Authors: EMME CROSS
Another page. Sunny taking part in a swimming meet, Cyrillic signs around the pool. They were still in Moscow.
Then came pictures of her riding an elephant in the jungle. In another she posed timidly with a bear. “That was in Bali. I was so scared of the bear’s claws.”
More photos of Sunny at different famous landmarks — Angkor Wat, the Great Wall, the Pyramids, the Tower of London. With each turn of the page Sunny was slightly older, slightly taller, but the smile, the curls and the colouring were unmistakable. Next came pictures of her in the desert. The sail shape of Burj Al Arab on the Dubai waterfront.
“We had high tea there and they played ‘Happy Birthday’ on the harp.” She stroked the photo, her face soft with fond memories. A few more pictures followed, until there was one of Sunny with her father, both of them laughing. He looked frail and was sitting in a wheelchair. Sunny was in her late teens. That must have been in Edmonton, where she nursed him following his strokes. Fast forward to the recent past: pictures of Sunny at her villa when it was still a building site, in a construction hat at the rental villas next door and laughing with the workmen. Sunny and Mimi together on the deck of a sleek boat; Linus’s yacht. “We spent a lot of time on board when I was pregnant and couldn’t eat on dry land.” There were photos of the three of them toasting with flutes containing something bubbly in the midst of a party. “That was the day The Daemon, his racing boat, was launched. Don’t skip ahead. I have to pee again.”
After she’d left the room Sven looked at his mother. “Sometimes it just hits me when I realize how lonely she must have been growing up. All those pictures and except for the ones in Russia and St. Barts, it was just Sunny and her dad. She had no one else.”
Judith squeezed his hand and smiled at her granddaughter. “She’s not alone any longer.” Their hands entwined and then reached down together, the fingers stroking Bliss’s hair.
“Is it safe?”
“Linus, of course. I apologize for my tirade on New Year’s Eve.” Sunny blushed and waved him into the villa.
“I’m the one who should apologize. You were absolutely right. I was treating you like a child. I’m also sorry I tried to make Sven jealous. Everything’s okay now?”
His eyes were full of concern. “We’ve kissed and made up. Things are back to normal — he’s being selfish and I’m letting him!”
“Good. I also want to say that you were right about my feelings for you. I’m not
in love
with you. Maybe I never was. It took me long enough,” he added ruefully. “But I do love you and I want you as a friend. Can you forgive me?”
Sunny hugged him, and his shoulders relaxed and he clasped her to his chest. “Isn’t it nice to have that nonsense behind us? Maybe now the three of us can spend some time together without it being so awkward. And you can get to know Bliss. With Henry gone, she’s going to need a surrogate godfather.”
“I’d be honoured. Actually, I thought tomorrow, if you’re free, we could all go for that sail. I wasn’t kidding. I want to put all the ghosts to rest, Sunny. I want to go back to Rockefeller Beach. I want to see where Mimi died and where we got the boat and where we were rescued. Will you come? Will you all come? It might help Sven understand everything we went through.”
* * *
Judith joined them, so as to tend to Bliss and to ensure Sunny wasn’t overwhelmed by sad memories. She was also glad of the opportunity to bid a final farewell to Mimi, who’d been her friend as well as her employer.
Linus had prepared for the outing with typical thoroughness. He’d printed up some photos taken at the baby shower. Madame LaBelle had sent them her video of the event. Judith smiled as she clicked through the downloads.
“I wish I’d been there. It looks like you had fun.”
Sunny was looking over her shoulder. “I couldn’t believe Mimi and everyone kept it a secret, right up to the moment when we got off the tender and saw the banner and the barbecue and Philippe and everyone! It was wonderful.”
She rubbed Bliss’s belly. “This is where you got your stroller and baby monitor.”
Sven had joined Linus at the bow of the boat. “I haven’t been back to this part of the island since,” the older man admitted. “I wouldn’t even go on the search for Mimi. I just couldn’t.”
“I remember you in her condo with your blackberry and cellphone and computers. You were co-ordinating the search efforts.”
“Yes, but I should have been out there myself. I owed her that much.” The memory and the guilt still rankled with Linus.
“You were on crutches and your ankle was in a cast. You were in a lot of pain. I’m the last person who should be trying to make you feel better but after all you went through, I imagine you were in shock as well. And you were looking after Sunny as well as figuring out how to ferry supplies to the island.” Sven added with a grin, “Far be it from me to give you a lick of credit, but I doubt you could have done anything more.”
