Into the Storm
Page 30
Shannon came out of the house alone, and stood on the porch. Show’s heart stopped and then picked up again with a painful thump. Her blazing hair was piled up on her head, loose tendrils curling over her shoulders. Her dress was white and plain, skimming her knees, the top low-cut, hugging her breasts and tied behind her neck. From what he could see of the front, he thought her back must be bare. His cock stirred, and he shifted uncomfortably. It would not do to get married with a raging boner.
She carried a bouquet of blue flowers. He didn’t know what they were, but they were pretty. Some kind of wildflower, maybe. They matched her eyes. Then she took a step, and he noticed that she was wearing flat little white shoes that…sparkled. They sparkled. He smiled. Glamourpuss.
At first, Show thought she was going to walk toward him in silence, and that made his heart hurt a little—everything was almost too low key to celebrate her the way she deserved. But then he saw Billy, a kid who worked at the feed store and had a bar band he and some friends were trying to get off the ground, standing at the foot of the porch steps, an acoustic guitar slung over his shoulder. Show hadn’t noticed him before.
Billy began strumming. Show didn’t recognize the song at first. And then he realized he did. He knew it. Billy was playing it more softly and slowly than the original, but it was a song Show knew well. He smiled, the lyrics rolling through his head.
He guessed they had a song. He hadn’t known they had a song.
When she finally got to the gazebo, he went forward and held out his hand. She took it and stepped up. “You’re beautiful, Shannon.”
She beamed at him, her blue eyes glittering as brightly as her shoes. “Nice shirt.”
He was wearing a pleated tuxedo shirt under his kutte.
~oOo~
They were putting off any kind of a trip until the winter, when Shannon’s work was quiet, so they just went home while the party was still in full swing.
The house was so different now. Almost unrecognizable. Comfortable in a way he wouldn’t have thought possible. Home.
They’d just come through the front door, and Shannon was standing in front of him. He put his hand on her bare back, the light coils of her hair tickling the back of his fingers. At his touch, she dropped her head a little and sighed sweetly.
He bent his head to her shoulder and kissed her porcelain skin. “This dress is something else.”
She turned her head to his. “I have something else, too. Upstairs.”
“Silky?” He skimmed his hand over her hip.
She nodded. “And lacy. What there is of it.”
“Excellent.” He swept her into his arms; her little sparkly shoes fell off her feet. She laughed and hooked her arm around his neck, wrapping her other hand around his beard and pulling him close for a kiss.
“Come on, Cinderella.” He headed upstairs to their bedroom, to their bed.
This. This woman in his arms. The way she looked at him. The way she made him feel. This is what he’d wanted, all his life. What he’d needed. Someone to need him. To want him. To know him. Someone he could need and want and know in return. Shannon had come into his life when he was lost in a storm of grief and loss, when the unendurable pain of it had driven him to hollow numbness. And she, too, had been empty, in her own way. They filled each other up.
This. This was love. This was forever.
It hadn’t been too late.
THE END
~oOo~
COMING SOON:
ALONE ON EARTH
The Signal Bend Series, Book Four
When Riley Chase comes to Signal Bend, everything changes for Bart and the Horde.
Chapter One available for preview at The Freak Circle Press blog:
www.tfcpress.wordpress.com