by Amira Rain
One night over dinner, Warren assured me that he wouldn’t have to be gone so much forever. “When all the Graywolves are dealt with, I’ll be able to spend more time at home, and I’m looking forward to it more than you know.”
I said I was, too, but then paused, thinking, before speaking again. “Why do you think they’re trying to break into the village all the time lately, anyway? You said this is kind of a new thing, right?”
Gazing on his plate, Warren speared a few green beans. “Yes.”
“Well, why do you think they’re doing it? And what do they think they’re going to accomplish even if a small group of them is ever able to get in? They can’t possibly think that a group of five of them can go against you and all your men at once.”
Warren agreed, saying he didn’t think that was their goal. “More than likely, these small groups have been sent by Desmond, their leader, for the sole purpose of spying. I think they’d love to love to learn the layout of the village, in order to help them make plans for some sort of a future attack. My men are working very hard to prevent that from ever happening, though. So, please don’t worry about a thing.”
I told him I’d try not to, but I knew that might be easier said than done. I’d more or less come to trust Warren, and believe that the Graywolves were indeed bloodthirsty and murderous, at least some of them.
Still, though, I had maybe just the tiniest sliver of doubt, or maybe it was more like incredulity. I didn’t even know why. Maybe just because I’d never seen their supposedly murderous ways up close, had never seen any damage they’d inflicted, .
I knew this really shouldn’t matter, and that I should be able to just completely take Warren’s word, but at the same time, I just couldn’t force myself to. I couldn’t make myself feel complete belief, no matter how hard I tried.
I figured that in time, as we continued to grow closer, I’d grow to trust Warren completely. And in the meantime, believing him about the ruthlessness of the Graywolves at least ninety-nine percent didn’t seem that bad to me, since even getting that far seemed like somewhat of a miracle, considering the mistrust I’d initially had in Warren after he’d ordered me to be kidnapped.
During these days and weeks of not seeing Warren as often as I would have liked, I spent a lot of time with Ally and some of her friends, who’d quickly become my friends as well. Despite the fact that we hadn’t known each other for very long, though, Ally and I seemed to have a particularly special friendship connection, able to talk to each other about nearly anything; and eventually, I came to see her as not just my friend, but my best friend.
I hadn’t had a best friend in years, having always been so busy with working and taking care of my dad and the boys, and now it felt amazing to have one again. I hadn’t even realized how much I’d missed having a close confidant to talk to. I didn’t want to mention to Ally herself that I considered her to be my best friend, though, just to avoid any awkwardness if she didn’t consider me to be her best friend, which I thought was a definite possibility.
Thinking about all this one day, I almost felt like I was back in sixth grade, contemplating all the intricacies of female friendship during lunch in the middle school cafeteria or something.
Because I’d resolved to keep my “secret” that I considered her to be my best friend, Ally surprised me one afternoon after we’d had a particularly long laugh-fest about different things by remarking that she was so glad to have a best friend again.
“I haven’t laughed as much in the entire past year as I’ve laughed with you these past several weeks, and it’s so nice.” Smiling, she grabbed a paper napkin from a stack on her kitchen table and began dabbing at tears of laughter that had welled in her eyes, but she soon suddenly stopped, frowning.
“I mean… well, I won’t take that back, because you’ve definitely become my best female friend, but of course, Nathan will always be my best friend of all time. But, you know… he’s kind of a serious guy, and he doesn’t always get all my little jokes like you do.”
I smiled, dabbing at my own tears of laughter. “I completely understand, because I’m not sure if Warren always gets all mine. And by the way, I’m honored to be your best friend, and I consider you mine, too.”
Ally smiled. “I was hoping you did. Thinking about it, and wondering if you might consider me your best friend, too, I kind of felt like I was in sixth grade or something. ‘Do I ask her?’ I thought. ‘Do I buy us those heart necklaces that say best friends and break into two halves? How do women in their mid-twenties make things official, or don’t they?’ I thought. And then Nathan said, ‘Who are you talking to out there?’ and I realized I’d fallen back into my old middle school habit of talking to myself out loud.”
