Chapter 2 The Wharf
As I had been getting ready all day to go inland to see Collette who was my very dear friend, I have known her for a very long time, I told her everything. I did not know quite though how I was going to tell her what had happened.
I knew I would be spending the afternoon with her shopping for the supplies for the party this weekend and catching up gossiping with her, it had been a long time since I had seen her and missed her. We were planning to have dinner at the wharf and then I would go back to her house and leave again at first light the next morning.
I was getting ready for the trip packing a small overnight bag and getting some boxes ready for the supplies I could hear the Eagles outside screeching and calling so all was well with them. I kept thinking about him, was any of this real and how was I going to tell Collette, that I dreamed him up – that I imagined him. It was driving me crazy. I got a cold feeling that I was being watched. I could not get him out of my head. I had lost count of how many times I looked out the window in his spot in the Ocean waiting and wishing to see him again. How could I wish to see someone I was not even sure I had seen ?
When I was finished packing I took down the boxes to the landing, my help was on their yearly vacation so it was just me. They would return 2 days after the party, but had made arrangements inside and out for the guests by way of seating and making ready the guest rooms before they left. I kept having the cold feeling I was being watched.
When I finished getting the boxes down to the dock, I decided to take the long way back up to finish getting ready and to wait for the boat to come along at the appointed time. Going the long way would take me past the front and his spot. Again as I came around I saw no one, no other foot prints other than my own, there is no way he could have passed me or vanished without me seeing him. It just did not make sense. I saw the Eagles soaring high above as normal. I walked along the shore to his spot and just stared for a moment, the feeling of longing was growing inside of me. How could this be ?
I went up the stairs and looked back one last time the sun was still shining bright on the Ocean as it always did this time of the day. I went back inside and made my way up to my room and headed straight for the window to look again and saw nothing.
I finished putting my jewelry on and when I was finished I heard the horn of the small boat that would take me inland. I hurried a bit down the back stairs to the landing where the man waved at me. He was putting everything into the boat. He always had a big warm smile for me.
It was very late in the afternoon when we pulled into the wharf, I always hated the jerk of the boat when we landed.
Collette was waiting at the cobblestone wharf for me as the small boat pulled in. She had been shopping already. The man had taken the boxes out of the boat and put them on the dock for me, Collette pointed down to them to a man and he came to get them for me and bring them along to the carriage and would get them if and as we needed them as we shopped. He greeted me with a warm “Good Evening ” and I replied with the same.
There were many people down at the edge as there always were this time of the afternoon, shopping and dining. There were several people around her at the moment. I saw standing in the shadow a young man leaning up against the wall just watching me, the cold feeling came over me again. He had brown curly hair that seemed to be gathered in the back. He was very pale. As Collette rushed to greet me with a hug I let go for the moment and hugged her back.
She began asking me how I was and how things were and how the Eaglets had been growing, it had been just since they hatched that I had seen her when she last visited the Island. I got lost in conversation with her while we walked back up the dock to the wharf.
I looked over and saw him still standing there watching me, I broke into a cold sweat with the sick feeling inside coming again. She did not notice him, she dropped her bag and I had bent down to help her gather the spilled contents and I looked up again and he was gone.
When we managed to get everything back together and back in her bag, I asked her how long she had been here already, she told me a few hours and I asked her if she noticed anything strange about anyone. Her reply was as I expected. No.
We headed over to the dress shop, I was going to buy myself a new dress for the party. Collette had gone to another shop to look in the window that really did not interest me so much so I stood behind her looking off at another shop. I felt the cold again. I felt a brush past my hair with a touch as gentle as a breeze. I turned and saw the same man walking slowly past me, he just barely turned his head so I could see his profile. The cold, it had to be him, but how ?
Collette had finished during this time window looking and took me by the arm and headed toward the dress shop, I pulled back but not too hard. She kept chattering away about what she was looking at in the window which I did not notice. I kept watching him walk away, he turned back around and I could no longer see his face any longer nothing but his curly brown hair, that in the very late afternoon early evening sun had the same red highlights to it.
I swallowed dryly it had to be him.
When we made our way to the dress shop I went in and had to sit down for a moment just to catch my breath. Collette finally noticed there was something wrong by this time. ” Are you OK ” I just smiled and nodded but she knew better. She got lost in the dresses and I started looking around.
