“I’m not. No one’s ever taken care of me before. I’ve always wanted to be strong and in command. But somehow being myself with you, being able to say that I’m tired or that I hurt, seemed right. Not that I want to do it all the time—I’m not a hypochondriac. But I want to be able to take care of you like you did me. TLC, and for the first time, the L means something.”
Marni lowered her head and pressed closer to him, feeling the strong beat of his heart as though it and her own were all that existed. “I do love you, Web. The second time around it feels even stronger. If only … if only we could forget about everything else.”
“We can.”
“It’s not possible.”
“It is, for a little while, if we want.”
She raised questioning eyes to his urgent ones.
“Come to Vermont with me this weekend. Just the two of us, alone and uninterrupted. We can talk everything out then and decide what to do, but most importantly we can be with each other. I think we need it. I think we deserve it…. What do you say?”
She sighed, feeling simultaneously hopeless and incredibly light-headed. “I say that it’s crazy…. The whole thing’s crazy, because the problems aren’t going to go away … but how can I refuse?” A slow grin spread over her face, soon matched by his. He hugged her again, then kissed her. It was a sweet kiss, deep in emotion rather than physicality. When it ended, she clung to him for a long time. “I feel a little like I’m seventeen again and we’ve just arranged an illicit rendezvous. There’s something exciting about stealing away, knowing my parents would be furious if they knew, but doing it all the same.”
He took her face in his hands and spoke seriously. “We’re adults now. Independent, consenting adults. In the end, it doesn’t matter what your parents think, Marni.”
Theoretically speaking, he was right, she knew. Idealistically she couldn’t have agreed with him more. Practically speaking, though, it was a dream. But then, Web hadn’t grown up in her house, with her parents. He hadn’t gone into her family’s business. He hadn’t been in her shoes when Ethan had died, and he wasn’t in her shoes now. “Later,” she whispered. “We’ll discuss it later. Right now, let’s just be happy …”
Marni was happy. She blocked out all thoughts except one—that she loved Web and he loved her. And she wasveryhappy. Business took her to Richmond on Wednesday morning, but she called Web that night, and he was at the airport to meet her when she returned on Thursday evening. Her suitcase had been emptied and repacked, and was waiting by her door when he came to pick her up late Friday afternoon.
“I hope you know I’ve shocked everyone at the office,” she quipped, shrugging into her down jacket. “They’ve never known me to leave work so early.”
He arched a brow. “Did you tell them where you were going?”
“Are you kidding? And spoil the sense of intrigue?”
Web was more practical. It wasn’t that he wanted any interruptions during the weekend, but neither did he want the police out searching for her. “What if there’s an emergency? What if someone needs to reach you and can’t? Shouldn’t you leave my number with someone?”
“Actually, I did. Just the number. With my administrative assistant. If anyone wants me that badly, they’ll know to contact her. She’ll be able to tell from the area code that I’m in Vermont, but that’s about it.”
Web was satisfied. He felt no fondness for her parents, but regardless of her age, they might worry if she seemed to have disappeared from the face of the earth. He knew thathe’dbe sick with worry if he tried to reach her and no one knew where she was.
“Good girl,” was all he said before grabbing her suitcase and leading her to the waiting car.
The drive north was progressively relaxing. The tension of the day-to-day world, embodied by the congestion of traffic, thinned out and faded. Marni’s excitement grew. Her eyes brightened, her cheeks took on a natural rosy glow. She had only to look to her left and see Web for her heart to feel lighter and lighter until she felt she was floating as weightlessly as those few snowflakes that drifted through the cold Vermont night air.
Web suggested that they stop for supplies at the village market near his house, so that they wouldn’t have to go out again if the weather got bad. Marni was in full agreement.
“So where is your place?” she asked when they’d left the market behind. “I see houses and lots of condominium complexes—”
“They’re sprouting up everywhere. Vacation resort areas, they’re called. You buy your own place, then get the use of a central facility that usually includes a clubhouse, a restaurant or two, a pool, sometimes a lake or even a small ski slope. Not exactly my style, and I’m not thrilled with all the development Pretty soon the place will be overrun with people. Fortunately where I am is off the beaten track.”
“Whereareyou?”
He grinned and squeezed her knee. “Coming soon, sunshine. Be patient. Coming soon.”
Not long after, he turned off the main road onto a smaller dirt one. The car jogged along, climbing steadily until at last they reached a clearing.
Marni caught her breath. “It’s a log cabin,” she cried in delight. “And you’re on your own mountain!”
“Not completely on my own, but the nearest neighbor is a good twenty-minute trek through the trees.” He pulled into the shelter of an oversized carport on the far side of the house.
“This is great! What a change from the city!”
“That’s why I like it.” He turned off the engine and opened his door. “Come on. It’ll be cold inside, but the heat’ll come up pretty quickly.”
“Heat? Thathasto be from an old Franklin stove.”
