The damp, cold morning deserved no pleasant greeting.
Lachlan had woken earlier than the dawn with a headache and a sore shoulder. Watching the stars going out one by one, he grabbed his pack and water skin, and headed east.
The unrelenting dark weather had him in poor spirits. He was reminded by the lightness of his load that his hunting had gone badly. He had little to show for his effort and he’d been away longer than he’d wanted. There would be need for another hunting trip, and he already didn’t want to leave.
Relaxing into his kiss, she let her mind go cloudy and allowed her body to respond to his touch. As she kissed back, she put her hand on his cheek and explored his mouth with her tongue. Pulling back slightly, she whispered breathlessly “I love you too”.
Liam smiled and kissed her forehead. “I’ve always known that you loved me. In my head. It seems like my whole life you’ve been saying and doing things to prove that you love me. You’ve been so kind, so thoughtful, shown me you care about me in so many small ways. And I’ve spent a lot of time too scared to return it.”
“Oh, I always knew that you loved me. You’ve been there for me too. And you’ve always been happy to see me, you give amazing hugs where I can feel how much you care about me. I just wasn’t sure you’d ever fall in love with me.”
“Well I did. A couple times,” He grinned playfully. “But I think it’s a terminal condition this time, so you better be sure you want me around.”
“Oh I’m sure.” she looked deeply into his eyes. “I love you and I don’t ever want to love anyone else.”
“That’s how I feel. I want to spend the rest of my life showing you how much I love you. I wanted you so much for so long. I’m so glad you waited for me this time.”
“I wanted a love like this. I wanted to be able to feel safe, to love deeply, and have it returned. And I wanted to be with you, I knew you could love that way. I just thought you were never going to love me that way.”
“I do love you that way. You know who I am, Caera. You know my past, you know my deep dark secrets. You know I can be a moody jackass. You know I get scared and try to run away from things that hurt me. But you love me knowing all that. And I can’t imagine being with anyone else.”
Her eyes closed for a moment as she took in the power of his words. She reached for him and kissed him softly, “I can’t imagine being with anyone else either. I want to love you so well. To show you how worthy you are of being loved well. To prove my loyalty to you, and to be a safe place for you to come to, all the time.”
Grabbing her ipod, she offered him an earbud. “My turn. This song is sorta old school, but it says how I feel. The lyrics are so important to me. Will you listen to it with me?”
He nodded in agreement, and pushing play, she curled back into his embrace.
Linking up with
and the prompt: Take a line from a song you love and turn it into the title of your next blog post. Let the content follow.
Author’s Note: This is a scene in my ongoing work of fiction starring Liam and Caera. This scene happens directly following “All For You” and is Caera’s response to Liam’s profession of love. The lyrics to Possession can be found here.
Finished with her kitchen chores, Cylest took some time to walk through the garden. Her hard work during the spring had paid off, and the flower beds were chock full of beautiful colors and scents. She sat down, folding her feet under her, and gently tugged at the weeds among the bluebells.
She’d come to this old country cottage the winter after her husband died. An arranged marriage she was glad to be free of, all things considered. She was near her family, and the cottage was part of some cousin or other’s estate. It was made of stone, and it was sturdy enough to have lasted through several strong storms with need for few repairs.
The lush flower garden seemed like an indulgence when compared to the size and fruitfulness of the vegetables so far. She tended to them equally, but parts of the dormant garden beneath hers continued to pop up and surprise her. Pausing to wipe her brow, she breathed in deeply and smiled at the plentiful sunshine and the light breeze.
After she finished with the bluebells, crocuses, and violets, she came to visit her favorite spot. She’d always taken great joy in tending to the rose garden, and it was full to overflowing. She weeded a good bit, cut back a few old branches, and then picked a bouquet from the biggest of the rose bushes. Lachlan had helped her start the garden after they first met, and this was his favorite flower. It made her smile to remember the afternoon they had planted it, and she thought of him whenever she came upon it.
He would be back soon, and she was eager to hear about his journey. Brushing her hands on her apron, she stood and looked toward the east, willing him to appear. Picking up her bouquet, she buried her face in the flowers and smiled. “Soon, my love. I’ll be ready for you.” she whispered.
Linking up with
prompt an object from this picture, and I chose the flower.
Soft hints of daylight began peeking through the shutters, and the earliest of the morning birds began to sing.
Cylest was sleepy, but the last thing she wanted to do was close her eyes. The spell would surely be broken. She’d spent most of the night captivated by the stories Lachlan told, feeling the weight and depth of his words. Words from a survivor, someone like her. Listening intently, she had allowed them to pierce her heart and take root.
Turning onto her side, she gently placed her hand on his bearded cheek and promised, “I’m not going to run.”
Because I try to be respectful on the various forms of social media I participate in, and I don’t want to yell too loud and anger my neighbors, I have been very quiet about something very important that happened this week.
I FILED FOR DIVORCE ON MONDAY!!!!!
My state, North Carolina, has a rule that is completely ridiculous:
“Divorce filings are allowed after a couple lives separately for 366 days. This defines a legal separation as the two parties cannot live under the same roof and be separated”.
