Desired by Morgan Rice Page B

crossed my mind.”
    “Then what was it?” Caitlin asked. “I saw your expression change. You became so sad. I know that I wasn’t seeing things. I thought it was because you didn’t want to be with me anymore.”
    Caleb looked down for a moment, his expression darkening.
    “I was thinking of Jade,” he said, somberly. “I stil miss him very much.”
    Caitlin felt a huge sense of relief overcome her; she felt her entire body relax, felt her heart slowly get fil ed up again.
    She had been so stupid. Why had she judged him so quickly? Why couldn’t she have given him the benefit of the doubt?
    She was so mad at herself. She would’ve thought that she would’ve grown up already, after al this time, after al these misunderstandings. But she was stil the same old Caitlin, fearless when it came to battle, but stil overcome by fear when it came to matters of love, and when it came to expressing what was on her mind.
    “Is that what that was al about?” Caleb asked. “I thought that you were upset with me over our child.”
    Caitlin looked at him, confused.
    “I thought you regretted leaving him, the 21st century,”
    Caleb continued, “and that you regretted giving it al up to come back for me.”
    Caitlin suddenly understood. He had misunderstood her completely. The same way she had misunderstood him.
    She shook her head.
    “I do miss that child, very much, whoever he or she would have been,” she said. “But I don’t, for a second, regret coming back for you.”
    The two of them came together and kissed. It was a long, comforting kiss, and when they came out of it, they both smiled.
    Ruth ran over and yelped up at them. They both looked down and laughed. The tension had final y lifted, and the air had been cleared.
    “Wel ,” Caleb smiled, “I remembered Edgartown, and so I thought I’d bring these horses, in case you’d be wil ing to ride with me again.”
    “Wil ing?” Caitlin asked. “There is nothing I’d love more.”
    “There is a place I’d like to take you,” Caleb said. “We could fly, but I think it’d be more romantic to ride, and to hike.”
    Caitlin smiled wide. She couldn’t wait.
    They both mounted the horses at the same time, Caitlin picking up Ruth as she did, and they took off at a trot along the beach.
    The waves crashed al around them as they rode, and Caitlin couldn’t help thinking of Edgartown. A different time, a different continent, a different century, a different life. Yet stil , somehow, it al felt so connected, as if it were right here, and as if it had only happened yesterday.
    They rode and rode, along the beach, in and out of the waves. There was not a person in sight.
    It eventual y became late in the day, and the sun final y broke through the clouds, spreading out in a gorgeous sunset.
    Caleb led them around a bend, and then turned away from the water, up to the base of a hil . He stopped, and Caitlin came up beside him.
    They dismounted, and as they did, the horses gal oped away.
    Caitlin watched them go with concern.
    “Don’t worry,” Caleb said. “They’re wild. They’l always come when I cal for them. And from here on in, we won’t need them.”
    He took her hand and led her away from the beach, onto a narrow trail, winding its way up the hil side. They hiked through beautiful dune grass, lit up by the sun, Ruth on their heels. Caitlin wondered where he was taking her.
    As they walked in silence, Caitlin had so many questions she wanted to ask him. But for now, she was content to just be with him. It felt so good just to be by his side, to have her life restored to her again.
    Final y, they reached the hil top, and Caitlin was awestruck by the sight.
    From this vantage point, high atop the hil , on a grassy plateau, she could see for miles. She saw the ocean stretching into the horizon, and in the other direction saw endless rol ing hil s and fields of wildflowers.
    Caleb sat on the grassy plateau, and she sat beside him.
    Ruth came up and sat with