Duncan's Rose Read Free

a writer, he’d said. He hated the long hours she spent working on the computer, the interviews she had to do, and her traveling all the time. In their last fight before he left, he’d yelled that her career made him feel neglected, as if he’d been pushed aside for her other interests. This would have been fair if Miranda hadn’t driven herself half-insane trying to make their relationship work. He forgot her efforts to compensate him for her long hours of work by cooking, dressing up for him, or by attempting to fit into his family by visiting his mother, more often than he did actually.
    One night he’d called her a frigid woman, without an ounce of emotion. Miranda shook her head: with Jack everything boiled down to being her mistake. The nerve he’d displayed with his accusations! She wondered if she should have mentioned that she’d initiated their lovemaking every time. Frigid, indeed!
    Please!
    Okay, thinking of people who loved her didn’t calm her, but anger was doing a good job. Anger keeps your fear away, and she was pissed like hell now at a boyfriend who had left two years ago. She burst out laughing.
    “Are you okay, Lassie?” the pilot asked. “Don’t worry. We’ll get through; don’t lose control of yourself.”
    “Shhh, I’m in my zone, trying to be angry instead of scared.”
    “Oh well, whatever works, Lassie.”
    She watched out the window as they rocked their way through the void. How easy it must be to slam into the side of a mountain in total darkness, never knowing what was ahead. Thank goodness there were no mountains on Fairman Island. She wondered if fog gathered on the ground.
    The lightning seemed to be coming in from both sides, as if the storm was trying to break straight through the windows. Miranda’s chest started to hurt a bit. It was a good time for a short, silent prayer.
    “I am not going to lie ta ya, Lassie. The island is in the middle of the storm, so hang on.”
    Oh, how wonderful , she thought. And he couldn’t give me just a tiny lie. Oh, more anger, good, good! The plane took a nose dive, along with her heart. She grabbed the back of his chair with two clinched hands, eyes open and alert.
    “Tighten your seatbelt, we are going ta crash, I can’t see in front of…” He switched the speaker on. “Mayday! Mayday! We are crashing into Fairman Island. Does anyone hear us? Please be prepared!” he screamed and pulled the wheel toward him as a dark mass of land appeared in front of them. “Bloody shit!” he cursed.
    Miranda screamed. A tear escaped her eyes, knowing she was about to meet a painful end.
     

 

Chapter Two
     
    The plane dipped toward the unknown with such speed that Miranda was glued to her seat, her fingers clutched her handbag. The thundering sound of the plane falling mingled with the thumping of her heartbeats in her ears. She swallowed hard, and fought back the fear piling up. The speed and pressure kept Miranda’s eyes wide open. The dark closed in on them, and when a flash of lightning cleared her vision, she saw the wide, silvery ocean rushing up to meet them. Adair yanked the wheel even tighter toward himself.
    Yes, pull…pull!
    He finally lifted the nose of the plane upward seconds before hitting the water. The bottom of the plane touched the surface of the water slightly and the plane trembled and jerked, splashing water all around them. But he pulled the plane up again and it obeyed. Another flash of lightning illuminated the land: wet, white sand, bushes, and dark rocks.
    The plane skidded drunkenly on the water, then the loud crunch of metal eclipsed the roaring in Miranda’s ears. The seat belt held her in place as the plane shuddered violently before coming to a halt. She thanked her guardian angel and released a huge gulp of air but continued holding on to her seat.
    The plane floated atop the water, and in what seemed like seconds, they reached the wet white sand and swooshed up onto the beach, like ice-skating to hell.