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Arabeth's Rob, strong, steady Rob, sat at the edge of their bed watching a gull circle in the air outside their window. She slipped her arms around his waist and rested her chin upon his shoulder. Head nudging hers, he grabbed onto her arms with his own and squeezed. He was cool despite the heat, and more silent than he had been, but he was still her Rob. His kiss was the same. He loved her the same.
Everything else, he seemed uncertain of. Rob had been back a few hours by then, and though she'd asked him simple questions, he'd been able to tell her very little she didn't already know.
There had been a storm; the ship had gone down with everyone on it. They'd lost their cargo and their lives. The next thing he remembered, he'd woken on the deck of the sunken ship, only it was as though the sinking had been a dream. The other men lay around him in various stages of recovery, shaking heads, waving hands in front of faces. It took time to understand; this had been no dream. They had died and come back. Once they realized this, they accepted it. Someone, somewhere – a god perhaps – had willed this upon them. Questioning the fates was the task of the philosopher, not the sailor.
The men found out they were not where they had been before the storm and were in fact, very close to home. Within a few hours, they were on the beach being welcomed by anxious family who marched them gleefully back to the thatched roof houses of their tiny village.
Soon, the entire crew got wind that it had been not a god but Arabeth who'd brought them back. That evening, a line of the returned men, along with their loves, showed up at her door. They brought chickens and silverware, copper kettles, glass bead necklaces, kindling, and brightly painted silks gathered from faraway ports. Along with gifts, the wives, the sisters, the mothers and fathers, brought their gratitude. The sailors brought their doubts. The gods might not be questioned, but Arabeth could.
How did you know? How did you call us back? How did we get here?
Why are we here?
Arabeth couldn't appease their curiosity. She'd had a dream. She'd known which words to say, which mirror to use, but couldn't say why she knew.
The only certainty she held was that they were here because of love.
There was no explanation beyond that.
The men were unsatisfied but did their best to hide it. Even dear Rob had to bite his tongue to resist asking his wife questions she couldn't answer. Before the men turned to go back to their own homes that night, he ran after a group of them. Wordlessly, they nodded to each other.
They understood what could not possibly be understood.
By the time their families and loved ones had risen the next morning, their ship was again a speck against the horizon.
Rob left Arabeth a note, which she folded and kept tucked to her breast. My life is at sea, but my love is with you.
#
Arabeth had loved Rob her whole life. Their families lived side-by-side in their thatched roof homes. She'd grown up watching him play stickball with her older sister, Larisa. Larisa wouldn't let Arabeth play with them, but kind, sweet, generous Rob always found a way to include her.
"Keep score, would you Ara?"
Of course, she would! Anything for him. She drew slashes with as stick in the sand for countless ballgames, always gloating whenever Rob won.
As they grew older, Arabeth's sister transformed into a beautiful young woman, with sea green eyes and a hearty laugh. She treated Arabeth with a gentler hand and the two navigated a relationship that hovered uneasily between friends and rivals. Arabeth had none of her sister's grace. She stood no chance with Rob, especially knowing that Larisa loved him. His kindness had only grown with the years; his handsome face, now shadowed by a neatly trimmed beard, betrayed the openness of a man unafraid to love.
When her sister unexpectedly married the son of a town leader three day's walk inland, Arabeth found herself unaccountably heartbroken. Callous Larisa had left dear Rob for someone who couldn't possibly be his equal. It pained her to think of his distress at losing his love.
The morning after her sister's message arrived with the news of her marriage, the whole village was abuzz. Arabeth knocked on Rob's door, preparing to give him her condolences. Surprised, Rob opened the door wide and invited her in, not understanding the look of concern on her face.
Soon, realization struck, though not the sort Arabeth imagined. "You must be missing Larisa. Don't worry, Ara, she isn't far. You can visit her every now and then."
Arabeth's brow furrowed. "It's you I'm concerned for. You loved her and now she's gone and married someone else. I'm so sorry, Rob. I don't know what she was thinking."
Rob laughed, much to Arabeth's confusion. "I suppose she was thinking she'd like to marry someone who wasn't in love with her sister."
Arabeth took a step back, bracing herself against the wall. "What?"
He laughed again, and then scooped her up in his arms. "Larisa is a friend and always has been, but it's you I love and always have."
He kissed her against the wall of his parent's home, and she kissed him back. He was her dear Rob, then. She had loved him her whole life, and he had loved her his whole life too.
Beyond his whole life.
The morning dear Rob sailed away with the rest of the men, a lifetime of love encircled her.
"They will come back," she told the weeping villagers who gathered once more outside her door. "They will return because we love them so."
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