MIAMI

      "Welcome to Miami! Whoo!" Nora screamed from the open roof of the car as they travelled down the lonely road towards the beach house. 

     Ethan, Faith and Danny beamed with smiles as Nora showed how excited she was. Seeming to be the happiest person on board. Ethan had called his staff to get the house ready and make them sumptuous meals with lots of seafood. 

      Faith tapped Nora and she came back down. "You seem to be so excited, is there some other reasons we don't know?" 

       "Oh, darling, who isn't excited about a vacation?! This is a much-needed break, my dear." 

     "It is indeed," Faith replied and slid her palm into Ethan's and smiled at him. 

      Danny was in the front seat with the chauffeur, focusing on his tablet, he was probably working. Nora was behind with Faith and Ethan. Nora looked at Danny. 

       "Babe, you promised not to do this. This is a vacation for crying out loud." 

      Danny turned off the tablet. "I'm sorry, I'm just checking the stats. Can you just give me some minutes to round this up, I promise I won't even touch this when we get to the beach house." 

       Nora rolled her eyes at him. "Suit yourself," she said and went up to the roof again. 

        "Eh, eh, eh, don't get mad, pumpkin," Danny said. 

     Faith giggled and placed her head on Ethan's shoulder their fingers still locked together. 

      A few minutes later, they pulled up in front of the beach house and got out of the car. 

        "Wow! Look at this place!" Nora exclaimed as they looked at the house. 

     It was a very beautiful house, in a serene environment. The house gleamed with fresh white paint. The deck was equipped with tables and chairs, with a marvelling view of the ocean, a large open living area which is clad in beautiful celery top pine timber on the internal walls and ceiling, making for a warm, comfortable environment, dining by the open window, lovely white sofas arranged in a semi-circle by the right side of the living room, with flowery throw pillows, a small, dark bookshelf behind the sofas, a large brick fireplace with pictures of a younger Ethan and that of his family, a large flower pot with fresh flowers. 

     "Oh, my God! This place is beautiful!" Faith and Nora kept exclaiming. 

  The staff came and took their luggage into their rooms, while they walked about, admiring the beach house. The house was fully furnished, there was a great hotplate BBQ outside, a lovely kitchen with fully equipped utensils and a washing machine. 

      "Welcome, Mr Floyd, your bedrooms are ready and your meals too," a middle-aged woman said to him. 

      "Thank you, Martha," Ethan said and held Faith's hands. "Martha, this is my fiancée, Faith Prescott." 

      The woman gasped and smiled at Faith. "You are welcome, ma'am." 

       "Thank you," Faith replied beaming with smiles. 

       "These are my friends, Danny and Nora." 

     The woman looked at them. "Welcome." 

       "Hi," Nora said cheerfully waving at the woman. 

     "Martha, I hope you treat us well and make us enjoy our vacation." 

       "I will try my best to make you as comfortable as possible, Mr Floyd." 

       "Thank you, Martha, and it is Ethan, please. We would go and freshen up and come down for dinner." 

     He took Faith's hand and went into one of the queen-sized bedrooms. It was a nice room with a large and comfortable bed, dressed in white sheets and a grey quilt. Decorated with a floor to ceiling window that gave beautiful views of the ocean, the white curtains were drawn up. 

      "I love this place," Faith said as she looked out of the window. 

      Ethan walked up and hugged her from behind, placing his head on her shoulder. "I am glad you like it." 

      Faith sudden felt sick, she felt queasy and a cold sweat broke out on her skin. Ethan held her and turned her to face him. 

      "What's the matter? Are you alright?" he asked concerned, turning her to face him. 

       "I don't know, I think I got travel sick. I just need to rest." 

       "Please, do," Ethan said and led her to the bed and laid her down. "Do you usually take drugs for it?" 

      "I don't know, I kind of don't travel a lot. But for these past few weeks, I have travelled a lot." 

       "I'm sorry, you need to rest." He laid her down and covered her up with the quilt. 

      The next time Faith woke up, it was dark and Nora was sitting beside her bed looking down at her. 

      "You are awake," Nora said softly and stroked her hair. "How do you feel now?" 

      "Better," Faith said, sitting up in bed.  

      "You couldn't come done for dinner because you were sick. Has this happened before?" 

