Page 89 of Truly, Madly Viking

she responded in a choked voice. Am I really up to another marathon of sex? she questioned, then immediately replied: Absolutely .

"Not that, Mag-he," he corrected. "I mean, of course I want to make love after this long day of deprivation." He flashed her a slow grin, then added, "Nay, it is something else I yearn for, and have ne'er done afore."

Uh-oh! Maggie couldn't imagine anything sensual Joe hadn't done, and that smoky look in his gray eyes certainly bespoke sex with a capital S. The ache in her breasts dropped lower. She waited for him to continue.

"A bubble bath."

It was Sunday night, Christmas Eve, and they were attending the choir recital in the church.

Maggie was wearing a new white silk pantsuit, trimmed with gold cording, over a glittery gold lamé shell, just fight for the season. There was something about Christmas that called for a new outfit, or a special outfit pulled out only at this time each year to fit the occasion.

Tears filled her eyes as she watched her daughters in small gold choir robes, with wreaths of holly in their hair, singing in harmony with their peers. "Silent Night." "Hark, the Herald Angels Sing." "Oh, Holy Night." "It Came upon a Midnight Clear." "The First Noel." But actually, tears seemed to be the norm for Maggie the past few days as one poignant event after another took place.

Since Christmas fell on a Monday this year, they'd held the Christmas party at the hospital this afternoon, even though many staff members were off on Sunday and outpatients were not usually on the premises.

The clinic's standardized gifts were doled out—chocolate Santas and rainbow plaques with motivational poems on them. Then Joe and Maggie distributed their individualized gifts, as well.

All of the patients from their group seemed stunned by the particular care taken in choosing their presents, but Steve... oh, the moment when Steve opened the gift wrap revealing his baseball card... well, Maggie would never forget it. And neither would anyone else who had been there. Steve had been overcome that Joe—and everyone knew, without being told, that Joe was at the bottom of these special gifts—cared enough about him to buy that particular memento. In the end, he had just stared at him hopelessly and said, "Oh, man. Oh, man. You're gonna force me to straighten out, aren't you?" He'd liked the SEALs jacket, too, and made a big deal of putting it on for everyone to see how it fit, but it was the card that had hit home hardest.

How had Joe known it would mean so much to his friend? She never would have thought of it herself.

The refreshments included homemade Christmas cookies made by the staff and sickeningly sweet cherry punch, which they enjoyed while watching tapes of all the Christmas episodes on the afternoon soap operas. It turned out that some of the nurses and attendants were hooked on the soaps, too.

When the different shows brought out flashbacks to Christmas past as far back as twenty years ago, there were tears in some of the eyes watching.

After that, Joe had put Maggie in a most awkward position. He'd invited everyone to attend the church choir recital tonight. Since it was open to the public, Maggie couldn't very well object.

He was sitting beside her now in a blue oxford shirt, khaki pants, a navy blazer, and cowboy boots...

yes, cowboy boots, of all things. They had been a gift from Steve, who had shown up at their house unexpectedly just before they'd left for the church. The boots had touched Joe almost as much as Joe's gift had touched Steve earlier that day. And he didn't even seem to mind that they pinched his toes and made him wobble a bit when he walked. "I'm a true Texan now," he'd boasted.

"The Lone Star Viking?" she'd quipped.

"Aw, shucks, darlin'," Joe had drawled in response.

Sitting on her other side were Harry and Martie. Harry's new hat, which he appeared to love, was sitting on the bench between them. Harry claimed that he would have to wear the hat, since it had been given to him by a former patient, but she could tell that he was delighted every time he plopped the thing on his head.

On Joe's other side was Steve Askey in a conservative gray suit and tie, with cowboy boots. He was staring with serious concentration at the altar where the choir was singing, as if the music was filling some important void in his life. But perhaps it was just being back in a church after so many years.

Natalie Blue was there with her parents, dressed in her usual cowgirl attire, but this time it was an outfit in the seasonal colors of red and green, with glittery tinsel taking the place of fringe. Her parents had wished Maggie a merry Christmas before the recital began, and whispered a quick thank-you in an aside for all of their daughter's recent progress. It was a sign of Natalie's improvement that she was even able to sit in a crowded church. Maggie hadn't said anything at the time, but she'd really thought it was Joe they should be thanking.

Chuck Belammy was looking very normal tonight in a Polo shirt and blue chinos, though his gaze kept drifting back to the Nativity scene. Maggie thought she heard an intermittent "baa baa" come from his direction, though he kept it very low.

Harvey Lutz was straining his neck this way and that, obviously counting the stained-glass windows. He didn't count aloud, but his lips were moving.

Fred Bernstein came dressed as Santa, so for once he blended in with everyone else. The audience probably thought he'd just gotten off work at the mall.

Sitting next to Fred was Gladys Hatcher, dressed in a bright flame-colored dress with a reindeer appliquéd on the front. There must have been a battery under the bodice, because every couple of seconds the reindeer's nose blinked bright red.

The biggest surprise was Rosalyn Harris, who'd arrived late in a burgundy sheath dress. Her hair was still pulled back straight off her face into a spinsterish bun, she wore no makeup, and the dress was not immodest by any means... high necked, long-sleeved, and calf-length. But holy cow! Who knew she had such a wonderful figure? She was tall, svelte, and curved in just the right places.

More than one male head turned in her direction during the recital, and not just those who knew of her sexual desires.

Christmas had always been a special time to Maggie. This year every little nuance and tradition and smell and sound seemed to resonate inside her soul. She was creating memories... memories that she feared would have to last her a lifetime.

Jorund surveyed the little church, took a deep whiff of the pungent scents of evergreen boughs and bayberry candles, flexed his fingers where they were twined with Mag-he's, and sighed. My mother would be so proud of me, he thought ruefully. All those years she'd tried to preach her Christian dogmas, while he went hither and yon, practicing his warrior skills. Oh, he, his father, his brothers, and his sister had all been baptized in the Christian rites to satisfy her wishes, but it was only a token action. They still practiced the old Norse religions, as well. But tonight, as the sounds of the Christian music flowed in his ears, Jorund felt a sense of peace with the One-God... as if finally he were forgiven—that with the birth of the Christ child, he could be reborn, too. It was a heady thought.

"I'm glad I came," he whispered in Mag-he's ear. She smelled of some light floral scent—lilacs again, perhaps—and of her own distinctive woman essence.