We were soon holding our sides with laughter again, making Sam look up at us from her basket car seat on the floor, wide-eyed.
By the time I left Ally’s house later that afternoon, tired from laughing and looking forward to seeing Warren at dinner, I was beginning to think that my life in Greenwood couldn’t possibly get any better. Little did I know it was about to, though, just about a week later.
*
May had turned into June, balmy and bright, and one evening after dinner, during which Warren and I had paused in our eating to kiss briefly a few times, making Sam clap her hands, giggling. Warren told me that he had a surprise for me. Surprised already, just by the fact that he had a surprise, I asked him what it was, and he snorted, smiling.
“Like I’m going to just tell you.”
“Well, at least give me a hint.”
Just then, the doorbell rang, and I asked Warren if he was expecting anyone. I wasn’t. Getting up, he didn’t directly answer me, just said he’d get the door, and I watched him go, puzzled. I became even further puzzled when he soon returned, leading Ally into the dining room.
“Ally was kind enough to agree to babysit Sam for a little while tonight.”
“What? Why?”
After coming to a stop beside me, Warren offered me his hand. “Because the two of us are going to take a little walk.”
Unbuckling Sam from her high chair, Ally looked like she was struggling mightily to suppress a grin or giggles, as if she knew some grand secret, which she probably did.
Wanting to be let in on it myself, I took Warren’s hand and stood, smiling at him. “Well, what are we waiting for, then? Let’s go on a walk.”
After I’d kissed Sam and had told Ally that there was a pumped bottle of milk for Sam in the fridge in case she got hungry, Warren led me out of the house and into the vast backyard before bringing us to a stop and producing a plain black bandana from his pocket. “First, a blindfold. And no peeking.”
Feeling myself beginning to vibrate with excitement, I closed my eyes. “Okay. Put it on me.”
It had been a long, long time since anyone had surprised me with anything.
Once Warren had put the blindfold over my eyes, tying it very securely in the back from what it felt like, he asked me if I could see anything, and I shook my head.
“No, nothing.”
I really couldn’t.
“All right, then good. Now, so that we can get to your surprise quicker, I’m going to turn around so you can hop on my back.”
Laughing a little, I soon felt around for his back, completely blind, and then hopped on. “Okay, off we go. I can’t wait much longer to see my surprise.”
I really had no earthly clue as to what my surprise could be. When Warren started walking, though, I started to get one, sensing that we were heading east, to the stone box at the edge of the property. Now I wasn’t so much vibrating with excitement as I was nearly jumping out of my skin.
The trip on Warren’s broad back felt like it took forever, although in reality, it probably only took him a minute or two to cross the wide backyard. When I heard his boots crunching on loose stones it sounded like, I knew we were almost there, because I remembered that there was a patch of gravel or something close to the stone box.
Not that I even remembered the surrounding area that well. Ever since he’d started doing whatever he’d been doing inside the box, Warren had asked me not to go near it, and I hadn’t.
When he stopped walking, and I heard the very quiet sound of a key being placed in a lock and turning it, my excitement and anticipation increased further still, because now I was positive that whatever my surprise was, it had to do with the stone box. A few moments after I’d heard the key turning the lock, Warren walked a few steps, paused, and turned, and then I heard the sound of a lock clicking into place. Curiously, I immediately began smelling a sweet floral scent, something that reminded me of roses, maybe. Now I was not only excited, I was completely baffled.
Warren walked a few more paces before letting go of my legs and telling me I could hop down. “It’s time for you to see your surprise.”
Grinning from ear-to-ear, I was sure, I let my legs drop from his hips, feeling for the ground, then stepped down. “Can I take the blindfold off now?”
“Here. I’ll do it.”