The store was cool with the Ocean wind coming in the door, I was looking at the dress on the mannequin when my eyes wandered out the window, there he was again, just watching me. My heart skipped a beat, my mouth went dry, I could not swallow. I felt the cold sickness inside raging. I was going to go out but the owner of the shop went over toward the window, apparently he had seen him too. He then turned and walked slowly away. The owner asked me ” Is everything to your liking ma’am ” ” Yes it is, thank you ” I said with a short smile, ” If I can help you at all please don’t hesitate to ask ” I smiled at him and he went and stood near the door.
I heard Collette call my name from somewhere deep within the dresses that were in rows. ” Christine come look at this one ” I went toward her voice and found her with a lovely pink and white lace dress she wanted me to try on. I took it and stared at it for a moment, my mouth was still too dry to speak. She was off looking at others. I took it up towards the door and asked the man where the changing room was. Without leaving the door he pointed to the left. I turned and walked in that direction back past the window and I saw him there again. Standing in the shadow of another store.
I just kept walking as if I had not seen him. When I got to the room I closed and locked the door. I felt so sick inside I was glad I had not eaten before I left the castle. I sat down and tried to calm down. Who was he, why was he here and was he indeed the man from the Ocean ? I felt the cold sweat break again and my heart was racing out of my chest. I knew it would take me a long time to try the dress on. So I decided just to measure it to my height and waist without taking everything else off. It seemed to fit and at the moment that was good enough for me. I sat back down and tried not to be afraid but I was terrified.
I heard a great banging at the door, that made me jump up and heard Collette ” How is it “. I said it was fine and she wanted me to come out and look at another one. I told her I would need a minute. I heard her walk away. I sat again and tried to calm my stomach down and wipe the sweat off of my forehead before I went back out. I managed to regain myself enough to stop shaking enough to unlock the door and go back out.
I found her again in another row of dresses and I told her that I wanted this one and I was going to take it and that I did not want to try on anymore. She had 3 more in her arms that she wanted to try. I went back up to the front and paid for my dress. The owner of the shop asked me about the man who came in while I was trying on the dress, I looked at him and was horrified by what he had said, he looked over in the direction of the door and it was Collette’s man who came with her to help. He asked me if I wanted him to take the parcel and I said yes. I looked over and smiled at him and saw passed out the window leaning again against the wall, he was there again.
I turned and walked straight towards the window and he straightened up and looked at me and smiled. I turned again and sat down next to Collette’s man. He asked me if I was alright, I said I was fine and thanked him for his concern. I was going to tell him about him, but then I thought maybe I shouldn’t.
By the time Collette had finished trying on the dresses and deciding which one’s she wanted it was dark and the gas lamps were being lit. She paid for her dresses and they were parcelled up the same as mine and the owner then gave the box to her man.
Collette was the first out the door as I was still feeling rather sick. She walked right past him and did not seem to notice him, but I was sure the shop owner had seen him. How she could not have seen or felt him I was not sure.
I decided to go against my instinct and walk as close to him as I could to get a better look at him and to see if the same cold feeling would come. I stepped about 3 feet over still walking. I walked right passed in front of him.
I was so close that I could have touched him if I had the nerve. He was about 2 inches taller than I was and very pale, paler than I had thought from a distance. His eyes were dark green and his curly brown hair that he had let down framed a beautiful young mans face. The red highlights in his hair caught by the gas lamp that he was near, caught a reddish tint in his eyes. He smiled at me and had the slightest pull to his skin which was unusual for a man his age, which could not have been passed 25.
I walked slowly passed him, my heart racing the tightness in my throat almost made me cough but I kept control. The cold sick feeling inside was almost too much. As I walked just past him he walked quickly behind and around me and off my left side and quickly walked in front of me. It was him, I knew it now without a doubt. I took a deep breath trying to catch his scent but there was none. Which I thought was strange as he created quite a wind when he walked past me. What was he doing here though.
Collette’s man caught up behind me ” Ma’am ” I smiled to him as to say everything is OK. He then caught up with Collette who was well in front of me and headed into another shop. I looked past them both to see him again but he was gone.
This time though I knew other people had seen him. He was real, it did happen. I didn’t imagine him. Who was he though, why was he here and how did he know I would be here tonight.
