Patrick Jordan and his new bride sat on the sugar white beach of Gulf Shores, Alabama, gazing into each other's eyes. They seemed to have the place to themselves as they watched the sun sink into the saffron and azure sky. He had returned from World War II unharmed, and they married at a justice of the peace's office. He would start his new job the following Monday. This honeymoon cemented their future together. Unfortunately for him, selling brushes door to door would take him out of town for most of each week. Neither had picked up a paper and read the headline about the shark attack earlier that week.
"Look! A beautiful full moon and a deserted beach, let's go skinny dipping."
"Oh, let's do it!" She giggled coyly.
They swam in ignorant bliss of the shadow swimming underneath them. She looked ravishing in her black swimming suit as she waded out to remove it, shy of undressing in front of him. A healthy woman with a pear-shaped figure, Patrick couldn't believe she married him.
"I'll love you forever and do any and everything to make you happy," Patrick promised.
* * * * *
On the eve of their fiftieth anniversary, they sat on the chilled sand after the hot afternoon's rain showers, she in her red beach chair and he in his white one. They dug their toes into the moist sand, her somewhat hesitant that evening—the robust woman now gone. Today she was a husk of herself, weighing only ninety-three pounds. He, too, no longer a handsome soldier boy he'd once been. Today he was Dr. Patrick Jordan, having gone back to school on the GI Bill. She had stayed at home and raised a fine family of three boys and one girl. The big anniversary party scheduled the next weekend, provided she could make the trip to their daughter's house in Demopolis, Alabama, loomed ahead. This weekend had been their long-ago promise to each other to return to the beach for their same moonlight swim.
"I think I'll go on and wade out to the sandbar." Her voice sounded weak, but he heard her determination.
"Yes, we must re-enact our honeymoon. Go ahead; I'll be there shortly."
Both felt a little chilled by the dampness, but each vowed they'd go through with this day, no matter what. Terri had been sick for so long now. She seemed the most lucid she had been in months. Maybe this old beach had cleared her thinking.
"You still look beautiful to me." He busied himself with the cooler he'd brought with him. "Are you sure about this?"
"I've never been surer."
Alzheimer’s ravished her slowly, but two months ago she had been diagnosed with ovarian cancer. They'd promised each other if either came down with stage IV cancer, they'd refuse treatment. Both feared the pain of dying slowly, so they'd made the pact about the potassium shot, a quick death stopping the heart immediately. Out in the water, it would appear as if she had died of a heart attack. He'd plan to bury the needle and syringe under the sand by digging with his feet past the waves breaker line. At this point, he almost didn't care if he got caught. Guilt plagued him as he closed the cooler and watched her wading out, savoring the sight of her one last time.
"Honey, I'm coming in to join you. Turn around. Let me see you smile once again. Are you enjoying the beach?"
She slowly turned around. It was hard to see, yet she bravely smiled at him and even managed a come hither look in her deep-set eyes. A strand of wispy gray hair blew over her pale blue eyes. Like his young bride, she brushed it out of her eyes with the back of her right hand.
"Hurry up; I want to kiss you before I go." She had no sooner gotten those words out of her mouth when something suddenly jerked her underwater. He dropped the syringe and started running toward her. After a huge splash and then total quiet followed by more ripples, he saw them, sharks at least three of them, swirling and churning the water. A dark slick appeared where she had been standing.
Dee Jordan has two novels on Amazon. She reviewed Alabama writers for the Alabama Writers' Forum Online Reviews, and she wrote articles dealing with mental illness for the newspaper, New York City Voices.She has had seven short stories published in literary magazines and ten published in different anthologies.
In the Shadow of Sin Kindle: http://amzn.to/2x5qKHk
In the Shadow of Sin Paperback: http://amzn.to/2xC6RJs
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