The Reef

those glossy pages.
    They’d lost.
    And it shamed her to realize how much she had wanted those flashes of glory. She’d imagined herself going back to college, impressing her professors, sailing through to her degree on a wave of triumph.
    Or simply sailing off with Matthew, riding on the current of their victory on the way to the next.
    Now there was nothing but bitter failure.
    Too restless to stay in her room, she headed out. She would walk on the beach, she decided. Try to clear her head and plan the future.
    It was there she found him, standing with his face tothe sea. He’d chosen the spot where they had once come onto the island. Where she had looked, seen him look, and had known she loved him.
    Her heart squeezed with sorrow for him, then settled. For she was sure now what to do.
    She walked to his side and stood, letting the breeze ruffle her hair. “I’m so sorry, Matthew.”
    “It’s nothing new. Bad luck’s my usual kind.”
    “This had to do with cheating and stealing. Not with luck.”
    “It always has to do with luck. If I’d had better, I’d have gotten to VanDyke alone.”
    “And done what? Rammed his boat, boarded it, fought off his armed crew single-handedly?”
    It didn’t matter now how foolish she made it sound. “I’d have done something.”
    “Gotten yourself shot,” she agreed. “A lot of good that would have done any of us. Buck needs you, Matthew. I need you.”
    He hunched his shoulders. A poor defense, he thought. Being needed didn’t suit him. “I’ll see to Buck.”
    “We’ll see to him. There are other wrecks, Matthew. Waiting. When he’s better, we’ll find them.” Needing to let hope surge, she took his hands. “He can even dive again if he wants to. I talked to Doctor Farrge. They’re doing amazing things with prostheses. We can take him to Chicago next week. The specialist there will have him up and around in no time.”
    “Right.” As soon as he figured out how to pay for a trip to Chicago, a specialist, therapy.
    “When he gets the go-ahead, we’ll go someplace warm where he can recuperate. That’ll give us time to research another wreck. The Isabella, if it’s still what he wants. What you want.”
    “You can’t spend time researching wrecks in college.”
    “I’m not going back to college.”
    “What the hell are you talking about?”
    “I’m not going back.” Delighted with her decision, she threw her arms around his neck. “I don’t know why Ithought I needed to. I can learn everything I have to learn by doing. What difference does a degree make?”
    “That’s stupid talk, Tate.” He reached up to pry her arms loose, but she pressed against him.
    “No, it’s not. It’s absolutely logical. I’ll stay with you and Buck in Chicago until we decide where to go next. Then we’ll go.” She touched her lips to his. “Anywhere. As long as we’re together. Can’t you see it, Matthew, sailing wherever we want, whenever we want, on the Sea Devil. ”
    “Yeah.” The fact that he could, all too well, made his limbs weak.
    “Mom and Dad will join us when we find another wreck. And we will find one, better than the Marguerite. VanDyke won’t beat us, Matthew, unless we let him.”
    “He already has.”
    “No.” With her eyes closed, she laid her cheek against his. “Because we’re here, we’re together. And we have everything ahead of us. He wants the amulet, but he doesn’t have it. And I know, I just know he never will. Whether we find it or not, Matthew, we have more than he ever can.”
    “You’re dreaming.”
    “What if I am?” She drew back and was smiling again. “Isn’t that what hunting for treasure’s all about? Now we can dream together. I don’t care if we never find another wreck. Let VanDyke take it all, every last doubloon. You’re what I want.”
    She meant it. The certainty of that made him giddy with need, terrified with guilt. He had only to snap his fingers and she would go with him wherever he asked. She would leave everything she had, or could have, behind.
    And before long she would hate him nearly as much as he hated himself.
    “Seems to me you’re not giving a lot of thought to what I want.” His voice was cool as he tipped up her chin and gave her a careless kiss.
    “I don’t know what you mean.”
    “Listen, Red, things went to hell here. I put in a lot ofwork and had to watch it slip right through my fingers. That sucks, but it’s not even the worst of it. I’m already saddled