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She turned and sat down on the rocks and wept. She was grateful beyond words that she’d been allowed a few minutes with her husband and daughter. Yet, for a moment, all she could think about were the years that had been taken from her. These were her losses that even a miraculous visitation couldn’t entirely soften.
She let herself feel the pain until eventually it began to soften and dissipate and her weeping stopped.
“What’s wrong?”
She looked up and Grant, very naked, was levitating toward her.
She rose from where she was seated on the rocks and flew to meet him. He must have understood, because he opened his arms and she landed hard against his chest. Since they were airborne, her momentum knocked him backward. He faltered for a moment, then caught himself, righting them both.
He held her tight. Are you having second thoughts?
No, nothing like that. I was given a gift and it overwhelmed me.
She drew back enough to meet his gaze then told him what had happened.
“That’s a lot to take in. You must miss them.”
“I do. I always will. But that doesn’t diminish what you and I share. I need you to know that.”
“I never expected to be a replacement. Just an addition.”
She smiled then a new spate of tears rose to her eyes once more. “I love you, Grant.”
“Come back to bed. I like my robe on you, by the way.”
“It’s like I put on a curtain.”
He chuckled then drew her against him and guided them out of the track and through the tunnel to his bedroom. He set them both down on the side of the bed, drew her into his arms and kissed her once more. His lips on hers was exactly what she needed and the last of her grief vanished.
She would treasure the visitation the rest of her life and no doubt one day she would meet her first family in the afterlife.
For now, she held a different kind of heaven in her arms.
Grant took her back to bed and made love to her once more. Her new life with him had become the fulfillment of her deepest desires, all unexpressed over the years because they’d seemed an impossibility.
She was a wife again, if not yet in name then in a heartfelt commitment. She made up her mind to treasure every moment with Grant. The future was unknown. She might have a century with him or she might have only another minute.
As she fell asleep, she chose to be brave and to look into her future with Grant. What rolled out before her were years of a beautiful companionship as together they worked hard to build a safer Savage for all the wolves of their territory. She saw a couple of satisfying specifics as well: Ryan would one day bond with Alanna and Natalie would renew her friendship with Alexis. She felt overcome with joy.
But she didn’t stop there. Instead she cast her net wider, deep into the distant future, and saw something miraculous as well. She was riding on Grant’s back as he raced, in wolf form, through the pine forests of their new home in the White Mountains. Her wolf raced beside them, tongue lolling.
She thought it the perfect place to stop and commit the vision, the emotion, the beauty and the crisp fragrance of the forest to memory.
This was her life in the entire breadth of its challenges and complications. She embraced it all.
Grant was still spooning her, though he was breathing the steady, measured breaths of a very deep sleep. She caressed the arm slung over her waist and held on tight. She smiled at the future as she let sleep overtake her at last.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
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A Note from Caris
I hope you enjoyed reading SAPPHIRE FLAME. And remember, you can claim an ebook and enter my latest giveaway right now by signing up for my mailing list on my home page.
If you enjoyed SAPPHIRE FLAME, I’d love it if you took a minute to leave a short review – two or three sentences only -- at your favorite online retailer. And you don’t have to be a blogger to do this, just a reader who loves books!
To read an excerpt from book #1 of the Blood Rose Series, EMBRACE THE DARK, keep scrolling!
