Spitfire (Puffin Cove) (19 page)

"
Uh-uh. I love driving. That's why I bought this very functional and reliable and
not ridiculous
car when I moved here." She slanted a broadly smiling Kane a squinted eye and a scrunched nose. "I knew that I'd be doing a lot of travelling around the province until I found a place to settle. I never would have believed that I'd end up settling in the first place I found."

Her lips tipped up in a soft smile
then, and Kane reached over and gave her thigh a little squeeze. Her lips tipped a little further.

As they drove the road to Trinity,
Laura fought the strong pull to dip down the hill into the town where she had experienced her first iceberg, and her first dark tug of desire for Kane. As her mind drifted back, a flush of heat rose up her chest and neck, pinking her face. Her breathing grew deeper with the sudden warmth.

She dared a glance at Kane,
and found him grinning at her. Bugger. He knew that she was remembering, and he was silently teasing her.

She reached over to the dash
, pushed a button, and blasted him with a shot of cold air-conditioning. He threw back his head and laughed.

In the back seat,
Jill wondered at the unsolicited laugh, but was glad that things seemed to be okay between the two of them. She really had been worried. She didn't know how things would work out if her friends became acrimonious toward one another.

She knew how it felt to have a friendship die
. She had once thought Landon a friend, but even before she married Will, Landon had drifted away from them. Then Will was lost, and Landon became almost hostile. It had always hurt and bewildered her, and she hated not knowing why. Every time she had tried to talk to him about it he would brush her aside and drift even farther away, until now he would barely speak a civil word to her. She would hate for that to happen with Laura and Kane. That would be just crappy.

Laura
's "Oh, cool!" shook her from her dark thoughts of Landon.

"
Do you think we could stop here? I know we're almost there, but I'd love to see these root cellars. Elliston's the root cellar capital of the world, you know."

Kane chu
ckled at Laura, and Laura caught him rolling his eyes to Jill grinning huge in the visor mirror.

"Oh, bugger off, you two
. So I'm a dork. Sue me."

They clamoured out of the car, and it was a race between
Laura and Shannon to get to the grassy hill with the stone face and wooden door. Jill and Kane leashed the dogs, and walked them a short way.

"
How are things with you and Laura?"

Jill
knew that Kane knew she would pounce the second she had the chance, and far be it from Jill to disappoint him. Unfortunately, he was ready for her.

"
Good."

Shit
. Surly Irishman. "C'mon! Give! She won't talk, and I don't want to offend her by prying."

"
Aye, but you'll not worry about diggin' at me." He hooked her in a head-lock, knuckling her hair.

"
Kane! Let me go!"

"
Only if you'll leave off with the questions."

"
Alright," she whined. When he let her go, she wheedled, "But I just want to know if things are heating up or getting serious or what."

"
Cheater. I think it's 'or what'."

"
Whadya mean?"

"
What I mean, brat, is that it's fer me and Laura t' figure out. We're just getting' t' know each other, and she's barely been here a month. Just give it time. That's what I'm after doin'."

"
Aw, nuts! I just don't have any patience for this. I just think that you should get married and live happily ever after."

"
We don't always get what we want, girl. Ye're just goin' t' have t' wait like the rest of us."

"
Hmph."

They packed the dogs back into the car and went after the others
. Laura and Shannon were no-where to be found. They poked their heads into the nearest root cellar, and found nothing but dirt and a few spiders. They walked back up the hill toward the next cellar and Shannon popped out.

"
Boo!" she growled.

"
Ach! Ye scared the life outta me! Thought you were a bogeyman come t' trap me in yer cave!"

Laura
leaned against the cellar door, watching them play. He was so natural with the child. Keenly, she wished that she and Kane had met in another time, where they could have made children like her boys and his girl together. But it was what it was, Laura would never trade her boys for anything, and truly believed that everything happened for a reason. For the life of her, she couldn't imagine what reason there could have been to take a child from her father, but hers was not to reason why.

Kane hupped
Shannon onto his shoulders and she and Jill joined them on the path back down the hill to the car.

Laura
shook off her gloomy thoughts, and regained her pleasure in the day. She chirped, "Have you seen these root cellars? There's nothing like them back home. The sign said that they were used before electricity like refrigerators in the summer and kept their root vegetables from freezing in the winter. That's so cool. There's a hundred and thirty five of them right here in this town! Amazing! What?"

Jill
and Kane were watching her, smiling.

"
Oh, for pity's sake. I told you I'm a dork."

They both laughed and she stuck her tongue out at them
. Then she pulled it back in when she saw Kane's eyes darken and his lips part. God. So
bloody
hot.

Shannon
shamed her back to reality.

"
Grampa says you shouldn't stick our your tongue or a shithawk'll poop down and bite it off."

"
S-s-swoop, not poop," Jill laughed. "And they're called seagulls, not what Grampa calls them. Shannon, I think you should try very hard to not say things that Grampa says, especially when you start school."

"
Alright, Momma."

"
Aw, but Jill. She's so much fun t' listen to. It'll be a cryin' shame once she figures out what all the real words are," Kane chuckled.

"
I know. It's sad, me trying to make her grow up. I really don't want her to, but I want her to be accepted."

"
Ye worry too much, girl. It'll all work out."

