Romancing A Getaway
Jeremy and Emelina had caught the ferry to the mainland. He wouldn’t tell her where exactly they were going. Actually Jeremy hadn’t even known for sure. Should they fly south from Vancouver? That had only been a fleeting thought. He did have to elicit the help of some of the Estate staff. Emelina was ready to load up her things in Jeremy’s car when he arrived. “We won’t need either of our cars.” On the excuse that the car needed servicing, he had had Giles drive them to the bus depot where they put their luggage on the bus. From there they would have a pleasant ferry trip across the Strait of Georgia to the mainland. They would be staying for a day in Vancouver before going up to Whistler.
Skiing was something Emelina had not done for many years. She and Michael had often gone on ski holidays with Jeremy and his wife Elaine. Michael and Jeremy had been best friends. Both spouses were deceased in the same year but months apart, leaving their spouses devastated. It was as though, when their lives split apart and Covid19 hit, holidays were the last things on either of their minds. Jeremy and Emelina hadn’t found each other until several years lonely years had passed. They both would sometimes recall those happy days with the four of them off on some trip, never knowing what was to come. For Jeremy memories would return on a nightshift at the hospital in a rare quiet moment. For Emelina, when she out walking in an early morning before anyone else had stirred. When their days filled up, those memories slipped away. Neither of them spoke of it to the other because it was another life and with other loves. But they both missed the travels and trips filled with fun and laughter.
Jeremy, a physician at Hartley General Hospital was still working. “Too hard” Emelina often reminded him. He had no plans to retire but since marrying Emelina. He also had no plans to be a driven physician ~ at least until after the Covid19 pandemic admissions slowed. He was, at last, able to take more time off and not be terrified that he would be bringing the virus home with him. Still cautious though, he didn’t come to the Estate until he had showered and changed into fresh clothes at his apartment in town. Just coming off a set of night shifts, when his memories of those times plagued him, he knew it was time. Would surprising Em with a ski trip to one of their old haunts be wise? She had mentioned that the ski hills were reopened since the pandemic closures. And just the night before she talked about the snowpack at Whistler. So he decided to take a chance. Their day in Vancouver would give him a chance to tell her where they were going.
When she knew they were going for a ‘winter holiday’ ~ that’s all Jeremy would tell her ~ Emelina went shopping. She desperately needed new winter clothes and secretly hoped they would at least go to one of the fast receding glaciers. Jeremy had enlisted Digby’s help with the ski equipment. Digby and Martha had found Emelina’s skis and boots lounging in the storage space beneath the stairs. He had the skies waxed and the boots cleaned. With Jeremy’s skis, he had shipped them to the Mountain View Ski Lodge. Fortunately, the owner of the Ski Lodge, a friend and newly retired physician, accepted the equipment in his care. Room reservations made, Jeremey knew he was taking a huge risk in all this subterfuge. He also knew that, should Emelina really be against a ski trip, he could change it all.
They took the earliest bus out of Hartley so they would have a full day in Vancouver as well as part of the next morning. Because it was so early, it was still dark on the water. The moon rode high, thin clouds covering its face. “It’s so cool and lovely this morning, Jeremy. Do you ever think of the ski trips the four of us used to take? I really miss them. I’ll always miss Michael, just as you must miss Elaine. It is so wonderful that you and I found each other again. Two old friends who became lovers ~ and then married!”
Leaning against the rail, he smiled up at the moon. “Sure I do, Em. In my quiet times ~ not that many at the hospital. But it’s like a part of me ~ of us ~ has been cut away and left by the side of a road somewhere.” Emelina brushed his hair out of his eyes. “Just where are we going, Jeremy?” When he told her it was a winter holiday, and her skis were missing from below the stairs, she had been curious. Asking Digby if he’d seen her skis, he had hesitated just a moment too long before saying he didn’t know a thing. Still leaning on the guard rail, Jeremy turned to his wife with a guilty grin on his face. “I wanted it to be a surprise for you. You’re not mad or upset at all?”
“Of course not, Jeremy. I love it!” She pulled him off the rail into a soft embrace. Looking up at him, she said. “And I love you so very much, Dr. Crawford.”
The moon was in its descent as daylight filtered through the clouds and seagulls called. Over the loudspeaker “All passengers please return to your vehicles. We will be docking shortly.” Jeremy and Emelina barely heard them.
“Love will wrap each moment warm around it
And wear a gentle smile upon its face.”
~ John McLeod, Love is Ever
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