Page 13 of Landing Her Eagle
“Hello,” I say, approaching the table.
The taller one—her name tag says Maggie—greets me with a big smile. “Hello! How are you today?”
“I’m well, thank you. How are you?”
The shorter one, Joan, responds. “We’re great, thank you, dear. I always love the lighthouse challenge weekend and seeing familiar faces from years past. We’ve seen kids grow up through the years, and they’re bringing their own families to visit. It’s exciting.”
A wistful smile crosses my face. I hope to bring my children here someday, where my parents brought me. A little boy with green eyes and dark brown hair like his daddy, maybe a little girl too.
“Thanks,” I say when Joan hands me my coin. I turn and take out my phone so I can get my picture.
Maggie says, “Oh! You must take a picture with the lighthouse keeper!” She points to a banner that says, “I visited the Cape May Lighthouse!” set up in front of the lighthouse with a gentleman dressed in an old-fashioned lighthouse keeper’s uniform standing nearby. A couple has just had their picture taken and are walking away after thanking him. It appears there’s a volunteer on hand to take pictures using the visitors’ phones. It’s a cool idea. There’s a donation bucket set up alongside him. Brilliant fundraising on their part. I give my phone to Jim, the picture taker, and walk over to the keeper and stand on his left side. He’s an older gentleman, probably in his mid-sixties, with white hair and a beard. He has twinkling blue eyes and a bit of a belly. Wow, I’ve discovered what Santa does in the off-season.
“Hello,” the keeper says kindly.
“Hi,” I reply. “This is a great idea.”
Maggie and Joan wander over and stand next to Jim, practically vibrating with excitement. There must be something extra in their water bottles. Jim takes our picture, and when I go to move away, he calls out to stay there. He wants to take one more. The keeper apparently didn’t hear him because he walks away. Maybe Jim means to take a shot of just me? Whatever.
I see the enormous bird from before flying by. Wow, it’s huge. I’d bet it has a wingspan of at least six feet. It’s beautiful how the late afternoon sunlight glistens off the burnished golden feathers on its head. The brown feathers on its body almost look like velvet. Being a raptor, I’m sure it has sharp talons, and that hooked beak disabuses any notion of cuddliness, but I’m drawn to it anyway. I turn to watch it fly, but Jim calls for me to face him.
I smile and obey, ready for him to snap the picture, when I feel someone walk up behind me and place their arm around my shoulders. I turn, ready to knock out the creep that has snuck up on me. My brain registers the delicious scent of bay rum before my eyes tell me I’m looking at the smiling, painfully dear handsome face that holds my heart.
“What are you doing here?” I cry, reaching up to hug Logan. “Wait, was that you that just flew by?”
His powerful arms close around me, and his lips brush my cheek. I love being hugged by Logan. He’s so tall and broad. He makes me feel small and delicate. When I’m in his arms, I’m cherished and safe. I rest my head against his shoulder and relish being held by him. I don’t know if it was thirty seconds or five minutes, but we finally break apart. Jim hands me back my phone and pulls Joan and Maggie away to give us a bit of privacy. They keep glancing over their shoulders at us as they walk back to their table.
Logan takes my hand and leads me away from the photo area. We sit on a bench in the lighthouse’s shadow, under a bunch of pine trees. He turns toward me and takes my hand, his beautiful green gaze meeting mine. “Yeah, that was me. I know how important the Cape May Lighthouse is to your family’s story, and I wanted to join you here so you—we could add a chapter to it. Open your email.”
I open the email app on my phone and see a message from him has just come in, and it has an attachment. When I open it, I see a collage of the selfies I took at each of the earlier lighthouses I visited. But he’s photoshopped himself into each shot, so it appears he’s standing next to me.
With a shaky breath passing through my lips, I gaze up at him. “What is this?”
“I hope it’s a peek at our future.” Logan rests his palm on my cheek. “Daphne, sweetheart, you’re precious to me. You have been since the moment we met. I didn’t know what to do about it then, but now I do. I want to be with you. I don’t want to keep traveling and leaving you behind. There are lighthouses all over the country, all over the world. Maybe we can take trips to some of them together. I just want us to be together. Be mine?”
I cover his hand with my own. “Oh, Logan. I can’t believe you’re here. I…I wasn’t expecting this.” I take a shuddering breath. “Wow.”
I don’t know what to say. What does he mean when he says he wants to be with me? Is he staying here with me? Is he expecting me to go with him? My brain isn’t supplying any words, but my heart says what to do. I lean forward and place my lips on his. In the background, Maggie and Joan cheer.
12
LOGAN
I don’t knowhow long Daphne and I sit on that bench, kissing and talking, but the park the lighthouse is in closes at dusk, so it’s time we leave.
“Are you riding with me?” Daphne asks as we approach her car. “I assume you flew down here?”
“Nope, I drove down. I’m parked over there.” I point to a spot near the entrance to walking trails where I parked my Jeep. “I can’t carry my wallet and phone if I fly, and I needed to follow along on your adventures today. I shifted when I got here and waited on that branch so I could see when you arrived and surprise you. I created quite a stir.” I preen. “You know Cape May is a mecca for birders, so to have a fine golden eagle specimen like myself hanging out for the afternoon put a star on quite a few birders’ life lists.”
I regret my decision to drive my car since that means we’ll drive home separately. I hate being apart from her for even a moment now that I have her. I should have Ubered. I give her one more kiss and force myself to pull back. I can’t not touch her, so allow my hand to linger on her cheek.
“We need to go home.” I consider her house my home since that’s where I stay when I’m in the country. It didn’t make sense to rent an apartment that I wouldn’t be in often. I could stay at my parents’ house, but I’d always rather be with Daphne. We hang out and watch movies. She puts up with me watching baseball and cheering way too loudly for the Phillies, and I pretend to be interested in the DVR full of Hallmark Christmas movies. We both enjoy watching rugby and hockey together. I watch the play, but I’m pretty sure she’s checking out the rugby thighs and hockey butts. We both cheer for the Flyers and have attended games together over the years. Maybe we can get to a couple this year. I’ll have to check the schedule to see if they’re home before I leave on my next trip in just over a week.
“And we need dinner,” I say. “Do you want to stop somewhere?”
She stares at me a bit dreamily with her deep brown gaze. Our kisses affected her as much as they did me. “I like it that you call my house home. I need dinner, but I don’t want to stop anywhere to sit and eat. We can get takeout or delivery.”
“Honey, once we’re behind closed doors, I don’t want to see anyone but you for the rest of the night, at least. No delivery people, no friends, nobody, just me and you. If we’re getting food, we’re getting it before we get home. What do you want? Pizza? Burgers? Chinese?” I can’t help my smirk when I consider what I want to do once I have her alone.
