Chapter Three

Ginny woke up the next morning, just before noon, with a splitting headache. Too much ale, she thought grimly, as she pulled herself out of bed. Squinting in the light that streamed in through the window, the events of last night came rushing back. She gasped, remembering asking her sister for a dress, the look in Dom's eyes as they had jumped over the fire and held their hands high. Dancing and drinking and singing at the top of her lungs. She had lost all of her inhibitions last night. She'd stared at Dom and he'd stared right back. She'd let down her hair, hoping he would notice.

She slapped a hand to her forehead. She was such an idiot! She practically threw herself at him! Disgusted, she threw on a clean dress, pulled her hair back with a kerchief and vowed to avoid Dom at all costs. What must he think of her?

"Bella?" she called, stomping down the stairs. "Bella?"

Her sister stuck her head into the hallway. "Shush, Ginny. Emma's still asleep."

"Not anymore," Emma said wryly from the top of the stair.

"Where's Papa?" Ginny asked, ignoring them both.

Bella gestured outside. "He's packing up Merry's gift."
"Is he leaving?"

"Didn't you know?" Emma asked, passing her on the stair. "He's been talking about it all week."

Ginny frowned, blushing. "I guess I forgot. I've been a little distracted." Her sisters exchanged knowing glances. She grabbed her cloak and scarf. "I'll be with Papa. Just call if you need me."

"Wait," Bella called after her. "I need your help."
Ginny paused, fighting back her irritation. "With what?"

"We're having Dom and his family over for supper. They'll be here shortly."

Ginny blanched. "They're coming here for supper?"

Bella raised a brow. "Yes. I need you to make the salad and cut the potatoes. Emma, can you go to the cellar and grab a few jars of that jam we canned last summer? I'd like to send Merry a jar or two with Papa."

Ginny sighed, clenching her fists as her stomach curled into knots. So much for avoiding Dom. Fighting back the butterflies raging through chest, she hung her cloak back up and followed Bella into the kitchen.

Dom and his family arrived not an hour later. Ginny kept her back to them as they entered, focusing on the boiling potatoes in the wrought iron pot over the fire. Her heart pounded as she heard Dom's voice. He inquired after her and she silently cursed Emma for showing him to the kitchen. Her heart hammered in time with his footsteps. She knew the instant he entered the room.

"Ginny?"

She tensed and stopped stirring the potatoes. Straightening, she spun slowly, trying to keep a nauseous expression from her face. She tried to smile, but she was sure it looked more like a grimace. "Yes?"

Dom frowned as he smiled. "Are you all right?"

Ginny nodded. "Just tired. Up late last night." The two stood facing each other a few silent minutes.

He cleared his throat and gestured outside. "Can I talk to you? Outside?"

Ginny's heart sank to her stomach. "Oh, sure," she said, her voice too high-pitched to sound normal. She followed him outside. Blast! What was wrong with her? This was Dom. Her best friend. She'd grown up with him. She's laughed with him. Danced with him. Jumped the logs of Beltane…She shut her eyes tight, dispelling the memories. Why, if she didn't know any better, she might she could be in love…

She stopped short. In love? In love? With Dom?

Dom turned. Ginny stood wide-eyed and open-mouthed at the threshold of her home. "Ginny, are you all right?"

"Yes," she said breathlessly. She blinked and joined him. He watched her swallow. "What did you want to talk about?"

He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "Well…I…" He met her gaze and was struck by the intensity of her stare. Her grey eyes glowed silver and burned with a mixture of fear and hunger. He suddenly found it hard to breathe. "Ginny…"

She stepped closer. "Yes?"

He shivered as he felt her breath on his cheek. "I'm…not very good at this." He raised a hand and brushed her cheek. "Last night, when we …"

"Jumped over the embers…"

Dom nodded. "You know I don't hold to old superstitions, but…I…" He sighed. He was stuttering all over the place. He was making a mess of this. He'd come with the intention of declaring himself, telling Ginny exactly how he felt about her. After last night, he'd felt it was the right move to make. And now, with her staring up at him like that, with her so close…

"Ginny, I love you." The words burst from his mouth of their own accord. He blushed and turned away. He was such an imbecile! What would she think of him? He felt her hand on his arm and fought the urge to pull away. He turned to face her. And she kissed him.

