Galveston Read Free Page A

to me as it must have gotten to Damon himself.
    Charles told me two weeks in advance of Damon’s visit.
    â€œIt’ll be nice to see him again,” I said, trying to conceal my elation at the news, which to my confused mind was like a lantern flashing in the night. “And I suppose they’ll be having a soiree in his honor?” I ventured.
    â€œI suppose,” said Charles, as though the matter bored him.
    â€œAlthough his taste in entertainment may differ from yours, it’s well to remember he doesn’t come home often, and after all, he is your brother.”
    Charles smiled. “I guess you’re right, although I have a suspicion it might just be you’ve a mind that favors parties.”
    I merely smiled back in reply.
    I didn’t bother with a new party dress for Damon’s homecoming this time, but instead bought a horse—a brown gelding not nearly so fine as Sandy, though he’d serve my purpose well enough—and took up riding again.
    On the night after Damon’s arrival the inevitable party was held by his friends, and I sat outside Charles’s office awaiting him to finish some business for a client. For an hour and a half I heard the sound of lively music through the open window. The party was going on not far away.
    Once Charles opened his door and looked out. “You don’t have to wait if you’d rather not, Claire. Go on and I’ll join you there,” he said.
    I almost agreed, then thought of the danger of giving my feelings away too soon, and said, “Take your time, Charles. I’ll be fine.”
    When at last we took the short walk to where the big hall stood, its windows lit up, doors opened wide, and its floor dusty from the strut of frolicking people, Charles said, “Slow down, Claire. What’s the hurry?”
    â€œI’m tired of waiting for you, that’s what,” I told him.
    â€œWell, forgive me for keeping you. Since you didn’t get fitted out in a new dress, I figured maybe you weren’t any more anxious than I was to go tonight.”
    â€œThere’s no point in going at all if we’re going to miss most of it, is there?” I said tartly. Though I wouldn’t tell Charles, it was not strictly the waiting that had me on edge. I’d been wondering all that day whether Damon Becker could possibly live up to the man I remembered, or if I’d allowed myself to dream him into someone so awesomely desirable that my seeing him again, in the flesh, could only lead to disappointment.…
    It wasn’t to be. He was if anything more magnificent than before, his face roughened by the salty air, his red beard fuller, his eyes stunning and grown more alert by his experiences with the tricky nature of the oceans he sailed.
    â€œYou remember Claire Haines,” said Charles, tapping his big shoulder.
    He turned around to face us, and at once I knew he didn’t remember me at all. “Of course,” he said, his eyes searching. “Charles always has had uncanny good luck in finding the town’s most beautiful women, eh Charles?” He took my fingers in his warm, rough hand and lifted them to his lips. His beard tickled them and and sent a shiver from the base of my spine to my cheeks.
    I knew I must make him remember. “I’ve taken up riding again,” I said, “though my horse is not nearly as fine as the palomino I once owned.”
    Something registered in his eyes.
    â€œI find the same paths around the thicket as good as ever, but nowadays I’m more wary of dangers that might lie ahead.”
    â€œIs that so?” he said. “Yes, riding is good sport around Grady, especially on long afternoons.”
    I nodded and looked deep into his eyes. More than words had passed between us.
    The next afternoon I rode the horse I hadn’t bothered to name and wouldn’t keep for long down the paths near the thicket, and soon I spotted Damon across