Rose of Betrayal (70 page)

           
That
stormy day was the first time she did not run for cover cursing her fear, the
day she learned of Brads' depression, and deteriorating health, the day she received
a worried, frantic call for help from his parents.
 
The day she stood on the bottom of hell,
scoped the summit and escaped.

           
Surely,
she thought the power of her love for Brad would keep him safe, and bring him
back to her.
 
Now she knew otherwise.
 
No longer could she sit wallowing in
self-pity.
 
Her physical wounds were
healed and although the wounds of the soul took longer to mend, she knew they
would never heal until she saw him if only one more time. Ambushed by the
thoughts of him, so far away, alone, hurting, grieving, gripped her own
emotions sent her on a mission to convince him the rewards of loving someone
outweighed the perils of vulnerability.

           
Maybe
if he knew how much she loved him, how sorry she was, how she too was mourning
the loss of their son, how much she needed him, maybe if she went to him,
thoughts that wakened a slumbering spirit that took flight on invisible wind
currents.
 
Enlisting every ounce of
determination remaining, she decided, that if need be, she would move heaven
and earth to be in his arms again.
 

           
He
was selflessness and honor, her champion.
 
Just contemplating spending forever with such a man generated the
strength to work harder at becoming complete again.
 
Each day it became evident wholeness could
never exist without him.
 
Until they
touched, kissed, and spoke the ageless words of love, they would be as though
meteors lost in the universe, but once united they could burst into stars and
become a galaxy all their own.

           
The
days and weeks of anticipation were agonizingly fruitful.
 
Only two days ago doctor Swartz pronounced
her in excellent health.
 
Wrestling her
inner fears, subdued them, a worthwhile hard-earned victory.
 
Beaming with radiance, she literally jumped
off the examining table, planted a kiss on doctor Swartz's cheek, and bounced
out of the office.
 
Now she could embark
on her journey toward peace and love.
 
Deep inside she knew all along Brad would not come after her, he was
granting her the liberty he himself needed both knowing once they came together
it had to be forever or never at all.

CHAPTER 54

Sam awoke to a dawn
chorus of birds when the world is refreshed and cool.
 
It was good to be home, in her room, her
bed.
  
Her parents were relieved and
pleased to have her, safe and sound, where they could pamper her if only a
short while.
 
They knew why she had
returned.
 
Knew there was no stopping her
mission.
 

Moving to the window
left open all evening to provide welcomed fresh air, she stared at the mighty
Teton’s jagged snowcapped spires set ablaze by the sunrise.
  
She examined the pastures were horses and
cattle grazed on rich green grass.
 
The
bordering ranches in the distance.
 
Heaving a sigh, Wyoming was God’s country, she believed.
 
To live here was a blessing.
 

Lowering her gaze found
Majesty in his stall saddled up and ready to go, no doubt thanks to dad, his
black as night coat shiny, his mane flying in the air as he rounded the
stall.
 
He knew what was coming, knew his
owner was back and ready to ride.

After downing a light breakfast,
only to please her parents, she mounted Majesty and with a companion by her
side took off full gallop into the fields towards the mountains. At the base,
they stopped briefly.
 
She often rode
along the perimeter of the Teton’s wondering what private resplendence lay
within its' forestry with its variegated greens and mountainous
landscapes.
 
A place her father preferred
she not venture for fear she would become lost.
 
Drawing in a deep breath, today she was determined to explore.
 
Today she was ready.

 
As Majesty carried her uphill, the air grew
fresher the scenery greener. The noonday sun had reached its zenith.
 
Puffs of fleecy white clouds were chasing
each other across the blue dome overhead.
 
Perfumed breezes stirred her senses.
 
It was wonderful, to come home, to be alive, to enjoy a heavenly day
cloaked by natures fairyland, to feel the sensations of love popping inside,
soon to be in Brads' arms.

           
Total
healing came from within, she decided, when two hearts merge and beat as
one.
 
Right this minute, as she stood
looking down upon a miniature rooftop, she felt a rhythm pounding out a message
steady and true reviving her body, bringing it back to life after the longest,
coldest, winters nap.

           
Exchanging
all-knowing gazes Sam and her escort dismounted and faced each other.
 
Wearing a smile that wobbled slightly, she,
stared for long moments at the man responsible for bringing her safely this
far.
 
Rising on her tiptoes, she kissed
Franks' troubled face.
 
Her warm hug
reassuring him soon she would return with his son.

Securing the reins of
both horses, like a sentry, Frank stood on top of a boulder watching Sam
gravitate on foot along with all his animosity toward her.
 
In awe as to how her kiss and silky touch
made time itself stand still, he now understood how easily someone could love
the delicate creature whose saucer blue eyes were an ocean one could
drown.
 
Awaiting him a short distance was
his secret spot where he watched and waited, like a sheep dog protecting his
herd, so many times before when two young boys believed themselves to be alone.

           
Positioned
behind a tree Sam observed Brad, the sight of him as though she had inhaled her
first breath of life.
 
Standing by the
creek, the parting clouds allowing a shaft of sunlight to touch his face
exposed a golden hue she never noticed before that made his skin glow with
vitality.
 
Bronze skin stretched taut
over the smooth plane of his cheek, his determined chin.
 
