Satin Sheets and Strawberries (19 page)

Henry watched as Logan headed back into the crowd. With a smile he turned to his wife. "How would you like an old geezer to escort you to the refreshment area? I do believe we’re about to be forgotten.

"I think you may have a point there." Ruth smiled and clasped his outstretched hand. "In your prime, old geezer, you could have given young Puck a run for his money."

#

Kelli and Titania were laughing as they ran through the woods with their skirts held high. They were going to make it! The Chinese lanterns were blinking a warning for everyone to return to their seats, intermission was over.

Before she had reached the refreshment tables, Titania had grabbed Kelli. Disaster had struck! Oberon, the King of the Fairies, had accidentally spilled a can of soda down the front of her gown, and Titania was in tears. Kelli had rushed her over to the house and run water from the kitchen sink over the stain. She had thrust a handful of tissues at the weeping girl and run upstairs for the hair dryer. Between the dryer and a steaming iron, the water mark was now barely visible.

They were racing around the back part of the stage when there was an announcement over the loudspeaker. "Would Kelli SantaFe please come to the stage area. We seem to have an emergency."

Dan Teeterman ran his finger around the inside of his collar and gaped at the wild man pacing in the wings. He had met Logan Sinclair on numerous occasions and he’d always seemed so helpful and pleasant. Now Mr. Sinclair was threatening to close down the play unless he found Kelli. Immediately.

Logan stared off into the crowd. No Kelli. Everyone was sitting, waiting patiently for the play to resume.

Kelli hurried to the far wing. What in the world had happened? She’d never heard anyone paged before. She glanced down at the front row and breathed a sigh of relief as Ruth and Henry happily waved to her. She had taken quick steps toward Dan, when she spotted him. "Logan!"

Logan heard her call his name and turned toward her. His breath slammed against his chest. She was a vision. She wore a dress with a long red skirt and a crisp white bodice. A silky red and white striped bolero offered her protection against the chill night air. Her golden hair flowed down her back.

She ran across the stage straight into his arms. He absorbed the impact and bent to capture her lips in a heated kiss.

Kelli heard the audience applaud and reluctantly broke the kiss. A fiery blush swept up her cheeks as she glanced out over the cheering audience. She buried her face in Logan’s chest, praying the stage would open up and swallow them.

Logan blinked into the spotlights and smiled at the catcalls, whistles, and the calls for a speech. He picked up Kelli and walked over to the microphone Dan was holding. "Hello. For those of you who don’t know me, I’m Logan Sinclair. Get used to seeing me around here. I’ll be living at Fairyland with my wife." He lifted the woman in his arms higher. "Kelli SantaFe." Kelli lifted her head from his shoulder and stared up at him. Had he just said they’d be living here?

But Logan was on a roll. "We’ll be getting married here at Fairyland the first Saturday in June." When a roar of approval flooded the stage, he put Kelli down and bowed. "Enjoy the rest of the play, and thank you for coming." A resounding cheer went up from the audience.

"By the way," Logan added, "you are all invited to the wedding." Pandemonium broke out in the theater as he carried Kelli off the stage and disappeared into the woods.

Ruth swiped at the tears flowing down her cheeks. "Wasn’t that the most romantic thing?"

Henry put his arm around his wife and hugged her. "Yes, dear. He must get that from his father’s side of the family." He smiled as Ruth brushed his cheek with a kiss.

"I only have one question."

"What’s that, love?" asked Henry.

"Why did he have a big sleeping bag strapped to his back?"

#

Kelli snuggled closer to Logan in the double sleeping bag and stared up at the stars. They were so bright she felt that if she reached out she could touch them. A contented smile curved her mouth. Logan had just taken her to the stars and safely brought her back. Her star traveler had returned home.

He felt her smile against his chest. "What are you thinking?"

"About the stars, you, and us."

Logan brushed the hair away from her face and placed a kiss on her nose. "I like your thinking."

She raised up on an elbow and stared down at him. "You do realize that you just invited an entire town to our wedding."

"It’s a small town."