       "Yeah, the day before Ethan proposed, I felt dizzy, I think the ulcer is back again." 

       "I hope not. Are you hungry?" 

        "Famished. Where is Ethan?" 

       "He is outside with Danny. He instructed Martha to feed you when you wake up. Maybe we should go to town tomorrow and get a doctor to check you." 

       "No, I would like to call Dr Ingrid first, she is my doctor and knows my medical record from the scratch. I will call her tomorrow and know what she has to say." 

        "Better. I hope it's not something serious." 

  Faith smiled. "I know it's not something serious or maybe it's an allergy you know." 

        "Let's go have that meal. None of us was able to eat except Danny. Ethan lost his appetite right away." 

        "I feel so loved." Faith got down from bed, tied her hair in a ponytail and wore her slippers. "This place is beautiful, I could give anything to live here." 

        "I know." Nora stood up. 

      "I need to freshen up and come out to the boys." 

       "Please do." 

     A few hours later, Faith and Nora walked up to the guys, who were seated around a burning fire. Into the trees, scores of lightning bugs put on a show, countless pulses of warm light against the dark. Ethan stood up and went to Faith when he saw her. He hugged her. 

      "How do you feel now?" 

     Faith smiled. "I feel better." 

     "We could go to the local clinic tomorrow." 

       "I'm fine. I will call Dr Ingrid tomorrow, don't worry about me. We are here to enjoy ourselves guys, let's not worry about me. I think it's something about the weather." 

      "So, what do we have planned out?" Nora asked going to seat beside Danny. 

    Ethan led Faith to a chair beside him. "We have a lot of things planned out. We would take a tour of the island tomorrow, in the glider, we could go to the beach, we could fishing and all, there are a lot of things to do." 

        "We could go partying, is there no club around here?" Nora asked. 

        "I got an idea," Danny said and jerked up. 

      "What's the idea?" Nora asked staring eagerly at him. 

       "What if we have our wedding down here? I mean far from that stalker? This is a beautiful place you know, I could pay Ethan." 

       "I would be giving it to you for free if you want it." 

    Nora appeared thoughtful. "Hmm, that's an excellent idea, but what about our friends? Most of them won't be able to make it here, besides, we don't know who this guy is, for all I know, he might be someone we all know and we might still give him an invite." 

       "Nora's right. I think you should just lay low, " Ethan put in. 

        "I have one suggestion though, more of an appeal," Nora said to Ethan. 

        "What's that?" 

       "We can use this place for our honeymoon if you don't mind." 

        Faith giggled. "I know you were going to say that." 

       "How do you know?" Nora asked. 

       "You are already so excited about this place, I knew you would make that request." 

         "I don't mind, as long as it makes you happy. Take it as my wedding gift." 

        "Ah, Ethan, you are making it difficult for us to know the proper gift to give to you," Nora complained. 

      "A gift is a gift, it doesn't matter how small it is. We would accept whatever you give us." 

    "So, have you fixed a date yet?" Danny asked. 

      "Not yet," Faith replied and glanced at Ethan. "We are not really in a hurry." 

       Martha came out with a tray of cocktails and handed them one after the other. 

        "Thank you, Martha," they said to her. 

     Silence settled in between them for a moment, Faith looked up into the stary sky. "The night is beautiful." 

      They all looked up. 

     "Wow, look at those thousands of countless stars. They look so beautiful against the night sky," Nora said. 

        "There were times Josh and I would sit on our porch and he would tell me the names of each star," Faith said still looking up. 

       "Each star?" Ethan asked looking at her in bewilderment. 

       Faith glanced at him. "Well, you should know that was a little bit of an exaggeration. 

      Danny and Nora snickered. "You shouldn't have spoilt the moment, Ethan," Nora said. 

      Danny stood up and stretched his hands for Nora. "Babe, I'm tired and we should retire for the night. From all Ethan said, looks like we have a long way to go tomorrow." 

     "That's right," Nora said and hopped up. "We will see you love birds tomorrow." 

       "Good night, love birds," Faith said. 

    Danny and Nora walked towards the house. Ethan looked at Faith and smiled. 

       "Come here," he said. 

   She smiled and went and sat on his between his legs and rested her body on his, her head on his chest. They stayed like that and talked about sweet nothings until their eyelids could barely stay open. They finally retired for the night.