“What?”
Nolan shrugged. “Just thinking.”
Their limo was inching its way very slowly out of the small parking lot of the elder care facility. Nolan patted Yena’s thigh absentmindedly and discovered that the blue jeans she was wearing were softer than he’d expected. His hand began stroking the length of her thigh, feeling it.
“About?”
“About you.”
She pinched his cheek, making him look her in the face. “What’s going on with you?”
Nolan smiled. “Nothing. It’s just that the last time I was here, I’d been thinking I’d never see you again. Today just kind of feels like a dream.”
“It was a nice day, wasn’t it?” She planted a kiss on his lips.
Then his phone buzzed. The little vibration in the inner breast pocket of Nolan’s suit jacket, which was pressed up against Yena’s chest while they kissed, sta
I crossed the dim room slowly, letting my hips sway with each step. My outfit and makeup had me feeling sassy and wild.But as I met Nolan’s eyes, I saw his face was looking serious, and not only in a sexy way.He was wowed, looking at me in the burlesque-like lingerie set he’d sent over as a gift earlier in the evening. But also, I was getting the feeling that he had walked into the room with something else on his mind. But I looked so damn good in this outfit. I wasn’t going to let anything spoil the mood.It was a merlot-colored lace corset and brassiere, kind of old-fashioned in the design, but with a deliberately contrasting racy haute couture accent of bright violet zippers. Two arced in a semicircle around each lace-lined bra cup. The third zipper went straight down the middle of the corset, top to bottom. When that one was unzipped, the whole bodice went goodbye. This was coupled with a tiny pair of high-waisted, very &ldq
NOLANIt was still dark, a long ways till dawn, but Yena was awake and stirring at Nolan’s side. Usually she slept in when she could.“Morning,” he said, stretching. “You’re up early.”“Yeah.” She glanced at the electric rectangle of light that was the screen of her cell phone. “I told Evan I would meet up with him today. And I know you and I have that train to catch at noon, so I asked if he could meet me early at the bakery by our parents’ house, so I can get back in time.”Nolan rolled onto his side, reaching out to stroke Yena’s thigh. He was not feeling wonderful about her rushing out of bed right now for the purpose of meeting up with Evan.“What does Evan need to meet up with you for?”“I don’t know. He sent me a weird text last night. Said he needs to talk to me about something in person.”“Huh. Well, alright.” Nol
I pulled the zipper of my rolling suitcase closed and hoisted it off the bed. Rafaela was there in the bedroom with me, prattling on with questions she thought were helpful, wanting to make sure I hadn’t forgotten to pack something I might find later that I needed. But it was only a one-night trip, and we’d be heading right back home in the morning, so I truly did not need to bring much along.Nolan had been in his office when I got back from meeting up with Evan. His replies to my texts were short and distracted, and I got the feeling he was really busy preparing for our evening. He’d given me a lot of his time yesterday during his only “day off” in recent history. Maybe that had him running behind schedule today.He was still talking on the phone when he met me at the car. A servant had just finished loading our suitcases and garment bags neatly into the trunk as Nolan walked up, moving fast and saying a bunch of legal-themed words I com
It smelled like the ocean everywhere in the tiny beach town where Nolan and I had traveled for a meeting later at their little town hall. It was a beautiful place, teeming with nature and absolutely lovely to behold. Everything was glowing green with fluffy moss that grew in tufts around the base of every tree and filled the seams between every brick and stone in sight.But it was crazy windy and extremely cold.And in the couple seconds it took to get from the train into the back of the car that was waiting for us at the station, and then out from the car and into the hotel lobby, we got wetter than should have been possible for two people standing upright on dry land.The rain was not just coming straight down from the sky. It came at you from all angles here, riding around the town on swirling wind currents of salt scented, freezing cold sea breeze.Nolan had been holding an umbrella over our heads and crouching to keep me covered during
“I am open to it,” I finally said. “I mean, I really do want to have a family with you. Of course I do. And I only really wanted to put it off before because I was doing school, and now that I’m not…”Nolan was watching me intently, not blinking. He waited for me to say more.“Yes,” I said, closing my eyes. “I… I think I could handle it.”“You don’t sound very sure.”I blew out a big breath of air. “I suppose I am just scared. I’m still only eighteen, Nolan. That’s young to have a baby.”He said, his tone meekly half-joking, “Your birthday is coming up soon, though.”“Okay. Soon I will be only nineteen. I just don’t know if I am ready to be a mother. That doesn’t mean I don’t want to do it… I’m just afraid.”“I’m a little afraid, too,” he said, surprising
YENA I realized as I watched the change that washed over Nolan in the next few seconds, that I had never seen my husband truly sad before. Never. This was the first time. Well, I reasoned, if he had felt sad when we’d been together sometime before, then he had kept it hidden away successfully. Right now, though, he was showing me everything. His energy suddenly felt tired, very tired, and he closed his eyes. He took a few long, slow breaths in and out. I felt the air in the room stirring as he did so. It created a kind of cool breeze that slipped all around the edges of the floor and ceiling of the hotel room before circling back to us in the bed, chilling my skin and sending a shiver down my spine. I climbed on top of Nolan. I guess if for no other reason than to get him to stop doing that. He was making it cold. “Hey. It’s going to be okay,” I said. Immediately I second guessed my choice of words. They’d just come out… I didn’t know what exa
Nolan cracked a smile.It’s weird to say this, but I think that moment – even though an hour ago he had been so incredibly sad – that was the happiest I had seen him in a long, long time.I missed Nolan’s bright smile. It was like a glimpse of sunlight after a storm.“That’s… interesting,” he said, trying to downplay what he was really feeling.Then he looked to the side, landing his eyes out the window. It was still dark out, sunrise being a ways off still, but it looked like he was seeing something. Maybe a vision was floating in front of his eyes, while he was daydreaming about our future with a child. A son, as it happened… or would happen.I’m not sure why, but I had no doubt that the old man had told me a true thing. Nolan knew what I was talking about the second I’d brought up the question of Alaster’s abilities. I saw it in his eyes, and that was enough confirmation for me.They used to call people like that prophets, though prophecies today just didn’t seem to happen anymore,
I had not meant to bring up the subject of sexual fidelity. But that’s what I did, by accident.That’s what a wedding ring represents, isn’t it? And here I had gone and asked my husband if he ever took his ring off. Just after we reunited after being separated.“No,” I answered, shaking my head. “I’ve never taken my ring off, not since you gave it to me. When I thought you really wanted to divorce me, I thought about it. But it seemed wrong and sad and I never could do it. And I didn’t mean to imply anything by asking you that…”He arched an eyebrow. Said nothing. And kept watching me, with less and less patient curiosity, as I continued on with my efforts to remove his wedding ring.My little plan was not going super smoothly so far.“Yena. Why are you trying to take that off?”“Hush,” I said, giggling nervously. “I will explain in just a minute. I only want to take it off for a second, okay?”“Okay.” An amused smile tugged at his lips, but his eyebrows still looked stern.“Why didn’