While he went around behind me and untied it, I continued smiling, but when he removed the blindfold, suddenly allowing me to see, my smile instantly faded, and my eyes filled with tears.
It was a garden. Though it wasn’t just a garden. It was a garden so beautiful that I couldn’t have imagined it even in my wildest dreams. It was my wildest dream come to life, one I hadn’t even conceived of yet.
Hundreds of rosebushes, maybe even thousands, lined the gray stone walls, their vivid hues and glossy green leaves standing out against a backdrop of honey-colored wood chips. In front of them, wide beds filled with hundreds of petunias in all different colors stretched across each side of the box as well. These flower beds gave way to other beds filled with bright flowers of all different kinds, with several stone bird baths on rough-hewn granite slabs interspersed between them.
In the center of the garden was a white gazebo with bench seating in an octagon in the interior, and this structure explained a distant sound I’d thought I’d heard some mornings and had guessed might be an electric drill. Surrounding the gazebo, in short, bright grass, several young trees stood with jewel-green leaves waving in a soft breeze, dark brown earth at their bases indicating they’d recently been transplanted from somewhere else. Near one of these trees, next to a white bench, water gurgled in a stone fountain, glinting in the last rays of the sun.
And this was just all that I noticed and saw at first glance. Later, I’d notice finer details, like iridescent tile mosaics in the bottom of the bird baths, bird feeders that Warren had made himself nestled within the branches of the young trees, and how he’d chiseled intricate designs into the sides of the stone fountain.
The garden had to encompass at least three or four thousand square feet, and every inch of it that I could see was absolutely gorgeous, even more because I’d never in a thousand years suspected such a surprise. While I drank up all the beauty with my teary eyes, Warren spoke in a quiet voice beside me.
“Mary told me that one cold, snowy winter day, you seemed to be daydreaming, and she asked you what you were thinking about, and you said, ‘A garden,’ adding that you’d dreamed about having a beautiful garden of your own the entire time you were pregnant.”
I hadn’t forgotten that dream in the time since I’d had Sam, and recently, I’d actually been thinking about asking Warren what he’d think about a garden somewhere in the backyard. But something as beautiful as what I was currently seeing hadn’t even crossed my mind.
While I continued looking all around, sniffling, Warren spoke again. “This used to be a secret garden, just like the old children’s book. When I started digging around in here and cleaning things up, I found old decaying wooden benches, bird feeders, stone fountains that had cracked in half, and even a bronze plaque, dedicating the garden to someone named Elizabeth.
Here, I’ll show you.” Taking me by the hand, Warren led me up a grassy aisle between several flowerbeds, then pointed to a section of stone wall above the roses. “Right there. It hadn’t even fallen. I just took it out to clean it up a bit before putting it back in.”
Leaning back in a recess in the stone several inches deep, a bronze plaque sat just faintly glowing with an orange hue from the setting sun. Words had been etched or carved deeply into the bronze in fancy script, and when I read the words, my tears finally overflowed my eyes. All for Elizabeth, my love. Yours always, Thomas
Seeing that I was crying, Warren pulled me into his arms, and I cried against his chest. “It’s all so beautiful… so perfect. It’s almost too beautiful.”
Kissing the top of my head, Warren held me tightly. “I’m so glad you like it.”
“I don’t like it. I love it with every fiber of my being, Warren. Thank you.”
A short while later, when my tears had subsided, he spoke while cradling my face against his chest. “I didn’t want to remove the plaque from the garden, because… well, it just didn’t seem exactly right to me at first. But just know that we can if you want. We could store it in—”
“No.” I suddenly lifted my face from his chest. “Please, let’s just keep it in here. Whoever Elizabeth was, this used to be her garden, and I think it would make her happy to have her bronze plaque always here. Let’s just leave it.”
“Okay. Then, we will. Oh, also, I wanted to tell you that we can hire a gardener if you like. Just so—”
“No. Please, no. This is my dream. I want to care for all these beautiful flowers with my own two hands. I want to come out here every day and bring Sam with me, just like my mom….” With tears once again filling my eyes, I paused, unable to finish the thought for a second or two. “Just like my mom used to do with me. I want to garden with Sam.”
