Free Death by Proposal by Jaden Skye Page A

all. Why didn’t
she say they were sorry?
    “Are
Riva and Sean sharing a room?” Cindy asked as she read the correspondence.
    “Sure,”
said Clay, “why?”
    “She
never once mentions him,” said Cindy. “She doesn’t say we’re sorry, just
that she is.”
    Clay
stood up straighter. “Why should she mention him? She doesn’t want to rub it
in. She’s concerned about me, not Sean.”
    The
next email from Riva came a few hours later. Hi, there Clay, how are you
doing? All alone? Need anything now? Riva.
    Parents
will be here in a little while, Clay had answered.
    Cindy
got up from the computer. There was a lot more to look into here. She had to
check Kate’s email correspondence as well. Had Kate and Riva been in touch
before she died? What about Kate and Sean? Was their meeting at the hotel truly
accidental?  
    “Can
I take Kate’s computer with me for a little while?” Cindy asked Clay. There was
hours of work ahead of her and it would be good to go back to her room and work
on it alone.
    Clay
stood up fervently. “No, you can’t. I want it here with me. I like looking at
it. I need to look at it. I want to remember over and over how happy I made Kate.
I want to show my parents, too. You can see for yourself that she loved me, can’t
you?”
    “Yes,
I can,” said Cindy sadly, “Kate looked thrilled. You look like a wonderful
couple.”
    “Thank
you,” said Clay, “thank you,” as he turned and went back to the chair on the edge
of the patio, alone again.
    Cindy
got up then, stretched, thanked Clay and said she’d be back a little later. She
had to go down to the lobby and catch up with Mattheus now.
    Clay,
stood up, and accompanied her off the patio.
    “Are
you two in love?” he asked under his breath as they walked to the door.
    Cindy
was taken aback.  “Why do you ask that?”
    “I
just wanted to know if you can even begin to understand what I’m going through.”
    Cindy
turned and looked into his eyes. They were deep blue, filled with pools of fear
and sadness.
    “Yes,
Clay,” she said, “I can understand. I lost someone like this, too.”
    His
head flipped back. “Who?”
    “My
husband died down here on the islands during our honeymoon,” said Cindy.
    That
stopped him totally for a moment. “You were married to someone else?”
    “Yes.”
    “And
you’re with Mattheus now?”
    “That’s
right,” said Cindy.
    Clay’s
face grew tight and grim. “Just like that, feelings can change? You can go from
one to another?” he asked.
    Cindy
felt put on the spot.  “It didn’t happen just like that. It took time.”
    Clay
took a step away from her. “But I don’t believe in time,” he said.
    *
    There
were all kinds of ways of coping with the sudden shock of loss, Cindy thought
as she rode down in the elevator back to the lobby to meet Mattheus. Clay was
partially numb, partially disoriented, partially lost in memories of the past. That
was normal. Deep inside he was desperately trying to figure things out, make
life go back to the way it was, or the way he thought it should have been. Of
course Clay didn’t believe in time, thought Cindy. How could he right now? Time
had ripped his love from him. If time didn’t exist for him, then all could be
the way it was again.
    As
Cindy stepped out of the elevator, she saw Mattheus sitting at a small sofa
nearby, drinking coffee. He got up when Cindy walked out of the elevator.
     “Come
on,” he said, “we’re going for lunch at a great spot on Orjeanstadt Street. It’ll
be good to get out of the hotel for a while and clear our heads.”
    Cindy
linked her arm into his. “Great,” she said, happy to be with him, and to be
headed to the main street in town where they’d get a change of scenery, fresh
air, and time to review what they’d found so far.
    Orjeanstadt
Street was filled with shops, restaurants, outdoor cafes and tourists ambling
about as if there was nothing more important to do in the world than be down
here enjoying