Author's Notes: Having a reader's trust with their favorite characters is not something I take lightly. I promise to do my best;) Thanks for coming along with me.
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The Last Embrace
by Kristen Elizabeth
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Two years earlier
"Cygnus."
"What?"
He brushed his thumb over the cluster of beauty marks on her protruding hip bone, smiling when she jerked with unexpected pleasure. "The constellation. Right here. No one's ever noticed it before?"
"Honestly, no one's ever studied me quite this thoroughly."
He kissed the freckled flesh. "Fools. Undeserving morons."
She giggled. "That tickles."
"I shaved," he reminded her.
"I know." She crooked a finger at him, and he answered the call, crawling up the bed until they were face to face. "I kind of miss it."
"Cygnus the swan," he said in the educational tone that never ceased to thrill her. "Sometimes called the Northern Cross. Swans are heavily featured in Greek mythology. Zeus often turned himself into one in order to seduce mortal women."
"Proving that even with omnipotent powers, men will do just about anything for…"
He stopped her with a kiss. "You're beautiful."
"You're just glad you didn't have to turn yourself into a bird to get me into bed."
"There is that." He shook his head. "But you are. So beautiful." A moment passed. "I want to spend the rest of my life with you."
"Yeah," she whispered. "So do I."
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Laura fed her grand-daughter. She would have liked to have fed her daughter, as well, but things need to be taken one step at a time.
"Dada," the little girl said throughout her meal. It was sometimes a question, sometimes a command.
After she'd eaten, Laura changed her into pajamas and tried to put her down for a nap, but being exhausted and cranky and confused, the baby stopped cooperating with the virtual stranger.
"No!" she shouted when she was lowered into her crib. "No, no, no!"
"Cassie, it's okay." Laura picked her back up and cradled her, despite her kicking and screaming. "It's going to be okay."
It only took twenty minutes for the child to wear herself out. She fell asleep in her grandmother's arms for the first time.
Leaving Cassie in her crib, Laura left the nursery and opened doors down the hallway until she found the one that led into the master bedroom. Her daughter was curled up on the unmade bed. She wasn't moving.
"Sara," she whispered. "Are you awake?"
"No."
With a sigh, she stepped into the darkened room. "Can I get you something? Tea? Toast?"
"No."
"You need to eat. Keep up your…" The cliché died on her lips. "Cassie shouldn't see you like this."
Sara rolled over onto her other side and looked her mother straight in the eye. "Do you really think you're the one to deliver that particular piece of motherly advice?"
"Probably not," she admitted a moment later.
"Why are you even here?" She snorted into the sheets. "He practically had to drag you to our wedding. I figured I wouldn't see you for another twenty years."
Laura folded her arms over her stomach. "He was a good man."
"You barely knew him. You barely know me."
"Do you want me to leave?"
Sara lifted her hand enough to wave it dismissively. "Go. Stay. I don't care."
"Fine. Then I'm not going anywhere."
"That would be something new."
Laura looked down at the carpet for a moment. "Cassie's sleeping. What time do you usually get her up?"
"She wakes herself up. And everyone else, too." Sara murmured. "He used to call her his little alarm clock."
"Well. I'll just…pick up around the house a little until she's up." She paused. "If you need anything, let me know."
Sara said nothing until her mother was practically out the door. Her voice was so small that Laura almost didn't hear her.
"I need him."
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To Be Continued