This rule has been the bane of my existence for the last two and a half years. For 7 months, my ex and I lived separately. Then my ex moved back into the house without warning me or asking me while I was away at a conference. I couldn’t afford to move out and had no family nearby, so I lived on the couch out of a suitcase. Finally, my parents agreed to pay my rent, and I got my own apartment. And a year and one day after I moved into my apartment, I finally fulfilled the requirement to file for divorce.
During this long separation, there have been a number of people I’ve encountered who have strong opinions against divorce that have tried to throw their convictions on me. I haven’t bothered to chronicle the worst of those confrontations, but they’ve always been painful to endure. There have been a multitude of ways my ex’s legal counsel has delayed, mishandled, and thwarted my attempts to speed up the process. And every time during this separation that I’ve had to identify myself by my married name, or sign a form.. it makes my blood pressure rise. I have been SO DONE being officially still married.
I’m not sure how long to expect the paperwork to take in the processing of the divorce through the legal system, but I’m thrilled, THRILLED, to have filed. I’ve wanted to move on for such a long time. And now I can.
“Beautiful weather, ennit?” Una hollered at Gareth as he entered the pub.
Slamming the large oak door behind him, he shook his hair out like a cattle dog and glared at her. “Beautiful my arse. That’s some irony. Takes sae much effort to walk inta the wind, it’s barely fuckin worth it.”
He turned to Jack and slapped his open palms on the bar with a grin “But it’s good drinkin weather for sure!”
“Your usual, Mr. Mahoney?”
“Believe I’ll start off with a shot of Jameson tonight. Need ta warm up from th’inside.”
“I think I’ll take a shot as well,” Liam announced. “Glad ya came out. Cheers, mate!”
“Cheers. That’s my second favorite way ta warm up,” he winked at Liam. “Morena’s off with her ma this week, so whiskey t’is.”
Linking up with
and the prompt :”irony”
and
the prompt “rain”
Author’s Note: This scene happens directly following “Saints Be Praised” and is set in Ireland.
Liam walked away visibly annoyed at the guest at the six-top table near the kitchen.
He was seething as he told the cook that the burger was still pink in the middle. Caera was watching him as she put her table’s order in, and a new burger was quickly dispatched onto the waiting bun.
Liam strode over to the customer with his replacement burger, and suddenly, his voice was loud enough for the whole restaurant to hear.
Caera appeared immediately and locked eyes with Liam.
“Take a walk.” she insisted. “Go.”
linking up with:
prompt: the song “Election Day” by the Replacements
prompt: “new”
Author’s Note: This scene takes place during the time Liam and Caera are in high school and both working at Liam’s family’s restaurant.
Liam breathed in the night air, filled with the familiar scents of pine and honeysuckle, and nearly choked on the lump that formed in his throat.
“You okay?” Caera inquired, rolling over on the quilt to face him.
“Yeah. I’m good. Just feeling sort of … quiet. Lots of memories hitting me.”
“Been a lot of things said on this deck, that’s for sure.” she replied distantly, lost in thoughts of her own.
They lay together, their bodies almost touching. Liam reached over to lace his fingers through hers… something he’d done many times. Tonight it meant more than it ever had. He gently caressed her hand with his thumb, and willed his heart to stop beating wildly inside his ribcage.
Gently sliding his iPod out of his hoodie, he turned to look at Caera.
“I want you to listen to this song with me. It meant a lot to me when I was starting to think about coming home.”
“All right. What is it?”
“It’s Snow Patrol. Just listen okay?” he replied impatiently, handing her an earbud.
He laid back on the quilt and let the music wash over him, hoping she was understanding the importance of the lyrics
As the song ended, Caera looked over at him, her eyes glistening. She sat up and wiped at her eyes with the sleeves of her sweatshirt.
Liam sat behind her, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her into him. “I wish I could take you to the beach in Galway where I used to talk to you. Every time I heard this, I could picture us on the beach and it made me really happy.”
“I’ve spent a lot of time walking along the beach, too. You were just on the other side of the ocean, right?” she laughed at her own foolishness.
“That’s exactly how I felt. If I could just see across the ocean..”
He shifted so he could pull Caera into an embrace. With one hand on her cheek, he looked into her eyes.
“I love you” he whispered low, and kissed her gently.
Linking up with
prompt: “It was not the thorn bending to the honeysuckles, but the honeysuckles embracing the thorn.”
Author’s Note: This is the beginning of their dating relationship. After high school, after college, after jail, after Liam went to Ireland twice and came back twice… it’s finally happening. Slainte!
Clay took a long drink of his beer as he evaluated his former classmates. No one had recognized him so far, and he was enjoying their lack of being able to place him.
As he approached the group of “popular girls”, Debra turned around and gave him an approving glance. “I should know you,” she murmured playfully. “And if I don’t, I ought to rectify that.”
With a somewhat sinister gleam in his eye, and a low, sexy rumble he replied “Debra Davis, senior prom queen, you look amazing. I’m Clay. Roberts.”
“Yeah, let that sink in a minute.” he grinned.
linking up with
and their prompt “sinister”
and
inspired by this week’s song prompt “Sharp Dressed Man”
Author’s Note: This was fictionalized, but taken from a real life experience. At my 10 year class reunion (about 12 years ago), there was a guy who had grown about 8 inches and thinned out..and no one recognized him without introduction. His transformation stunned the ever living hell out of everyone present. While ZZ Top was a popular band during my school years, this update and cover is one of my favorite songs. #TeamAdam #theVoice