Warren thought that was a wonderful idea.
In the gazebo, Warren had stowed some candles, a bottle of wine, and even chocolate-dipped strawberries; and for the next couple of hours, with candlelight flickering on his handsome face in the darkened gazebo, and stars twinkling in a velvety sky beyond the garden walls, I felt like I was in paradise, and I told Warren so.
“This is it right here for me. I’m in paradise.”
I didn’t know that the walls of the greater paradise that was my new, happy life in Greenwood were soon to develop a few cracks.
*
About a week after Warren had surprised me with the garden, he came home one night around eleven to find me still waiting up for him. I’d missed him terribly that day, and the time we’d spent together during dinner hadn’t been nearly enough. And now, seeing him in his jeans with his shirt already off, I began thinking about how I’d been missing his body and his touch as well. The previous two nights, the Graywolves had been causing such problems that he hadn’t even been able to come home, sleeping in bear form out in the forest lands between patrol shifts.
After taking off his jeans, he slid into bed beside me, taking me in his arms. “God, I’ve missed you.”
Passionate kissing soon led to both of us being completely naked, bare skin glowing in the warm light from one of the bedside table lamps, but just as Warren began sliding a hand toward my inner thighs, I stopped him.
“We don’t have to tonight, you know. If you’re too tired—”
“I’d have to go without an hour of sleep for an entire year to pass up a chance to make love to you, Tara.”
The very serious expression he was wearing almost made me giggle for some reason, but I didn’t.
“All right, then. If you say so, then we can… we can… oh. Oh, right there.”
He’d already moved his hand between my thighs and had begun slowly stroking my most sensitive spot with a single fingertip, which he knew never failed to get me begging him to make love to me within minutes.
This time was no exception. Soon, in response to my pleas, he positioned me on all fours, then slid his thick pole inside me from behind, making me moan, dropping my face to a pillow. It wasn’t long before he was thrusting slow and deep, grun
ting periodically, and after a while, I developed a desperate desire for him to increase his pace.
“Harder, Warren. Please. Faster.”
I knew from some very frank little pillow talk conversations we’d had that he loved it when I begged him to thrust harder, finding the request a huge turn-on. This worked just fine for me, since I’d become very vocal about what I wanted in bed, and when I wanted it.
Warren began thrusting hard and fast, sliding his rod inside of me deeply.
“Yes. That feels so good, Warren.”
Good really didn’t even remotely cover how it felt.
Almost right away after I’d once again begged him to thrust harder, Warren began growling out a powerful climax, draping his body over mine, still thrusting. The feel of him spilling his masculine essence inside of me sent me over the edge, and I began crying out, burying my face in the pillow to muffle the sound. I’d possibly been responsible for waking Sam up two doors down a time or two, and I didn’t want to do it again.
A while later, With the nightstand lamp now off, Warren and I rested in embrace, and I closed my eyes, thinking we’d both fall asleep soon.
However, surprising me, considering how little sleep he’d had recently, Warren spoke quietly after a minute or so. “I made some huge mistakes, Tara.”
Instantly flicking open my eyes, I searched his face in the dark, though the moonlight coming in the windows didn’t reveal much of his expression. “What do you mean? What are you talking about?”
“Ordering you kidnapped. Essentially keeping you as a prisoner here. I wasn’t thinking things through like I should have… I was only thinking about what I wanted and over the past month or so, I’ve come to realize that. I just haven’t known the right way to tell you. I’ve been ashamed, too.
At the time that I ordered you to be brought here, I wasn’t thinking about how scared and angry you might be. I just had it in my mind that I wanted our child, and I wanted you, and it would all work out in the end. Which, fortunately, things have turned out well, but only because you were able to move past what I’d done and show me some forgiveness.