Dom sucked in a breath in surprise as her lips met his. He felt her hesitate. He leaned in to deepen the kiss. Hot sweetness ran down his middle as he slid his hand down the side of her neck, his thumb caressing her jaw. Dimly, he felt her arms slide up around his neck and he wrapped his other arm around her waist. It seemed like hours before Ginny pulled back for breath. When she did she stepped back quickly, as if she'd just realized what she'd done.

"I-I'm sorry. I'm sorry, Dom. I…" Ginny pressed her hands to her cheeks.

Dom shook his head with a smile. "Do you know how long I've waited to do that?"

Ginny tried to slow her breathing. "I don't know what I'm doing."

He stepped closer. "I do." He bent his head to kiss her again.

Pierre left for the capital of Dkarith later that afternoon. He left with Dom's elder brother, Luka. Ginny slipped her hand through Dom's as she waved good-bye.

"Dom, I don't know about this."

He shrugged, shading his eyes against the bright harvest sun. "He'll only be gone a couple weeks."

"No," she said, turning to him. "Not that. I mean…us."

"Us?"

She sighed. "It's all so sudden. I mean, one day we're nothing but friends and then suddenly…we're this!"
"And what exactly is 'this'?" he chuckled.

Ginny blushed, looking away. She pursed her lips. "I don't know."

Dom turned her to face him. "Ginny. I love you. I have loved you since…" he shook his head with a smile, "I can't even give you a starting point. It seems I always have."

The look in his eyes sent unfamiliar shivers through her. "Dom…I…"

"It's all right if you don't love me back." He smiled, his eyes warming. "I'm a patient man."

Ginny swallowed. She did love him, didn't she?

"We're still friends, Ginny. That hasn't changed."

Everything has changed, she thought wryly.

"I would like more than friendship. One day. For now?" He shrugged. "I content to simply hold you in my arms."And he did exactly that. As Ginny wrapped her arms around him, she felt his heart beat in time with hers, wild, strong, together. Slowly, as their heartbeats slowed, Ginny opened her own heart to the possibility to a permanent life with Dom. Her best friend. The man who loved her. The man she had been falling in love with for quite some time.

Nearly a week passed. Dom visited each day and he and Ginny spoke of things she had only dreamed of. Ginny was amazed to find out just how long Dom had loved her. He didn't seem surprised at all that it had taken her years to reciprocate his feelings. They were just returning from a walk the morning of the sixth day when frantic hoof beats drew their attention. Luka, grim and weary, hadn't stopped his horse before he was on the ground running toward the house. "Where's Bella?" he cried.

Ginny stood and hurried into the house, calling for her sister. She heard Dom outside questioning his brother.

"What is it, Ginny?" Bella came down the stairs in a rush. "What's wrong?" Ginny grabbed her hand and pulled her outside just as Luka's face fell and he pushed Dom aside and rushed toward Bella. He grabbed her shoulders. "Where's Pierre? Is he here? Where is he?"

Bella drew back. "What are you talking about, Luka? He went to visit my sister. You went with him."

"He's not here?" Luka's eyes widened. Bella shook her head. Ginny glanced at Dom. He spread his hands and shrugged.

"Luka," Dom stepped up, "what is this about?"

"Pierre…never made it to the capitol."

Ginny gasped.

"What's going on?" Emma stepped from the house. Dom went to her.

"Your father is missing," he said gently. Emma stared at him for a moment before joining her sisters.

"You went with him," Emma cried. "How could you possibly not know where he is?"

Luka held out his hands, palms up, pleading. "We split up about halfway there, past Fairview Falls. He went on toward the capitol, I…"

"What?" Ginny asked. "Where did you go?" Dom placed a strong calming hand on her shoulder.

Luka glanced at her with tortured eyes. "I went to visit…a friend…"

"What…" Bella started.

"I went to visit Ane, all right? Ane," Luka shouted. He buried his face in his hands. "I'm sorry."

"Who's Ane?" Bella countered.

Dom looked at his brother who seemed incapable of answering and sighed. "Ane is the mother of Luka's son."

"You're a father?" Emma asked, shocked.

"She and Luka, well, had an affair years ago." Dom took Emma's arm. "Ma doesn't know. No one knows."

"I went to visit her. I haven't seen my son in months." Luka pleaded with them to understand. "Pierre was supposed to meet me just outside the capitol and we'd finish the journey together. I waited two whole days. He never showed up. So I backtracked the road he would have taken." He looked from Ginny to Bella to Emma and back again. "I looked everywhere for him. I couldn't find him, not even a trace."

"So, what? He just vanished into the thin air?" Bella glared at him. She violently shrugged off the hand Ginny placed on her shoulder.

