by Rachel Lee
Oh, it was so good to hear him laugh. So good to feel like laughing.
She made mounds of scrambled eggs and hash browns, poured tall glasses of orange juice. And when they sat to eat, Wade said something that made her feel as light as a helium balloon.
“I’m so proud of you.”
From him, that meant a whole lot. “I’m pretty proud of me, too.”
“You should be.”
She grinned at him and was thrilled when he grinned back.
“You make a mean hash brown, lady.”
“Anytime.” It felt good to cook for him, good to be doing something for someone else again. At the back of her mind lurked a little rain cloud, warning that there was no permanence here, that Wade would inevitably move on once he had settled whatever he had come here to settle with himself. But she didn’t want to think about that now.
No, she was willing to toss her heart over the moon, and take the pain later, because it felt so good to be truly alive again, and life was nothing at all if you wouldn’t take risks. A lesson she had learned all too well over the past year.
After they cleaned up, they took a walk together, and for the first time in forever, Cory noticed all the beauty around her, from the birdsong to the ceaseless breeze that whispered through the old tress lining the street. For the first time in a long time, she noticed that life was all around her.
Later they dozed for a while on the couch, for they’d been up most of the night, but then Gage dropped by, and the first of many questions got answered.
“Ordano is in the hospital under guard. The Marshals arrived this morning and the FBI will be here in a little while. The guy started talking as soon as he came out of anesthesia. If you care, Cory, we now know who hired him to kill your husband. And we know who gave you away.”
“Who?”
“A secretary in the Marshals’ office. All it took was some sweet-talking, some wine and a few dinners to convince her she was in love with the creep. She managed to find out where you’d been placed and passed the information to him, but nothing else. She didn’t have access to begin with so she shouldn’t have even been able to learn that much.”
“Wow,” said Cory. “The things people do for love.”
“Or when they think it’s love. Anyway, she’s been arrested, and procedures are going to be changed, or so I’ve been promised, although that’s not going to be a problem for you anymore.”
Cory smiled at him. “No, I guess it isn’t.”
Gage smiled back. “You’ll still have to make a sworn statement for the FBI, and identify Ordano as the man who killed your husband. And there are going to be some other charges related to what happened last night. But one thing for absolute certain, you are never going to have to worry about that man again.”
She couldn’t stop smiling. “It’s a wonderful feeling. I can’t tell you how wonderful.”
“I think I can imagine.” Then Gage looked at Wade. “We’ve got a place for you as a deputy if you decide you want to hang around. Just think about it.”
Rising, he picked up his hat and nodded to them both. “I’ll call when we need your statement. It’ll probably be later today or early tomorrow.”
“I’m free.” Free. At last. And how good it felt.
When Gage left, however, other thoughts tried to crowd in. Feeling suddenly nervous, and not sure she even wanted to hear the answer, but needing to know how many possibilities might lie before her, she said to Wade, “Will you take the job with the sheriff?”
“I don’t know. I’ll think about it. I guess it depends.”
Her heart slammed uncomfortably. “Depends on what?”
Wade turned toward her, looking suddenly remote. Or was it something else she saw in his dark eyes. Concern? Unease? She couldn’t quite read him.
“On whether you want me to hang around.”
She caught her breath and her mouth went dry. Speech seemed impossible. But as she remained silent, she saw his face start to harden into stone again, and near panic struck her. She couldn’t let him do that. No matter how hard it was for her to make herself utterly vulnerable to the wound he could inflict on her heart.
“I want you to hang around,” she said almost breathlessly.
At once his face began to thaw. “Do you mean that?”
She took her newfound courage in her hands. “I mean I never want you to leave.”
“Ever? You hardly know me.”
“I know you well enough to know I don’t want to give you up. Maybe you don’t believe in love at first sight. I’m not sure I used to. It took me a while to fall in love with Jim. But with you…” She hesitated. “Wade, I’ve been in love before. I know what it is. All of it, good and bad. And I know for certain that I am in love with you.”
For a moment he remained perfectly still. Her heart began to beat a nervous tattoo, for fear she had tried to claim something he wasn’t prepared to let anyone claim. After all, he’d said he couldn’t make connections.
“I think…I think I’m in love with you, too,” he said. “I never felt this way before, so I’m not sure of anything except…I always want to be with you. Nobody’s ever made me feel what you make me feel. I never knew a hug could mean so much or feel so good. I never knew I could get so intensely preoccupied with another person that I hang on to every word, every look, every gesture. I want to make you happy, if you’ll just show me how. I want never to hurt you. Is that love?”
She leaned toward him and wrapped her arms around him. A moment later his closed around hers. “I want this forever,” she whispered.
“Me, too.” A sigh escaped him. “I want to marry you. I want to know that you want to marry me. For the first time in my life, Cory, I want the ring and the promises. Do you?”
She tilted her head up and looked at him, hoping her heart was in her eyes. “I want them, too, Wade, and I thought I’d never want them again. But I want them with you.”
“So will you marry me?”
She watched the sun dawn on his face as she answered, simply, “Yes.”
Then he pulled her onto his lap and kissed her, making this deepest of connections in the best way he knew how.
And with that kiss, they ushered in the dawn.
ISBN: 978-1-4268-7626-4
A SOLDIER’S REDEMPTION
Copyright © 2010 by Susan Civil Brown
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*Conard County
**Conard County: The Next Generation
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