Page 21 of Girl in the Water

She walked through the door of the house, as happy as she’d ever been.

But in the middle of the house stood the largest, scariest man she’d ever seen. Senhor Finch had been sunshine, but this foreigner was a night storm. He seemed to fill the house like a dark cloud. He was too big, too strong, his gaze too sharp on her. As she turned to flee, he thundered, “Stop!”

And the next second, the man had her arm in his grip.

* * *

Carmen

Carmen Barbosa watched the red house over the dark waters of the Içana, her back and arms aching from working at the clinic all day. Her right arm hurt the most, had been hurting since last week. Too much hammering. They’d been installing doors on the examination rooms, a big improvement over curtains.

The day’s work had been satisfying, yet contentment eluded her.

“What do you think happened to that girl?”

“Maybe she escaped on her own.” Phil sat at the kitchen table, writing a letter to his parents back home. No Internet this deep in the rain forest.

He was an only child. His mother and father worried about him. Sometimes he joked about wishing for at least one brother—a war correspondent or a policeman—so the parental worry would get spread around a little. “Maybe a relative came and got her.”

“Maybe,” Carmen echoed, but she didn’t believe it.

After they’d decided to save the girl, they’d never seen her again. The girl hadn’t gone into the river the next morning with the rest. Carmen had swum over anyway and approached the others, but none of them talked to her. They scampered up the ladder to the red house’s deck and hid inside, as if they were scared of her.

Going to the police station to inquire about the house hadn’t helped either. She’d been told to mind her own business. A police officer with disaffected, reptilian eyes had told her that people around here didn’t like foreigners who caused trouble. He suggested that she’d be more comfortable in Rio or one of the other big cities.

No way would she leave the clinic before the work was finished. And since she knew the policecouldmake her leave, she stopped going to the police.

But she hadn’t stopped investigating.

“I put out the word to the foreign volunteer networks, with as good a description of the girl as I could give. Somebody will see her.” She rolled her right shoulder. Maybe she’d ask the doc at the clinic for some cream for her sore muscles.

“Marry me.” The words, soft but sure, floated to her on the evening breeze.

Her heart lurched.

Now? Oh God. Don’t ask me.

She turned to look into Phil’s eyes that sparkled with love and hope. She couldn’t speak. She could barely breathe. The air was thick with moisture and the tiny shards of her broken hopes and dreams.

“Please, say yes.” Phil rose to his feet and padded over to wrap her in his arms. “I want you to be Mrs. Heyerdahl. I want you to belong to me. I want us to belong to each other.”

Everything inside her thrilled and at the same time panicked.Oh God.

He kissed her neck. “I want to tell my parents to get ready for grandchildren. The book is almost done. We can go home. The time is right.”

Grandchildren.At least Carmen had a brother and a sister, so her parents had two other chances.But Phil. God, Phil…

He acknowledged her hesitation with a nod. “I know it’s sudden. But you’re everything I want. Just think about it.”

I’m not everything you want.Her heart dropped to her stomach, then through and out of her to fall clattering on the floor at her feet.

Heart-achingly handsome and heartbreakingly out of her reach, he nuzzled her face. “I want us to get married, and have kids, and live happily ever after together.”

She pictured children who would look like him, a little blonde girl with Phil’s sparkling blue eyes. She hadn’t known the meaning of longing until that moment.

She stepped out of his arms, because even letting him hold her seemed a lie. Why hadn’t she told him before? She had been selfish, and now she would hurt him.

She backed away, drew a long breath, and prepared for her world to collapse. “I need to tell you something…”