Chapter 40

Verity smiled as she looked out of the window in the kitchen that over looked the beach. Right now she and her husband were living in a comfortable yet small beach hut in Hawaii and had done so for the last five months. They had come here after spending several months in Rio, and several months before that in Vietnam.

Beach life was something they loved and were in no rush to end; ever since that night 9 years ago, they had been totally inseparable. They had done the mandatory college years at the request of their respective families; same college, same living quarters, same social scenes, and then they had played the part of graduating, at the request of their families once more, and then they had chosen a gap year that never ended. And they were happy.

After their small but picturesque wedding on an overly large jetty on a lake that was situated on land his parents owned after they were fresh out of college, Verity and her Pogue (who teasingly called himself Mr Verity) followed their dreams.

Neither could decide what it was exactly that they wanted to do with their working lives for the next thirty or more years and following the dreams their parents had for them seemed too much, too overbearing and not free enough, so they decided to go where ever they wanted for a few years and just enjoy each other and the places they had dreamed of visiting. Their life was a never ending honeymoon and neither of them were in a hurry to end it and join the rat race that was a real grown up life.

One day they would, just not quite yet though.

As they moved around in their travels, feeding their desire to see more, do more and experience more, Verity would do whatever crafts were profitable and popular in whatever area they had located to; wicker basket making, candle making, bead work. She had turned her hand to it all and loved it. They had decided immediately that children were not for them- both families wanted them to change their minds, but after that night where Verity had spilled blood to save the young boy man she loved, and discovered the truth behind Pogue's lineage, it was something that their close friends (whom they still remained close to) understood and were contemplating themselves. If Verity decided she wanted a family then Pogue was prepared to give it to her, but a child of their own creation. He truly didn't want the Power to continue and haunt yet another generation. She enjoyed watching her husband work on his various projects; his current project was building a trike from scratch using a beer barrel as the fuel tank and old chairs as seats.

She now giggled to herself as she remembered the old Triumph he worked so hard on restoring in Vietnam; Pogue had found the bike in several bits in an abandoned crate in the docks and was so excited about telling Verity what a rare bike it was, especially in Vietnam, so they both somehow managed to get it back to their home and he began to clean up the engine (or the bits of the engine he had) on their make-do kitchen table. He worked day and night on it for weeks and eventually tracked down the missing parts and began to rebuild it. Verity couldn't deny that it wasn't a beautiful machine, made more impressive by Pogue's eagerness and excitement at the finished project. Pogue begged Verity to go for a ride with him on it to see the sunset, when she said he bounded around like a child getting their helmets ready. The bike started beautifully and the engine purred like an old and over fed cat. The seats vibrated with the noise of the engine and when they went over a bump, the suspension would squeak and groan and send them bouncing down the road toward the next bump. These were the little things that Verity and Pogue laughed at together. They witnessed an amazing sunset and while riding home they hit one bump that was a little less forgiving than all the others and the bike promptly fell apart leaving them both of the floor with Pogue still holding on to the handlebars.

Verity looked down at her leg and gently touched the dimpled flesh of the gravel rash scar that had left its mark down her outer thigh and sighed. She would ride with Pogue again, but she would never wear shorts, no matter how hot and humid the weather was.

Getting two beers out of their loudly humming refrigerator, Verity made her way to the plastic sheeting Pogue had laid out on the sand so he could work on outing the bike together in the sun.

"Hey sexy man, got you a beer." She smiled, standing next to his kneeling frame.

"I have the best wife a man could ask for." He smiled and put down his tools, kissing his way up Verity's scarred leg, he took the two bottles from her hands and pulled her to the floor next to him, causing her to laugh.

"You wanna go for a swim?" She asked, kissing along his neck.

"Maybe later, I just want to attach the fuel tank to the main frame. Then I'm all yours baby." He smiled, running his oiled fingers through her neck-length hair.

"That's a pity, because I really had the urge to go skinny dipping." She nibbled at his ear lobe, smiling as he groaned.

"Baby you'll be the death of me." He smiled as he picked her up in his arms and ran down to the water with her, laughing.

The pair splashed about, laughing and swimming, diving around generally being happy and free.

Authors Note;

I hope you enjoyed my story. I'm sorry it took me so long to finish it, but I hope the twists and turns kept you coming back and I hope it's one that you'll read again in the future and continue to enjoy.

Please review, it really makes my day.