Free Beverly Byrne by Come Sunrise Page A

was a gold and white and red fantasy. The theme was Santa
Claus's workshop complete with all the elves. Lots of the parts moved, and
there was a clock that chimed every quarter hour and opened miniature doors to
display within a group of dancing figurines.
     
    "It's
gorgeous," she said with delight; turning her face up to Luke. "I've never
seen anything like it."
     
    "Nothing
like this in Africa, eh?" He grinned and tweaked her nose and added that
they had to hurry or the store would close before they got the scarf.
     
    When
they came out the streets were even more crowded and a few snowflakes had
started to fall. "Let's be extravagant and take a cab," Luke said.
"The streetcars are horrible at this hour."
     
    The
taxi was warm and dark and snug, and it moved slowly because of the traffic.
When it turned the corner of Forty-second Street it lurched slightly on the wet
road, and Amy was thrown against Luke. She stayed there, loving the closeness
of him and the smell of his damp overcoat mingling with the smell of him.
     
    Luke
stiffened. Men could be difficult, just as Mummy used to say, and stupidly shy
and blind. She reached up and laid her gloved hand on his cheek. He moaned and
covered it with his and then he was kissing her again and it was as it had been
on Long Island. The same urgency, the same rightness. They couldn't press
together as they had on the beach, not in the back of a taxi, but his hands
stroked her and his mouth moved against hers.
     
    "Oh,
God, Amy," he muttered when the kiss ended.
     
    "It's
all right, Luke," she whispered. The assertion was drawn out of her
without her knowing how or why. "We're right."
     
    "I
don't know. I just don't know."
     
    "Here
you are sir, Seventy-sixth and Fifth," the cab driver said. His voice
broke the mood.
     
    After
that she didn't know how he'd be during dinner, but he was wonderful. He seemed
almost euphoric. Gay and witty, and seeking opportunities to touch her hand or
find her eyes when no one else was looking. Tonight, she thought. Tonight he's
going to propose! If only Lil and Warren would leave us alone for a bit.
     
    But
they didn't. They seemed almost to conspire to avoid the very thing Amy longed
for. After dinner neither brother nor sister left the drawing room as they
usually did. Finally it was eleven and Luke said good night and left. Bitterly
disappointed, Amy didn't sleep well.
     
    That
night she had a strange dream. She was in Africa in a grove of trees beside a
river. She knew the place well; it wasn't far from Jericho. There was a
waterfall and behind it a small cave. Amy knew that too. She'd explored it
years before, when she was small. Luke was with her and he didn't believe the
cave was there. "Come," she said in her dream, "I'll prove it to
you."
     
    They
took off their clothes, as if it was the most natural thing in the world, and
she felt no shyness because a white cloud enveloped them both. Then they
plunged into the river and swam to the falls. The next instant they were in the
cave, and the covering clouds had melted away. "Now we're clean," the
dream Amy said. The dream Luke nodded and took her in his arms. His hips moved
against hers the way they had on the beach, but when she looked over his
shoulder she saw an enormous lion watching them from the other side of the
river. It was distorted by the sheet of falling water, but she knew it was the
biggest lion in the world. Amy waited for Luke to gasp the way he had before,
but she awoke before it happened. She was shivering and a lump of tears choked
her throat.
     
    The
next evening Luke was entirely different. He was expected for dinner and he
came, but he was withdrawn and almost cold. And now, when he was like this, Lil
and Warren did what they hadn't done the night before, they left them alone.
     
    "I
have to talk to you," Luke said.
     
    No,
a voice shouted in her head. Not when he's in this mood. "I have a
headache," she lied. "I think I'll go to bed."
     
    "Please,"
he said.