Collette’s man had followed her to the store and paused at the just the outside for me to catch up. He looked at me and I again smiled at him.
As Collette went deep into the shop full of trinkets and baubles and material, I heard her call my name again from the middle of the store ” Christine ” I followed her voice with still a million questions in my head and still trying to understand what was happening. She looked at me and asked me ” What is wrong ? ” I could not think of anything to tell her. My mouth was still very dry and I still felt sick. She was looking at some heavily decorated material. She then said ” Maybe after dinner you will feel a bit better, you look pale ” I turned away from her. I thought though that something lite to eat and drink may make me feel a little better.
Her man was again sitting on a chair inside the door waiting for us, I was glad he was there. I found myself looking out the window for him to be standing somewhere. Watching. Even with all the other emotions I was feeling I could not discount how attractive he was and I started to feel the longing again as I felt when I was looking at the Ocean in his spot.
By the time she had finished she had 2 more large boxes and was asked if her man was going to carry them and she said yes. He came up behind her and took the parcels. She told him to go out and take them to the carriage and to then wait for us at the restaurant at the end of the wharf. She and I followed him out and he walked looked up and down and looked at her again and she told him to go ahead. He then went the opposite direction of us.
We had started to walk along together and she again asked me how the Eagles were doing and I told here they were fine which was going to lead me up to telling her about him but then she suddenly stopped and told me she had forgotten something to get in the shop. She turned quickly around and hurried back into the shop. She was gone before I could catch up as I never could walk well on cobblestones. I was alone.
I was walking as quickly as I could when I heard a voice behind me ” Miss ” I stopped dead in my tracks I knew it was him. The cold feeling washed over me like a million stabbing pains all at once.
His voice was deeper than I thought it should be. I turned slowly around and he was standing right behind me much closer than he sounded. He was smiling at me. He held up a gold key ring and said ” I think your friend dropped this out of her bag earlier ” he held it out to me. I took it but he was careful not to touch me.
I tried to speak at first but the words did not come, I tried again and then came shredded grating sound. ” Thank you ” he smiled again at me and I noticed an odd shape of his teeth as the light caught the glisten of them.
” I will make sure she get’s them ” ” Your welcome, have a pleasant rest of your evening ” I heard Collette call me again and I was startled and turned around. I turned around again to thank him once more and he was gone.
I knew I would be spending the afternoon with her shopping for the supplies for the party this weekend and catching up gossiping with her, it had been a long time since I had seen her and missed her. We were planning to have dinner at the wharf and then I would go back to her house and leave again at first light the next morning.
I was getting ready for the trip packing a small overnight bag and getting some boxes ready for the supplies I could hear the Eagles outside screeching and calling so all was well with them. I kept thinking about him, was any of this real and how was I going to tell Collette, that I dreamed him up – that I imagined him. It was driving me crazy. I got a cold feeling that I was being watched. I could not get him out of my head. I had lost count of how many times I looked out the window in his spot in the Ocean waiting and wishing to see him again. How could I wish to see someone I was not even sure I had seen ?
When I was finished packing I took down the boxes to the landing, my help was on their yearly vacation so it was just me. They would return 2 days after the party, but had made arrangements inside and out for the guests by way of seating and making ready the guest rooms before they left. I kept having the cold feeling I was being watched.
When I finished getting the boxes down to the dock, I decided to take the long way back up to finish getting ready and to wait for the boat to come along at the appointed time. Going the long way would take me past the front and his spot. Again as I came around I saw no one, no other foot prints other than my own, there is no way he could have passed me or vanished without me seeing him. It just did not make sense. I saw the Eagles soaring high above as normal. I walked along the shore to his spot and just stared for a moment, the feeling of longing was growing inside of me. How could this be ?
I went up the stairs and looked back one last time the sun was still shining bright on the Ocean as it always did this time of the day. I went back inside and made my way up to my room and headed straight for the window to look again and saw nothing.
I finished putting my jewelry on and when I was finished I heard the horn of the small boat that would take me inland. I hurried a bit down the back stairs to the landing where the man waved at me. He was putting everything into the boat. He always had a big warm smile for me.
It was very late in the afternoon when we pulled into the wharf, I always hated the jerk of the boat when we landed.
