Page 159 of The Otherworld

“What color will you make it?”

“I don’t know. What color do you think it should be?”

“Hmm…” I ponder my answer, walking over to the workbench. “I think… yellow.”

“Yellow?”

“Yes.”

Adam laughs under his breath.

“What? Yellow is cheerful.”

He cocks his head to the side as he studies the plane, imagining it. “Well, if it would make you smile…”

I don’t care what color he chooses. This plane will be my favorite sight no matter what because it will be the vessel that carries Adam back to me when I have returned to my island and there is an ocean between us again.

“I heard you talking to your mom about… the future,” I say gently. “I know it’s not going to be easy to convince Papa to let me be with you. But I think between the two of us, we can change his mind. It may take a while, but I’m willing to wait if you are.”

Adam takes my hands in his, looking into my eyes. “I would wait forever for you, Orca. But I don’t want to make you choose between your father and me. I don’t want you to change your life, everything you know and love—”

“I won’t have to. Papa will love you once he gets to know you. I’m sure you’ll be great friends one day.” I press a hopeful smile onto my lips. “You could come live on the island.”

“At the lighthouse?” Adam raises an eyebrow. “I don’t think your father will ever like me that much.”

I laugh, shaking my head. “We can live next door. You can build me a cottage by the sea, like Hero and Leander—in my version of the story. You can lay the stones and whitewash the wood. I can fill the rooms with wildflowers and seashells, and we can argue about paint colors and curtains and silly things like that. You can fly back to the mainland to work… or I can teach you how to live without money.”

Adam smiles as he imagines this fairytale future that could be ours.

“We can get married,” I whisper, reaching up to spread one hand over his heart. “We can share the same name, the same life. We can live in that world you wrote about—a world built just for the two of us.” I smile, tracing my finger over his chest. “Well, maybe more than just the two of us… someday.”

Adam frowns like he doesn’t quite understand. “What do you mean?”

I blush. “I mean I want to make babies with you, Adam Stevenson.”

He smiles and draws me closer, his hands curling at my waist. “Oh yeah? How many?”

“As many as you want.”

“Hmm. How about two?”

I grin. “A boy and a girl.”

“A boy needs a brother.”

“Well, a girl needs a sister,” I argue. “So I suppose we’ll have two girls and two boys. You’ll have to make a lot of love with me, Adam.”

He murmurs a laugh, leaning in to kiss the top of my head. “God, Orca. I want to spend the rest of my life with you. I’d marry you today if I could.”

“Well, technically, you could. I’m eighteen now. I don’t need my father’s consent. We could get married, and then you could take me back home. That way, Papa would have to get used to you.”

Adam seems amused by the idea but shakes his head. “I would never marry you without your father’s permission. It wouldn’t be right.”

“I know you wouldn’t. If you did, you wouldn’t be the man I know you to be. But you could talk to Papa, couldn’t you? Today?”

“I’m not sure today would be the best time…”

“Oh, please, Adam. He’ll be grateful to you for bringing me back. I’m sure he’ll listen to what you have to say.”

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