Linus gave a slight nod, acknowledging his rival’s grudging praise. It somehow meant more than the effusive compliments and reassurances of all Linus’s family and friends. “We’re here.” The Daemon had pulled into the shore off Rockefeller Beach.
Sunny followed Linus into the tender. Linus extended his hand to the younger man.
“Please come with us.”
Judith waved them off. “Bliss and I will stay here and look for dolphins.”
Sunny held tight to Sven’s hand as the tender neared the beach. The strength of her grip was the single outward sign of her anxiety. She had a smile on her face; her eyes were hidden by her sunglasses.
“The barbecue tent was here.” She and Linus were getting their bearings on the beach. “You see where that man in the speedo is sitting? That’s where Linus and Mimi were when the earthquake hit.”
Linus picked up the narrative, his eyes narrowing as he remembered. “Mimi threw my phone away. We were arguing and she turned it off and tossed it down onto the sand. Otherwise I might have gotten a heads up from my crew.”
“I never knew you were arguing. What about? We’d had such a nice day.”
Linus’ eyes slid away from Sunny’s. “I don’t really remember anymore. I just remember the last words we exchanged were angry.”
“Oh, Linus,” Sunny touched his arm. “Those weren’t your last words. Remember? On the path?” She led him and Sven to the break in the jungle and started climbing. Her wind wasn’t affected by the exertion or the humidity. The climb this time was effortless, unlike the last time she’d been on this path. Then she had been pregnant. “You told us about the tsunami and how we had to get very high, very quickly. And she shouted for you to carry me. I’d slipped and hurt my leg,” she explained to Sven. “I think we were about here,” she pointed to a spot just ahead. “The wave was coming and Mimi was worried about me and the baby. Linus picked me up and ran up the path.” She turned to him. “I don’t know how you moved so fast; I was so heavy and ungainly.”
“And you had that fucking purse. You wouldn’t let go of that fucking purse.” Linus and Sven exchanged a glance. Both men had first-hand experience with Sunny’s epically overloaded purse.
Linus ran a hand through his hair as he assessed his surroundings. “The vegetation’s changed, of course. They’ve fixed the road,” he said pointing up to the top of the hill where they could glimpse the tarmac and cars through the jungle. “I think this is the place.”
Sunny looked around, trying to judge the distance from familiar touchstones like the beach and the rock wall. “The big trees are gone.”
Sven asked, “What are you talking about?”
“This is where Linus found a tree, a giant bush really, for us to hang onto.”
He interjected. “The waves kept coming. You think a tsunami is just one giant wave but it’s not. It’s a bunch of waves, big and little. Each brings in more debris so even the smaller waves can be deadly.”
Sunny wrapped her arms around herself, remembering the long hours of waiting and worrying and wondering if they were going to die on Rockefeller Beach. “It was getting dark by the time we got out of here.”
Sven was astonished. “You hung on for that long? For hours?”
“Well, we moved up a bit after that one wave crested just above our heads.”
Linus was also deep in memories. “And it took a while to get the boat. Over there. It was snagged on debris over there by the rocks. I still shudder when I think about you swimming, with your big belly, disappearing under the surface to cut the rope. I was sure you were a goner. If you hadn’t come back I would have let myself slip into the water.”
Sunny shook her head at this pronouncement. “You wouldn’t have abandoned me. Besides, you had a message to deliver.”
“That’s right.” Linus looked at Sven. “I was supposed to tell you if anything happened to Sunny that she loved you very much.”
Sven stared at the two of them, imagining what they went through. His shattered ankle, her pregnant belly, Mimi missing and no help in sight. It was suddenly too much. He could imagine the waves, the terror and darkness falling. How close they had all come to death, including his unborn daughter. It was a miracle that any of them had survived, a miracle that he had a family. Being here, in this spot, where his wife and daughter had almost died, it hit him in a flash, as his imagination filled in the blanks.
It was too much for him and he choked back a sob.
Sunny was instantly at his side, stroking his face. “Oh, my darling. We just wanted to help you understand and to share what happened. We didn’t mean to upset you.”
Linus was equally concerned. The visit was cathartic for the two survivors but obviously overwhelming for Sven. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have asked you to come along. I never realized . . .”