Collette was waiting at the cobblestone wharf for me as the small boat pulled in. She had been shopping already. The man had taken the boxes out of the boat and put them on the dock for me, Collette pointed down to them to a man and he came to get them for me and bring them along to the carriage and would get them if and as we needed them as we shopped. He greeted me with a warm “Good Evening ” and I replied with the same.
There were many people down at the edge as there always were this time of the afternoon, shopping and dining. There were several people around her at the moment. I saw standing in the shadow a young man leaning up against the wall just watching me, the cold feeling came over me again. He had brown curly hair that seemed to be gathered in the back. He was very pale. As Collette rushed to greet me with a hug I let go for the moment and hugged her back.
She began asking me how I was and how things were and how the Eaglets had been growing, it had been just since they hatched that I had seen her when she last visited the Island. I got lost in conversation with her while we walked back up the dock to the wharf.
I looked over and saw him still standing there watching me, I broke into a cold sweat with the sick feeling inside coming again. She did not notice him, she dropped her bag and I had bent down to help her gather the spilled contents and I looked up again and he was gone.
When we managed to get everything back together and back in her bag, I asked her how long she had been here already, she told me a few hours and I asked her if she noticed anything strange about anyone. Her reply was as I expected. No.
We headed over to the dress shop, I was going to buy myself a new dress for the party. Collette had gone to another shop to look in the window that really did not interest me so much so I stood behind her looking off at another shop. I felt the cold again. I felt a brush past my hair with a touch as gentle as a breeze. I turned and saw the same man walking slowly past me, he just barely turned his head so I could see his profile. The cold, it had to be him, but how ?
Collette had finished during this time window looking and took me by the arm and headed toward the dress shop, I pulled back but not too hard. She kept chattering away about what she was looking at in the window which I did not notice. I kept watching him walk away, he turned back around and I could no longer see his face any longer nothing but his curly brown hair, that in the very late afternoon early evening sun had the same red highlights to it.
I swallowed dryly it had to be him.
When we made our way to the dress shop I went in and had to sit down for a moment just to catch my breath. Collette finally noticed there was something wrong by this time. ” Are you OK ” I just smiled and nodded but she knew better. She got lost in the dresses and I started looking around.
The store was cool with the Ocean wind coming in the door, I was looking at the dress on the mannequin when my eyes wandered out the window, there he was again, just watching me. My heart skipped a beat, my mouth went dry, I could not swallow. I felt the cold sickness inside raging. I was going to go out but the owner of the shop went over toward the window, apparently he had seen him too. He then turned and walked slowly away. The owner asked me ” Is everything to your liking ma’am ” ” Yes it is, thank you ” I said with a short smile, ” If I can help you at all please don’t hesitate to ask ” I smiled at him and he went and stood near the door.
I heard Collette call my name from somewhere deep within the dresses that were in rows. ” Christine come look at this one ” I went toward her voice and found her with a lovely pink and white lace dress she wanted me to try on. I took it and stared at it for a moment, my mouth was still too dry to speak. She was off looking at others. I took it up towards the door and asked the man where the changing room was. Without leaving the door he pointed to the left. I turned and walked in that direction back past the window and I saw him there again. Standing in the shadow of another store.
I just kept walking as if I had not seen him. When I got to the room I closed and locked the door. I felt so sick inside I was glad I had not eaten before I left the castle. I sat down and tried to calm down. Who was he, why was he here and was he indeed the man from the Ocean ? I felt the cold sweat break again and my heart was racing out of my chest. I knew it would take me a long time to try the dress on. So I decided just to measure it to my height and waist without taking everything else off. It seemed to fit and at the moment that was good enough for me. I sat back down and tried not to be afraid but I was terrified.
I heard a great banging at the door, that made me jump up and heard Collette ” How is it “. I said it was fine and she wanted me to come out and look at another one. I told her I would need a minute. I heard her walk away. I sat again and tried to calm my stomach down and wipe the sweat off of my forehead before I went back out. I managed to regain myself enough to stop shaking enough to unlock the door and go back out.
I found her again in another row of dresses and I told her that I wanted this one and I was going to take it and that I did not want to try on anymore. She had 3 more in her arms that she wanted to try. I went back up to the front and paid for my dress. The owner of the shop asked me about the man who came in while I was trying on the dress, I looked at him and was horrified by what he had said, he looked over in the direction of the door and it was Collette’s man who came with her to help. He asked me if I wanted him to take the parcel and I said yes. I looked over and smiled at him and saw passed out the window leaning again against the wall, he was there again.
