The Light Keeper's Daughter

The Light Keeper's Daughter - Chapter 4

Chapter 4


Camila’s Dream

The garden was breathtaking, irises, roses, lavender and cornflowers. Every type of flower imaginable was blooming and the colors were vibrant and alive. Camila walked through the lush green plants with flowering buds trailing her hand over the silky petals. She knew he was there, behind her. He had always been there, waiting for her. She felt as if her heart was drawn by an invisible string to his. It wasn’t chance that finally brought them together, it was ordained from the beginning of time.

His arms wrapped around her waist and he brought his lips to the nape of her neck gently trailing a kiss there. His breath was hot on her neck, yet sent delightful shivers along her skin as it caressed it softly. She placed her hands on his that were resting on her waist. He said the words she knew by heart, “I love you.” But, it wasn’t the voice she expected.

It wasn’t Franklin. Where was Franklin? She didn’t feel anxious or worried, because this was the heartbeat that had called to her. Jack!


Camila sat up in her bed with a start. Jack? No! Franklin was her love. Even though she did not love him the same way, he had always loved her. Jack was someone who washed on her shore a few days ago and he was on her mind because of their conversation before she retired. Shaking her head, Camila looked at the clock. Two A.M. She could go and help her father in the lighthouse because she knew she was not going to sleep another wink tonight. No. She needed to get Jack out of her mind and concentrate on what to do about Franklin’s proposal.


******


It was dark and the house was quiet as Camila made her way down the stairs and walked across the fog covered ground to the lighthouse. It was the middle of the night and she could not sleep. Thoughts of  Franklin and Jack swirled in her head much like the fog now curled around her legs and feet.

Climbing the stairs to the lighthouse, all Camila wanted to do was sit on the catwalk with the light flashing over her head bringing peace and clarity to her thoughts. In her life, when she didn’t understand what was going on, or felt like she had lost control, she would find solace closest to the light.

After Franklin had left for college and she felt all alone, she would spend the midnight hours close to the light. When he had returned a year ago and confessed his love for her, she found herself climbing the steps towards the light source. She wondered if that was because of the light or because of the time she spent in prayer while there?

Entering the service room, just below the lantern room, Camila spotted her father checking the oil in one of the canisters. “How are things going tonight?” Camila handed him a cup of coffee she had brought for him.

“Thank you princess,” Edward said taking the cup and giving his daughter a kiss on the cheek. “You heading up to the walk?”

“Yes sir. Is that okay?” Edward had never denied Camila time on the catwalk, unless there was something going on. Like that time they were looking for a ship that was going down off the coast. There were several people up there then looking out over the water to send a signal down to the shore. Camila was eight at the time and when she found the boat from the window in the service room, no one ever thought it was wrong for her to be up on the walk again.

Edward chuckled, “No problem, I was just expecting you earlier.”

“Earlier?” Camila was surprised by her father’s words.

“Yes, when you need to think you come either here or the bluff. With our stranger in the house, I figured you would have been here a couple of hours ago.”

“What do you mean?”

“Let’s just say that Franklin has some competition for your attention.”

Camila was shocked and she was sure it showed all over her face. Yet her dream came to mind. “Father! I don’t know anything about him.”

“True, but you can tell he is a good man. A man’s character can not be easily fooled. Just be careful. I don’t want to see you get hurt.”

Turning away from her father and looking out the window, Camila started, “I... Father I won’t. I don’t... I can’t think like that. Franklin is a good man too, and he has asked for my hand.”

Coming up behind her and putting his hands on her shoulders, Edward offered, “Princess, you can not tell your heart who to love. If you could, don’t you think you would already be in love with Franklin? Our heart chooses our true love. I like to think of it like this, when I was created by God, He placed within my heart the heartbeat of my true love. In her heart, He placed my heartbeat. As I got older, I had a burning desire to find only that heartbeat, no other would do. I did not feel complete until I found your mother. Your heart will seek out your true loves heartbeat. Only then will you be in love.”

Heartbeat? Did he have to say heartbeat after her dream? She felt a tugging to Jack’s heartbeat tonight when she dreamed of the garden. It was like a tugging, pulling to her and she knew he was drawn to her as well.

But they just met. He doesn’t even know who he is, how is she suppose to know him? And what about Franklin? The last thing she wanted to do was to hurt her best friend by falling in love with someone else after he proposed to her!

Turning around Camila hugged her father, “Thank you. I love you.” This needed prayer. A lot of prayer!


******

Camila settled down on the metal catwalk that surrounded the lantern room. The bright light circled just over her head and she leaned against the metal frame of the wall. Looking out to sea she marveled at God’s beauty. She knew the ocean waters were dangerous and could claim a ship in a matter of moments, “How can something so beautiful be so dangerous?”

She looked up to the stars as the light circled overhead. God had placed each one in the exact place they were meant to be. Giving light and heat to the darkness around them. Like the sun, kept the earth in its orbit, were there other planets out in space that circled in other star’s gravitational pull? This pull brought her mind to her dream. She could feel a physical pull to the man that she now recognized as Jack, it was something she could not stop if she tried. And in the dream when she felt his arms wrap around her waist, she knew all was right with the world. But what of Franklin? What of the life he wanted with her? The plans and dreams he had made? And what of Jack’s history? Where did he come from? Who was he really? And was he in danger like he thought?

“Heavenly Father, I need your help. Your guidance. I know you say that our steps are ordered by you. I am at a crossroad and I don’t know what to do. I don’t know where to go. Franklin is a good man. He is a godly man. He honors you in all he does and I know that he would make a wonderful husband. And although I love him, I don’t love him like a wife should love a husband. He is my best friend and I don’t want him hurt. I could marry him, but I don’t feel peace about that decision. Please Lord, if it is your will that I marry Franklin, then set my heart at peace. Let my heart fall in love with this wonderful man whom I love like a brother. Give me a passion and desire for him like a true wife should have. If it is not your will for us to be together, Lord I pray that you show both of us. Give us an understanding of what you would have us do.

And Lord, while I have your ear, would you show Jack what you would have of him? He is a good man, or at least he seems to be. Keep him safe and help him to recover. Help his memory to come back and let him find his way in this world. In Jesus blessed name I pray. Amen.”

The lighthouse light shone bright over the cliffs and rocks and then passed it’s light to the deep depths of the ocean beyond. Sending out a signal that the shore was close. She wondered if she would know this was her father’s light from a ship? Certainly she would know her father’s light, she had lived under it her whole life. So why couldn’t she see her Heavenly Father’s plan for her? “Lord, please show me what to do. Please Father, I need your guidance.”

Camila did not come in after her prayer. She sat on the catwalk and watched the stars fade in the sky as the new day dawned. She talked with God and listened, listened hard in hopes that he would speak to her heart or her mind in any way. She watched the light overhead rotate through the night showing ships the way home and prayed that she would be able to spot the light on her path to where God intended for her to be.