallowed again, "Not like this."
Why did she enjoy this game so much? Why did Mac push him away when she clearly liked how she affected him. The evidence of his arousal pressed against his jeans and his eyes were almost black like obsidian. She licked her lips and his eyes followed the movement.
He should kiss her.
He had to kiss her and for once, Mac would let it all happen. She straightened, pushing her chest out and saw Harm's eyes instinctively drop to her breasts. She expected him to pull her close and plunder her mouth with his tongue. Her center grew moist just thinking about it. "Harm?"
The use of his name made him snap and rather than take what she offered him, Harm pushed past her and rushed to the bow. He raised one of the seats, found the tool he searched for and then stalked back outside without another word.
Mac knew this was her fault. She'd been keeping him at arms length for four years. She continued to push him away for reasons that made less and less sense. She wanted him. She needed to be wanted by him and as everything fell into place, they jumbled it back again.