They drove the rest of the way to the Dungeon, announced by nothing more than a simple provincial park sign
. The road wound along the craggy coast, Laura's beloved ocean always her right hand companion. Trees gave way to a wide open meadow, and sheep and cows.

For heaven
's sake, sheep and cows and goats! Right here in the park. Wide open. No fences.

The animals
casually grazed, occasionally crossing the road, the odd one standing right in the middle of it. A craggy old man in a plaid shirt and rubber boots nudged one off to the side with his hooked staff. She slowed and watched as a goat picked his way along the side of the cliff, giving her palpitations that it was going to pitch right into the surf. The place was surreal. This whole land, so untouched. Could have been a hundred years ago or yesterday.

God, she loved Newfoundland
.

"Uh,
Laura? Would ye like me t' take the wheel?"

"What
? No, of course not. Why would you ask that?"

"Well, I suppose we're close enough t' the parkin' area now
. We're likely safe from certain death fer the time bein'."

"Aw, bite me, Downey.
" She almost stuck her tongue out at him again, but given his, then her reaction the last time, certain death might be more of a possibility than ever, if the blood left her brain like it was wont to do when he parted those lips.

Laura
glanced into the review mirror and marvelled that Jill's head didn't split open with the wide, wicked grin on her face.

They picnicked on the cliff, sitting cross-legged on
Jill's old patchwork quilt. Waves crashed and birds squawked. The sea air tossed their hair, and plucked at Laura's heartstrings once again. They munched on sandwiches and Shannon's pickled eggs, crisp carrot sticks and Jill's decadent éclairs. They fed and watered the dogs, then packed their supplies back into the car.

They hiked the Dungeon, marvelling at the three hundred foot wide hole in the ground, the sea crashing in through twin caves of rock
. Laura couldn't believe that the park was left as nature had intended. One wrong move and you could topple right into the sea.

"
Somethin's happenin' over there." Kane nodded to the small group of tourists gathered at the edge of the cliff.

"
Oh, dear. I hope there isn't any trouble. It would be a real buzz kill if someone plopped into the sea."

"
Laura!"

"
Oh, I'm just kidding. They're not frantic. Look at them. They're just looking at something out in the ocean. I wanna see!"

"Me too
! Me too!" Shannon threw her hands in the air, then took off running. Kane loped up to snag her hand and swing her up onto his shoulders.

They wandered up to the group and a man said
, "Humpbacks."

There, in clear view, were water spouts and fins and tails
.

Whales!

"We've been watching them for awhile now," said the fellow.

They watched as the whales frolicked, blowing out spouts of water just before their rounded velvety grey backs arched into view, slapping a playful fin, or flicking a huge leathery tail
. The pod was putting on a show for the tourists that would rival any at Sea World.

Laura
grabbed a hand of Kane and Jill, squeezing them tight, and the two exchanged amused glances over her head.

"
Momma, look! One's jumpin'!"

The collective breath of the group gasped and held when one, then a second enormous whale breached, flipping themselves up out of the sea, twisting in midair, then smacking their bodies sideways onto the water with a resounding crash.

"Holy cow. Is there any place more spectacular than this?" Laura breathed reverently.

"
Just wait 'til winter. You might not be so in love with it," Jill teased her.

"
Ha! You're probably right." The spell was broken, the whales appeared to be finished showing off, and it was time to go. "Speaking of which, if I don't get us back home and get me some sleep I won't be in prime form for my inspection tomorrow."

"
Oh, wow! I forgot! Alrighty, then. Shall we hit the dusty trail?"

Kane kept
Shannon on his shoulders as ladies and leashed dogs accompanied him back to the car.

"
Laura, would ye like me t' drive? That way you can pay attention t' the sights," Kane thoughtfully asked. "And not put our lives in peril while ye're doin' it," he mumbled.

"
Hey! I'm a good driver!"

"
Yeah, you and Ray Charles should have a race."

"
Ooo, you'll pay for that one, Downey." She slapped his butt and would have joyfully tackled him then and there, but he was just swinging Shannon down from his shoulders.

Laughing, he leered at her
as he buckled Shannon into her booster seat. "Promise, Spitfire?"

"
Count on it."

"
Oh, aye. I will." And sure enough, he took the wheel.

They made the long drive back home,
Shannon sleeping, Jill musing, and Laura making a concerted effort to avoid thinking of the man sitting beside her. She concentrated instead on her mental list of details for tomorrow's inspection.

Kane pulled into the laneway of hi
s farm, and Laura mourned the coming loss of his nearness.

"
Thanks fer the picnic, ladies. 'Twas a rare pleasure, t' be sure."

"
It really was, wasn't it? I'm glad you came with us, Kane," Laura said.

"
Me too, Laura. Good luck tomorrow. I've a feelin' things will go fine."

"
I think so too. I'll let you know."

She popped t
he hatch to let Stanley out, walked around to take the driver's seat and Kane snaked out an arm to snag her around the waist, heedless of Jill's gaze. Laura had hoped he would. She had missed his touch. Being with him all day and not being able to lay her hands on him had been sweet torture. So now, she allowed herself the pleasure, and laid them on his chest, smiling into his eyes. He softly touched his lips to hers, and whispered, "Good night, Laura love. Sleep well."

"
You too, Kane," she whispered.