Here Comes the Groom by Karina Bliss

Author:Karina Bliss
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub, pdf
Tags: Going Back
ISBN: 9780373784271
Published: 2011-01-11T00:00:00+00:00

SHE WOKE IN THE DARK, disoriented. Then, remembering where she was, she rolled over to look at the clock glowing on the bedside table—1:00 a.m.

Stunned, Jo fell back on the pillows. Dan must be in Herman’s bed. She listened hard but heard nothing but the deep quiet of a country night. Pointless going home now; she might as well go back to sleep.

She clasped her hands behind her head and stared out the curtainless window. Nan was usually up at this time. Did she sense Jo’s absence tonight?

Quietly, Jo got up, slipped on her trainers and sweater and tiptoed out to the back porch. Sitting on the top step, she used her cell to phone the duty nurse. Yes, Nan had been up and restless but she’d settled back to sleep now. “This transition’s often harder for the carer,” the woman said kindly. “You’ll find it easier as time goes on.”

Jo assured her she was coping and rang off. At this time of the morning, the air temperature had dropped to a crystalline cold. Clouds covered the moon and she could smell rain coming but Jo didn’t go inside.

Instead she bowed over her clasped knees and started to cry. Silent painful sobs grew in intensity until her rib cage heaved with them, until they escaped in soft wet gasps that she tried to smother in the prickly wool of her sweater.

The porch light came on and the screen door banged. Sitting on the step beside her, Dan hauled her into his arms. She buried her face into his chest. “It’s just so hard to let her go.”

He’d thrown on jeans and a shirt before coming out but the shirt wasn’t buttoned and her tears wet his naked torso. The muscles in his back shifted and bunched under her cold, clutching fingers.

Jo struggled to pull herself together and let him go, but she couldn’t. Right now he was the only anchor she had. She cried and cried. “That’s right,” he encouraged. “Let it all out.”

She was conscious of the texture of his skin, baby-smooth over taut pecs, male nipples tightened in the cold. He smelled of pine soap. The buckle of his belt dug into her hip…yet still Jo clung on. He stroked her hair with callused hands, rubbed her back and lulled her into believing that everything would be all right.

Oh, God, she had missed him so much, missed this unspoken understanding they had. And yet it was different, because he was half-naked, because he wanted to marry her—because even if she wanted to, she couldn’t have him.

Her sobs abated to shuddering breaths. Sitting up, Jo dug in her jeans for a hanky and blew her nose. “I’m okay now.” She wiped her face dry on her woolen sleeve. “I’m sorry, you must be freezing.”

With his thumb, he caught a missed tear on the curve of her jaw. “I’ll live.”

“Here.” Brusquely, Jo caught the edges of his shirt, intending to button them. Her palms brushed skin and she swallowed hard. Under the porch light, they stared at each other, the air charged with awareness.

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