O'hara's Choice - Leon Uris [93]
Dixie Jane gasped the first time a sailor asked Amanda to dance. Amanda could dance wildly. She was nice but never too friendly. Came the incredible moment a young man of ten or eleven asked Dixie to dance. Most of all, Amanda and Dixie liked dancing with each other, as a number of women without beaux did.
. . . when it became dark the shore line lit up like a foreign port one was just entering. They skimmed past an exhilaration of whirling lights of the pleasure park. As the sound of the calliope drifted out to the revelers on the ferry, Amanda would suddenly become sad and hold Dixie Jane’s hand, tightly.
They paddled into darkness, mansions in the distance, mystical inlets.
And sentimental singing and lovers spooning on the darker sides of the decks.
And happy trippers came down the gangplank weary, with “Moonlight Bay” growing more and more distant.
Glen Constable lowered his eyes when Amanda emerged from the cabana onto the beach, as though Lady Godiva of Coventry were passing. Her swimming costume wasn’t exactly vulgar and they were on Tobermory’s private beach, but her arms were completely bare and her legs were bare well above the knee and the neck and back were daringly scooped and the material rather clingy.
Even Dixie Jane’s suit was more modest, but Amanda had her own ideas of sporting wear . . . those boys’ riding britches . . . well . . .
Amanda gave Dixie and her playmates stern instructions. They decided to go crabbing on the nearby pier.
Amanda ran and dived into the water without a swimming cap and stroked a good hundred yards. One didn’t see too many women actually swimming. Their suits would balloon up with water. Women waded. Amanda swam.
She ran back, checked Dixie Jane, passed on a wicker strand chair, and spread a big Indian blanket on the sand. What with her wetness and the thin stuff of her suit, Glen could distinguish both cheeks of her backside and her nipples.
She toweled off, lay on her tummy, stretched and groaned and let the sun kiss her. Glen sat alongside in position to be able to watch the kids at the pier.
“Horace seems in good form,” Glen said.
“He’s really enjoying the sailing this year. Maybe we’ll take a run with him next week.”
“That would be dandy. Over cigars last night, he conveyed both of your passions to build the Amanda Kerr College.”
“For women,” Amanda added. “I hope we can find the right piece of land and break ground by next year at this time. How proud and puzzled parents will be looking up to the stage with their daughters holding diplomas. A premedical graduate on her way to Johns Hopkins. It makes my heart beat so fast thinking about it. Every day seems to tell me I’m heading into the best of life.”
“I think you will become one of the most looked-up-to—no, adored women in the country.”
“Poo,” she answered.
Glen now wore his uncertain look. “I wake up some mornings and my heart clutches. No Amanda. Is she real?” He stopped.
“We’re fine, Glen,” she consoled.
“I don’t wish to complicate matters, but you are so enchanting and I’m over the hill.”
“Not so. You are handsome, clever, kind, and a wonderful father.”
“Amanda . . .”
“I don’t want to discourage you, nor am I putting you off. It would not be fair to either of us until a number of things are resolved.”
“Is O’Hara one of them?”
“He’s certainly a part of it. I was shocked when I learned he would be stationed in Newport, but I am also surprised at how little it has annoyed me.”
That cheered him up, some.
“Everything I see about you assures me, Glen. I know I love Dixie Jane. I know I want my college, but you and I haven’t been together that long. Perhaps by the time summer is done, I’ll know for sure.”
Amanda eased her shoulder straps down in order to leave no marks. Her back glistened. Glen dropped a few grains of sand on her and she cooed.
“Sometimes, I’m afraid to touch you.”
Amanda rolled over to him, sloe-eyed. “Give us a kiss, Glen, we won’t melt.”
“Dixie might see us.”
“Wouldn’t that be lovely,” she said.
Glen had nice experienced touches. Her arms