Innocence Preserved
I eased the ketch in alongside of the catamaran's left pontoon and tied it off. I looped the sack over my shoulder and climbed up onto the netted deck, which swayed beneath my weight.
I caught sight of Keturah sitting with her knees drawn up on the forward part of the catamaran as she watched the party on the platform unfold from a distance. I don't think she'd heard me and there was a good reason for that.
She was crying. A better way of putting it was that she was sobbing her heart out.
I stepped closer to her across the netting and gently said, "They tell me that you like fruit so I brought a selection of it along with me."
Startled she jerked up to her feet and almost tripped on the netting and fell overboard. Her eyes were puffy and awash with tears and her nose was running. I'd been the one to completely startle her this time.
I stepped closer and set the sack of fruit down. She seemed to be in shock, which abruptly seemed to coalesce into the need to escape from the embarrassment of being caught unawares during an emotional moment.
She started to turn away from me, but I gripped a hold of her upper arm and held her still. I brought a rag up and wiped at her cheeks and then her nose.
Holding the rag to her nose I said, "Blow."
She looked supremely embarrassed but she obeyed. I tossed the rag overboard, as I eased my grip on her upper arm to a caress of her soft skin.
"You didn't think I was coming back did you?" I asked already knowing the answer.
"I…… I……" She stuttered to speak and I kissed her cutting off further effort to pronounce anything other than to conform her lips to the heated pressure of mine.
I drew back after a moment to see that her look of shock had only increased at the suddenness of events. Her mouth had fallen open and it was a real temptation not to kiss her again. The kiss despite her shock of it had been sweet. In a way everything about her was sweet.
I pulled a fruit from my pocket that resembled a plum, but tasted much differently and placed it against her open lips. Reflexively her teeth closed down and broke the surface of the sweet fruit. I smiled and let go of her arm and moved away to sit on the netting and then lay back with my hands behind my head.
I stared upwards at the canopy of shifting clouds for a moment as I heard Keturah come closer and sit down beside me as she continued to eat the fruit that I had given her.