"There’re over two hundred people!"

He leaned up and kissed her surprised mouth. "Be thankful we don’t live in Pittsburgh."

She felt her nipples harden against the downy softness on his chest. She pulled back a few inches; she didn’t want to be distracted. "You still haven’t told me why you’re here."

"I always wanted to make love in a fairy ring."

"Not here"—with a sweep of her hand she gestured to the world outside their sleeping bag— "here."

Chuckling, he said, "Oh, that here."

"I can’t believe they didn’t offer you the job. They must be a perfect pack of morons. But don’t worry, you’re better off without them. You’ll find something else, something better."

"They did offer me the job. I turned them down."

She was amazed. "Why?"

"You know why."

Kelli was silent. She knew she hadn’t uttered one single word against Utah. In fact, she’d gone out of her way to encourage him. She had even bought him good-luck boxers. Curious, she asked, "What are you going to do now?" Logan entwined his fingers in her silky hair. "I’ll be opening my own business in Somerset, just like you knew I would." He trailed a finger around her ear and down her jaw. "It’s going to be hard going for the first couple of years, but I have a nice sized nest egg. The bulk of it will help start the business, the rest is security."

She struggled to keep her mind on what he was saying, not what his wandering finger was doing. "Exactly what kind of business are you opening?"

Chuckling, he said, "You know."

Impatient at being told she knew everything, when she was totally in the dark, she snapped, "Humor me."

"The technical names are ‘hydrogenation’ or ‘liquefaction.’ It’s the process used in converting coal into a high-energy liquid fuel."

"Oh. Pennsylvania has a lot of coal."

His finger circled a pouting nub. "It’s the wave of the future. With oil and natural gas becoming scarce, the government is pushing for fuel alternatives. The United States is the leading coal producer, so it would be to our benefit to perfect the process and make it economically feasible."

A moan escaped her as his fingers flicked her rigid nipple. "So we can live here at Fairyland?"

"As you know, Fairyland is sitting on the largest bituminous coal deposit in America."

"Why do you keep saying that?" she asked. "How was I supposed to know about this hydrogenation stuff?"

Logan lifted his eyebrow and tried to see her face clearly. "You put the newspaper article in my suitcase."

"What article?"

"The one about Congress’s sudden push for alternative fuel sources. How this area of Pennsylvania has all the raw material and manpower, but is lacking the technical knowledge and research."

"Logan, I didn’t put any newspaper article in your suitcase."

"Really?" He sounded surprised. "If you didn’t, who did?"

They gazed into each other’s eyes, trying to put an answer to his question. A gentle night breeze drifted through the trees, carrying with it a gleeful laugh, which no mortal could have made.

Logan dropped his briefcase on the kitchen table and stared at his wife. She was wearing green. "Kelli?"

She closed the oven door and smiled nervously. "You’re early. Dinner won’t be ready for another hour yet."

He stood transfixed, staring at the large bulky green sweater. It was an ordinary sweater with a rounded neck. The sleeves were pushed up her forearms and it matched the casual style of her jeans. But it was green!

For the first time in their eight months of marriage he didn’t pull her into his arms to kiss her hello. He was too shocked. "You’re wearing green."

Kelli anxiously tugged at the hem of the sweater. "You like it? I bought it today."

He unzipped his jacket and hung it on the rack by the door. He slowly walked toward her trying to read her expression. "Yes, I like it. Why did you buy it?"

"It was on sale," she said hopefully.

"I know you, love. You don’t buy clothes just because they’re on sale. I practically have to force you to buy yourself clothes." He stood toe to toe with her and asked, "Why green?"

Kelli sunk her teeth into her lower lip and thought of the best way to answer that question. She took a deep breath. "Green is the color of Troop Fairies."

"I thought you said you felt like a Solitary Fairy, and they wore red."

"I’m not alone anymore."

Logan gazed at the happiness in her eyes. "You haven’t been alone for months. Why the sudden change?"

"You know I love you."

"I hate conversations that start with those words," said Logan.