I turned and walked straight towards the window and he straightened up and looked at me and smiled. I turned again and sat down next to Collette’s man. He asked me if I was alright, I said I was fine and thanked him for his concern. I was going to tell him about him, but then I thought maybe I shouldn’t.
By the time Collette had finished trying on the dresses and deciding which one’s she wanted it was dark and the gas lamps were being lit. She paid for her dresses and they were parcelled up the same as mine and the owner then gave the box to her man.
Collette was the first out the door as I was still feeling rather sick. She walked right past him and did not seem to notice him, but I was sure the shop owner had seen him. How she could not have seen or felt him I was not sure.
I decided to go against my instinct and walk as close to him as I could to get a better look at him and to see if the same cold feeling would come. I stepped about 3 feet over still walking. I walked right passed in front of him.
I was so close that I could have touched him if I had the nerve. He was about 2 inches taller than I was and very pale, paler than I had thought from a distance. His eyes were dark green and his curly brown hair that he had let down framed a beautiful young mans face. The red highlights in his hair caught by the gas lamp that he was near, caught a reddish tint in his eyes. He smiled at me and had the slightest pull to his skin which was unusual for a man his age, which could not have been passed 25.
I walked slowly passed him, my heart racing the tightness in my throat almost made me cough but I kept control. The cold sick feeling inside was almost too much. As I walked just past him he walked quickly behind and around me and off my left side and quickly walked in front of me. It was him, I knew it now without a doubt. I took a deep breath trying to catch his scent but there was none. Which I thought was strange as he created quite a wind when he walked past me. What was he doing here though.
Collette’s man caught up behind me ” Ma’am ” I smiled to him as to say everything is OK. He then caught up with Collette who was well in front of me and headed into another shop. I looked past them both to see him again but he was gone.
This time though I knew other people had seen him. He was real, it did happen. I didn’t imagine him. Who was he though, why was he here and how did he know I would be here tonight.
Collette’s man had followed her to the store and paused at the just the outside for me to catch up. He looked at me and I again smiled at him.
As Collette went deep into the shop full of trinkets and baubles and material, I heard her call my name again from the middle of the store ” Christine ” I followed her voice with still a million questions in my head and still trying to understand what was happening. She looked at me and asked me ” What is wrong ? ” I could not think of anything to tell her. My mouth was still very dry and I still felt sick. She was looking at some heavily decorated material. She then said ” Maybe after dinner you will feel a bit better, you look pale ” I turned away from her. I thought though that something lite to eat and drink may make me feel a little better.
Her man was again sitting on a chair inside the door waiting for us, I was glad he was there. I found myself looking out the window for him to be standing somewhere. Watching. Even with all the other emotions I was feeling I could not discount how attractive he was and I started to feel the longing again as I felt when I was looking at the Ocean in his spot.
By the time she had finished she had 2 more large boxes and was asked if her man was going to carry them and she said yes. He came up behind her and took the parcels. She told him to go out and take them to the carriage and to then wait for us at the restaurant at the end of the wharf. She and I followed him out and he walked looked up and down and looked at her again and she told him to go ahead. He then went the opposite direction of us.
We had started to walk along together and she again asked me how the Eagles were doing and I told here they were fine which was going to lead me up to telling her about him but then she suddenly stopped and told me she had forgotten something to get in the shop. She turned quickly around and hurried back into the shop. She was gone before I could catch up as I never could walk well on cobblestones. I was alone.
I was walking as quickly as I could when I heard a voice behind me ” Miss ” I stopped dead in my tracks I knew it was him. The cold feeling washed over me like a million stabbing pains all at once.
His voice was deeper than I thought it should be. I turned slowly around and he was standing right behind me much closer than he sounded. He was smiling at me. He held up a gold key ring and said ” I think your friend dropped this out of her bag earlier ” he held it out to me. I took it but he was careful not to touch me.
I tried to speak at first but the words did not come, I tried again and then came shredded grating sound. ” Thank you ” he smiled again at me and I noticed an odd shape of his teeth as the light caught the glisten of them.
” I will make sure she get’s them ” ” Your welcome, have a pleasant rest of your evening ” I heard Collette call me again and I was startled and turned around. I turned around again to thank him once more and he was gone.