Blessings (31 page)
He smiled, his heart catching at the sight of Trina with her hair down. “As beautiful as I always imagined it.” To his ears, his voice sounded husky.
“Oh, Graham. . .” Trina leaned forward, meeting his lips with hers.
He crushed her close, breathing in her scent, twining his fingers through her silky hair. She shifted in his lap, and a shaft of pain shot through his lower back. Involuntarily he grimaced.
She pulled back in alarm. “What’s wrong?”
“A pinch in my back, that’s all.”
She hopped off at once, slipping to her knees beside the chair. “I hurt you?”
The concern in her eyes brought tears to his. She was so sweet. He cupped her cheeks. “Not you. Never you. It comes and goes. But I don’t want you to worry about it.”
She remained beside the chair, clinging to his hands and peering up at him with love-filled eyes. “Of course I worry about it. I’m your wife. That’s what wives do—worry about their husbands.”
He grinned. “Is that right?”
She nodded, her hair bouncing. Her long lashes swept up and down in a beguiling blink. “Wives are very busy people. In addition to worrying, they also cook for their husbands, and clean, and mend socks, and do laundry, and—”
“That all sounds very monotonous,” Graham said, pretending to yawn.
“Oh, not at all,” Trina protested with an innocent expression. “It’s pure joy when you love the person very, very much.”
“The way you love me?”
“Of course.”
Graham chuckled. “So what else do wives do?”
Slowly, Trina shook her head, her eyes twinkling with mischief. “Oh no. Now it’s time for you to tell me what husbands do.”
“Ah.” He nodded, narrowing his eyes and trying to appear wise. “The husband’s duties. . .” He stroked the length of her hair, catching a silken strand and twisting it loosely around one finger as he recited, “Husbands provide for their wives and protect their wives and listen to their wives and—” He gently tugged Trina close and whispered a husbandly privilege in her ear.
She jerked back, her eyes wide, and gasped, “Graham!” But then she erupted into giggles.
His laughter rang, too, and when it died out, she rose and held out her hands.
“You said husbands listen to their wives, so. . .come out of that chair, Mr. Ortmann.” The love light in her eyes sent a shaft of warmth through Graham’s chest. He pushed himself free of the chair, and she tucked herself beneath his arm and walked him to the bed.
He sat on the edge of the mattress, and she curled next to him, nuzzling her face into his neck. All teasing left her voice as she murmured, “Of all the blessings of the past year, Graham, you are the one I treasure most.”
Graham wrapped his arms around his wife—his greatest blessing. He searched for words to convey everything his heart felt, but in the end, the only thing that found its way from his lips was the simple statement, “How I love you, Trina.”
And her smile told him those words were enough.
A
BOUT THE
A
UTHOR
Kim Vogel Sawyer is wife to Don, mother to three girls, grandmother to four boys, and a former elementary school teacher. A lifetime writer, Kim travels to women’s groups to share her testimony and her love for writing, tying together the skill of writing a good story with the good plan God has for each life. She is very active in her church, where she serves as adult Sunday school teacher and participates in the music ministry in both vocal and bell choirs. Please learn more about Kim’s writing and speaking ministries by visiting www.KimVogelSawyer.com.
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