"I haven’t felt alone since you walked into my life. But for some reason you and I didn’t seem like a troop. We were a couple, and I wasn’t sure what category of fairies that fell under. So I stayed Solitary."

"And now?"

Her eyes were shining. "You did say you wanted some children."

"You’re pregnant!" When she nodded, he beamed. "Yeah!" He picked her up, swung her around, and kissed her.

She opened her eyes and clutched the counter for support. "You are happy, aren’t you?"

"How could you doubt that? I’m thrilled, excited, nervous, and scared spitless. It’s wonderful." He leaned forward and captured her lips in another heart-stopping kiss. "How? When?"

"You know how," she chuckled. "I haven’t been to the doctor officially, except for the test this morning. But as near as I can figure, our daughter will be born mid-September."

"Daughter? How do you know?"

"Call it intuition."

Logan placed his hand on her stomach. His baby was growing in there. He was going to become a father. Love radiated from him as he tenderly embraced his wife, the mother of his children. I love you, Kelli Sinclair." She nestled against his chest. Her voice was full of happiness as she asked, "Enough to buy me a whole new wardrobe?"

Logan’s chuckle froze in his throat as the napkin holder fell off the counter. Bewildered, they stared at the scattered napkins and the wildly swinging pet door.

"Cats?" asked Logan.

"I could have sworn they were all outside," said Kelli.

#

"A baby is coming. A baby is coming," was shouted in the wind. Amidst the scurrying of little feet and cries of excitement questions were shouted and the call went deep into the forest.

"A girl baby. She said it was going to be a girl."

The wise one stroked his whitened beard and smiled. "She should know." At the gathering he raised his arms and commanded attention. "Come, children, we have much to prepare for. Babies aren’t born on the wing of a prayer."

www.MarciaEvanick.com

Another hot story from Marcia Evanick ...
An excerpt from

Laura Ann Bryant held her breath as her battered Jeep coasted into the gas station, backfired twice, and died in front of the pump. She’d made it! Gingerly she opened the door and stepped out into a cloud of exhaust fumes still billowing from the back of the Jeep.

Josh Langley, sitting in his police cruiser on the far side of the station, heard the backfire and raised his head from the report he was filling out. A dilapidated Jeep towing an ancient horse trailer sat in front of the pumps. He grimaced when he saw a cloud of black smoke erupt from the tailpipe. Whoever was driving the Jeep deserved a ticket for polluting the air.

He set the clipboard down and unfastened his seat belt, then froze. The rusty door on the driver’s side of the Jeep creaked open, and a petite foot wearing a sandal trimmed with colored beads appeared. It was followed by a bare, slim calf, a shapely knee, and a long, silky, tanned thigh. The foot was set gingerly on the steaming black asphalt, then a second leg joined the first. Josh’s breath caught as his gaze traveled over snug denim shorts caressing a pert bottom, then skimmed a small waist and encountered a pair of perfect breasts. The vision was wearing a fluorescent orange tank top that molded the curves of her body.

Josh dragged air into his starved lungs and forced himself to look higher. At that same instant the vision turned her back and reached for the gas hose. Wavy brown hair was tied back into a haphazard ponytail by a piece of string. He glimpsed a large, generous mouth and huge sunglasses before she walked toward the front of the Jeep and popped the hood. Fascinated, he watched as she bent over the dented fender and dumped two quarts of oil into the engine. With a resounding thud she slammed the hood and patted the only clean spot on the vehicle. Then she quickly disengaged the gas hose, grabbed her purse, and walked into the station.

Before he could collect his scattered senses, she strolled back to the Jeep, got in, and started it up. The vehicle’s thunderous backfire as she pulled onto the highway brought Josh out of his daze. The puff of smoke disappeared as he watched the rickety horse trailer sway down the road.

Unconcerned about her Jeep’s noisy departure from the station, Laura glanced at the maps scattered among the potted cactuses next to her and laughed. She didn’t need them any longer. Her cross-country adventure was over. She was home. A smile curved her lips. She liked the sound of that—home. Union Station, Pennsylvania, was now officially her home.