Stormy morning

The inconsistent clapping of the shutter woke her. Opening a bleary eye she noted the hushed, gloomy darkness to the room, became aware of the intermittent clackety-clack of the shutter in some distant part of the house. The curtains were partly drawn over the window, their cream-coffee colour warming the cold grey light which penetrated through the gap between them. She really just wanted to turn over and get back to sleep, but the far off, irregular slap of wood on wood appeared to be getting more insistent, more erratic and louder.

She turned her head and smiled through her sleepiness as she observed her husband lying dead to the world in bed beside her. Only half his face was visible in the early morning gloom, the other half mashed into his pillow. Slowly she became aware of other sounds intruding through the now irritating banging of the shutter. Despite the double glazing of the windows, she could make out the gusting wind as it sighed around the house, moaning slightly as it found corners and flumes which allowed it to rush and hurry over the roof or round a chimney stack.

With a sigh she pushed her feet out of bed, grabbed her gown and pulled it around her as she went in search of the errant shutter. She followed the rattle of woodwork to Alexis' room, heard the now distinct creak of hinges punctuated by the sudden bang as a fresh gust blew the shutter back against the wooden cladding.

Kate pushed open the window and paused in wonder as she stood looking out to sea. The sky was like lead, a dull grey, punctuated by thick, roiling clouds which swept in off the sea. The far horizon held a steely glare to it as the sun, still below the horizon attempted to impose itself, to make its presence felt. Below the thick, churning clouds, the Atlantic was a tossing cauldron of dark green and grey, punctuated by white seahorses and blown spume.

A large, white-capped wave reared itself as it approached the beach then crashed down with a thunderous roar, swirling water rushing up the beach with the sound of a thousand rustling feet before being sucked back out again to be swallowed by the next oncoming wave.

She leant out, found the latch, a wrought iron swirl which had obviously turned and released the shutter. She pushed against the shutter having to fight as the wind tried to rip it out of her hand until she was able to latch it back and released a sigh as it was once more imprisoned. She could taste salt on her lips and felt a few dashes of seawater or spume hitting her face, carried across the lawn by the strengthening wind.

Closing the window, Kate, now thoroughly awake from fresh wind and sea, sat down on the window seat, shivering slightly and pulling her gown closer around her. The clouds rushed across the sky, moving in a south westerly direction at tremendous speed, their bellies getting lower and lower, dark purple and greys swirling within them, tainting the very surface of the waves as these seemed to try to reach up and pull them down.

She could feel the house shuddering slightly in the gusts of wind, watched as some stray piece of blue and white striped canvas, probably from an awning or sunshade, swept along the beach, got caught temporarily by a tuft of sea grass, before ripping free and twirling through the air, disappearing below the edge of the lawn.

The steely grey of the distant horizon was now nothing more than an uneven strip above the blurred grey-green water, the clouds encroaching further and further, pushing down on the sun, hiding it away behind turmoil and confusion. The sea had taken on the look of beaten pewter, the tossing waves breaking into dark, bottle-green before being smothered under the heavy sky. A flash of lightning blinded her, the glare making her close her eyes. Moments later she opened them, watched as the first drops of rain hit the window, then jumped slightly as the clap of thunder crashed against the house, windows and walls trembling in sympathy.

"Three miles away …" said a sleepy voice behind her and she almost jumped out of her skin. Turning she found Castle standing in the doorway, hair mussed, eyes hooded, a sleepy smile on his face as he watched her. Silently she patted the seat beside her, waited for him to sit down and leant back into him, feeling his arms come round to hold her, his chin settle just above her temple as they both turned to look out the window.

"What did you mean by three miles away?" she asked gently.

"Count the number of seconds between the flash of lightning and the clap of thunder, every five seconds means the storm is a further mile away …" he said softly into her hair, "… that last one was about fift …"

He was interrupted by another flash and they both started to count "One-Mississippi, Two-Mississippi, Three-Mississippi … " the crash of thunder came when they were only at twelve.

"It's getting closer," he said "just over two miles, Alexis and I used to spend hours watching and counting, it helped her to get over the fear of the storms."

Kate loved these little snippets of his life, the little things which made him so three-dimensional, which added depth to her knowledge of him, his family … their family. She turned her head, dropped a gently kiss to his jaw and instinctively closed her eyes again as the next flash of lightning bathed the room in white.

"One-Mississippi, Two-Mississippi, Three-Mississippi … " they began to count in unison, soft voices in a darkened room as raindrops spattered the glass and began to run down in irregular rivulets which were swept sideways by gusting winds, leaving abstract patterns on the background picture of stormy clouds and wild seas. She settled back against him, felt him hug her even tighter and sighed in contentment, even as the next clap of thunder seemed to crash directly overhead.

They both instinctively jumped, then Castle chuckled behind her, "Only God and I can do that!" he whispered into her ear.