Vistaria Has Fallen by Tracy Cooper-Posey

Author:Tracy Cooper-Posey [Cooper-Posey, Tracy]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Romantic Military Thriller
Publisher: Tracy Cooper-Posey
Published: 2017-07-13T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter Nine

“There he is!” Minnie said, her voice lifting.

Duardo, again wearing jeans and a black sweater, lifted his hand when he saw them. He waited across the street, while Minnie rushed across without pausing to assess traffic. She dived between cars, causing at least one set of brakes to squeal, and made the other pavement with a jump. Still running, she pushed through the people strolling the Avenue, taking in the evening air. She threw herself at Duardo, wrapping herself around him, her legs around his waist, her arms around his neck. He held onto her, grinning, and ran his hand through her hair, then kissed her, passionately and long.

When Callie crossed the street and made her way through the flow of pedestrians to the place where they stood, Minnie had regained her feet and Duardo caressed her face. The gentleness of his touch made Calli’s heart ache. Oh, how she hoped for Minnie’s sake that he loved her!

Duardo turned to face her, came to loose attention and bowed. Vistarian men did it often, she realized, and it did not seem silly or archaic. It seemed like a very genuine expression of honor. He took her hand and kissed the back of it. “Miss Calli.”

“Thank you for the flowers, Duardo.”

“They were not enough,” he declared. He lifted her hand to his head, pushing her fingers under the hair. She felt beneath her fingers a long, hard welt of skin about an inch across.

“Ugh,” she said.

Minnie lifted her hand to check, too, and pulled it away with a grimace.

Duardo grinned. He pointed to his temple. “I still see double a little. So I am off duty until I see just one.” He tucked Minnie under his arm and squeezed her. “We walk, okay?”

“Yes.”

Calli noticed bruises and scrapes around his wrist, peeping beneath the sleeve of the sweater. However, he used the hand without hesitation, gripping Minnie’s. “Hey, you guys should go on without me,” she said. “I can go get dinner somewhere.”

“No,” Duardo said firmly, even as Minnie protested. “You come with us.”

“I don’t want to be in the way,” she said.

“No,” Duardo said again. He pulled her around and made her walk beside him, keeping a grip on her elbow.

Realizing she wouldn’t be able to leave them alone without creating a scene, she tried to relax and enjoy the stroll. Many people seemed to be doing the same thing, in twos, threes, even more. It seemed fashionable to stroll the Avenue of Nations in the evening. The cars on the four-lane paved road also moved leisurely and passengers in the cars would call out to pedestrians. Along the pavement many pushcarts sold flowers, food, cheap jewelry, clothing and trinkets. There was no hard commercial push. They seemed content to watch the crowd wander past and chat with people they knew.

“This street, they see many parades,” Duardo explained.

“It’s wide enough.”

“That’s the palace up there, isn’t it?” Minnie asked.

Calli looked up. The road sloped upwards from here, a gentle incline that ended at a semi-circular building in white stone, bathed in spotlights.

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