The color of raven's wings, his unruly hair
tasseled here and there, and evident beneath his jeans and tee shirt was the
whipcord leanness of the body she remembered well.
   
Alone, with nature as a backdrop, he
appeared a giant of a man, bigger than life, the catch of the season - the
decade for that matter.
 
Yes, it was
love. Knowing blessed she was, saturated her with religious thanks for such
good fortune.

           
Watching
him, swallowed by misplaced sensations her chest heaving with expectation made
warmth, like a wooly sweater in winter, seep through her skin, and muscles into
bones to awaken every part of her.
  
She
wanted to, run to him, smother him with her body, with kisses, and tell him all
the things she had rehearsed, but she couldn’t without falling into a million
pieces, and she couldn't cry, not now.
 
She needed strength, for she saw Brad's pain as if he had been trying to
launder it, not quite getting the stains out and hung it out to dry.

A breeze snaked through the
trees.
 
As if a deer alerted of human
scent, Brad came attentive.
 
“Hello!
 
Anybody there?”

           
The
creek was all that separated her from the devastating loneliness, the hurt, and
the horror of the past.
 
Awaiting her,
the cool rippling water, sparkling with magic crystals would surely purge all
the bad from her and replace it with a lifetime of love.
 
All she had to do was cross to the other
side.
 

           
Like
a black knight, fear charging forward with a lance stabbed her.
 
What if Brad no longer wanted her, or loved
her, she whimpered silently.
 
Remembering
that long ago insecurity had torn her to pieces and placed distance between
them she decided she had made it this far.
 
What was so difficult about a creek? Then, as if the water's gurgling
had a missive of its own, she remembered Brads' words, “I can wait,
Princess.
 
The day will come when you
will figure it all out and when you do, I'll come to you.”
 
A finger flicking across her cheek erased a
run-a-way tear.
 
Swallowing the lump of
memory helped steady her shaking limbs.
 
She had to breech Fears Bridge touch him she had to.

           
As
she eased into the open, Brad's eyes caught hers.
 
In rapid succession, his expression
registered surprise then skepticism before turning so warm she felt burned by
the sun, her happiness reflecting in his features.
 
Weakness leaving her extricated fear and
re-instated loves impenetrable sheen.

           
Stunned
with joy Brad's head jerking back brought his eyes skyward as he whispered a
silent thank you.
 
Suddenly, his soul
felt as free as an eagle soaring into the blue hovering above the treetops.
 
He was at peace with the world.
 
Returning his gaze to Sam, he matched each of
her slow determined steps paying no heed to the twinkling drops of moisture
streaming down his cheeks.
 
He did not
hear the rush of blood pounding in his skull swelling the veins in his neck,
did not feel his chest heaving like the waves in the ocean, or his heart
dancing merrily to a primeval melody.
 
All he saw was her angelic face, her slender, delicate figure.
 
What he had been told was true, she'd
recovered beautifully.
   

           
As
his gaze wandered over her body with a possessiveness Sam found highly
satisfactory, unexpectedly a rich, delighted chuckle gurgling inside his throat
jumped out and frightened a pair of chipmunks.
 
She took great pains to appear the same as the day they first met, her
hair in a long braid, the familiar blue fluffy sweater accenting full breasts
and tiny waist he remembered all too well.
 
The faded worn blue jeans hugging her legs tucked into mahogany boots
now filling with water.
 
Exactly the way
his nightly dreams remembered her, except a year ago he knew he had found a
treasure, and today knew it was priceless.
 

           
Thinking
by squeezing his eyelids closed he could stop the rush of tears was
insane.
 
It didn't matter, Sam's tears
matched his drop by drop.
 
Through the
blur of happiness, he recalled the day they first met when she was nothing more
than an innocent child.
 
Now her charm
ran deeper, it came from real womanhood making her sensuality ten times more
commanding and impossible to resist, memories of when he last saw her came
charging to the forefront; the pain, the suffering.
 
Sam was an honest and beautiful woman who
paid in hard coin for someone else’s mistake.
 
If only . . . he quaked, their son could be here, their love would be
complete.

           
The
water was now deeper, the wading more difficult as the past floated past them
like the river.
 
Although he stood knee
deep in water with mini rapids lapping at his calves, he felt as if he would
die of thirst.
 
Concentrating more on her
than his movements, his footing lost balance on the rivers rocky bottom.
 
Sam's lips curled provocatively as she gave a
laugh, as fleeting and light-hearted as a splash of foam, her whole bearing
radiating a kind of happiness she had never shown him before.
 
His insides knotted into a tight ball.
 
Never did he imagine she could be more
beautiful.
 

           
The
closer they came, the wider their smiles grew, like the blue expanse of the sky
that had widened inviting the sun to join in the celebration.
 
Like a spotlight, sunlight’s dazzling silver
threads enshrouded them guiding all of nature to a new birth.

           
Sam
marveled at Brad's smile causing a fan of laughter lines to spread from the
outer corner of each eye in a very attractive way.
 
In a flash of intuition, she felt closer to
him now than she ever did with Ted.
 
He
was in harmony with her world in a way Ted could never be, a reflection making
her feel as buoyant as the glimmering water.
 
Instantly her knees became quite unreliable when she realized she was at
his mercy like the currents rushing past her.
 
Time lost its relevancy, as though they stood inside a capsule waiting
for launching into space by the first spoken word.