CHAPTER 7 #2
moved towards her. “Anna’s fine now and needs time with her foal.
Let’s go over there and give them some space.” He walked with Lily
over to a wider section of the barn. “Come sit by me.”
He sat in a chair by the door and brought a
chair for Lily too. She sat shakily brushing back tears.
“Tell me what you’re not saying.” Sandy
looked into her red-rimmed brown eyes. He took the tissue and
patted her still flowing tears. “What happened to you? You’re not
just crying because of the birth.”
Lily paused so long that Sandy thought she
wasn’t going to answer him. She mopped her runny nose with her
jacket sleeve.
“Colt would be a nice name for a boy,
wouldn’t it?” Lily swallowed hard. Nobody knew about this. She
started hesitantly, hiccupping a few times trying to get it out.
And there, in a lonely barn in rural Nevada with a man she felt she
could trust, her defenses came down at long last. She heard the
hitch in her own voice…
“I was married for a few years in San
Francisco. Ron was an engineer in the City and I taught at one of
the local elementary schools. I thought we had it made. I thought
we were happy.” She looked at him. “Boy, I was kidding myself,
apparently… Dad never really liked him, but I chalked it up to the
‘he’s stealing my little girl’ jealousy. But Dad was right. Ron was
a bum.” She stopped and coughed, then hiccupped again. Another long
pause…
Sandy gentled encouraged her. “I’m here and
I’m listening.”
Lily turned to look at him. “That’s exactly
what I didn’t have in that marriage. Ron was never home and he
didn’t listen to me. He didn’t care for my poetry and hated to hear
about my day.”
She looked at the hands folded in her lap and
continued reluctantly. “I finally caught him… cheating with a…
colleague of his at the engineering firm. When I confronted him
about it, he just laughed.” Sandy’s jaw dropped. She looked at him
ruefully. “Oh, it gets worse.”
“Worse?”
“Yeah. The day before, I had just discovered
that I was pregnant. When I told Ron about it, he suggested an
abortion. An abortion! Can you believe it?”
“No.”
“I couldn’t either. I told Ron I was keeping
it and he moved out the next day. He moved in with whoever he was
sleeping with.” She mopped her wet face and looked hard at him.
“Can you take any more?”
Sandy winced, “More?” He shifted in his seat.
“Let’s have it.” He had taken hold of her hands and grasped them
tighter.
“I had a miscarriage the next week. And the
doctor told me it was a boy…” Lily trailed off, starting to cry
again. “A little boy like Jesse! Sometimes… when I see Jesse’s
face, I think of the boy I lost. Please forgive me. I didn’t mean
to dump this all in your lap.” She mopped her face again with the
soggier-than-ever tissue. “The whole thing just reared its head
when the b-b-baby horse was b-b-born,” she stammered.
“And you haven’t spoken to anyone about this?
Ever? Not even your dad?” Sandy looked stricken. His face blanched
and he shook his head. “Why couldn’t you confide in your dad?”
“I was expecting an ‘I told you so’ from him.
I told him about Ron’s cheating, but I could never bring myself to
tell him about the miscarriage. It was and is too painful a
subject. I don’t know why I’m telling you all this now.”
“Maybe you needed to talk about it and you’re
know you’re safe with me.”
“I am, aren’t I? I feel that way too.” She
seemed to be feeling better. “Thank you for listening. Thank you
for being here for me. I appreciate it more than you know.”
Lily cupped his chin with her hand. She held
on to him and looked into his handsome face. She just brushed his
lips at first and then kissed him with more feeling when he eagerly
kissed her back.
This was an important moment and Sandy knew
it. Not only was it their first kiss, but she was setting aside a
few demons and he wanted to be careful.
Hard to be careful when he wanted more. One
sweet kiss melted into a sweeter kiss. Incredible! He would
definitely have to read a few Jane Austen novels if romance was
what she needed. Neither had kissed anyone for a long time and much
passion spilled all over them and the barn floor. When they
surfaced for a breath of air, Sandy and Lily stared at one
another.
“Um…I…you,” Lily gulped.
“I totally agree,” said Sandy as he kissed
her again, even longer this time.
What was it about sweet, wet kisses that go
on forever?
Clutching Lily’s arms, he planted kisses
around her lovely face and down her throat. Sandy had wanted to do
that since he first saw her. He dropped little smooches on her eyes
that made her moan with pleasure. Down… down… into their own little
world they went.
What does she like? Kissing her hand,
he turned it over and kissed her palm sweetly. He knew they’d
crossed into intimacy, a place he hadn’t been for so long with a
woman. Lily placed her hands on either side of his face and kissed
him lovingly everywhere—his nose, cheeks, and then zeroed in on his
lips. Puffy lips, happy lips, excited lips. Lips that demanded
more… Much more.
Sandy took a ragged breath, pulled her to her
feet and ran his hands down the sides of her body to her hips. He
felt her shiver with delight.
“More?” When she nodded and took her own
ragged breath, he drew her hips into his body so she melded into
him. There was no hiding his erection, but she didn’t pull
away.
“What do you think? Is this okay?” When she
looked down and shyly nodded, his finger brought her chin up to
look at him. “We can wait, you know. I’ve been waiting for you a
long time. I can wait a bit more if we need to.”
“Sex can make or break us—are we ready?” All
he could see was Lily. All he could smell was the clean fragrance
of her lovely body. Her smell was unique and he would never confuse
her with anyone else. Picking her out in a crowd would be easy with
his eyes closed. Her special taste lingered on his tongue and
lips.
“After all,” she continued, “We are
consenting adults, right?”
More sparks were flying in the barn than from
any of the lightning strikes that had happened during the storm.
The strikes had undoubtedly started a few fires, but they couldn’t
compare to the fire started here.
Sandy took her gently by the hand. “We don’t
want Anna to see this. After all, she just had a baby and probably
isn’t ready for sex again so soon,” he joked.
Lily giggled and followed him out into the
sweet smelling air. They filled their lungs with that fresh rain
air and she grinned at him as they entered the house.
“My clothes are still so soggy.”
“They won’t bother you much longer,” Sandy
whispered as he drew her into his bedroom and quietly closed the
door.
* * *