Page 167 of Maple Mountain
I smiled when he took me back into his arms.“I didn’t think she’d go through with it, but she surprised us all.”
He stroked his hand up and down my spine.
“We all got a tattoo that meant something special to us.”I paused.“I had a friend in high school.She was my best friend.She died of cancer.Aubrey had the most gorgeous hair ...Black, like a raven’s wing.”
He brushed the raven feather on my wrist.And it made me shiver.
“I told Lenni about her,” I admitted.“After we got her hair fixed.”
“You told Lenni about her?Why?”
“I wanted Lenni to ...Lenni’s not a normal eleven-year-old, you know?She’s still a kid, obviously.But she’s had to deal with some very adult stuff.I wanted her to know that she’s not alone in that.So, I told her about Aubrey.”
Archer held me tighter against him, his fingers tracing the knobs of my spine.
“Is that okay?”I asked him when he hadn’t said anything for a long time.
“Is what okay?”
I leaned back so I could peer at him.“I worry sometimes.That I’m overstepping.”
“Are we together, Wyn?”
“Yes.”
“Are we going to get married?”
“Yes.”
“Are we going to have more babies?”
A delicious curl went through me.
“Yes.”
“You can’t overstep when you love her as much as I do,” he said, his eyes boring into mine.
“Archer,” I whispered.
He took my lips in another kiss, making me forget my own name.
Making me forget why I had to wait to have a baby with him.
Early the next morning before the sun had even risen, I ran to the bathroom and threw up.
Nausea churned through my belly and just when I thought I was done puking, another bout of sickness hit me.
Shaky and clammy, I flushed the toilet and washed my hands.After rinsing out my mouth, I grabbed a washcloth and ran it under the water and bathed my neck before slinking back to bed.
I wasn’t sure if it was the gas station breakfast sandwich that had done it, or if it had been the few beers from last night at the honkey-tonk bar where we’d had dinner.
I hadn’t even been buzzed by the time I went to bed.
Archer wasn’t awake yet, but even in his sleep he pulled me back toward his chest.
The nausea dissipated and I fell back asleep next to him.When I awoke the next time, the sun was up and Archer wasn’t in bed next to me anymore.
I couldn’t hear the shower, so I knew he wasn’t in there without me.
