The Survivor - Page 77

“He’s out with Loring and Joe making certain the property is absolutely as secure as he left the lab yesterday.” She grimaced. “But I know he must have seen the helicopter and I’m going to get out of here before he runs in. He’s seen enough of me and Joe since he got here.” She gave Riley’s cheek a pat. “I’m off for the lab. I’ll see you later when we come back for dinner.” She was already going out the door but stopped for an instant to look back over her shoulder. “Did I tell you the decision you made about going to the island turned out to be damn smart? I’m glad I was part of it if I can claim a tiny bit.”

“You can always claim a gigantic piece of any decision I make,” Riley said. “As any best friend should. None of this would have happened if you hadn’t been there for me.”

Eve grinned. “Not true. But I’m proud to be along for the ride. See you at dinner.” The door slammed behind her.

But Riley heard Eve say something to Cade before she reached the bottom of the steps, and Riley was halfway to the door when Cade came in. Then she was in his arms and everything was right with the world.

“Hey,” Cade said softly. “What a welcome. When you called, I thought you told me everything was going as good as it could be back at the mountain.”

“It is.” She forced herself to take a step back. “I’m just glad to see you.” She tried to smile. “Because when the world is threatening to crash around us, you’re the one I want to help me keep it in its proper place. I believe we’ve clarified that but I wanted to be sure. We have plans to make, and I wanted to touch base about a few things so that everything is clear. First, I love you and I’ll always love you. That’s a given. You’ll always be the one I turn to first from now on. But you’ll have to stand back and let me walk my own path if that’s what I choose.”

He leaned forward and brushed his lips across her cheek. “Is that a warning? We’ll have a few problems, but I can accept the concept.”

“You should, because it’s almost what you wanted when this all started.” She grimaced. “Except I believe you’ve learned a few things yourself during our time on the island.”

“There’s a possibility.” He grinned. “Anything else?”

“Yes, I want you to promise me that from now on we’re going to spend every spare moment enjoying and appreciating every single time we have together and not waste a minute. I want every day to be a celebration.” She moistened her lips. “I’m a little scared and I believe that’s the way to solve the problem.”

“I think that’s a wonderful solution,” he said softly. “A celebration and a holiday. You’ve obviously been thinking about this.”

“Yes, I have, and I had to get it all out.” She drew a relieved breath. “Because it was important to get all this settled before we moved on to anything else.” She kissed him and then took his hand. “Now we can go out on the porch and sit on the swing and hold each other. Then after a little while we can let the world in again and work on saving the planet. Okay?”

“Oh, yes.” Cade was already leading her toward the porch. “What a fine plan. I’m sure that we’ll be able to accomplish both with hard work and ingenuity.”

“Optimist.”

“Absolutely.” He drew her closer. “And that’s the way we’ll get through this. But we might have to make adjustments. We’ll have to talk about it later…”

EPILOGUE

BASE MOUNTAIN CAMP

PALANDAN ISLAND

TWO MONTHS LATER

Cade told me you were here,” Kagan said as he strolled toward the truck where Maya was standing. “Complete with clipboard and shepherds and rather bewildered unicorns.”

She whirled to face him. “Where else would I be? This is my job.” Her gaze raked his face. “How are you? You don’t look as if you could have been tottering at death’s door like the media claimed.”

“I never totter.” He reached out and stroked one of the deer being loaded on the truck. “I have my reputation to uphold. Cade just circulated that story to gain sympathy for the island guard and bring attention to the fact that if the Himalayas can melt, what about Miami Beach or Paris? It struck a resounding chord.”

“It was a good idea,” she said. “The whole world adores you and almost went into a tailspin when he told everyone you were badly wounded. They lit candles in every city that had a mountain. Very good distraction.”

“But surely Riley told you that I was doing fine?”

“She might have mentioned it. I’ve been very busy here.”

“Not too busy to tell Bailey that I was okay,” he said softly. “Because I’ve been receiving all kinds of sketches of the deer, shepherds, and you from her while I was in the hospital ‘recuperating.’ Some of them were very amusing. Some of them were just touching; I was glad to know she cared. It’s always good to realize that you matter.” He chuckled. “Though we both know you’ve always had trouble expressing that where I’m concerned.”

“As if you needed another fan,” she scoffed. “It’s better to keep you grounded.” Then she smiled. “But if you’ll be quiet for another five minutes, I’ll get this shipment of deer off the mountain and on its way to the airport to go to the new haven in the Rocky Mountains that Cade’s set up. Then I’ll take you up to the tent to see Bailey and we’ll have supper.”

“You’re only sending twenty at a time?”

“We decided that it would be better to get them used to a new place if they didn’t have to compete with a huge herd. I send twenty plus a shepherd they know every couple weeks. So, when Cade found that haven in the Rockies we started to work.” She tore the sheet off the clipboard, handed it to the driver, and waved him away.

Kagan watched him drive down the road. “It’s going to take much longer to get them settled that way.”