* * *
Heidi inhaled deeply. Tears threatened, but she was determined to speak her vows with as much nobility as Maximiliano.
“I, Heidi Jakobsen, promise to love, honor and obey you as my husband. You know me better than anyone else in the world, yet you still love me. I vow to be honest, caring and truthful. All that I have, all that I am, all I will ever be is yours forever.Te amo.Jeg elsker dig.”
“Jeg elsker dig,” he repeated, putting his arms around her waist.
“Godt,” she exclaimed, impressed with his attempt at her language.
“I want to learn more Danish,” he replied.
“I’ll teach you.”
He bent to kiss her belly. “And my son.”
“Ja,” she whispered, elated he cared passionately about their child, but worried about the babe’s future.
“How do you sayhoneymoonin Danish?” he asked.
“Bryllupsrejse.”
It took him three attempts to get it almost right.
“Take off your wedding finery,” he said at last. “We are going to spend ourbryllupsrejsein our private pool.”
* * *
Maximiliano and Heidi clung to each other in the warm water.
He had everything a man could ever want—a beautiful wife he loved, the carefree life he’d longed for, a child on the way. There was no reason they couldn’t eventually construct a more suitable dwelling than the cave—except one.
Their paradise wasn’t the place to raise a child. Given their passion for each other, it was likely they’d sire a sizeable brood. His offspring would have no future, no opportunity to see the world, to meet a mate, have families of their own. Life beyond the island could be brutal, but their children had a right to make their own choices.
He stroked Heidi’s hair, reluctant to spoil the happiness of the day. “We have to find a way to leave the island.”
She tensed in his arms. “But you’re safe here.”
He understood her fear. It lay like a lead weight in the pit of his stomach. A return to the outside world carried with it the danger of arrest and a trial that would undoubtedly end with his execution. “We’ve survived here so far,” he said softly, “but what can the island offer our son or daughter?”
“I wish I’d never got pregnant,” she murmured.
“That’s not true,querida. You were born to be a mother, and you know deep down I am right.”
She sobbed quietly for long minutes, before leaning her forehead against his chest. “I’m afraid.”
“As am I,” he confessed.
Miscalculation
Maximiliano worked tirelessly to fashion a raft. As Heidi’s belly began to swell, he forbade her participation in the work. Her morning sickness abated, but dread knotted her innards. The babe she carried had changed their idyllic life completely. Their lovemaking now was bittersweet, tinged with a sense of foreboding that soon, soon...
She had vivid nightmares—Maximiliano being hauled to the scaffold, his hands and feet manacled.
He rocked her when she cried out. Guilt assailed her. He must be as afraid of the future as she was, yet he never spoke of the consequences of rescue or escape.
Instead, he held her in his arms every night and mused about their babe growing up to be a doctor, or lawyer, oranything but a pirate.
They talked of the countries where they might find refuge if Fate smiled on them. She had little appetite for returning to Denmark, but suggested they converse only in Danish. “Then you can pass for a Dane when we are rescued.”