“You in my arms keeps me plenty warm.”
Once she’d zipped her hoodie, she settled back down with her face inches from his. Too tempting.
“Thank you for all you’ve done this past week, Theo. I’m finally feeling like maybe I’ll be okay.”
“You mean from the concussion?”
After glancing around, she reached up and stroked the side of his face. “No, I mean with my…condition. For most of my life, I felt out of it and confused, like I’d never be right again and would have to be content with wandering around in a fog, always waiting for the big breakdown. But being here the last few months, I feel alive.”
“God, pixie,” he mumbled into her hair as he nuzzled her neck. “From now on, it’s you, me, Jordan, and the little beasties.”
Sneaking his hands under her sweatshirt, he rubbed her belly. “And any others who might come along.”
Her smile slipped into a frown. “Not this month. Started this morning, which means those X-rated thoughts will have to be postponed.”
His lips zeroed in on her birthmark. “The actions might need to be modified, but the thoughts will still be there, believe me. It’s simply the result of you in bed next to me.”
Over the next hour, as the horses traversed the carriage roads, Theo tried to sneak a kiss whenever no one was looking. Or sometimes even when someone was looking. They were married, and he honestly didn’t care. These people needed to know that he was serious about his relationship with Chelsea. He needed her to know, also, that he wasn’t ashamed or embarrassed by her.
Norma had arranged for food to be available once they reached the top and a small fire to be set up with logs around it. It was only sandwiches, chips, and water, but with an hour ride up, an hour ride to get down, plus an hour at the top, they’d need something.
As the sun dipped behind the horizon, Theo picked up Jordan and put his arm around Chelsea. Blue, pink, purple, orange, all collided and swirled together in the sky as the yellow ball finally disappeared. A few minutes later, a call went out to load up the carriages for the trip down.
With the late hour, Jordan grew whiny, and Theo insisted he keep her, so she didn’t disturb too many others. In the back corner of the wagon, he leaned against one side and Chelsea leaned her back against the other, her side against him. He swung her feet across his lap, then deposited their daughter there. With both her parents soothing her and the rocking of the horse-drawn carriage, she was soon asleep.
Rico pulled out his phone and snapped a few pictures. A second later, Theo felt his own phone vibrate in his pocket.
“Get it framed and put it on the mantel next to the others.” Rico winked and shifted onto his other side. Dina had managed to get on the same carriage this time. However, one of the other office staff had cornered her and started chatting business. Not what the woman seemed to want. Her disdain at their beautiful family portrait was apparent.
Too bad. Today had been perfect, and nothing she could do could ruin this for them.
Sweat trickled down the back of Theo’s neck, soaking into his shirt.
“Man, it’s muggy today.” The weather since the hayride two weeks ago had warmed up.
Rico glanced over as he pulled himself past an outcropping of rocks a few hundred feet from where the peregrine falcons nested. Theo nodded and perched next to his friend, who looked through binoculars at the chicks.
“They look fine, and I don’t see any evidence of hikers nearby,” Rico said quietly. Lowering the binoculars, he snagged his water bottle from his backpack and took a long swig.
Theo mimicked his actions, enjoying the cool liquid sliding down his throat. “Did the person who called with the complaint leave their name?”
Rico shook his head. “I don’t think so. It was a message on the machine, I believe.”
“Guess it doesn’t matter.” Theo replaced his water bottle and pulled out the camera. “We need to document their growth and see how much longer we’ve got to keep the trail closed.”
The Precipice was a challenging trail on the east face of Champlain Mountain that had a thousand foot, almost vertical climb. It was considered strenuous and only for experienced hikers who were quite physically fit. Due to the falcons nesting on the rocks around the trail, it was typically closed for several months, and hiking wasn’t allowed until mid-August.
A park naturalist was often placed at the bottom of the cliff to lead discussions and observations during the forbidden hiking times. Today was fairly cloudy, so no one had been sent. The signs at the bottom were quite obvious, but it wasn’t as easy to keep people from getting onto the trail from the top.
After snapping a series of pictures, Theo put the camera back and slung his bag over his shoulders, fastening the clip at the front.
“The bathrooms are all done at the cottage,” Theo told Rico as he carefully placed his foot on the rock edge of the trail back down. They usually directed hikers to use another, easier trail to get down, but he and Rico didn’t want to disturb the falcons any more than necessary. Unfortunately, it made the descent a bit trickier.
“Does that mean you’ll be moving in soon?”
“Not yet. We figured we’d redo the cabinets in the kitchen while nobody’s living there. Besides, the porches still have some rotting boards.”
“I’ll probably sound like a girl, but it’s good to see you so happy.”
