Pictures of Emily (17 page)
She’d almost forgotten how beautiful he was, how effortless his movements. As he neared, she could see the wind making ripples across his white shirt. It lifted his hair, tossing it across his forehead.
She loved him so much.
Please don’t let this be goodbye. Please don’t break my heart.
And then he stopped a few yards from her, close enough for her to feel the grayness of his sorrow, to see that his eyes were clear and intense, and that the remoteness that often filled them was gone.
But—oh, Sonny— He looked so sad, so haunted, that she wanted to cry for him.
She could sense a deep longing swirling about them. But was it his longing she felt, or only her own?
“I forgot something,” he said quietly.
She could only stand there, frozen, stunned. Too hurt to speak, too numb to move. So, he hadn’t come back to her. He had simply forgotten something.
What would she do? How would she face the rest of her life without him? In her mind, she visualized where she’d written his name beside hers in the logbook. In ink. She shouldn’t have written it in ink.
She turned away, hurried back to the garden. On her knees, she gathered up the basket, picking up the leaves that had scattered.
Bruised leaves.
“Emily—”
His hoarse voice, sounding deeper than deep, came from nearby, penetrating her black despair, but did nothing to alleviate the pain. Then his hand was there, stopping her frantic struggles.
Gentle fingers touched her jaw, tilting her head up. Tears swam in her eyes. She blinked and swallowed, staring into his gray-blue sorrow.
“Don’t you want to know what I forgot?”
She shook her head, unable to speak.
“I’ll tell you anyway.” He pulled her to her feet so that she stood facing him, her skirt billowing, tangling with his legs. And then he said, “I forgot to tell you… that I love you.”
Her mind stopped its anguished rampage. She feared she’d simply wished the words, imagined them in the chaos of her mind. “What?”
“I didn’t leave because of you,” he said. “I left because of me. I was ashamed. I was afraid. I didn’t think somebody like you could ever love somebody like me.”
“Oh, Sonny. How could I not love you? I wish you could understand just how special you are. There is nothing you could have ever said or done in your past that would change who you are right now, nothing that would ever make me stop loving you.”
“It’s hard for me to believe… to trust…”
“Trust me, Sonny. You can always trust me.”
“I want to. I need to.”
But he didn’t move to hold her, seeming unsure. Emily had to say what was in her heart. “You can leave if you grow tired of me,” she said. “Leave if you need something more in your life. But don’t ever leave for fear that I’ve stopped loving you. No matter how far you go, or how many times you run, I’ll always be here, waiting. I’ll always love you.”
The eyes that looked at her were filled with so much love that they took her breath away.
“You and our life together are all I want,” he said. “It’s more than I ever dreamed, more than I deserve. I could no more grow tired of you than I could grow tired of sunshine. I need you. You are the best, the most real thing that’s ever happened to me. I’ll love you forever, Emily. I’ll need you forever. Next time I won’t run away, I’ll run to you,” he said, his deep voice cracking with emotion.
Wondrous, wondrous magic.
He wrapped his arms around her and pressed her to his chest, holding her tightly, as if he couldn’t get close enough. Slowly he lowered his head. Then his lips, soft and warm, moved over hers, making it all true.
Emily and Sonny stood in the middle of the dandelion field. Emily looked over at her husband. He was wearing a blue-gray sweater that perfectly matched his eyes. Last week he’d worn it to the photography showing Doreen had arranged. He’d told everyone that Emily had made it for him, seeming more proud of the sweater than of his beautiful photographs.
Now his head was bent as his long, pianist’s fingers worked with the kite string. He looked up. “Ready?”
“Ready.”
Together they had built a dragon kite that was four times as big as Emily’s original. Sonny had devised a way to fly it using two sets of string. Now he handed one spool to Emily while he took the other.
“We have to let the string out at the same speed.”
She nodded.
They stood side by side. Emily gripped her spool with both hands, feeling a heavy tug as the wind breathed life into the huge dragon. The kite lifted, the string singing as it fed out.
Excitement vibrated around them.
“It’s working!” Sonny shouted.
She laughed in unrestrained joy. “I told you it would!”
He looked over at her and smiled, a smile as pure as sunlight. Then the wind circled, whirling the kaleidoscope of his colors around her.
~~~
Theresa Weir (a.k.a. Anne Frasier) is an award-winning, USA Today bestselling author of twenty-three books and numerous short stories that have spanned the genres of suspense, mystery, thriller, romantic suspense, paranormal, and memoir. Her titles have been printed in both hardcover and paperback and translated into twenty languages. Her memoir, The Orchard, was a 2011 Oprah Magazine Fall Pick, Number Two on the Indie Next list, a featured B+ review in Entertainment Weekly, and a Librarians’ Best Books of 2011. Going back to 1988, Weir’s debut title was the cult phenomenon AMAZON LILY, initially published by Pocket Books and later reissued by Bantam Books. Writing as Theresa Weir she won a RITA for romantic suspense (COOL SHADE), and a year later the Daphne du Maurier for paranormal romance (BAD KARMA). In her more recent Anne Frasier career, her thriller and suspense titles hit the USA Today list (HUSH, SLEEP TIGHT, PLAY DEAD) and were featured in Mystery Guild, Literary Guild, and Book of the Month Club. HUSH was both a RITA and Daphne du Maurier finalist. Well-known in the mystery community, she served as hardcover judge for the Thriller presented by International Thriller Writers, and was guest of honor at the Diversicon 16 mystery/science fiction conference held in Minneapolis in 2008. Frasier books have received high praise from print publications such as Publishers Weekly, Minneapolis Star Tribune, and Crimespree, as well as online praise from Spinetingler, Book Loons, Armchair Interviews, Sarah Weinman’s Confessions of an Idiosyncratic Mind, and Ali Karim’s Shots Magazine. Her books have featured cover quotes from Lisa Gardner, Jane Ann Krentz, Linda Howard, Kay Hooper, and J.A. Konrath. Her short stories and poetry can be found in DISCOUNT NOIR, ONCE UPON A CRIME, and THE LINEUP, POEMS ON CRIME. She is a member of Sisters in Crime and International Thriller Writers.
Title List
Writing as Anne Frasier
Hush, USA Today bestseller, RITA finalist, Daphne du Maurier finalist (2002)
Sleep Tight, USA Today bestseller (2003)
Play Dead, USA Today Bestseller (2004)
Before I Wake (2005)
Pale Immortal (2006)
Garden of Darkness, RITA finalist (2007)
Once Upon a Crime anthology, Santa’s Little Helper (2009)
The Lineup, Poems on Crime, Home (2010)
Discount Noir anthology, Crack House (2010)
Deadly Treats Halloween anthology, editor and contributor, The Replacement (September 2011)
Once Upon a Crime anthology, Red Cadillac (April 2012)
Writing as Theresa Weir
The Forever Man (1988)
Amazon Lily, RITA finalist, Best New Adventure Writer award, Romantic Times (1988)
Loving Jenny (1989)
Pictures of Emily (1990)
Iguana Bay (1990)
Forever (1991)
Last Summer (1992)
One Fine Day (1994)
Long Night Moon, Reviewer’s Choice Award, Romantic Times (1995)
American Dreamer (1997)
Some Kind of Magic (1998)
Cool Shade RITA winner, romantic suspense (1998)
Bad Karma, Daphne du Maurier award, paranormal (1999)
Max Under the Stars, short story (2010)
The Orchard, a memoir (September 2011)
The Man Who Left , a memoir (April 2012)
The Girl with the Cat Tattoo (June 2012)
