A Candle for a Marine (Always a Marine) by Long Heather

Author:Long, Heather [Long, Heather]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Always A Marine - Book 18
Publisher: Decadent Publishing Company, LLC
Published: 2013-10-23T21:00:00+00:00

She held her breath after asking the question that had danced around in her mind all evening. Never had she felt so connected and yet utterly divided from the same person in the same moment. He stared at her, his expression inscrutable save for the muscle flexing in his jaw.

“Yes.”

The one word answer, single, rough, and raw, let her exhale and she fought a wave of dizzying relief. She held a candle out to him with trembling fingers. Isaac remained rooted in place, posture rigid. With agonizing slowness, he walked forward, until his hand closed on hers, steadying the shaking candle. Gentle as a breeze, he spun her, and they put the candle in position.

He didn’t let go of her, caging her slender fingers in a surprisingly careful grip. The trembling rippled upward until all of her quaked. Eight years had shrunk and stripped away, leaving her vulnerable to the past.

“The Shamash, Z.”

The murmured reminder jolted her and she rolled the wax candle between her fingers and held it up. He didn’t release her, but caught the end with his free hand and they lit from one of the other Shamash candles. “Do you…say anything, or just light it?”

Some dark emotion thickened his voice and her throat clogged with unshed tears. She fought for control, because what she’d asked from him wasn’t about her. “I do whatever feels natural,” she whispered, unwilling to release the hiccupping sob pushing up from her heart.

He sucked in a noisy breath of air. “Then I pray he always walks in sunshine and when night falls, he has a brother at his back.”

The weight of his expectation pressed down on her. “I pray he knows the simple joys of friendship and community, and that he never feels lonely.” She’d murmured that prayer for many years. Thankfully Isaac’s hand proved far steadier than hers, and they lit the first candle together.

Tears filmed her vision, and the flames wavered dangerously. Isaac settled the Shamash in the center and a cloak of silence wrapped around them. She thought he would let her go after but, if anything, his grip tightened.

“Tell me.” The request was so low it approached inaudible.

Stomach tying in knots, she dared a glance up and met his steady gaze. “All of it?”

He nodded.

She could do that. Swallowing the lump in her throat, she rested her head against his arm. Isaac stiffened, but he didn’t pull away. She stared at the wavering candles and barely saw them.

“It was June, hot and sultry and way too much humidity. I was miserable all the time, like I couldn’t regulate my body temperature, and that morning I woke up more miserable than usual. Nothing was comfortable—my back ached, my legs hurt, and I swear I could hear my pulse beating in my ears. Mama went to work, and I was supposed to walk down later and spend a couple of hours on the register. I got more and more uncomfortable as the day went on—I found out later I was having contractions, only I’d barely felt those.

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