Sven tried to master his emotions. “I’m glad you did. But Sunny never talks about what happened. Most of what I’ve heard or read from survivors has been second- or third-hand. It’s different, standing here. In your place, I don’t know what I would have done.”
Linus clasped his hand on Sven’s arm. “You would have done whatever you had to.”
Sven flashed him a grateful look. It was decent of him to say so, knowing his history. “Let’s get back to the boat. I need to hug the baby.”
The three of them made their way slowly down the mossy, steep path each preoccupied with their own thoughts.
By the time they were back on The Daemon, there were cold drinks waiting. Judith’s eyebrows lifted when she saw their sad expressions but she didn’t say a word when all three headed straight for the bar. A giant goblet of wine for Sunny. A beer for Sven. A neat double scotch for Linus.
“What happened?” Judith asked Linus.
“Memories,” he answered with a grimace. “I wonder if this was such a good idea after all.”
Sunny was snuggling Bliss but answered him in between kisses. “We needed it. Being here is painful, but cleansing. It’s no longer a place where we almost died, not a place of tragedy. It’s just a place, a path in the jungle with a view of the ocean. Now I can look at Rockefeller Beach and remember the party and our friends and how happy we all were. Now that we’ve been back, I don’t have to focus on what happened after.”
“Where to now?” asked Judith.
“Now we go to where they found Mimi,” answered Linus, his face grim.
It wasn’t a very long trip and they could have done it in the tender. It was just around the corner of the cliff, on the other side of the outcrop of rock that defined the southern tip of the bay.
“There.” He pointed. “About two meters below the surface. She was entangled in a fishing net.”
“Oh, Linus.” Sunny started to cry. “We were just over there.” She pointed to the small island off starboard.
“That’s Île Fourchue, where Sunny and I ended up. We were there for two days before they found us.”
“Mimi was just there, just a few hundred metres away and we never knew. We shouted for her when we were on the boat, and again on the island. We both scoured the water looking for some sign of her. But Mimi had vanished. That’s what we thought. But she was right there, so close. Maybe her spirit was looking out for us the whole time.” Sunny’s eyes widened. “She made me bring a shawl. The red shawl! You said you used it to wave at the boat.”
Linus felt his guilt lessen slightly. Perhaps Mimi didn’t blame him after all. “Maybe she was there, helping us. We also owe Constable Privé our lives. If he hadn’t found us, I don’t know how much longer we could have lasted. I have arranged for him to go to France and take some intensive training to help him move up the ranks. He just needs some confidence.”
“He also needs Ana,” Sunny added. Her friend from Los Angeles was involved in a long distance love affair with the young police officer.
“It’s time to say a proper farewell.” Linus opened a cooler filled with flowers. Jasmine, hibiscus, lilies, roses, daisies, bougainvillea. The flowers were all white, the oriental colour of death and mourning.
The Daemon dropped anchor. On some unspoken cue, they heard Jeff Buckley’s ‘Halleluiah’ playing on the overhead speakers. As soon as the last chorus had died away, there was only the sound of the wind and the waves lapping against the hull.
Linus spoke first.
“You were my friend and my lover. Until my dying day, I will regret I couldn’t save you as well. I miss you.”
Judith took an armful of flowers. “You were my friend. We shared so much. I think about all the people you’ve made happy over the years, all the weddings and anniversaries you’ve helped them celebrate. That’s quite a legacy. So is this,” she said holding Bliss Mimi O’Hara Larsen next to the edge so the little girl could drop a daisy into the water. “She’s your namesake. You live on through her as well.”
Sven struggled for words. “You were so hard on me for so long. You were so certain I wasn’t good enough for Sunny and you were right.” He looked up and smiled into his wife’s eyes. “At the time, you were right. But you were also right that we complete each other. Roots and wings, you said. Roots and wings.” He dropped an armload of bougainvillea into the water.
Sunny spoke last and she spoke in French, so Mimi would understand. She talked about how the older woman had welcomed her to the island, made her feel at home, helped her understand her parents and her history, helped her make peace with the past and look ahead to the future.
“Au revoir, mon amie,” she said, dropping a perfect white rose into the azure water. One of the crew appeared silently with a tray filled with champagne flutes.
They silently toasted the waves and then more music played, happy this time. No more Edith Piaf. Judith laughed through her tears. “I don’t think Mimi could have planned a better memorial service herself.”
The final farewell came from Bliss, waving ‘bye bye’ as The Daemon headed back out to sea.
THE END