The Village of Gerard's Cliff (16 page)

Allie hurried up the
stairs to her apartment...anxious to hear his voice, if only over
the phone. She threw her jacket on the sofa, and dialed his
number.

"Hello there." She could
listen to his deep, warm voice forever, and she sighed, longing to
see his face...his eyes.

"Connor, I've just come
back from the lawyer's, and it's all done. It's their's now." She
settled into the couch, tucking her feet under her, and pulling one
of Ben's afghans, his sweet gift to her, over her legs.

"How do you feel now that
it's not yours anymore?" His voice was full of concern. Whenever
she had mentioned to him the possibility of selling The Colborne
Inn's land, he had refused to give her any opinion or advice,
telling her it was entirely her decision.

She took a deep breath and
leaned back on the cushion. "You know, Connor, I feel like a giant
weight has just been lifted off my shoulders." She rested her head
on the back of the sofa. "I loved running the inn, and all the
organizing and...well, just everything that went with it, but I
feel free now. It was definitely the right decision to sell. I can
start another business, if I want to."

"Mmm...m." By his tone,
she knew they were both remembering the first time he had come to
the inn. That part was bittersweet, she knew. "Well, I have some
news to tell you." His voice was serious.

She listened intently as
he recounted the call he had gotten that morning from the Treasury
Department.

"So, the gist of it
is...my partner got killed, and I got a promotion. Whoever says
life is fair is..."

"Connor, it was not your
fault he died." Allie interrupted him softly. "You were shot too."
She calmly continued. "It could just as easily have been you who
died instead of your partner, or both of you, for that matter. Life
isn't fair, I agree...but you deserve the promotion for how you
handled the counterfeiting ring, not because you survived. You
deserve that promotion." She repeated firmly.

"I wish you were here."
His voice was low. "I start in a month, after my leave is up. It's
an administrative position...desk job...perfect for me now, right?"
His tone was sarcastic, then, he amended quickly. "Allie...I'm
sorry. You've been through so much. Please forgive me for being so
thoughtless."

"You need to think this
through." Allie longed to be there with him. "This may be the right
time for you to change course, you know, just like letting go of
the inn was the right choice for me."

Another deep
"Mmm..m..."

"I'm going over to Tilda
and Ben's tomorrow for dinner." She laughed softly. "They are just
too cute together. But before that, I'm going back to the inn...or
land, rather...one last time tomorrow afternoon." Allie rubbed her
arm, and pulled the afghan up higher. "The new owners want to show
me their plans."

Allie reluctantly hung up
the phone after a few minutes more of conversation. The silence
always startled her after she had listened to his voice for awhile.
She grabbed her notebook from the side table, and started a new
list....business ideas that related to what she enjoyed most. As
she wrote, her mind drifted to Connor so often, that she laid the
notebook down, leaned back on the sofa and let her mind linger on
every moment they had shared together.

Allie stared at the
cleared land. The large rectangular hole in the ground that had
been the basement of The Colborne Inn was now partially filled in
with earth, ready for the foundation to be erected by the new
owners. The excited couple showed her the architectural renderings
of what was to be their new house. She was impressed. The drawing
of the house looked amazing. The architecture, based on homes built
in the first part of the twentieth century, fit in perfectly with
the landscape, especially with the Cliff Walk nearby. Allie wished
the couple well, and headed back to her car.

The Cliff Walk...Allie
turned her head toward the ocean. The last time she had been there
was with Connor. She let her hand slide off the door handle, and
turned toward the path that had led from the house to the ocean.
She pulled up her jacket collar, and dug her hands in her pockets,
figuring she had at least an hour before she was expected for
dinner at Ben and Tilda's.

Allie crossed the small
road. She turned northward and walked along the path, studying
everything around her as if for the last time. This part of the
walk had always seemed to belong to her, since it was so close to
the inn. She was familiar with every twist and turn. As she neared
the old gnarled tree at the edge of the cliff, Allie felt her chest
tighten. She leaned against the tree, feeling the ocean breeze
against her face, her mind conjuring up the vision of Connor laying
their blanket on the rough soil. She stayed there for some time,
lost in her thoughts...hating to walk away from the beautiful view
and her memories.

"Allie..."

She swung around at the
sound of his voice. Connor stood on the uneven path, a brown wooden
cane in one hand keeping him steady. In his other hand were the
handles of a large, wicker basket. He slowly set the basket on the
ground, and walked toward her as she gazed into his smiling blue
eyes. Tears started to spill over onto her cheeks as he reached her
and wrapped his arm around her.

"I've missed you so much."
She whispered into his shoulder, as he kissed her hair, and held
her close. His warm hand went up to rub her shoulder, then, her
ponytail, smoothing the windblown strands around her
neck.

"Can we find that bench?"
Connor laughed, as he nuzzled her ear. "I don't think I can manage
a blanket on the ground yet. You'll never get me off
it."

Allie laughed through her
tears, as she picked up the basket to hand to him, then changing
her mind, she wrapped one arm around his waist, and carried the
basket in the other. They walked slowly together back toward the
bench, arms around each other.

"What on earth do you have
in here?" Allie glanced up at him.

"You can thank Tilda for
that." He nodded toward the basket. "There's bread, and cheese, and
wine, among other things." He winked at her. "She thought you might
be hungry since you'll be missing her dinner."

