Chapter Five
The Marine.
Gigi knew, almost instinctively, what had happened to us, but was less settled than I was. I think she was more aware of the process, so that unnerved and confused her a little. I was oblivious to the process. After Roger had given me all that dope, and with whatever the old witch doctor gave me, I was blissfully out of it. I was only aware that I had lost part of what made me unhappy, and over time, gathered that we’d both gained so much more.
All my life, I’d been burdened with something that I neither wanted, nor asked for. I couldn’t get rid of it, so I lived with it. I could have done stuff to make it more me, so I could feel better about myself, but they would never have gone far enough. I now discovered that I had lost the whole damn thing, but gained Gigi’s burden in the process. The difference being our burdens somehow managed to become blessings for each other, as they enhanced who we were and always should have been. So, together with Russak’s gift, we were truly soul mates in fact!
The fact my knee was now as good as new was almost secondary, because what Gigi and I had was out of this world. I have no idea what he did to my knee, as clearly it was a medical impossibility. I mean, the doctors back home had removed my old knee and replaced it with the metal and ceramic one that now sat on the floor in a mangled heap. Technically, I had no knee. Clearly I had something in there that felt fine. In fact, it felt better than it had for a hell of a long time.
When she danced in the Brides’ dance, which ended when she’d lain at my feet, I realised how much of a blessing she was to my life. It was a joy and an honour to make her my wife, so when we went to our hut, much later, our lovemaking was on a different plain even to what we had enjoyed earlier.
The next day, we loaded up the rib, and Mickey and I started to ferry the equipment out to Lucky Lucy. There was a long and very emotional farewell, and I was genuinely sad to say goodbye. Gorran told me that I was now his brother, to which I agreed, as it seemed fitting somehow. Bose wanted to come with me, but I told him that when Gigi and I got a home, he could come and visit.
Old Russak even managed to come to the shore. I had no words to thank the man, but his hand rested on Bose’s head, so I knew that Bose was to be the next Shaman. I had saved his special grandson, so no words were needed.
He simply grinned at me, with his eyes saying it all. He knew and I knew, and that is all that mattered. He hugged me, like the father I never had, and I found myself crying surreptitiously. This man had saved my life, in more ways than one.
Gigi openly wept and hugged everyone. I thought I was going to have to knock her out to get her to the boat.
‘Don’t even think about it!’ she thought, so I grinned at her.
As we stood at the rail of Lucky Lucy, watching the island get smaller and smaller, I looked at the five people I had come with. We had all changed on the island; even Craig had become a reasonable fellow, for a civilian.
As the island dropped below the horizon, they all drifted away to their own thoughts. I put my arm around my wife, and we were alone with our thoughts.
‘I need a ring,’ she thought.
‘I’ll get you one when we land.’
‘It can wait until the wedding.’
‘Oh yes, and just where is that taking place?’ I thought.
‘In Scotland, where else?’
‘Where else indeed?’
‘You do want to marry me?’
‘I thought I already had.’
‘You have, but we still need to do it properly,’ she told me.
I laughed.
‘Okay. Mrs Ryan, when?’
‘Can you come back to Scotland with me, when we get back?’
‘Sure, I have a few weeks left.’
‘Then we will get married as soon as we get back. I can’t wait any longer, I want your babies.’
‘Then you need to tell your parents before we get back. Just to give them some warning,’ I told her, handing her the satellite phone. She grinned at me, and punched in the numbers. I listened with amusement to her end of the conversation.
“Hi mum, it’s Gilly.”
“No, I am on a boat heading back from an island off the Venezuelan coast.”
“I told you, we went to study a group of people who are the descendants of some slaves who were shipwrecked in the eighteenth century.”
“But I have some news for you. I am coming home to get married.”
“Hello, Mum? Are you there? No I did say that. I am engaged to a wonderful man, called Edward. He is an American, and I love him dearly.”
“We want to get married as soon as possible, and he is coming back to Scotland, so we can get married there. You always said you wanted your only daughter to marry near home. Well I am going to.”
“We will be back in the States in a few days, and I suppose we will be back in Scotland in about a week.”
“No, he’s in his thirties.”
“Actually, he’s thirty-nine, and he is a US Marine.”
“No, Mum, he is not an officer, but he is a senior Sergeant.”
“I don’t think he wants a commission.”
“Fine, if you book the church and a hall or something, invite who you want, I just want him and me, so the rest is up to you.”
“I have to go, I know it is not much notice, but it is better than nothing.”
“Bye, and I will see you soon.”
She switched the phone off.
“That was sensible, my poor dad is going to have a hell of a life for the next couple of weeks,” she said.
“I love your accent, we must speak more often,” I said.
She smiled and hugged me. I loved feeling her close to me.
“What will you do when you get back to America?” she asked.
“I have to speak to my colonel, and I had best see the doc. I need to make sure I can get the couple of weeks leave, and then I need to get medically certified as fit for combat,” I said.
“Must you go to combat?” she asked, and my heart lurched. All my reasons for wanting to be combat fit were no longer valid.
“I suppose not,” I said.
“If you don’t mention the knee and got a training job, then I could get a teaching job near the base, and then you would be around for your kids,” she said, and I smiled, as she made it sound real good.
We stayed out on the deck as it was a warm night and just enjoyed being together.
We arrived back in Florida a couple of days later, so once we had unloaded the ship, we headed for the bar. Gigi went for a long bath, while I sat with Mickey and enjoyed a cool beer on the deck.
“You have one hell of a fine woman there, Ed,” he said.
“I know that, Mickey.”
“She’s changed,” he said.
“So you said.”
“No, seriously, she has changed. When we first met her, she was pretty damn butch. Now she is so much more of a woman that she oozes sex appeal. It’s not like she’s all girly and giggly or anything, but something has surely changed. What the hell happened?”
“Hell, Mickey, I guess I just bring the best out in a girl,” I said, taking a long pull on my beer.
We sat a while, as the sun started to drop towards the horizon. Gigi came out, wearing a white tee shirt and a pair of jeans. It was about 5 pm.
She kissed me, saying, “I’m off shopping, do you want anything?”
“What are you after?” I asked.
“This and that. I haven’t much to wear, so I need some cosmetics.”
“Don’t get it for me; I like you the way you are.”