Hopeless Love

Heart's on Fire

Chapter Six
"Well, I don't have many and I don't have much
In fact, I don't have any but I got enough
'Cause I know those eyes and I know that touch
I don't have many and I don't have much
Oh darling, my heart's on fire for you."
Heart's on Fire, Passenger

Straight down Highway 295 and about thirty minutes past Brunswick lies the city of Portland, the most populous in the state of Maine. This was where Daniel's family kept a little fishing cabin for their nights of work there. Daniel, Uncle Johnny, and Christopher would drive with their boat hitched in the back of the truck for an hour from Augusta and then launch it into Casco Bay to do their lobster trapping. This meant for Daniel, that he was often gone from home for around four or five days at a time, depending on the time of year.

In late summer, the season was in full swing and he and the boys would stay gone a couple weeks at a time before taking a break and heading home.

Although he and Cordelia had to be apart during these times, he always made his way back to her and that anticipation was almost the best part. THE best part was when Delia would sneak down to the docks when they got back and would greet him with coffee, a bagel, and a kiss.

Many of the nights spent away from Daniel meant that Cordelia would stay awake, dreaming and missing him. She would rub her finger over the bird necklace. She couldn't wear it except at night or when she was with him in the fears that her parents would ask where she received it.

This extra time also meant that she was free to go to the country club for her tennis lessons with Olivia or go to summer basketball practices with the rest of the girls.

Her father's job as governor was taken seriously and there were quite a lot of press events or parties that she and her family had to attend or make appearances at. Daniel would laugh sometimes when he was in Portland and would see his Cordelia on the front page of the local newspaper. When his initial reaction to seeing her had subsided, Daniel would realize the magnitude of what it meant to be dating the governor's daughter and would begin to panic.

"Bro," Christopher said one day as he saw Daniel staring at that day's newspaper. "You've got to get your mind off that girl and concentrate on our fishing."

"You know nothing good will come from that," his uncle would join in.
Although they both disapproved of his relationship with Cordelia, his uncle and cousin loved Daniel and just wanted what was best for him—which they didn't think, was Delia.

The last six months had been magical for him, as well as for Cordelia. It was now around December, which meant a slower trapping season and Cordelia's birthday, which was on Christmas Eve. She would be seventeen this year and he planned to take her to the fishing cabin to spend the night.

He didn't expect anything from her, even though he desperately craved it; he just wanted them to have one night where they were free to be able to eat and lie down together without being afraid someone was going to catch them. Every time they had even remotely came close to making love, Daniel had stopped them, which literally made him ache. To him, Cordelia was just so young, and he wanted her first time to be perfect, not in a little sailboat that was tied up at their spot in Farmingdale.

In Maine that year, the snow had begun in October and hadn't let up since. Making the hour-long drive would be a challenge, but Daniel had his snow chains on and was hopeful that his truck could make it. He gathered up his extra blankets and coffee thermos to take along the way.
Cordelia was telling her parents that she was spending the night with Olivia; undenounced to Olivia, of course. Delia met him in the back-parking lot by the docks as she usually did with a brown, suede luggage handbag that must have cost a small fortune, Daniel thought.