At Allie's puzzled look,
Connor raised his eyebrows at her. "Patience...patience." He
laughed, clearly enjoying himself. "There it is." She saw he was
relieved to see the bench come into view. Allie could feel in his
step that he was tiring.

Connor let go of Allie as
they neared the bench, and she watched, as he sat down and rested
the cane against its side, seeming pleased with himself. She set
the basket in front of him, as she sat down beside him. She turned,
shaking her head. "I can't believe you came all this way...and
now...the Cliff Walk." She wiped her damp cheeks with her hand.
"This is not an easy path. I'm impressed!" Smiling at him, she saw
his eyes turn serious.

Connor took a deep breath.
He leaned down, grabbed the basket, and unlatched it. He seemed so
formal and serious all of a sudden....

"Tilda packed flowers..?"
She started to laugh, and all of a sudden it hit her. She
understood. Her heart started beating wildly, as she quietly
watched him hand her the bouquet of flowers. She looked down at the
mass of pink and white roses, at a loss for words. How could he
know? Looking up into his eyes, a smile on her lips, she caught a
glimpse of the small, white box in his hand...

EPILOGUE

Allie rubbed her belly, as
she felt the baby apparently performing somersaults in its cramped
quarters. "Connor, come here...hurry." She looked over at her
handsome husband, his dark head bent over the work table, absorbed
in fastening a length of wire to the eyehook on the back of a
painting.

Connor put down the
pliers, and walked over to her. Smiling, he placed one hand on her
back and the other on her protruding belly. Placing her hand on
his, she guided him to the area where she felt the most movement.
He grinned at her, as he felt a very large kick. "Not much longer
now." He cupped her face with his large, warm hands, and leaned
down to kiss her. "What do you think, boy or girl?"

"If the super-human
strength of these kicks are any indication...definitely a girl."
She teased him, running her fingers through his dark hair. She
could watch him look at her with that slightly lopsided smile the
rest of her life and be content...that's all she needed.

"Well...then, she'll take
after her mother for sure!" Connor laughed, walking back to the
worktable. He picked up the large oil painting and turned it over.
"Where did you decide to hang this?" He held one of only a handful
of Allie's paintings he had managed to salvage from the
fire.

"Right in the center of
that wall." She pointed to the white expanse to the left of the
entrance to her art gallery, set to open in one week. "It's so
large, it needs to be the anchor for the rest of the
paintings."

As Connor was measuring to
find the exact center of the wall, Allie walked over to the stack
of paintings propped against the tall, dark wood counter near the
entrance. She pulled them back one by one, propping them against
her blue-jean clad leg, as she looked them over. Restoring them
from the wet, sooty, condition she and Connor had found them to be
in, had proven to be more difficult than they had
anticipated.

"How is this?" Connor
walked back to her, as she returned the paintings to their original
position. She turned to look, with him beside her, at her favorite
painting of the Cliff Walk. Blue-gray clouds billowing above a
raging sea...white-capped waves crashing on the pristine beach, the
gnarled wind-twisted tree in the foreground...all seen from the
artist's vantage point high on the Cliff Walk. She felt that she
had finally captured the essence of Gerard's Cliff with this
painting.

Connor put his arm around
her. "Do you miss it?" His tone was quiet, thoughtful, as he
lightly rubbed her shoulder.

She looked up at him, and
gazed into the blue eyes that had captured her heart the moment she
saw him. Her long, golden hair swung against his arm, as she shook
her head softly.

"Not in the least." She smiled, her hand went up to rub his
slightly stubbly cheek. "This is our home...wherever
you
are is my home."
His eyes crinkled into a smile, and he bent down and kissed her
lightly. She sighed contentedly. Allie felt that she had to be the
luckiest woman in the world.

It had been a year since
the fire had claimed The Colborne Inn. So much had happened since
then, it was hard to keep it all straight, Allie thought. Connor's
promotion to an administrative position at the Treasury Department
was a welcome change....no traveling, and no dangerous
investigations, which made them both very happy. Their intimate
wedding ceremony, held a month after Connor's proposal, was on the
Cliff Walk, with just their immediate families, and Ben and Tilda
in attendance. A month after their wedding, they moved into a cozy,
blue frame house set on a hill overlooking the Chesapeake Bay in
Maryland, where she immediately set to work trying to capture the
serenity of the bay on canvas.

When she looked at her
paintings of Gerard's Cliff now, the memories that came to her were
of Connor.....her beloved Connor, walking with her on the Cliff
Walk...spreading the blanket by the tree for their
picnic....running with her from the waves... making love to her in
the cave at the base of the cliff, and of course, his beautiful
proposal and their emotional wedding.

In two months, they would be parents. Allie had no doubt
that the man who was the love of her life, would also be a doting,
and loving father to their child.......children, Allie corrected
herself, smiling. She recalled their spirited conversation
concerning the size of their future family. They both
wholeheartedly had agreed on at
least
three.

Allie leaned back with her
elbow on the counter, smiling, her eyes closed, dreamily recalling
the events of the past year. As if still in a dream, she felt
Connor's warm hand caress her cheek, as his other arm went around
to her back. He nuzzled her neck, his breath warm. She smiled, as
he lifted his head. Opening her eyes, Allie looked into the most
beautiful blue eyes she had ever seen.