A tear slid down Luka's ruddy face. "Bella, I don't know."

"I'll send a letter to Merry. She's bound to start wondering when Papa doesn't show up." Bella's hand shook as her hand poured coffee for Dom, his brother, and her sisters.

Ginny paced back and forth, biting her nails. Her heart pounded painfully in her chest. "Someone has to go after him."

"I'll go again," Luka spoke up. "He was my responsibility."

Emma shook her head. "You're exhausted, Luka," she said, noting the trembling of his hands and the droop of his eyelids. "We don't expect you to go after him again." Ginny noticed she hadn't mentioned anything about Pierre not being Luka's responsibility. She glanced at Dom to find him watching her with solemn eyes. She sat down heavily next to him.

"Merry's husband might be able to do something," Dom said, taking Ginny's hand.

"There's got to be something we can do, that I can do besides sit here and cry!" she cried.

Dom winced at the frustration, the fear in her voice, feelings that matched his own. He wrapped his free arm around her shoulders. Shaking, she leaned into his embrace. He closed his eyes and rested his lips against her hair. Suddenly, he was hit with an idea.

Without pulling away, he murmured, "I'll go."

Bella shook her head.

"No," cried Emma.

Luke scoffed. "What can you do that I can't?"

Ginny pushed herself out of his embrace. She stood, sniffling, and waving her arms emphatically. "No. Don't you know how dangerous that would be? Traveling alone for days in the middle of the woods?"

Dom frowned. "I can take the exact route your father took, retracing his footsteps."

Bella shook her head and spoke before Ginny could answer. "No, Dom. Please. What if you get lost too?"

"What if something happens to you?" Ginny cried. Her voice strained past the lump in her throat."

Dom stood and went to her, taking her hands between his own. "Ginny, I know I can find him. No offense, Luka," he turned to his brother, "I'm a better tracker than you. You might have missed something."

Luka scowled. "I'm not that bad."

Dom ignored him and brushed a stray hair back from her eyes. "I'll find him," he said with as much conviction as he could muster. "I promise."

Ginny stared up at him. His green eyes bore into hers and Ginny couldn't think past the tingle of his hands against hers. She didn't see the look Bella exchanged with Emma. She swallowed hard and nodded. A single tear trailed down her cheek.

Dom brushed it away with his thumb. "I'll leave at dawn." He embraced her, placing his lips closer to her ear. "Meet me behind your father's workshop then," he whispered so only she could hear. "No one needs to know."

Ginny nodded reluctantly and hugged him fiercely in return. She buried her face in his neck and tried to stifle the tears that simmered just beneath the surface.

Dawn came too early for Ginny. She was already wide awake as the first rays of light spilled over the valley and surrounding forests. She groaned softly and pushed back her coverlet, placing her feet on the cold wooden floor. Dressing quietly, she made her way to the kitchen, passing her sisters' rooms with silent feet. Grabbing the saddlebags she had hidden underneath the stove, she filled it with bread, cheese, dried fruit, and a large water skein. She packed the last of it and ran to her father's workshop.

Dom was waiting silently for her, grooming his family's gelding in the cool light of the morning. She reached him winded and tense. The saddlebag bulged with its contents. He grinned at the sight of her. As she neared, however, she saw the anxiety in his green eyes and the frown in his forehead.

He gestured toward the saddlebag. "You expecting me to be gone a year?"

She blushed. "I didn't know how long you'd be gone." She handed it to him. "I think I packed the entire kitchen." She tried to force a smile.

"I won't be long," he said, striving for optimism. He cleared his throat and put the curry comb away and finished saddling the horse. Turning back to her, he sighed. The look on her face just about broke his heart. She was depending on him and desperately afraid of losing him as well.

"I'll bring him back, Ginny. I promised remember?" He held out his arms and she went into them gratefully. When he pulled away, the look in his eyes made her breathless. "I'll be back soon. With Pierre." Watching her face intently for a moment, he suddenly leaned forward and kissed her on the mouth. Her heart pounded as she clung to him.

He kissed her again, then pulled away abruptly. Ginny felt the loss until he looked back over his shoulder at her and his gaze connected with her. She felt a warm curl in her stomach as she realized he had broken their kiss because if he hadn't, he never would have left.

Mounting his horse, he looked back at her as the animal pranced nervously. "I love you." With a soft hiya he kneed the horse and cantered swiftly into the forest, down the same path Pierre had taken just days ago. Ginny watched him go, left with much more than her missing father to think about.